We understand that some of you received the notice from the blog recently about a new post but when you clicked on it redirected you to another site. I been told that our blog might have been “clicked jacked” meaning you click on one thing and yet it takes you to another place.

You can always read new posts by going directly  to https://surfcastersjournal.com/blog/. Some guys do this as their first thing in the morning with their cup of coffee, some do it later, and some only when they receive notification.

Some others have had issues with posting and entering giveaways last few days. They got “session expired” message and were unable to post. We are trying to figure out what is going on. If you are having issues, please drop me an email to zhromin@verizion.net and explain it to me what the issues are. If we know what they are, maybe we can get a better idea on how to fix it as we don’t receive the notices from the blog and we are always logged in so we don’t see the blog the same way you do,

Again, my sincerest apologies for your inconveniences

Zeno

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While we are on subject of revisiting stuff from the past, now that some time has passed while using some gear, here are few thoughts.

Two piece rod…

What a crock of shit you are being sold by those who tell you that you absolutely must use one piece rods…I should know, I was one of those people…lol

My St Croix Legends, Mojo’s and CTS Vapor Trail..I was told they will twist, I was told they will separate on the cast, I was told that the “feel” is not the same. I can only give you my opinion but I never had more fun fishing any rods till I had these. Not only did they not separate, not only do they not twist, but they handle everything just beautifully as long as you stay within range. Which is true for most rods

Speaking of which, if you were only to get one rod that does it all, a rod you can throw bucktails, pencil poppers, eels and even chunks, do yourself a favor and have Lou Caruso our rod guru make you a Lamiglas GSB custom rod. There is a place for “do-it-all” rods, and there is place for performance rods too. Nuff said

ZeeBaaS reel…why it took me so long to fall in love? You want the truth? Because previous owner sold me a reel that seized after few trips many years ago. Stupid design with holes on the drag knob. But now, now this is a beautiful machine that does all you ask for and then some. And Ron and crew do a great job servicing and maintaining reels. I am not the only one who thinks this. Many of my friends have bought one in last year and are loving it.

Korkers Chrome boots

I have nothing nice to say about Korkers. Every time I open my mouth and say something good I live to regret it. The people that design Korkers should be tied up under the Lighthouse, on the rocks, and left there for a week to get beat up by waves. Maybe then they would realize what you guys do and what they sell you for what you need. Seriously, what, they redesign the soles on their boots every year? Are you kidding me? I been using the new Chrome boots for a year now, and as much as I hate to admit it, they are fine. This latest revision to their inserts is better than anything they made before. No more stupid tools to put your insert back in a boot. Could you imagine doing this in a rock, at night? I could tell you the story when I was sent proto soles to test…I am on the rock in Montauk in the middle of the night and every single stud fell out. EVERY ONE! You want to talk about taking life in your hands by trying to walk back to shore on rubber soles while the waves are hitting you in the back? I drank more seawater that night that all others nights in season combined. So my opinion on Chrome? Nice…would I tell you to buy it. Hell no

Olympus camera

I think you guys misunderstood me regarding focusing in Olympus cameras. I was not referring to pictures but video instead. Yes, you will get a stunning 1080 video but you also will get a fuzzy unfocused mess. If you want 1080 video get a Go Pro. At least stuff is in focus. Period. As far as their toggle switch for menu, for us surfcasters, that is a joke.

Hansom pliers, like I said in the video, very impressive what you get for under $50. Period.

Commando Bags…damn, that man might make you a bag that will last you a lifetime. Judging by one year of use and no sign of wear, you just might get to pass it on to your kid…in mint condition

Super Strike Heavy needles..do you really need to ask if they work? Has something ever came out of Don and Steve Musso shop that did not work? Time and place, time and place, but a great addition to their lineup and my bag.

Guides Choice Mucho Minnow and Skinny Minnie..new lures in their lineup. Smallest of bunch and very productive for me in the spring.

Would you be surprised if I told you that I fished with a zippered Columbia Jacket all spring and stayed dry? Yup, that would be me, the king of all googans. Two piece rod, zippered jacket and last year leader and…wait for it…..ZIPPERED WADERS.

Lmao

Yup, all spring I wore Redignton zippered stocking foot waders and no, the water never got it. And yes, it saved my few times from doing number one on my hands and number two in my pants.

