March Issue of the SJ Magazine is live

enjoy

a quick heads up that SJ crew will be at Ward Melville NY on Saturday and Berkeley Fishing Flea Market in Toms River. NJ on Sunday. On Saturday since we have more room we will have Skate decks, pullover hoodies and all the new 2019 gear where at Berkeley due to limited space we will be bringing less. You can at either event renew or subscribe to SJ online magazine .

Remember , Ward Melville is free event with almost 200 vendors…its HUGE

2019 Fishing Expo Information

Here is another installment  of our Surf Fishing 101 series, this time on Baitfish with yours trully

new 17 minute video up

Bill Jakob

President Montauk Surfcasters Association

The warm Spring breeze carried the scent of lilac, hyacinth and the sweet smell of the back bay waters warming by the heightening sun. Thoughts of  Stripers, Bluefish and Weakfish danced in my head – alright it’s starting to sound like the Christmas story!

Heading off to the Bay with my 7 foot Bay rod and my shiny new VR50 loaded with 20 lb braid and my favorite lead headed rubber bait, I was hoping to get into some great light tackle action. Rounding the bend off the bypass was a street that lead down to a section of sandy beach parted by decades old dock pilings giving way to  a muddy bottom adjoining a small creek. Here I had scored well on the triple play, especially huge spring Bluefish long and lean.

Hues in silver, blue and lavender they smashed and ran like freight trains destined to Hell. Then there was the Bass, stripers sometimes pushing the twenty pound mark.

Trimmed in fresh green, flanked in stripes and silver- sporting a white belly marked from winter parasite scares. Slowly they cruise the shallow edges of the back bay looking for worms or spearing.

But the best to come was the

Weakfish ripe to spawn, fins of yellow and spotted in copper with tinges of purple and blue iridescence. Excitement welled up from somewhere deep within like a primeval desire to hunt – I couldn’t wait to step waist deep in Spring’s salty cold waters.

Pulling up to the end of the road, several shiny new white and red signs lined the street with the words; no parking- no standing !

I thought what the $&”@, where did these come from.  Driving down the block to the next access road revealed the same horror, no parking – no standing !

My dream now fully thwarted,  I was faced with illegally parking or going home. What happened I mused as I sat behind the wheel.

This is an increasing dilemma many are faced with every year.

No parking, no fishing, no parking after dark, no vehicles on the beach.

I’m one of the lucky ones having grown up on eastern Long Island having access to drive on miles of beach and fish anywhere I please. Today is quite a different picture.

Recently taking the helm of the Montauk Surfcasters Association after the passing of legendary fishing advocate Willy Young, I pledged, drawing a line in the sand that we would not lose another inch and we will take back what is ours !

I ask every surf fishing enthusiast  to join me and The Montauk Surfcasters Association to take back what is ours, paid for by our taxes. We need you today for fishing access tomorrow!

Join MSA  Surfcasters.org or find us on Facebook

Editors note

Thanks to all that stoped by SJ table at Surf Day NJ yesterday and thanks to JSS for a great organization of yet another wonderful event. We know some of you cant make to all the shows so we are putting some Fox hoodies we have, new Tools of trade long Sleeve shirts and skateboards in our store for two days only. After that they will be available only at Ward Mellvile show

New video on Bottle Plugs just uploaded

The one on Darter from last week

and First one in this series

new darter video just uploaded

Enjoy

new Fox stickers in the store today, to be  followed by pullover hoodies and shirts at the shows only

I was going through my stuff last week and as I had all these plugs laid out on a bench I said, hmmm, wouldn’t it be neat to do The Art of the Surfcasting with Lures book in a video form? Not exact copy of the book, but basically me, sharing some thoughts that pop in my head

Unscripted

Unrehearsed

Mispronounced

Quintessential me, basically LOL

bts

w

check out this new awesome video posted by our friend Cabofurfcaster Wesley

Nice Striper Day IV video by Sergio Diaz

[youtube]https://youtu.be/nlQfrOS1x68[/youtube]

PS

We are back in video production with 6 looooooong videos completed and more to be be done, coming your way starting in few days. This of in terms of audible The Art of surfcasting book with more mispronounced  words than you’d thought it would be possible by one human being..lol

some new stuff in online store too (and Tommy is working on some sick new stuff)

I would like to express gratitude to all of you who came under some very challenging conditions to the Striper Day IV at Ward Melville HS on Sunday. What at one point looked like surefire cancelation of a show, ended up turning into a very enjoyable day, although very wet in the morning. Show went  without a major hitch and this is all due to efforts of the members of SJ Show Staff AND Ward Melville HS Fishing Club and faculty.

Raffle raised almost 8K which will go towards scholarships for some students that normally would not be a recipients of such awards. In my opinion, now that i got a better fell for the club and its members, I think this is a remarkable organization. And yes, just like any iconic brand or company it is being led by a charismatic and caring teacher, Mr Bob Wilson. My hat is off to him and his staff and all the members on a great organization.

We were extremely happy that those who wanted early place on line did not enter the school property till 5 AM as we pleaded with them. I have heard today (actually for the first time) that they had some type of an honorary “list” amongst themselves where they put names in order in which they come. And then honor this  “list” when access is granted at 5AM. This is definitely something that is a news to me. Not sure how I feel about it.

We had more vendors at Ward Melville than we ever had before and yet we had these beautiful wide isles where you could shop and chat with pleasure. Ward gym is about 15 000 square feet compared to 6000 square feet at Hofstra so we got room and we used all of it. The plug builder lines were kept in middle of the isles not to interfere with other vendors. There was a good mix or vendors from clothing co to plug builders galore to tackle shops, multiple rod co and other retailers specializing in surf fishing. We’ve turned away a lot of interested vendors, although we could have accommodated them with space, they just did not have the right mix of product for a Striper Day type of show.

