Who Speaks for the Striped Bass?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by zhromin — 42 comments

I told you few years ago that we are going downhill fast with the striped bass but many said “yawn”. Last year was my worst year in surf ever but it was awesome compared to this year. Shit, if this keep up I will be doing fluke and sea robin fishing only in a year or two.

Let’s see, who is too blame? Hmm, there is always someone to blame, right? Seals? Hurricane Sandy? Sand Eels? Pollution? Commercial dudes? Haul seiners? For hire boats? Recreational boaters? Poachers?

I am sure all those things have had influence but the major reason is right there in front of you. Take a look at the reflection on your PC screen. Yup, we are the problem and no I don’t mean the blog readers literally. I mean “recreational anglers”. I know most of you are more conservation minded than most but recreational fisherman kill too many fish.

Everyone wants to blame someone. No one wants to do a damned thing to make it better. Wait, is this a political speech? I could but I’ll spare you my political leanings. Commercial folks get the most blame but they are only what, 10 or 15% of all catches? 137777

Yeah, it would help if we reduce their take because unlike them, we release our fish and give them chance to at least recover. Once they put a tag in their mouth, their life line just went……………

Haul seine or should we call them gill net seine?

[youtube]http://youtu.be/YkAli4LrDoU[/youtube]

The only reason I put this video up was because it was remarkable how LITTLE fish they are catching these days compared to years ago. It appears what they are doing is legal although if you are going to be a stickler for details..they are not doing the tagging legally. According to NY State commercial striped bass law they must tag each fish before they tend to another. This goes for all forms of commercial fishing. Kind of impractical but that is the law on books.

17) A striped bass commercial permittee who takes and possesses a striped bass of legal commercial slot size shall immediately attach and securely lock into place through the mouth and gill a numbered strap tag issued by the Department immediately after removing said striped bass from their gear and prior to attending another piece of gear. All striped bass not of legal commercial slot size shall be returned to the water immediately without unnecessary injury. Possession of striped bass not tagged as required by this subdivision is prohibited

The “recreational” for hire fleet?

Ok, most of you want to sink every party and charter boat in sight when you see pictures like these, right?

But wait a minute. The party and charter boats, the ones that specialize in striped bass trips have been struggling all year. They been “mix bag fishing” targeting bluefish and weakfish because they can’t find bass in the bay. Why not? Because with all the clam chumming, bridge fishing, eel drifting, they and private boaters HAVE ALREADY wiped out the resident population. Why do you think mullet run is exactly what it sounds. MULLET RUN but nothing but MULLET. Because we killed all their predators. Come fish with me, I can guarantee you a skunk in every hole in Jones Inlet that has produced for me last ten years. Every single one, did not hold a resident fish in last two years. School of bass are getting smaller and smaller. Years ago we used to have a good action from Montauk to Brooklyn at same time. Now you have to find ONE beach where fishing is decent. And the rest? Dead sea. Why do you think Brooklyn boats are running to FIRE ISLAND to catch bass? And now NJ boats too? Because they like the scenic ride or because they have no fish locally?

So pictures like these get really under your skin, right?

But lets examine who are these folks on these boats. Are they poachers, commercial pin hookers, prison escapees? NO. They are your father and grandfather, you local retires and disabled veterans. They are people who love fishing and can’t afford a boat or cant withstand the rigors of surf fishing. Can you really blame them, after a whole year of sucking wind on these party boats that they took their limits? Really?

And what about the captains? There are few that really do care, primarily the ones that specialize in fly fishing. But most can give a rats ass about you, the fish or environment. It’s a business and once they wipe one species out they will move to the next one. Change the boat sign from bass to blues to fluke and keep sailing. When everything fails, they will sell their boat and wave you goodbye…with a middle finger way up.

And yesterday we found some of them are fishing illegally in EEZ. You think captain tells his fares ” Folks, this is not legal but no one is watching so gaff away”? I doubt it. If they are doing what they are alleging, they crossed the line of ethics and morality. As far as I am concerned criminal charges should be forthcoming if this is proves to be true. But this is America, innocent until proven guilty.