That’s all folks

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The Super Strike “Heavy” 2 3/4 ounce Little Neck Popper goes to Javier, Javier.aleman@yahoo.com. You have 5 days to email us your shipping address at info@surfcastersjournal.com Congratulation.

Here is a look back at Hansom Pliers and  Olympus cameras.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZilbT0goxmE[/youtube]

Let’s make this into a Super Strike Lures weekend…I will explain why during a week but for now, I will dig into my personal stash and give away one of these Wonderbread Super Strike Casting Swimmers aka Bottle plug.

Good Luck

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May 6th 2012 should go down in the history as a significant event in the life of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine. Not important, just significant. Like that 49 pound striper…it is really not as unimportant as we make it seem when we cry that is a “pound short”. Same thing with readers of our magazine. Having 59 999 or 60 000 is technically insignificant but mentally important. Or at least it is to us

The milestone

We started with low expectations but high on passion. Our first issue was viewed by 9165 visitors according to our hosting company. Yes, these numbers probably reflect Tommy and I each visiting issue number one 4582 times each and you visiting once. It’s probably not that far from the truth.

Over the last two years, particularly in the spring, our visitors number  increased significantly. First to an average of 30 000 visitors an issue and then to 60 000 + visitors  for the last few issues. Our January 2012 issue has been the most visited issue so far with 73 315 visitors.

Today , Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine received its 100 000 visitor, making it the most read Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine issue ever.

This is not a pat on out back, but instead a shout out to you, a thanks from all of us at Surfcaster’s Journal for your continued support.

I can only think of one person that I would want to help me celebrate this special occasion, our friend and Montauk Legend Vito Orlando. I had a pleasure of sitting down with Vito for an interview for a film project last week. Something that is a year or two away in the future…

But we also go to talk about some stories from the old days, including one of the most hilarious stories I’ve ever head regarding Fishing and Nature Calling..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFFK9ww1Vs4[/youtube]

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I’ve read a lot lately on the boards about frustration. Fish popping, swirling, breaking water, slurping…but not hitting.

If you have fished for few years you learn to accept this. If you don’t, you’ll be frustrated as hell.

I remember a night behind the old OBI few years ago when weakfish run was good. The bass and weaks were running between my legs on the sandbar, slurping the bait all night long. I thought I found heaven only to throw every plug in the bag and get exactly one hit on a jelly worm. To ad to the misery, I dropped that fish too.

Silver Fox and I were fortunate this week to get on a consistent bass bite. But it was frustrating as hell. One night I had a 16 and a 17 pounders on consecutive casts then I sucked wind for the next hour while the fish were rolling around me. Then a quick three schoolies, then lull again. Fish are there, sometimes breaking water so close that they startled me. But they refuse to hit the lure. And it wasn’t for lack of trying…

We went trough just about every plug in our bags but the only consistent producers were small to medium plastic swimmers. Again, nothing unusual about that either.

And how about foul hooking? You expect to foul hook a bass in the blitz but not in the spring when they are feeding leisurely and there is an hour between hits sometimes, right?

Wrong

Some nights I managed to foul hook more fish than I hooked into the mouth and almost all of them were hooked behind the head. Which tells me that bass rushed (what he perceives) bait then turns around at last moment and tries to stun it with a tail? I have no other reasonable explanation. But spring can be maddening

Then again, that is the lure of this sport, as the season goes along, the bait changes, the productive spots change, your lure section and their feeding habit. They all change.

Which is kind of neat if you like to be challenged…but which sucked with a capital S when I was just starting up and could not for the life of me understand what I am doing wrong and why these fish, which are obviously on the feed, are not hitting your lure.

Seriously, its not you…for once J

Btw

I get a lot of offers to try out lures. And I politely decline most of them. In fact, I prefer contacting a maker of particular lure and ask for one to test. I mean, how many dudes are out there making metal lip swimmers? Way too many if you ask me.

Then there is Frank C, the dude that makes Guide Choice plugs. He is a boat guy. You tell him he has to walk twenty yard and he is looking for a Loran and GPS.

