Let’s start first by announcing the winners of past week giveaways

Toby Lapinski guessed my favorite picture and for that he will receive 2 lures from Ace Baits

JohnR ( jsrusso@comcast.net) is the winner of the Guides Choice Bunka Boy giveaway.

Both of these gentlemen should contact me at info@surfcastersjournal.com and send me their mailing addresses. Congrats to both and yes, there will be plenty more chances to win I the future, so stay tuned to SJ Blog.

I  should have mentioned in the blog post, right off the bat, that I cranked up the volume on the guides choice swimmer so you can hear it better. That is not the actual sound level but instead it was meant to give you an idea of what rattle sound like underwater. I will try to retool the video in  so you can hear what I came out of the camera, although that won’t be an accurate decibel level either as camera is recording trough waterproof enclosure which muffs the sound….complicated, isn’t it?…lol

Anyway, I think you guys understand what I was trying to get across.

In other news…to say that I am surprised that we only have a handful of entries so far into the STRIPERTHON contest would be an understatement. You mean not one of those cows beached during NJ bunker blitzes or Canal mackerel madness made its  way to us? Weird, but its definitely making us think about what to do in the future. It could be that fishing for our readers has been awful. That is not out of the realm of possibilities. I know that personally, besides few days in Cuttyhunk, this has been by far the worst spring ever for me. But then again, I am not a good barometer of what is going on this year as I had much less time to devote to beach than usual. However, when I did get out, I usually caught…nothing. Or very little. What, you expected me to be like some other fishing celebrities and give you “wink,wink, I had a great year…as always” speech? Sorry to disappoint but that is not my style. I get skunked as often as most others and this year it seems maybe more.

The lack of weakfish is putting a serious dent in my willingness to fight through mosquitoes on a warm ,muggy nights. Damn, when they say you don’t know what you have till you lose it, they are not kidding. I can still see it my head clearly: half ounce lead head with red Man’s eight inch jelly worm. Flip it twenty feet in the inlet, place the seven foot St Croix parallel to the water and twitch it. One ,two, BAM !  That unmistakable headshake, those burst of energy, those gorgeous colors illuminated by moonlight ! It was almost automatic too. I remember taking a  10 plus pound tide runner at noon, on a 99 degree day with hundreds of boats in the inlet.

And now? Those same rips give up an occasional three pound bluefish…on a good day.

Anyone else has a love affair with these fanged creatures?

 News Release

Coastal Conservation Association New York

PO Box 1118, West Babylon, NY 11704
www.ccany.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 18, 2011               CONTACT: Charles Witek, 1-800-201-FISH

CCA NY THANKS GOVERNOR, LEGISLATORS FOR PROHIBITING COMMERCIAL STRIPED BASS FISHERY IN THE HUDSON RIVER

CREDITS LEGISLATION TO ANGLERS WHO CARE ABOUT NEW YORK’S BASS FISHERY

West Babylon, NY—Coastal Conservation Association New York is taking this opportunity to thank New York’s Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, along with the members of New York’s Senate and Assembly, for enacting legislation which will protect New York’s spawning population of striped bass.  The legislation, which Governor Cuomo signed today, prevents any reopening of a commercial striped bass fishery on the Hudson River until at least 2015.  CCA’s special thanks goes not only to Governor Cuomo, but also to the sponsors of the bill, Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti and Senator Mark Grisanti.

“The Hudson has been closed to commercial striper fishing since the 1970s,” notes Scott Emslie, CCA NY’s State Chair and a resident of the Hudson Valley.  When the Chesapeake Bay stock collapsed in the late ‘70s, from the Hudson that were largely responsible for keeping striped bass fishing alive in the State of New York.  Today, as the Chesapeake stock is again decreasing in numbers, we are pleased to see New York adopt this legislation, which will help keep Hudson striped bass available to the angling public.”

CCA NY has been active in the effort to assure that commercial striped bass fishing will not return to the Hudson River, and has supported similar bills since the year 2000.  However, it recognizes that a lot of people worked for this new law.  “We’re very pleased that this bill has been signed by Governor Cuomo,” said Brian O’Keefe, Chair of CCA NY’s Government Relations Committee, “We certainly worked for its passage, but have to give the New York Coalition for Recreational Fishing the lion’s share of the credit.  No one worked harder to get the bill passed, and they deserve the thanks of New York’s anglers.”

While the bill doesn’t permanently prohibit commercial striped bass fishing on the Hudson River, it effectively protects the status quo, and assures that no effort to create a commercial bass fishery on the river can begin until after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has completed its next benchmark stock assessment. 

“Now, when people up and down the coast are complaining about a decline in the number of striped bass, New York has taken a strong stand against increased exploitation,” stated Bill Raab, President of CCA NY.  “New York has learned the lesson of the past, that the time to prevent a fisheries problem is before it occurs.  When Governor Cuomo signed this bill into law, he assured that no commercial fishery would be created in the second-largest striped bass nursery on the East Coast, at a time when the population in the largest producer area is not doing well.  It was simply the right thing to do.” ###

The stated purpose of CCA is to advise and educate the public on conservation of marine resources. The objective of CCA is to conserve, promote and enhance the present and future availability of these coastal resources for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public

Note: the volume of the video clip was increased so you can hear it..the actual noise level is much lower…..
One of the best things about  jumping into the Adriatic Sea is that the water is crystal clear. My son helped me with doing some short video clips. Unfortunately we only brought few lures with us. To be honest, the few lures that we brought dwarfed most fish we’ve seen and the only reason I brought them was to maybe do some underwater stuff.