What about all those giant bass killed by the private and charter boats off NY and NJ last 6 years that were feasting on bunker? Wait, what about all the SURFCASTERS in NJ that were hoisting giant dead fish for pictures EVERY DAY and now they are all over the internet complaining about the lack of fish or that party boats are killing too many fish? How is that for hypocrisy among our ranks? Last two years there were PLENTY of bunker from Jersey to New York. You know what was on them? Sharks, whales, dolphins. Bass? What’s a bass? For hire dude don’t give a crap, he’ll take tourist on a whale watch. Money is money

Oh, you think Jersey guys did bad? Ha-ha. Go to Cape Cod Canal around Memorial day and watch the carnage. Trucks, bicycles full of striped bass. Fish being dragged on the streets, trough the grass as if no one ever ate one. To be fair, people in MA have a very different view on commercial fisheries. I believe all you need is a $100 permit and you too can be a pin hooker and sell you bass in season. Even nonresident. But they will come around. Their season was the worst in long time too.

You didn’t think I was going to leave Montauk blitz chasers out of the equation, did you? There are more bass killed after a good Montauk white bait blitz then a pin hooker kills in a year! A year!!!

And then our beloved striped bass go to winter over in VA waters where they get absolutely slaughtered by hook, line and net. Have you ever seen this video? It’s enough to make you sick to your stomach.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/X51MKCrn9RE[/youtube]

So we kick and scream, yet our brothers and friends were slaughtering these same schools few weeks ago on for-hire AND private boats off Montauk and along Long Island shore. Kind of Ironic right?

You got organizations that claim to represent commercial sector, tackle trade, surfcasters, boat guys but who REPRESENTS THE STRIPERS?

Truth is , there is only Stripers Forever. They are the only organization that I am aware which puts the health of the species ahead of consumption, recreation and money. And they want only one thing ..gamefish status for the striped bass.

How in the world do we fix this? This mumbo jumbo of each state having is own regulations. How the hell is possible that we can regulate one species different in every state, when the same species is a migratory animal? Even worst, who came up with a law that you must release a 27 inch striper in Little Neck Bay in the name of “conservation” only to be legally harvested at George Washington Bridge later in the day, in the same state, few miles away? Or that a fish that swims from one state to another, can be eaten in one and not in another?

Did the same jackass made these rules as the one that told us years ago that because of PCB we should not eat fish caught west of Smith Point (or something like that)? And yet as soon as the fish went a hundred yards on the other side of Smith’s Point Park it was a fine meal? Fish “magically ” became a good for human consumption. Are we cretins?

I think that striped bass are too valuable of species to be caught commercially. I never felt like that before, but now I do. I come from a family of pin hookers in Europe and many of you know that I have a great deal of respect for anyone who makes their living as a fisherman. People will say doesn’t everyone has a right to buy a striped bass to eat? Doesn’t guy in Kalamazoo has the same right to striped bass consumption as we do in places where stripers roam? Yeah…but

Let me answer that like this. Have you ever heard of commercial fishing in freshwater? Why was that outlawed? For the benefit of the PUBLIC? Hmmm, that is a novel concept, PUBLIC BEFORE SPECIAL INTEREST. I truly believe that making striped bass a gamefish is the only thing that can make this species thrive. It would still be managed by ASMFC, you would still have seasons and limits but the fish could not be commercially sold. No different than snook in Florida. Why do they realize the value of a snook as a fish as gamefish and we cannot? But I think before we get to that, we will have to put the brakes on what is going on today.

Let me ask you a question. Look in the mirror. Do you feel like an inferior man? Do you think that your value as a provider, as a protector of your family future is lower than another man’s? Does the fact that you don’t own a boat makes you a second class citizen?

I don’t think so. I work my ass off to provide for my family from 4 AM when I get up to go to the construction site, till 10PM when I am often working on SJ related stuff at home.

