I have to admit that I am a little surprised at lack of entries for the  Fall Striperthon. I have not been actively fishing this fall as I am preparing for NYC Marathon and I found out early on I cant do both. (If someone is curious  about why and what am I doing here is the link , warning its not fishing related http://act.autismspeaks.org/site/TR?px=4722477&fr_id=3831&pg=personal )

Having said that, my friends are having hard time getting few even “keeper” sized fish regardless if they are in MA or NJ. To some of you who are younger, I would offer the advice to fight for what you believe in when it comes to striped bass conservation. A lot has changed in the society since we fought for striped bass on the verge of collapse many years ago. What it hasn’t changed is the attitude of commercial and for hire sectors who still think that ocean is a bottomless pit God put on this Earth so they can pay their bills and vacation in FL in the winter. Yeah, they are some very good eggs in that business, but most are rotten to the core, and would kill a last fish in the ocean to make a buck that day.

But this post is not about that, although I felt I had to mention it. This is about congratulating the winner  Jared Clairmont  on winning Fall STRIPERTHON 2018 with 43″/29lb striped bass

Congrats Jared..you got some stuff coming your way

Thanks to all the sponsors for making it possible Guppy, Super Strike and TrailHead deflators

official leader as of noon Saturday 43″

Jared Clairmont

Here is your official Fall Striperthon tag that must be included in every fish submission picture

Remember, One Winner takes all AND you MUST have an active subscription as of start of the contest

Best of Luck to all

A little delayed but well worth the wait

This weather this weekend is definitely jump starting the fall run in few places. Will it continue after this front passes is anyones guess but its nice to hear about “ fall like” fishing in few places along the coast. Let hope that it gets better from here

For those what are looking to increase their knowledge, ust shop or shot shit with fellow surfcasters , this Wednesday The Fisherman Surf Show in a familiar place in the Huntington Hilton might be just an event. Looks like its going to be extremely well represented with manufactures, guides, tackle shops and seminar speakers. SJ will be there so stop by the table and say hi, or renew your subscription and pick up a new shirt

We’ve had free prizes left from SJ Spring Striperthon 2018 so we decided to make it winner takes all weekend tournament in the last weekend of September

Fall Striperthon 2018 will take place Sept 28-30 and you can get all the info by clicking on this link

FALL STRIPERTHON 2018

One lucky angler will walk away with all the prizes in this picture

and here is The Fisherman flier for this Wednesday

The crew from The Fisherman magazine wanted us to let you know about the upcoming show

THE FISHERMAN SURF/inshore FISHING SHOW

The Fisherman’s Surf/Inshore Fishing Show and Seminar is slated for Wednesday evening, September 12, at the Huntington Hilton (quarter mile south of the LIE on Route 110). More than 80 surf and inshore related tackle manufacturers and retailers will be represented, with many of the best tackle shops and tackle vendors from the region offering great deals to help get you prepared for the fall season.    

The first 600 attendees will go home with goody bags made up of an assortment of tackle items from Super Strike, Spro, Otter Tails, Yo-Zuri, KastKing, Fat Cow, Eagle Claw, Tsunami, Blue Frog, Berkley, Owner and Tactical Angler. Every attendee receives a free chance to a raffle featuring great surf fishing related prizes, including rods, reels and surf fishing accessories from manufacturers like Van Staal, Penn, Tsunami, St. Croix, Lamiglas, Century, Star Rods, Daiwa, Korkers, Shimano, AquaSkinz, Gear Up and many others.