Looking at one clip, something jumped at me. I never really gave much thought about how loud the rattle might be in the lures that have them. I am primarily talking about Guides Choice Bunka Boy because that is the of the four lures we brought with us.

The rattle is quite loud…I cranked up the volume on the underwater clip and I hope you guys can hear it.

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

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Of course, as its custom here at the blog, we will give you a chance to win one of these lures, courtesy of Guides Choice lures. You can see their entire line of lures at www.guideschoicetackle.com

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Figs NOT included 🙂

They said that good things come to those who wait. I hope so, because I have a  crater in front of my house which National Grid made 2 months ago instaling a gas line, only to hit Town of Hempstead line. They been arguing over who will fix it for two fing months! Not only that ,they never brought gas to my house but I have nowhere to park my truck. I hope good things do come….

On the good news front the new book by a person who is singlehandedly responsible for my fishing disease, the man whose books, Surf Fishing with Experts and Secrets of Surf Fishing at Night got me all wound up on surfcasting, William “Doc” Muller, is printed.

It should be in stores over next week or two. First batch of books went out to Saltwater Edge, Fisherman’s Line, Surfland and Long Island Outdoorsman today. Other stores are getting their complimentary copies and info as we speak as is Amazon. If you store doesn’t have it in the next week or so, ask them to contact me.

This Saturday Doc will be signing the books for all those that reserved signed copies. It’s a one shot deal for SJ Blog readers. After that the only way to get a signed copy will be at winter shows. How can you get one?

follow this link Signed books preorder

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 or email me at zhromin@optonline.net. All the preorders should be in the mail on Monday.

This is quite an undertaking by Doc. I wrote few books myself so I feel I have a pretty good idea of how much heart someone Continue reading →

I think this rainy Sunday deserves a special contest…this is the first morning I managed to sleep past 3 AM so yeah, I am feeling good. We will give you a chance to win something that you haven’t seen before.

These lures or “baits” as some would called them are from the company called Ace Baits, originaly from UK. They are 5 and 6 inch models and each one has slightly different retrieve method.

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How about I pick my favorite picture of this issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine and you take one guess what that is. The first person to guess the right page picture is located wind these three lures.

Here is the magazine for your convenience
[issuu layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml showflipbtn=true documentid=110704170349-2827722793ce4c5687818e2c7e8e25fa docname=issue_8 username=SURFCASTERS_JOURNAL loadinginfotext=surfcaster’s%20journal%20issue%208 width=600 height=232 unit=px]

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In other news, I found a box with a new Penn Torque Spinning reel after arriving from the airport this week. It was not meant for me but instead for the Greg T. the winner of our last year Striperthon contest. Yeah, it took a long time to get this puppy to the market and Greg elected to wait for the bailess version instead of taking the bailed model offered by Penn. So I opened the box, took few shots and a quick video and shipped it to Greg the same day. I figured you guys would want to see it

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx7-4WbcMHE[/youtube]

It’s nice to be back on US soil. After awhile you start to get queasy by all the anti-American sentiment abroad…and I am talking Europe. Amazing how far has the pendulum swung. When I was a kid I thought the US was the land and honey. I still do. But people in Europe have definitely changed their tune. Maybe we should send them another few zillion dollars in “aid”…..lol
Kidding aside, those dudes have problem that might be worst then ours, not only financial but immigration, religious and others..

I think you will be happy to know that they still smell as bad as they did few decades ago…if not worse. Holy shit, everyone is wearing Kappa, Izod, Polo and other $100 shirts…couldn’t you find a buck to buy a deodorant?
One of the great mysteries of life

I see that we have a new world record striper. As I predicted few weeks ago the naysayers are out in droves. I really have no opinion on it. It’s cool if its certified but I think it’s not going to last. I can see records falling more than once in next few years. I hope one of you gets a shot at it? Me? Everyone knows all I do is catch schoolies. And that is cool, someone has to play with them, otherwise they will feel neglected.

I did wish I took few more plugs with me. No, not to fish. Most of the fish I have seen and caught were smaller then plugs we used. But that crystal clear water is great for some underwater video footage.

After getting over jetlag(or so I thought) yesterday I went to bed last night at 9 only to wake up at 3 AM.WTF? So I did what any of you would do, grabbed my 7 foot St Croix Legend, three 1/2 ounce bucktails and went to the inlet, looking for weakfish. First cast ,wham!
Could it be? I haven’t seen a weakfish in three years now…but it wasn’t meant to be. Only a feisty bluefish. Do I really have to fill you on the rest after catching a fish on a first cast? Yup, not a bite if you don’t count 68 mosquito bites and one banged up knee on the rock as I tried to get away from them on the inlet rocks in flip flops…again. Hey, I am a slow learner.
Good to be back….

Is…. Capt’n Bob.       Thanks everyone for the kind words.

We here at the journal are nothing without our Boys (and Girls) on the beach.

Bob Email me your address and we will put this puppy in the Mail for you.

Tommy@surfcastersjournal.com

To enter …Tell us your favorite issue of SJ and why. Write as much or as little as you like. Winner will be picked on Wed.

-Tommy

Took all the fine folks who picked page 90 and fed their names into the surfcaster’s journal z-2000 super processor

with sealed drag.

The Winner is Pistol Pete!

Congrats Homie.

Email Tommy@surfcastersjournal.com with name of your correctional facility and inmate number.

Thanks for playing everyone and stay tuned for this weekends RM Smith plug giveaway from the maximum security SJ vault.

-Tommy