Then explain to me how does your brother, uncle, father, friend, gets on a for-hire boat and gets to keep twice as many fish as you do? Are the charter boat captains and party boat captains anointed by God as special people? Do their kids deserve a bigger meal at the God’s table then yours? Since these dudes are considered “recreational” fisherman and are responsible for killing more bigger striped bass that any other sector of this fishery, I think it’s only fair that you personally make any and all efforts you possibly can to make sure that anglers that fish on the for-hire boats get same allotment as you do in the future. And that they never, ever pull the wool over your eyes and get you to agree that their customers are more deserved of the bounty of the sea than you are.

What, did you mother found you on the street? I didn’t think so

In fact, I think it would be wise to ask NY DEC over the winter for your fish back. Which fish? The one that belonged to you, us , everyone and DEC decided to give it to for-hire sector as an “extra”.

The more I think about this, the more I get enraged. Not so much of commercial guys although there is no love lost there. But you got to admit that most striped bass “commercial” guys in our part are weekend angling pin-hookers who fill their tags and they are done killing. I actually believe that they care more about stocks than for hire fleet. Most of them only fish for striped bass and I feel they actually do care about the stocks future. The for hire fleet, with exception of many conservation mind captains, particularly fly fishing specialists, don’t care what they are fishing for as long as the boat is booked they will go out to catch skates. And they will make as many trips a day as they are fares lined up. And I can’t really blame them for what they are doing from a business perspective. They are trying to maximize profits. What I do blame them for lobbying to be able to keep more than anyone else. But then again, they are in for the money.

Let’s be honest, whoever is the first dude that came up with the idea of allocation for-hire fleet to double what every man, women and child in this state is entitled to, is a genius. Think about this. He took PUBLIC resource and sold it to his fares as “extra” fish. We got sold a bag of shit by our NY representatives on local levels who promised us that they will be a stewards of our, PUBLIC resources. But instead they sold us to the highest bidder.

striped bass is too valuable of a fish to our towns, to the tackle stores and manufactures, to our hotels that cater to fisherman and to slew of other related businesses that thrive because of the striped bass. The dollars spent on catching the striped bass by anglers dwarfs that of the commercial sales of the striped bass.

I think it’s for all of us that care about the stripers, and their future, to look into the mirror and ask yourself “Am I doing something about it”?

Other than bitching on online forums, that. Which counts only in getting you your internet keyboard cred. But while you type your very eloquent and quite humorous replies, another school of stripers has been slaughtered at sea.

There is not a darn thing you can do about what’s going on today but you can, you should and you must do something about tomorrow.

The ASMFC meeting in taking place next Tuesday. I urge you, ask you and beg you to click on this link http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/commissioners , find your state commissioners and send an email to each one asking them do reduce fishing mortality . That is it. This is not a time for gamefish, bag limits and slot size talk. We’ll get to allocation of who gets to keep how many fish once we know what they decided. But right now, today, we need them to REDUCE MORTALITY so we ALL stop killing too many striped bass. You can include a brief explanation of how your fishing has been affected and keep it brief and respectful.

But DO SOMETHING. Is the fish that was part some of the greatest days of your life worth a five minutes of your time?

Only you can answer that question.

http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/commissioners

The striped bass management plan should be consistent with the best scientific advice available. Thus, ASMFC should adopt a new addendum to the management plan that reduces fishing mortality to the level recommended in the new benchmark stock assessment, and also adopts the new, lower overfishing threshold recommended in the assessment.

Things just don’t look good for striped bass right now

Posted on October 21, 2013 by zhromin — 33 comments

This was original published on October 21 at reeltime.com. Here is a link to original article

http://www.reel-time.com/articles/conservation/continue-road/

Zeno

And We Continue Down That Road

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Capt. John McMurray Charter Captain — No Comments ↓

