Surf Fishing Tip of the Week # 35-Flat Spot Rod tip with Lou Caruso
the winner of the MEGA West End Tackle has been posted on the app. Please check the original blog thread to see if you are a winner
AND if you fancy any SJ gear use coupon code TENOFFSJ for 10% OFF entire order for next 48 hours
Coupon code is good until Thursday at 5 PM
I am sitting on cramped LIRR seat at 4 AM banging on the phone keyboard…what could possibly get under my skin to take such a drastic measures?
Something we have discussed many times over the years. Here is the thing, if it helps one person I’ll be happy. But the point of this blog post is more that we educate those new to the sport than to increase our catch.
We are in the middle of the fall run in northeast. You can blame water temp or lack of bait or reduced striped bass stocks or President Trump. But none of that will increase your catch. As of this writing this has probably been one of the worst seasons in general since moratorium in early 90’s where I fish. Obviously, people in Cape Cod Canal would disagree with me (and you). But then again so would have people fishing Block Island during the moratorium.
I think it’s obvious that striped bass stocks are not what they used to be. Less fish competing for food will result in less places they will venture in to get it. If you get to the restaurant and there is 2 hour wait, most likely you will leave and find another place to eat. It might not be as plentiful or delicious but it will do. Same goes for seals. Part of the reason they are spreading from Cape is because there are so many of them, they are going further away from the main group looking for food.
What does this have to do with the fall run? I thought you’d never ask!
In days of abundance you did not have to go anywhere. The fish were going to be at your beach as SOME point. There were so many of them, everyone had “resident” fish ( basically throughout the season) . What happened to most of these fish? Well, we ate most of them in my opinion!
So you went to your local beach and you knew that you can pick few residents, and when big migratory schools come down the beach in fall..…oh boy!
Some guys become fixtures on the beach, some even got nicknames like Shiny Bob or Jetty Steve or whatever. They could be counted to catch their share of fish because they were dialed into the place AND they were there every day. They never moved!
They are still there every day, the difference is they are not catching. In a lot of instances they are not caching anything, a huge difference from years past. And they still hammer their honey hole while saying how good water looks, how warm are temperatures, how all they need is bait.
Don’t be that guy!
Chances are fish will not come to your local beach at all this fall. If you hear of consistent action few miles away, go to it. Yes , I know it will kill the most guys to be THAT Guy that chases reports but I am telling you it’s the only way you might fulfill your need for a bent rod.
The striped bass schools are smaller and with less competition for food, they might feel less need or desire to feed in shallow water on the beach if they can instead stay in the deeper water.
Years ago we all “knew” there was a bite in Mtk for example, or few miles east or west but we never moved from our local spot. There was not need as we all had plenty of resident fish to keep us busy be that in NJ or RI.
Those rules in my humble opinion do not apply any longer. You will need to move and possibly even do stuff you are uncomfortable with, like fish inlets with Jetty jocks if you are a sand dude. And you might not like it, but you’ll have a fighting chance.
Game has changed, you have to adapt.
Some will rather not fish than move on to the places they are not comfortable of fishing in. I respect that. But most that want to catch fish will go where the fish are. And this will create even crazier crowded conditions than you are used to.
That will definitely be the worst part of this. (Of course, if you subscribe to the notion that there are plenty of fish…. they are just in deep water because the water is too warm, you just wasted your time reading this, my apologies)
Something different for a change…bait!
When I remember how many big fish we used to pull out on bait, I wonder why I ever got away from using it as much. Then last week i had 12 big sharks on 12 casts and I remembered!!! But at a right time, they can and will be your best option for a fish of a lifetime (regardless what Vito Orlando will tell you lol )
This week MEGA Giveaway comes to us courtesy of Ralph Votta and his West End Fishing Tackle Inc.
Most of you that have been fishing for a while know Ralph either though his seminars , or from the local beaches where he has been a fixture for a long time. Ralph is known as one of the most knowledgable experts when it comes to fishing metal lures and is an owner of West End Fishing Tackle. Below you can find a full 23 minute video we recorded in fall of last year with Ralph talking about tins. It has appeared originally in the January issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Online magazine at www.surfcastersjournal.com
And now for this week BIG giveaway
One winner will be chosen randomly by app next weekend and he or she will win ALL of these lures
To enter the giveaway please enter your email in the Giveaway app below
And here is full 23 minute – Surf fishing 101 Episode #26 – Ralph Votta on Fishing Tins
I hope you guys are having a great weekend and catching. Here is a new original video from SJ
Surf Fishing Tip of the Week # 33-First look ODM Surfwave Belt.
