go read

We decided to put together a first of its kind catch and release weekend tournament for few reasons. First, we feel that catch and release is important part of what many of us do today, and yet it is almost an afterthought in the tournaments. Second, there are many of you who urged us to do this to increase the awareness about importance of catch and release, about increasing awareness of dwindling stocks of striped bass, about camaraderie during the tournament without guilt of having a hang a fish on the scale. And last but not least, all net proceeds will go to new SJ Junior Angler Program. More on that in the future

I am sure we are going to have a lot of discussions on this for next few weeks but the reason for putting this up today is simple. The first 150 who register online or at Saltwaters Tackle (combined) will be receiving a free t-shirt. We wanted to give you guys heads up before the info appears in the next issue on Monday. So that way if you want, you can register over the weekend and claim your t-shirt.

I am going to try to keep this short, we’ll have more time to go over the details

For all rules for tournament go here or click on SJ ALL ISLAND STRIPED BASS CUP link on the top of the blog

To register click here or follow links on info page

The rules are simple, catch a fish, take a picture of the fish by putting a SJ supplied measuring tape alongside of the fish. Have a witness who is in the tournament sign your slip. Bring your camera, I phone, droid, whatever to the Saltwaters tackle on that weekend.

Few notes because I know that it does not matter how much I try to explain things,  some will be confused

You can register on our blog or at Saltwaters Tackle until 10/27. If you are one of the first 150 that register you will receive a shirt. The shirt will not be ready to pick up until the tournament weekend. No specific sizes, we will do our best to make them in variety of sizes, first come first serve.

This is a big one. You must come to Saltwaters Tackle after 12 PM on October 26th or any time after that to receive your SJ measuring tape and entry card. Sorry but if we gave the measuring tape ahead of the contest some would be tempted to take pictures with their camera before the contest. We are trying to make this as fair as we can.

You can fish anywhere on Long Island, but you can only enter the fish by coming to Saltwaters Tackle. Please let’s not hear “it’s too far, it’s too long”. I know many who drove dead slobs for a hundred miles to enter it into contest. It is what it is. No, you can’t email us the picture from your home. You have to bring it…just like you would have to weigh the fish in.

Phew, that was a lot of words.. 🙂

Ok, I sincerely hope that many of you guys will support us in trying to make a difference in the way the tournaments are held in the future. We would love to say that after it’s all said and done,  the response was overwhelmingly in favor of doing this again or expanding it to other locations. We can only do so much. We hope to see many of you fishing that weekend, we hope many of you bring us the pictures and we know that one of you will walk away with SJ ALL ISLAND STRIPER CUP and a brand spanking new ZeeBaaS reel. Not only that but there is a St Croix Legend to be won, a crazy good bag from Commando Surfcasting ,twelve lures from Super Strike, $150 gift certificate from Saltwaters Tackle and Pliers and Sheath from Hansom Tackle.

REGISTER FOR SJ ALL ISLAND STRIPED BASS CUP HERE

We usually do not dedicate the blog post to an individual but today we will make an exception.

Many of you know Dennis Zambrotta from either attending his seminars, fishing alongside of him at Block Island or Rhode Island, from working at Edge Angling or from the internet. Many of you also know that he has written a book about the way things were at Block Island during one of the most remarkable period in the surf fishing history. When landing a striper over 50 pounds in one night was not such a big news. Dennis even landed two over 50 in one tide and other have done even better.

Today, his long anticipated book SURFCASTING AROUND THE BLOCK has been published. You can just click on this book picture and it will take you to Edge Angling where you can get more information on the book, its content and pricing. Congratulation Dennis and don’t forget to send Stacey a signed copy 🙂