Things just don’t look good for striped bass right now

Man… Epic fishing the last three days. There are a ton of sandeels in “that spot” that remained a secret for, I don’t know, maybe 5 minutes before the word got out… and there were lots of big bass on them. I don’t think we caught one under 30-inches in the last three days. Most were in the twenty to thirty pound class. And it was almost all surface feeding fish, boiling and smashing sandeels for acres…. in the middle of the day! But get this… there was chatter on the radio about bluefin in 70 to 80’ of water. So, of course I took the ride, way past the three mile state-water limit, because I’m a full-on tuna addict. We got to a spot at that water depth. There were some birds and a bunch of boats set up, including a handful of party boats. We dropped some tuna jigs down and were on pretty quickly. Unfortunately, they weren’t tuna. We released a striper that looked well north of 50lbs at the boat and one around 30. Probably the largest striper my boat has ever seen. Because we were in federal waters (EEZ – Exclusive Economic Zone), we were not supposed to be landing or even targeting striped bass. I imagine readers of this column already know this, but in the unlikely case they don’t, fishing for striped bass in the EEZ is prohibited, and it should be as it’s really the last sanctuary they have…. assuming it is effectively enforced. In some areas it is (see Justice Department press release). Unfortunately in our area it isn’t. Never really has been, and it likely never will be. It’s just not an enforcement priority.

So yes, all those boats out there (and there were a lot) were targeting and keeping striped bass. In fact I saw a few very large fish come to the gaff in those boats before I left in search of elusive bluefin. As mentioned, included in the fleet were those party boats who are boldly advertising “limiting out” every day on the various internet forums. Unfortunately, such fishing in the EEZ is not unique to this year, nor is it unique to this area. Each year we have a brief but good run of big fish in late April/early May outside of Lower New York Harbor, often in that same 50 to 90’ depth. Because it’s usually the only game in town every single party boat from central Long Island to Central New Jersey is on them. And yes, it’s generally well outside of the 3-mile limit, most of the time in the old Ambrose Light Area. And they are all advertising limiting-out as well. But let’s not put the entire onus on party boats. There are lots more private boats out there knocking the crap out of these fish also. However irritating this is, I don’t want to focus on all the illegal EEZ fishing in this blog, because it’s just a small part of what is a much larger problem. But the point is, striped bass, which are becoming more and more contracted/concentrated as they decline, and more and more susceptible, have literally no sanctuary anymore.

Moving on, I’m certainly not going to harp on what’s been a precipitous decline of the striped bass population for the last several years. I’ve done it too many times in other blogs, and I have a feeling readers of this blog already know it all too well, more than likely from experience on the water, rather than from my incessant griping about it. But I will note again that because of the bouts of good fishing I described above, it’s hard to convince managers that this is indeed a serious situation that requires management action now, rather than when they finally figure out that overfishing is occurring and/or that the stock is overfished. As I’ve mentioned before, managers don’t have the perspective we have, and most just don’t spend the time on the water we do.

So yes, I’ve had some of the best days of striped bass fishing in my life in the last three years. Days where I’ve seen more 40s and 50s in the space of a day or two than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The above described fishing is a good example of that. But while such concentrations of fish are intense, they are restricted to very specific areas, and they are generally short lived. And that makes sense given all the good year-classes we had in the nineties and even early two-thousands and the poor to average ones we’ve had during the last 8 years (with the anomalous exception of 2011 of course). As we fish on these larger older fish, they get fewer and fewer, and show up in fewer places along the coast, but when they show up, boy do they show up. And herein lies the problem, and why we will likely see an accelerated slide.

Years ago, when such bait concentrations occurred and stripers got on them, it was generally an island-wide event. In the “good-old-days” in Oct we’d have solid fishing from Montauk to Sandy Hook, NJ. In other words there was a wide distribution of fish, like there should be when you have a healthy population. Now, because the stock has contracted (note, this is not anecdotal, a peer-reviewed stock assessment has confirmed a sharp decline since 2006), what we have are exactly these sorts of short but intense slugs of fish showing at very specific areas. And here’s what really sucks about that. Because of the internet, smart-phones etc., when such good fishing does occur, the word gets out so quick that every freak’n boat in the region is on them the very next day, if not that afternoon. And they are all “limiting-out” (I hate that phrase!) every single day, especially the party boats, who often take in excess of 100 fares and run more than one trip a day. Because we’ve had 8 years of average to below average young-of-the-year indices, we really just don’t have much in the way of schoolies anymore. So when these bodies of fish do show, they are pretty much all keepers, and most people feel entitled to keep their two per person.