Lmao

But I like Frank. He is a strapping Italian dude with a mustache that would make Ron Jeremy proud. He does a lot of work with Fisherman Conservation Association and is actively involved in education of our youngest anglers. And for whatever reason, for a guy who runs a charter boat, he makes some great plugs. That is the only way I can put it. So far, his Old School Swimmer is my favorite, it cast well, it holds up and it produced personal best at Cutty for our Chef Andrew few years ago. This spring I switched mainly between two plugs, and the reason was that these two were the most effective ones. First is a standard cant-miss-school-buss Bomber. No brainer there. But some night they were ignoring that too but hitting Guides Choice Mucho minnow

My first impression of this plug? Cast well for its size. In fact, just about everything Frank makes casts well in comparison to other lures of same type. But even in comparison to Bomber, this is smaller lure at 4 3/8 and weighing in a 3/4 ounce.

Yet I felt it casted as well as Bomber. And caught fish pretty good.

As many of you know, I am not a small plug guy. The smallest plug for 99% of the time d

uring the season is either a 7-inch redfin or 1 3/4 Super strike needlefish. Everything else is 2 ounces and up.

But right now, when fish are often ignoring big plugs and feeding on small bait I found

that switching between Mucho Minnow and a School Buss bomber works for me.

In case you are wondering what color is the Mucho minnow. I will give you one guess. Because that is all you need.

Yup, its yellow, as it’s the Mag Darter, Choopy Darter, SS needle, some small metal lips swimmer and most of other plugs in my bag77.

Hi, I am Z and I have a yellow problem…Wait..There is Chrome Redfin in there. How can you go out without chrome Redfin?

I am absolutely sick to my stomach as I write this. Few weeks ago, my son and I were in the Keys. Part of our itinerary was to meet up with Tim Coleman, former editor of The Fisherman and book author  and chase some tarpon by the bridges. I think Tim bought a condo in Key West. He spent a lot of time there and was more than willing to show us around. We never hooked up as we were not feeling well on one night he had free.

Tim also wrote an article on Block Island that was scheduled to appear this upcoming week in the new issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine…and we talked on the phone about him writing a story about chasing the tarpon in the Keys on budget for SJ. He was excited that he had photos all ready and he was excited to write for SJ. I told him, take your time, we will run it in the winter. Give guys something to dream about.

I never did met him other than being briefly introduced at shows, but last few weeks, especially in my preparation for the trip, we exchanged almost daily emails. Of course, I papered him with googanistics questions and he answered like a pro.

And then the bad news came…..around a noon the text message from one my friends informing me that Tim’s body was found at Weekapaug section of Westerly

Jesus, this is hard to take. Bob Samuleson few years ago, Al Pelini last year and now Tim..all lost while fishing.

Yes, I know he passed away doing something that he loved but he had so much to give!

I don’t have any specific info neither do I care to have a “guestimates” of what did happen. Only Tim knows and he is not telling anyone as he is smiling at us from heaven.

Another eerie coincidence is that Tim talks about late Al Pelini dying a tragic way in Cuttyhunk in his upcoming article. Yet he found the same fate as many other greats. Maybe God has a special place for them. I sure hope so

Be careful out there

May your days be filed with calm seas and large stripers.

Rest in Peace Tim

You will be missed by many

Zeno & the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine Crew

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I am feeling metalipy..is that the word? It should be if it aint. 🙂

It’s almost that time, when bass show a little more interest in metal lips then they do really early in the season. Not quite with gusto as they will in few weeks but they are starting to pay attention. The competition for food with newly arrived bluefish and dare I say, weakfish will make them more aggressive. I don’t know how many of you are metal lip aficionados but I can’t think of a single thing that is visually more pleasing while surfcasting then watching a bass maul a metal lip swimmer in the rocky areas. I won’t throw them as much just yet, just probe the water for now, but in few weeks, there will definitely be more of them in my bag.

Which brings me to the meat of today’s blog…time.

Where the hell does it go so fast and what is the rush? We are a few days from unveiling our new issue…again. Like a hamster running on a spinning wheel.

And I just realized we haven’t played our favorite game, guess Z’s favorite picture.

So let’s get to it with a really special lure from Lemore’s Plugworks, a gorgeous Senior Swimmer.