For those of you that are out of loop, Stacey is a graphic designer who not only designed all my books but I also referred Dennis to her and Sherwood Lincoln with his book, Striperman. She is a busy bee:-) This week she is putting finishing touches on my new book HOOKED….or should I call it The Adventures of the Googan? More on that in few weeks

http://www.edgeangling.com/DZ-Surfcasting-Around-the-Block.html

What else is new? We are going to announce a major catch and release tournament that will encompass all the shoreline of Long Island, NY and which will take a place the weekend of the  October 26th trough October 28th. For the first time, all of you that hold catch and release near and dear to your hearts will be able to compete in a tournament with a clear conscience. Not that is anything wrong in eating fish, God knows I’d eat it every day if I could. But I know that many won’t enter tournaments as matter of principal if you  have to kill a fish in order to win. The rules and all the registration details will be posted shortly. For now I will only tell you that ZeeBaaS, St Croix, Commando Surfcasting, Super Strike Lures, Saltwaters Tackle and Hansom Pliers makers are sponsors. I hope you guys are going to get as excited about this idea as we are. And I hope you guys support it. All net proceeded (if any) will go to the new SJ Junior Angler program. We got a start somewhere to turn this tide of ourselves, not boaters or charter guys, or super sharpies, or pin hookers, ourselves, regular Joe’s killing fish for tournament sake. There is nothing wrong with a fine striper meal. heck, we have a regular column devoted to cooking with our Chef Andrew. But I think this fall will be a wakeup call to many on just how bad the stocks of striped bass are. I hope I am wrong….. We have to try to educate, excite and keep promoting catch and release. There is no reason our freshwater cousins, and even ones in southern states that fish saltwater that make us look like cavemen when it comes to making sure the resource is protected first, before recreational and commercial interests. But that is what you get when you have these organizations that masquerade as a “recreational” representatives but all they give a shit for is how many fish can their customers kill. I hope I am wrong and I am wishing for a really, really good fall run

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I know that my posts can be full of Zenoisam’s, written in Cringlish (mixture of Croatian and English) but darn it, they are not in Swahili

So lets to this again. You want to win a Penn Spinnfisher V from folks at Penn? Great. It’s easy. I swear. Send us any picture you think it’s a great representation of the fall run. A picture that is taken THIS YEAR. THIS FALL RUN! LIKE 2012 !

Capish? One picture from THIS FALL RUN will win the reel. Picture that you will be taking from today till November. This can’t be that complicated. And to the “I am in” crowd….I am speechless

CT Matt is taking issue that the blog is in his words “quiet”. Hmmm, let me see. We have new issue coming up momentarily. Tommy is hacking up brown shit from his lungs and probably still pulling all nighter trying to finish FREE publication on time. And then there is that pesky thing of new platform, meeting with web designers, Mac crashing, first week of school for kids and yes, that little thing called job. But don’t worry Matt, we’ll increase our productivity……………after the fall run. Sometimes we forget that the blog is not even suppose to exist other then announce the appearance of new issue.

Went to the inlet last night, one more shot of weakfish I told myself. Scaled the seawall(no flip-flops this time) with a 7 foot Legend only to find a BIG surf crashing in the rocks. No way I could have landed the fish and stayed dry considering I was in jeans. Must be from the hurricane Leslie. Not fun. So I ran back home to watch the rest of the Giants game…neither of these two events were fun.

Btw…I need a favor. Anyone has a picture of a striped bass with a measuring tape alongside of the fish? You know on sand, or rock or whatever ? Can you send it to me at zhromin@verizon.net? I desperately needed a shot for something I am working on

Ok, its 4 am , time to hit this pesky thing called a job.

I’ll leave you with the words of Crazy One from a new video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1-K-M7yPWc[/youtube]

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Let’s get to picking winners of Guppy Lure Co 3 ounce Popper and T-shirt giveaway. We have two winners, each one will receive a popper and a shirt directly from the Hess brothers at Guppy Lures.

You can visit Guppy Lure Co at http://www.guppylure.com/ to see their entire line of lures

The winners are

Robert K audio1fx@optonline.net

and

Rob L robert.lombardi@hotmail.com

You both have 5 days to email us your mailing address at info@surfcastersjournal.com.

All I can say is that you guys, the readers of SJ Magazine and Blog are a lucky bunch. You should make sure your digital camera, your Iphone, Droid or  Polaroid 🙂 is in the tip top shape because we, along with some great sponsors, will make this fall memorable one.

Yes, you will have a chance to win a ZeeBaaS reel. The details will be announced in this upcoming issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine. Not only a ZeeBaaS reel but a new Legend from St Croix, a custom bag from Commando Surfcasting, pliers and sheath from Hansom Tackle and more…Tommy is putting finishing touches on it. So for that you will have to wait. There is something else brewing, probably the most rewarding thing we have ever been part of and involves our Veterans and your chance to thank one for his or her service by nominating them for a prize of a lifetime. More on that coming up soon….