Unfortunately, those of us who thrive on releasing most of the stripers we catch are without-a-doubt a minority. For a long time the catch-and-release thing seemed like it was catching on/growing. But it stalled once stripers got a bit more difficult to find. I’d even argue that the catch and release crowd has shrunk during the last few years, for reasons of which I’m not quite sure. What’s really irritating is that there are plenty of boneheads out there who refer to such anglers as “elitists” for not wanting to kill every darn keeper they catch. You tell me how having some foresight, or simply wanting these fish to be around so that our kids might be able to catch a few is “elitist”!?

At any rate, the point here is that we are putting an awful hurting on those fish up and down the coast when they do show like this. If you want to get angry and subsequently depressed, just take a look at any of the online forums/fish reports. Lots of photos of dead bloodied fish, piles of dead stripers etc. So many short-sighted folks out there bragging about “limiting out”. And the party boats are doing their best to advertise such “limiting out”, so they can fill their boats, and take people out again to beat the crap out of these fish before they move on to the next region where they will likely get hammered. It’s a real bummer. Makes me want to drink.

I usually try and end these blogs on an upbeat note. Like there IS something we can do. But in this case, I’m not sure there is anything. We now just have to wait and see what the ASMFC does at the meeting later this month (note: for more information see CCA MD HAS IT RIGHT ON STRIPED BASS blog). I really do hope that they vote to make a substantial reduction in fishing mortality, although judging by what I’m hearing from some of the managers themselves, I suspect they will “compromise” with something much less than what is required. I don’t think they will balk and do nothing. I also don’t think we get what this fishery really needs to stem the decline which is somewhere around a 50% reduction in mortality.

For God’s sake please don’t respond to this blog with more talk about gamefish and slot-limits. This is NOT the solution and was already covered in this blog: THE STRAIGHT DOPE ON STRIPED BASS. All we need is for significant number of managers at ASMFC to realize the importance of a significant reduction in mortality, now, before we find ourselves in a really bad situation with these fish.

Striped bass are so darn important to me and a huge constituency of anglers. For a long time they defined who I was, and to a large extent they still do. I not only built a business on striped bass, I built a lifestyle. And over the years, I have developed a profound respect for the animal. It’s so darn frustrating and infuriating to see managers sit there with their thumbs up their rears, and it’s equally maddening to see all those gaffed fish coming over the rails, all the photos of dead fish, all the bragging, and virtually no acknowledgement of the deteriorating situation.

Regarding this recent slug of fish off of Fire Island, keep in mind that it’s only been going on for a few days. Assuming these fish stick around, (this may sound funny, but I do hope they move on) this weekend will be an absolute slaughter while these fish are so vulnerable. And that really stinks. The reality though is that I don’t blame those folks killing fish, at least those killing fish legally. They are just doing what managers have allowed. It’s the weak-spine managers that are really at fault. How could they not know what the right thing to do is? It’s become so obvious.

I can’t help but sit here and feel completely helpless about it all. I would love to be able to say that we’re gonna go in to the next ASMFC meeting, guns blazing, and change things. But having been involved in the management world, I’m jaded enough to realize that this simply isn’t the way the system works (it certainly doesn’t help that the October meeting is in St. Simons Island, Georgia). Change can and does come, but it’s a slow process. It certainly doesn’t happen quickly and managers certainly aren’t swayed by yelling and screaming at public meetings. But I can say with some confidence, they have indeed gotten the message that a large portion of the recreational fishing community wants precautionary action on striped bass. And while many, perhaps most, will choose not to represent those concerns, others will.

The striped bass situation will likely get considerably worse before it gets any better. History has been pretty clear that ASMFC doesn’t take significant action until the situation is quite dire, and there’s no reason to believe it will be any different here. What’s really unfortunate is that managers are probably looking at such fishing reports off of Fire Island and thinking “there are plenty of fish around, the stock is fine”.