First dude or dudete that guess what page is my favorite picture in this issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine will win this Senior Swimmer from Lemire’s Plugworks. One guess per person

Good luck and thank you Al Lemire from Lemire’s Plugworks for making this possible

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I don’t wear Korkers on local jetties. Instead I wear waders with felt. I know these jetties like  a back of my hand, they are low to the water. On certain tide, primarily bottom of the low, Korkers help a great deal as you need to go to water’s edge to land a fish. Which was the case few days ago…but most of the time the felt is just fine. In twenty years, I never felt that I put myself in danger. Ever

So I diged out my Korkers, suited up and went to the jetty in the evening. Let me say up front that I detest walking with Korkers on dry rocks. I feel like I am walking on glass, constantly sliding. But I am a chicken, so I take my time. Unfortunately, the slobs that are fishing the jetty with bait got their shit spread out on rocks. Beer cans, bait, plastic bags, rods, like it’s a party there.

You know what happened next..I tried to navigate around all the stuff on the rocks, the dry rock and Korkers did their thing and there I was, laying in-between the rocks in short order.

Banged myself up pretty good in the shin, hip and wrist. But that is not all. The brand new, used once St Croix Legend that Lou Caruso just made me was not so lucky. I landed on it and broke it below the reel seat. Not only that but I feel on my reel too…..yes, my Penn Torque will never be same…. or one piece again.

Someone said, all that damage for a bluefish?

It’s not about the bluefish, or bass or bunker. it’s about a passion. As much as it pains me, literally, figuratively and in the wallet, I am strangely ok with it. Not with a slobs and what the jetty looks like after they are gone because that has been going on forever. I will never be fine with that! I am fine with a fact it could have been worse. Now that I had a chance to blow off some steam that is.

I always hear about “this person fell” ,”that person broke a rod” and have been remarkably fortunate to avoid a lot of things over the years. But in a last year , after never breaking a rod in twenty years I broke two, both on operator error. Then last fall in  Montauk I fell chasing a blitz with a camera and landed on a camera LCD which cost us $600 to replace.

Yet as I sit here writing this few hours after I took a spill I can’t help it but to check up on tides now after my wife has went to bed. Maybe I can still sneak out for an hour or two somewhere where there are no rocks. Maybe back bays? I am telling you, we surfcasters have a diseased minds…lol

Or maybe a that is a painkiller talking….not sure yet..will let you know when I wake up.

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I glance over many things on fishing websites, but never over any conversation involving the weakfish. What can I say, I love fishing for them. In a perfect world, where we have all species recovered and in sufficient numbers in our waters I would probably spend 75% of my time chasing weakfish, 20% chasing bass and 5% on bluefish. That is how much I adore catching them. I miss those insane head shakes on a  light rod, those crazy first runs and the beautiful colors they have on their bodies. Ask me if I want to fish back bay with a light rod and a small plastic swimmer and I will tell you that I have some yard work..or painting. Tell me you found weakfish in the bay and I will be there with my light outfit before you finish the sentence.

Sadly , it’s been few years since I’ve seen one. For the last decade I probably spend 90% of my time in July and August, on those calm summer nights, chasing the weakfish. And I did well in those days. Some years few dozen, some years a hundred of more. Strawberry Man’s Jelly worm and a lead head was often the weapon of choice and small bucktails and small swimmers close behind. But then they disappeared completely on me. First year I blamed it on the dredging in the inlet, second year I blamed in on myself, third year I accepted the fact they were gone.

No one really knows why weakfish appear in cycles, where do they go when they are not here. I sure would like some answers. Last few years there were reports of few caught here and there. Mostly an accidental catch. It is maddening to take your kids to local docks in august year after year and catch a dozens of juvenile weakfish but never to see them come back as adults.

This year, I am getting a different vibe. No, I am not going to get my hopes up until I actually catch one. But there are some reports trickling in from usual places, gillnetters, boaters. Then there is a report from Shore Guide Charter Service in NJ…here is the link for you to follow http://shorecatch.com/wp/tiderunner-weakfish/

Look at those beauties caught few days ago. And you know these dudes are fishing in the back bays, places which you can reach with you cast. There is a funny coincidence regarding these catches..you know the new Guides Choice Skinny Minnie small swimmer I used the other day with hook protectors on to catch few bluefish? Seems to be their weapon of choice for those beauties. Man, I am jealous but again, I am cautiously optimistic.

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