But first, you know that PENN Reel Co is coming out with a new sealed Spinfisher V reel. It is expected in the stores in October. You can win one right here on the blog, courtesy of fine folks from Penn. You will get to pick your own model although the live liners are not expected for few months. How do you win this new, sealed Spinfisher V?

Glad you asked

Here is a deal. As of today, you can send your best fall run picture to info@surfcastersjournal.com . Please put SPINFISHER V Photo contest in the email heading. You can email us your pictures until the first week of November. We will then pick our favorite 5 and let our blog readers pick one that is their favorite and award that person a brand spanking new SPINFISHER V from PENN Reels.

What kind of picture? Anything goes EXCEPT pictures of DEAD FISH. Do not send us those, save them for Facebook. Scenery, people, blitzes, fish, catches, casting, sleeping, farting, eating…you get my drift.

Anything that has anything to do with surf fishing except pictures of dead slobs. Grab your camera and go shot something

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I had a pleasure of playing with new Super Strike “Heavy” Little Neck swimmers last few weeks. Steve Musso and I did some video off the dock few months ago but my Mac has been crashing so much I really lost interest in trying to repair it. Got back on the horse this weekend and managed to finish new version of the video, between twenty crashes. I must have the only Mac that the damned ball spins and spins and spins. Never thought I would say that Windows Vista gave me less headache than this…

but I regress

What about Super Strike Heavy poppers?

They obviously cast very well, actually better that original sinking version which is just about everyone favorite lure. I would expect somewhere between ten and thirty yards on your cast, depending on your casting style.

The most remarkable part is that you would expect this plug to sink faster, because it heavier? This would make it harder to pop, right?

WRONG

The heavy popper is actually easier to bring out on the surface and pop. It is easier to keep it up there. But don’t take my word for it, you will see it for yourself soon enough when you cast one. And the most remarkable attribute of this (and all other SS Little Neck Swimmers) is the way it swims on a straight retrieve

Winner of Guppy popper and t-shirt tomorrow. Now, enjoy the video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy2lqdLWywk[/youtube]

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Is that a bright moon of what? Holy crap! The SJ crew got out last night only to find remarkably little traffic but absolutely no sign of life in the ocean either. Other that the flotsam of weeds that carpeted the beach. But we are almost there, two more days and the beach is our once again. Gone will be the soccer moms, chauffeuring the kids to school, and fair weather fishermen who do not like the thought of cold and crisp northwest winds one bit. And yes, those pesky lifeguards who quickly spring into action if you attempt the make a cast before 7 PM will retire their Speedo’s for the year. The nights are getting shorter and the morning have become refreshingly comfortable. Let’s hope for little or no disruption from hurricanes this year. Nor’easters, yes, they can do a world of good, but hurricanes are just a pain in the ass. The bait situation looks fantastic in a lot of places…but (and it’s a big butt…Kim K size) I am not sure the fish are there to eat them. Some say fish are staying in deeper waters last few years and they are not on decline. I would really, really like to believe this. But what is alarming me is a lack of resident fish. And this is not just one place I fished, but Cuttyhunk, Montauk, Moriches, Fire Island and Jones inlets…the solid bumps from a resident fish have been missing…I am not an alarmist but it’s getting a little scary in some place

We promised you things you didn’t expect ….BIG THINGS….so do expect for us to pull a rabbit out of our hat once this new issue lands on your PC, tablet, android, iphone or something else Apple will invent before we wrapped up this issue and stock goes to $1000 a share. It kind of ties in into what I mentioned before. I will keep the details to a minimum since we are still finalizing the final details but Surfcaster’s Journal , in conjunction with some great supporters will give you a chance this fall to win the ultimate surfcasting reel,  a ZeeBaaS ZX 27. No, ” I am in” will not get you into the winners circle but catching a good fish and releasing might…teasing done, stay tuned for further announcements 🙂