Yet, it’s not all gloom and doom. I don’t think we’re stupid enough to allow another crash like we saw in the early 80’s, and while history does tend to repeat itself, striped bass has developed a constituency of zealous advocates. Nothing generates more passion from fishermen than striped bass. When push comes to shove, we will rally. For that reason alone I have hope.

The ASMFC annual meeting starts Oct 28^th. There is still plenty of time to contact your state Commissioners and let them know how you feel about striped bass. The stock needs a clear and significant reduction in fishing mortality (Again, for God’s sake don’t mention gamefish or slot limits or it likely won’t get read). Managers just need to have the balls to push something close to a 50% reduction through. You can help: http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/commissioners. Please, take five minutes to write.

Editors Note

I am pleading with all SJ Blog readers to click on above link and contact your ASMFC commissioners and share your feeling before next weeks meeting

Zeno

STRIPERTHON 2013 results

Posted on October 20, 2013 by zhromin — 22 comments

Looks like STRIPERTHON 2013 went without a hitch this year. We are hoping to expand the format next year. Some of our sponsors like Guppy Lures and Pelican for example, wanted to help out with prizes but we purposely decided to make this small after last years, shall we say, challenging experience.

There were enough fish landed to be excited but as you can see, even although we have some of the sharpest minds in the surf fishing world reading the Surfcaster’s Journal, catching a fish this season has been difficult for them too. We fished with many of the sharpies over the weekend and the cry was the same, terrible season from coast to coast. They say that you should not count your chickens before they hatch so I think we should wait to see what NJ will experience this fall. The hope is that sand eels will draw bass in crazy numbers like few years ago. I can show you sand ells up to ying-yang on Long Island for a month now and sadly the only thing eating them tiny blues…and seals

But back to celebrating accomplishments of our readers, there will be plenty of time to reflect on our season at a later date. Right now I would like to thank our sponsors for making STRIPERTHON 2013 possible. Without them and their continued support we would have never been able to move out of our grandma’s basement and into the executive SJ offices at Trump Tower. Ha-ha…hey a man can dream. So thank to ZeeBaaS Reels, a reel makers whose conservation ethics are as strong as ours. Same could be said for Super Stake Lures, St Croix Rods and folks from Hansom Tackle.

Thank You all

Here is your list of winners. Each winner please contact us with your shipping address and we will forward it to our sponsors for a fulfillment. Thank you again for your participation and go get them..there is still a lot of fishing to be done

1st ZeeBaaS Reel Jake Naso 38 inch

2nd St Croix Rod Carlos Casas 37 inch

3rd Hansom Tackle Knife/Pliers/Heath pack Sean Kearney 37 inch

4th Super Strike Lures set Frank Concalves 37 inch

5th SJ gear Michael Thornton 36 inch

Leader board

Posted on October 19, 2013 by zhromin — 3 comments

In case you are wondering what is the best way to take a picture for your STRIPERTHON entry take a look at this submission by Ryan

Awesome clarity making my life sooooo much easier

photo-2

Leaderboard going into 5 pm deadline

Jake Naso 38 inch

Carlos Casas 37 inch

Sean Kearney 37 inch

Frank Concalves 37 inch

Michael Thorthon 36 inch fish

enjoy and good luck to all of you

STRIPERTHON TAG is on the blog

Posted on October 18, 2013 by zhromin — 4 comments

We have to apologize for our email servers crashing trying to send a STRIPERTHON TAG to all subscribers at once

if you did not get the TAG its right here on our blog

Again, our apologies for this slight delay

It never fails, even when you try to do something to raise awareness of importance of conservation and to promote catch and release, you still manage to screw things up. This was all on me. Never in my wildest dreams (Kate is usually front and center there) did I anticipated that half way tough sending 1600 emails the server would crash in middle of process. …Three times!
Leaving us clueless of who got the email with a TAG and who didn’t (and some of you got all three emails)
Again, my bad here. Kick me next time you see me. But its here on the blog now. Print it, download the graphic to your phone and go fishing.
I will be here when you get back. Popping Zantax..or was it Prozac?

after this snafu I might have to invest in some “protection”?