There are definite things we have to improve on if we are invited back next year. Smoking was a bigger issue than I’ve ever thought it would be. We have to do a better job of educating our visitors and vendors that there is ZERO smoking on school grounds EVER. That was a little disappointing. We also need some better signage for seminars including a bigger easel with seminar schedule.Handing out seminar schedule fliers did help a great deal.

Many of our vendors that canceled at last minute , mainly from NJ and MA did not do it due to the snow but because of potentially  devastating ice conditions in the afternoon. Instead of canceling the show during the week, decision was made to cut hours from 3 30 to 2 30 in order to get vendors on the road in the daylight. Obviously we got lucky with downright balmy conditions on Long Island but we did not know that when we made a decision. As it was, we had one vendor with car issue that could not make the show at all, but fortunately he was not hurt. Speaking of the show times (my biggest pet peeve) …EVERY single show we attend, and we attend them all, is absolutely dead after 2 PM. Event flea market type events can be dead often at noon. Last year we had our shark headline speaker at Hofstra that we flew in from Florida speak to SEVEN people in the auditorium that holds 500 at 4PM . It was stupid and embarrassing. My point is , I don’t know anyone who wants to be at the show after 3 PM, vendor or attendee so in my opinion, the shows (any show) should never go past 3 PM. Just my opinion, but something we should take into account next year

PUBLIC NOTICE

Two guys that signed up for SJ subscription  at Striper Day we cant reach because the email they gave us at the show bounced. If you know either one please have them contact us at info@surfcastersjournal.com

Max Scaduto goomax05@msn.com

Frank Meyer ejmeyer3@aol.com

if you know them. help us get in touch

Again, from SJ crew and staff and membership of Ward Melville HS club and faculty BIG THANK YOU

STRIPER DAY RAFFLE RESULTS FROM THEIR SITE

Thank you to all that contributed to Striper Day IV.  The Surfcasters Journal Crew did an awesome job putting on the show.  Thanks to the vendors that make shows the draw that they are and a special thanks goes out to the vendors that donated to the raffle.

The raffle at this show will directly benefit graduating seniors of the Ward Melville High School Fishing Club and the general population at Ward Melville.

Thank You.  Thank you for your generosity.  Thank you for supporting the kids.

Below is a listing of raffles and the winners.  As of 1/21, all winners have been notified.  If there are any questions, please email the club wmhsfishingclub@gmail.com or you can also contact us via Instagram @patriotsfishing.

Names appear as they were written on tickets.

                RAFFLE ITEM                                                          WINNER

1. 1. Van Staal VSX 150                                              J Corcoran
   2. Van Staal 7” Pliers                                             Peter Garcia
   3. Shimano Ultegra 1400XTC                               p/u at show
   4. Tsunami 6000 Shield                                        Matt Mecca
   5. Tsunami 5000 Shiled                                       Tim Sowden
   6. ODM 9’ DNA                                                      Michael Prussen
   7. ODM 10’ Genesis                                              Jeremy Simonetti
   8. Big Fischer Plug                                                    TV
   9. ODM 10’6” Frontier X Rod                           AJ Mata
   10. The Surfcaster Boga and gear                         Rob K
   11. St Croix Mojo 10’6”                                        Chris LoNigro
   12. St Croix Mojo 11’                                              Donovan
   13. Surfcasters Journal Skate Deck                     B renden F
   14. Korker Boots Voucher                                Jeff Hermanski
   15. Outback Steakhouse $100 GC                    Melissa Owen & Rob Mullins
   16. Nicole’s Custom Bucktails                                      DUGO
   17. White Water Outfitters Custom Rod               Andrew Biscardi
   18. S&S Bucktail Package                                            Ron Hamski
   19. Noreaster USA Gear                                                  Jamaal
   20. Patriots Fishing Apparel                                   Thomas Pfersahind
   21. Flip Rocks Flip Flops                                         Ray Crimmins
   22. North Bar Plug Assortment                                 Michael Harold
   23. LIBBA Apparel                                                               Normoyle
   24. Guppy Lure Package                                           Willie Jones
   25. Pelican 50QT Cooler                                           R McCullough
   26. Carelton Apparrel                                                 Chris Amato
   27. Misc Plug Package                                               James Fitzpatrick
   28. Misc Gear Package                                           David Tanzey
   29. J Jaget Danny                                                         V Salamone
   30. Lamiglas GSB 11 MS                                               Phil Moraci
   31. Lamiglas GSB 11LS                                                Anthony Kellar

Let’s have a giveaway to kick off a countdown to the Striper Day which will take place at Ward Melville HS this Sunday 1/20/2019, with doors opening at 8 30 AM. We are going to give away two special Super Strike plugs. (You can get all show info at http://www.striperday.com/)

First winner will receive, a new “Striper Day 2019 special E.T. Bottle Plug” lure that Super Strike Dealers will have at the show 

Second winner will receive, a Super Strike Snapper Popper. A hundred of these will be sprinkled randomly amongst the first 500 attendees that will receive a goody bags

And SJ will kick in the third prize, some new stickers we just made few weeks ago

So enter below in the official SJ Giveaway app and we’ll draw a winner on Saturday and notify via email a Rafflecopter giveaway

 In other MAJOR news…

NEW ISSUE OF THE SURFCASTER’S JOURNAL IS LIVE !

GO READ

150+ PAGES OF SURF FISHING BLISS

www.surfcastersjournal.com