Myself along with our cameraman Andy (Scorcese) Kral got together on weekend to shot bunch of new videos for you including this one
in other exciting news …yesterday morning morning I found an old back up hard drive buried in basement I thought i lost forever (or did not exist) . Video interviews with late Jack Yee, Rich Gerbe to Vito Orlando, Dennis Z, to Joe Bragan, Fred Schwab and on and on. Stuff i thought it was lost forever due to drive failure when my brand new IMac went puff few years ago…..along with ton of old video footage from 2012. I been listening to Jack talking all day, wishing he was still amongst us. So LOTS more video content coming your way
You’d had to be living under the rock not to notice that our “fall run” is off to almost nonexistent start in a lot of places. Maybe its the water temps, make its the lack of bait or its just sad state of affairs when it comes to striped bass stocks. It is probably a little of everything mixed together. Some places are doing better than others but in a lot of places albies aka false albacore have filled the void.
Very few things can be compared to a blistering run of albies while your drag is almost in need of being water cooled! Fishing for albacore from NJ all the way up to MA is about as good as its gets right now so get out and get it on the action
Most of your usual lures will get the job done, however today I want to bring attention to a fairly new product from Hogy Lures.
John Skinner uploaded the video of catching albies on Hogy Heavy Minnows this week. Considering that next few days forecast calls for heavy south winds in your face, you probably going to need the distance on your cast to reach the fish.
When fish are on small bait like bay anchovies, they can be hard to fool as they are zoned in on very tiny bait. Fly fisherman have the advantage if fish are within the reach as they can present smaller baits much more effective than we can. However, if the fish are 50 yard or more of the beach we are presented with unique challenge
1.presenting a very small profile lure
2. that can be cast great distance
3. not sink like a rock
Hogy Heavy Minnows seem to fill this category rather well especially 3/4, 1 1/4 and 2 oz sizes. They cast very well for their profile and they stay true on every cast. They skip on surface on a fast retrieve, something fast feeding fish like false albacore find irresistible
for more info on these lures click HERE
And of course, don’t take my word for it, listen to the Man himself, SJ columnist John Skinner
Seems like SJ Fly Fishing Columnist Jeff Lomonaco is doing some damage on the fly rod too!!
This video was published in the pages of the Surfcaster’s Journal in November of 2016. For some reason (along with few others) we never made it public .
Enjoy
I want to give blog readers first crack at the new Night King Shirts. We just restocked the store as they sold out in one day after The Fisherman Show…and also restocked are the new Under The Light shirts and all SJ Creeping, Regular and Sand Camo hats are now back in stock
In case you missed it when it was originally featured in the SJ magazine last year
Surf Fishing 101 episode 27 with Bill Wetzel on Needlefish lures , a full 10 minute episode.
Lets get a giveaway rolling again. Savage Gear will provide two long sleeve striped bass shirts (one for each winner) and we will kick in some SJ stickers.
We’ll do it the old fashion way by you guys posting ‘I am in” in box below..we got to mix it up a little 🙂
For those of you who are thinking about fishing in exotic locations like Costa Rica or Mexico, I’ll share few photos and thoughts.
First, everyone tends to think that fish is what they are after, until they find themselves on a deserted beach in middle of nowhere, hooked up to a giant fish…and there is no one to help, no one to take a picture, no one to hi-five or offer consolation if fish is lost. 
What I am saying is, for me personally, people that I travel with are more important than any fish we might catch. We are hoping to put Tommy in this picture next year. Dude would have a time of his LIFE in place like this
The food in the types of places are nothing like you expect. No chicken nuggets and grilled chicken salads although if you request you can certainly get it. You sit down after pounding surf all morning and they bring the stuff out. What it is ? Whatever they made for themselves. Always with piping hot tortillas wrapped in cloth and a either jalopeno, habanero, serano or some other home made hot sauce that has a possibility to make your stomach a lava pit and the throne your best friend……until it actually starts hurting to go, then no one is you best friend any longer. Take my word on this one, I learned the hard way
You got to watch the seeded stuff as Chuck found out in a hurry….Caliente !!!
Simplicity rules the day, although sometimes some of us who live in high pressure and fast moving societies failed to see the beauty in small things. Maybe you come home and look at this picture and only then admire the rings on this obviously very old tree.
Or look at this twenty plus feet table that Hotel owner carved and finished on his own. How many hours of labor that must have taken ?
if you are the type that demands cold ac in your room on the spot and hot water to be pissing hot, if you mind shoeing flies while you eat or are freaked out by land crabs running wild in the hallways at night, this is not a place for you…lol
I do have to admit, the crabs can freak you out a little until you get used to it. Giant Bull frogs that guard the stairs at night, I still cant get used to that !!!
btw, for those of you and that might have missed it, we recently came out with two new shirts, the new Maroon Lighthouse shirt and the new Night King shirt. These were made for the fisherman show in Huntington few weeks ago. Whatever we have left we’ve put in the online store after the show but the night king shirts sold out within 24 hours. We apologize for this inconvenience, but we did reorder them and are expecting them to be in stock within the next 10 days
more on Mexico to come
Night King
lighthouse