STRIPERTHON 2013 Countdown

Posted on October 17, 2013 by zhromin — 9 comments

I want to spend few moments today on the upcoming STRIPERTHON 2013, starting tomorrow at 5 PM. I hope you enjoy a little friendly competition. The rules , they really are simple so let’s go over some of them.

Use your measuring tape. I would suggest the bigger numbers are better. Do not put the tape on top of the fish. We will disqualify your entry immediately. Lay it alongside of fish.

Please do not keep fish out of the water for too long. And if you are alone, self shot of you and the fish is fine. Partial face/fish is ok too. Selfi for those of you cool kids are ok

Do not send any entries without SJ TAG being clearly visible in the picture. If we have to blow up picture in Photoshop to read numbers or tag, it’s getting disqualified.

You must be a subscriber at no later than 4pm this Friday to be eligible to compete. The TAG will be emailed to you at 5PM.

This is basically the gist of it. For complete rules go here

Please read them, we will not except any ” I was under the impression or I misunderstood ” explanations. You have a question, ask it here. Will we try to update the leader board over the weekend? Possibly but if we are away than you’ll have to wait till Sunday. We would like to fish too you see. Just because we try to do this so you boys can have fun that does not mean we can’t have a little fun, right?

One quick note, the winner on St Croix Avid surf rod will receive the model we used for testing purposes. It’s a almost new rod with barely a scratch on it. St Croix offered to send a new rod but I declined. Why not use this perfectly good almost new rod instead of St Croix spending hundreds more dollars and shipping on another? I know they are a big Co but their money don’t grow on trees either. Those boys work hard to. And I am anal when it comes to what I perceive “wasting” money. In my opinion that would be a waste. So now you are fully informed

here is a TAG

We had a problem with email system crashing so if you did not get a tag in the email here it is

Pulling Gill Nets from the beach video

Posted on October 16, 2013 by zhromin — 30 comments

I am writing a blog entry on the past weekend happenings during the strong northeast winds. But I don’t think I will post it this week, probably wait for next week. First we are getting ready for STRIPERTHON 2013 on Friday. And two, you got to let some time go by before gathering your thoughts. Yeah, I know the blow its over but it’s hard to believe how many people will chase yesterdays bite. And even harder to believe how many think that fishing Montauk is fishing from Clark’s Cove to the Kings. When Legendary Vito O says “I did the walk” it means he walked and walked and walked. Not that he went to Caswells. And please, enough of this silly “I was in Montauk and it sucked, I only seen two rats caught”. Montauk SUCKED royally in September and the early indications are that its back to being dismal again after this blow. But during the blow, if you fished the right spots, with nothing but bucktails, you could catch fish till your arms fall off. Or until your bad elbow blew up like a beach ball. I hope and pray that we get a little uptick in fishing because for me personally, this is the worst season I ever had to endure. Coming on the heels of an awful season last year. And catching few fish this weekend did nothing to change my opinion that striped bass stocks are in trouble. Because even with solid bite there should have been more fish in more places.

But I am usually not in the “right” place when I fish Montauk and I’ll explain that in my follow up post. I don’t hang in Kings because that is where I want to fish. I am in Kings because that is where my best photo opportunities are. There is where most people are. Or under the Bluffs on the north side.Simple as that. Without fresh pictures, SJ looks like any tired old fishing mag. And we are not about to let that happen, are we? 🙂

Anyway, let’s find who won that gorgeous Lemire’s Plugworks Calamari Popper.