This year’s seminar series features an impressive array of surf and inshore fishing experts, including “Crazy Alberto” Knie on Surf Fishing Strategies, veteran surf guide Bill Wetzel on Matching Plugs and Baitfish, Al Gags of Al Gags Lures on delivering lightweight plastics and streamers with an egg rig, Matt Broderick, one of the sport’s hard fishing young guns on Fishing South Shore Inlets. Covering the inshore scene will be Capt. John Paduano on Snap Jigging And Gulping For Sea Bass and Porgies, Capt. John Raguso on Fall Wreck Fishing, and Capt. Paul Rippenger on Blackfish Tactics, while Paul McCain of River Bay Outfitters will cover Flyrodding Back Bay Stripers From Boat and Bank. You will also be able to pick the brains of experts like Ralph “The Tin Man” Votta of West End Tackle, LIBBA members who can fill you in on what you need to know for safe and responsible beach driving and permit information, Capt. Kayak on rigging out your kayak, Steve Petri of Bob’s Bait & Tackle on rod building, and Bill “Big Fischer Plugs” Fischer on fishing big plugs in the surf.

This is a great opportunity to stock up on your favorite lures and rigs, and any accessories you’ll need to get you through the fall action. You can also sharpen your surf and inshore fishing skills by sitting in on seminars presented by the region’s best anglers, and get a first look at the latest tackle unveiled at this year’s ICAST Show in Orlando. Show doors open at 6 p.m. and the presentations get underway at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children 16 and under. For more information, call 631-345-5200.

some thought on surf belts

Very interesting new stuff from Korkers

Not sure how many of you have seen this (i just returned from Croatia last night) but this is very, very interesting

I know there is a certain aversion to eating what some consider either bait or “garbage fish”. That last term bothers me to no end, you know why, because you get people who feels their dogs are on par with humans but they are stubbing their nose on fish because it might be to “ugly” for their taste. Not sure who died and make them God, but I have no such preconceived notions. Neither do i feel a deer is any more “cute” than a cow. They are all God’s creatures and should be respected equally.

Seeing dogfish and skates left to rot in sun by surfcasters particularly gets under my skin, probably because I grew up fishing for them as a child and eating them as often as I could.

That is just my little rant about respecting life in any form but not the 
“meat” of todays blog post. I’ve eaten skate (and dogfish) in “brodetto” all my life, made by my late grandfather. It was  an Italian style fish stew, where my grandpa would simply skin the skate and cooked the meat in large chunks. The way you ate it was to grab a piece with your hands and put it in your mouth and all that would be left in your hand was a cartilage as the skate has no bones.

Of course as I came in America I got shamed into not considering those species “edible” . Lets be real, other than few high end chefs , no one ever recommended skate to me (or you) or even brought it up in conversation when it came to food. Part of me was literally embarrassed that i ate the damn thing. Like I was a savage of some kind.

Funny thing happened. I stopped giving fuck what other people think awhile ago.I even had a pizza few weeks ago that did not taste like something I’d rather feed to livestock (thanks Chef Brian, that was insanely good pizza)  I still get a  funky stares when it comes up that I ran a half marathon few weeks ago, or that i dropped enough $ at Ralph Lauren last week Ralph called me personally to thank me for a donation…lol..life it too short, live it to its fullest if you can

I also got into cooking with a lot more purpose last few years. I no longer eat processed food and some of the dishes I’ve created for my family have been well received . So its not surprising when I saw this in a seafood store i said wtf not ? For $5 i can have globs of filets and if they suck, I am out of what ,$5?

Since that day I keep coming back to that store every few weeks and buying more skate wings. My wife was at first “are you sure this shit is good to eat at $1.99 a pound, This they find it on a street?”

Now she is “can we please have more!”

I tried it stuffed with spinach, crabmeat, fried in breadcrumbs but  think my favorite is pan frying in brown butter and splash of lemon just before plating. If you have not tried it, I urge you to try. You might not like the texture or taste ( taste is very mild ) but with the price being what it is, you really cant go wrong. Sure beats $20+for pound of bass

Life should be delicious

here is a 15 minute video we have done with Chef Andrew 7 years ago !!!

I had a pleasure of spending a day fishing with people from SPRO recently, where they showed us some new stuff they have coming. Primarily for the surfcasters, new SPRO Power Bucktails and Prime Snap. I think both of these things are going to be very popular but  you judge it for yourself