Speaking of ZeeBaaS reels..I told you this last year, but I will repeat it again. It is remarkable the transformation this reel company has undergone under the new stewardship of Ron D. Many of you know Ron as a maker of Lordship Lures, an anal-focus-on-smallest-details kind of dude …just bustin’

Which is exactly what ZeeBaaS needed. Improved communications with customers, fast turnaround on service but most important thing at all is that ZeeBaaS reels are once again built in USA by using just about all component made here. Which means Ron and his elves are painstakingly building each reel and they are the only company that I am aware of that subject their reels to pressure testing before they leave their shop. I’ve seen this contraption and although I am not at liberty to divulge details, take my word for it, you’d be impressed. Ron brought his attention to details to every facet of manufacturing and although I pity you if you are his supplier and are making his Z hats and he tells you that one stitch is half of nanometer to the left of the center of gravity :-)…….As an end user, you got to love what they have done. I bought my ZX27 last year and been fishing it ever since with no issues.

It wasn’t always like that. I also had an original one with drilled drag knob and had a lot of issues. But this new one is submerged, buried in sand, and it still as smooth as butter. It’s nice to have a reel on which the line is laying as it should and drag actually works…all the time. If you are a looking for top of the line reel or your wife is feeling really generous this holiday season all you need to know is how Google ZeeBaaS…and send a link to ZeeBaaS website to your wife 🙂

And now, one of you will get a chance to win one in few weeks..all you need is a cast and a dream ..lol

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Today, we are having a really, really sweet giveaway from Guppy Lure Co to celebrate the Labor Day, the unofficial start of the Fall Run. Many of you who fish the Cape Cod Canal know these lures very well. Since 2003, the Hess brothers have been crafting handmade classic top water lures that many surfcasters grab out of their bags first when conditions call for top water. You have to cast a Guppy to understand why 🙂

You can check out all their products at  http://www.guppylure.com/index.html

They are making today’s special giveaway possible by offering two lucky SJ Blog readers a chance to each win one special scale painted 3 ounce popper and one Guppy Lure T-shirt.

So two winners, each receives a lure and a T-S=shirt from the Guppy Lure Co. Like that old Smuckers commercial said, “With a name like Guppy, it has to be good”

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Just an update on the previous post. Tommy and I meet with dude that drinks at the Genius bar in regards to redesigning the website, fixing this darn blog and a brand spanking new platform for the magazine. More or less, we kind of figured out what we think it should look. Look for the changes sometimes next year. Tommy is going to be a lead guy on this as he is the Director of Cool Sh!t..and he knows what looks good. I am little behind the ball on this as I am sure that old Sophia Loren poster is still hanging in my room in Croatia. And yeah, I am a big fan of Mel Torme…so there…lol

Coincidentally, Tommy is working on the new issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal, should be out in a week and so..just in time for the fall run. There is a very honest look at the life of one of the hardest fishing surf guides anywhere…stay tuned.

We also wanted you to know that any donation to SJ Crew from today on will go to newly established SJ Junior Angler Program. No, we do not want you to flood us with donations and no we are not soliciting any. We are working on few ideas on how to fund it, including some catch and release tournaments in the fall with Junior Angler Program as the sole beneficiary. Stay tuned for details on that..we need to get kids involved into sport and into reading SJ instead of FB 🙂

Tomorrow we have a very, very special Labor Day giveaway from Guppy Lure Co, you can check out their lures at  http://www.guppylure.com/

More on that tomorrow..I’ll leave you with something that is destined to become a classic, made by dudes who never made a cast in their life….ANIMAL NewYork

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/42129694[/vimeo]

The winner of the book Striperman, Confessions & Secrets of a Commercial Pin-Hooker is Greg  filter357@yahoo.com

You know the deal…you have 5 days to email us your shipping address at info@surfcastersjournal.com

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As many of you know, Block Island was an epicenter of some crazy good fishing years ago. Rhode Island sharpie Dennis Zambrotta was fortunate to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime even. He wrote a book about it, Surfcasting Around the Block. From what I understand, the book is currently at the printer and is expected in the stores in few weeks. I am sorry I have no further information on it but as soon as I get it, I will send it along.

I found this footage from two years ago when I spent a Memorial Day at Block with Dennis. It very much fits into what’s in the book

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOAAEQb5R4c[/youtube]

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