The winner is joe m jmprop3@gmail.com

You have 5 days to send us your shipping information at info@surfcastersjournal.com. Check out the whole line of Lemire’s PlugWorks lures at http://www.lemiresplugworks.com/online-store.html

About two weeks ago , after we were done fishing for the night at the Napeague State Park in Montauk, NY we found these East Hampton Baymen pulling the Gill Nets from the beach. They set up shop about 20 feet west of the sign where the state park ends. I don’t believe they are allowed to do this on state property. Anyway, use of gill nets from the beach is supposedly (or I been told) perfectly legal. I don’t agree that it should be, but I always follow the letter of the law and have to accept it. If that is the case, than they are just working for $. Yes, we hate when something we consider so dear becomes just another slab of meat on the shelf of your seafood store, but until we make stripers a gamefish, this is what it is.

I am not sure about the green netting at the end. It’s a much thicker netting than the rest of the net which is thick monofilament. I believe you need to have a certain size “eye opening” in order for smaller fish to swim trough. Material is probably irrelevant too

However, to me the green net looks more like seine than gill net. Anyone with knowledge cares to chime in? Here is the video

[youtube]http://youtu.be/YkAli4LrDoU[/youtube]

Needlefish = sand eels= bass

Posted on October 14, 2013 by zhromin — 13 comments

I am short on time since I was running back and from Montauk for the last three days and I am operating on very little sleep. Friday was more or less a bust for me although I did managed a twenty pound plus in Caswells and half dozen more. But compared to what other people did, that was pretty poor.

Yesterday was a different story with easily over fifty stripers caught and released. But all in due time, right now my brain is fried, every muscle in my body hurts and my elbow feels like it’s going to fall out of the socket at any time

Do enjoy this video of John Skinner fishing this crazy water last few days.

Needlefish = sand eels= bass

[youtube]http://youtu.be/0ZjzOIHvl88[/youtube]

How to cast a Bail less spinning reel in the surf

Posted on October 9, 2013 by zhromin — 11 comments

You know, those of us that been fishing for awhile are sometimes little ignorant of the issues that those new to the sport might have. After all, some things like rigging eels, making leaders, tying hooks, that kind of stuff, we can do with our eyes closed.

Tie a knot or change a plug in the darkest of the night without a light? No problem.

But those new to the sport must be looking at us and saying, damn, I need to learn THAT. And yet, we think nothing of it.

I watched guys who started yesterday struggle with using a manual pick up on their reels (or bailles reels). I watch them use both hands to get a line on a roller, I watched them turn reel upside down, I’ve seen them struggle. And in the dark, I’ve seen some new casters totally fall apart because of their inability to put the line on the roller before that bucktail is buried into the rocks at Montauk.

When I was guiding for one season this was a common theme. I should have offered a casting lessons instead of fishing because some poor folks spent more time being stuck in the rocks than fishing. And yet they keep saying “I can do this, I am good”

You are not good. And admitting you have a problem is the first step in SJ Twelve Step Program in becoming a sharpie

It’s easy. I mean it, no joke, easy as pie BUT ONLY if you are really serious about learning how to do it right. No looking where your plug lands. No worries where the fish are.

Just two things. Cast like you always do and put your rod between your legs. Place one hand on reel handle. Stick your index finger out. Once the plug lands in water (remember you are not looking at it, you are listening to your line slowly down coming off the reel) you do two things but you do them at once

With one hand turn the handle, with index finger grab the line as the line will slap your finger as its coming off the spool. The line should get on your roller automatically. Obviously you will release the line as soon as you feel the reel pick up

Need a visual ?

It just happens we have it on a new video. We are happy to provide this service..lol

[youtube]http://youtu.be/SdO4fQwDIZk[/youtube]

Win a “Calamari” popper from Lemire’s Plugworks

Posted on October 7, 2013 by zhromin — 215 comments

A very special giveaway for our readers today, this stunning Calamari popper made by SJ supporter Lemire’s Plugworks. You can check out the whole line of their lures at http://www.lemiresplugworks.com/

In some ways, these lures look more like works of art than something you would cast into a ocean, but we know with certainty that Lemire’s Plugworks Master Builder, Al Lemire made them for you to catch fish on.

plus the dude has the most awesome videos produced by Mike Laptew

[youtube]http://youtu.be/TnM1vcZn368[/youtube]

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