Funny that the day after I uploaded this video with Roy’s thoughts on striped bass . I’ve read about another attack on striped bass forage food, bunker . Get this , someone commissioned a study that concluded that stripers only eat juvenile bunker. Who sponsor the study? The people behind harvesting the adult bunker from our oceans
You got to read this for yourself
http://fissues.org/right-baitfish-dont-matter/
Please visit and contact your Commissioner
Enjoy the video..more videos coming up
Maybe I am old and cranky (i don’t think this is a question, more or a rhetorical statement). Maybe I am way past my prime, too set in my ways to be able to accept different things. To some extent, there is a lot of truth to that. I do fish the way I want to fish these days. If you told me that 80 pound bass were being caught on every cast but I have to use bunker snag, I would tell you thanks, but no thanks. I rather catch 50 schoolies in noreaster than one 50 pounder on a jetty in crowded conditions. There is something about crowds that I cant stand. However there are behaved crowds like those generally in the Montauk northeast blows and then there are crowds like ones at certain Inlet last year that to me, were behaving about a step above high school level. Some of us are better equipped to deal with this than others. Maybe its a personalty fault in my case. God knows I have many of those…
Sunday I arrived at West Palm Beach airport at 4 pm. The plan was to drive to Fort Pierce Hutchinson Island which is about an hour away, check in, unpack and get ready to fish with Patrick Sebile from Sebile lures the next day. Patrick had a different idea and I drove straight to his house, grabbed a waders out of the luggage in trunk and off to Sebastian Inlet we were to catch the outgoing current in the dark.
The Sebastian Inlet It really is a remarkable place to fish. On any single cast you might hook up with a giant snook, bull red, tarpoon, shark or Goliath grouper. Or you might hook up with first three and then last two will eat first three while you are trying to land them. There is also a coral covered bottom that eats plugs and jigs like child eats candy. Often.This is probably why people use a single hook and sinkers and live bait. It gets expensive to keep donating plugs or even bucktails to the inlet.
We fished until after midnight with another young gentleman in waders. The south side has a very narrow jetty that can get crowded fast with only few guys. Since he was throwing bucktails , Patrick and I drifted plugs on the outgoing by casting into the inlet and then letting them drift out for another 50 to 100 yards before starting the retrieve. Unfortunately although i did hook up few times the fish broke me off every single time. It was starting to get to the point in the tide where you almost expected a hit on every cast. Suddenly around 1 AM, 4 kids, probably high school age descended on the jetty, only foot from me and with 7 foot rods started to cast the opposite way, into the ocean.If i told you I could smell them you know how close they were. With a 11 food rod there was no way I could have made a cast without hooking them in the head or hooking their rods.
With amazement I watched as they fished with not as much as “sorry”. I got an impression later in the week, when I’ve seen a school of fish break and everyone jumped all over each other on the pier, that this is accepted practice. If there is a room you might be casting a darter and a minute later (no joke) a guy with PENN International TUNA reel and 6 foot rod, with a full skate tied on to ballon might be casting next to you. Somehow they all manage to coexist but I could not. As you can see on pic bellow , the jetty is small and narrow. Hard to have guys fishing both sides when its fell than 10 feet wide
I know well enough if this was NY someone would have punched someone or worse , pulled a knife. I am used to getting a least a ability to cast , meaning you would never set up to fish from position that i am casting, forcing me to cast by bringing my rod in 12 o’clock position (instead of 3 o’clock) and make short casts. you might think I am winning but that is really not the point of this blog post. I packed my stuff and left. As a “guest” on the jetty I have no ability, desire or right to tell locals how I want to fish the place. Again, I am a just a guest and I am ok with the way things are done. I have no desire to argue with locals who have been fishing this way since I guess they built the place.
I am just surprised I guess how different the surf fishing etiquette is from what we do in Northeast.
Now don’t get me wrong, we have PLENTY of issues with crowds and etiquette in the northeast. The difference is very little surf fishing in our neck of the woods is done from piers. Again, I thought it was interesting how there is a different behavior and expectations in the same sport, but different locations
No more or less
I got back from FL last night. I did most of my fishing off the boat with Patrick Sebile from Sebile Lures and we even did a day of freshwater bass fishing yesterday. The only time I did any surf fishing was the fish night there were we hit Sebastian Inlet at night which was fine until I could not deal with crowds and we left. Which will be hopefully the point of my next post, just how different fishing (and etiquette) is in Florida surf or in Northeast. It doesn’t really matter on personal level as my season looks like its going to be done before it started but lets wait till hand surgeon looks at it next week. I am on a weird level ok with it.
Its not my first time experiencing it but I just cannot get used to it or accept it. I also have a shark from pier video that i managed to capture as we got there Thursday afternoon after dropping off a boat to get fixed. Pretty interesting the way they flat balloons out of the inlet with a long bait. Pretty neat
Here is a short video of an angler who managed 3 jacks on three consecutive casts on bait while no one around him had touch for hours (including us, you can see Patrick in blue on rocks)
Then all the hell broke loose with snook about an hour later
I’ll admit right up front that my preparation for the season is drastically different than most of you. How do I know that ? Well, I am friends on FB with many of you and see where your mind is at at any given time. Many of you have already went balls to the wall in pursuit of stripers and yes, few of you are tired of sticking your arms so far out to make those schoolies look a bit more fierce.
I’ve been there. I’ve done it all from small Redfin’s with thick gloves to deal with frost to chunking bunker with big Lami conventional reel for some of the biggest bass of the year in April on north shore of LI. But in last few years I became a late starter. Not sure if its the fact that we spend so much time away from home in winter with our regular jobs and then doing shows on weekend. Plus traveling to visit colleges with my daughter and going to gym six days a week all take a tool. Then you got the crippling pain in shoulder and wrist than makes me almost useless on a construction site after few hours.
I am perfectly content to wait until bluefish show up in force on the south shore. Usually on Long Island that means last week of April or first week of May depending on migration. I’ve seen reports of blues in Carolinas last week and this week I’ve seen plenty reports from South Jersey which means that everything is more of less on schedule.
Why blues and no bass?
Few reasons. Wherever I left my plugs on Thanksgiving weekend, in a jumbled tangled mess in back of my truck, they are still there. I used to change hooks on hundred or more plugs every winter but you know what I found out? That i will only use about dozen plugs a year with regularity. And probably ten of those will be Super Strike. So I only change hooks on about dozen plugs and then change the rest during year as necessary. I have no desire however to use plugs, or I should say trebles on a very angry and often large spring bluefish. But what I do have a desire to do is to throw plugs at them attached to the camera. All I do is snip the rusty hook tips so they don’t get hooked and I can get multiple strikes on the plug IF (and only IF) if you don’t have tension on the line.
Bluefish can be insanely thick as you can see and they will cut your line in short order if you put tension on it. Look at this trying to eat camera twice
When I am actually trying to catch one, I’ll use a bucktail or a West End or A.O.K metal. A single hook makes it a little easier to unhook.(fairly lose drag in this video)
Notice I did not say “easy”. There is nothing easy about bluefish. Not the way they hit your lure, the way they pursue your lure, the way they fight and yes, the way it claps down its choppers when you are trying to remove a hook. Trust me , many of you, yours truly included, will get tired of big blues after a few days days of this bruising battle. They will shred your leaders and chomp on your lures, they will fight you to exhaustion and put your tackle to test. But while its on, its on of the most glorious events of the season
In case you missed it when it appeared in the pages of Surfcaster’s Journal Online magazine in 2016. Surf Fishing 101 episode 22 with Bill Wetzel Montauk Lures
In case you missed Bill Wetzel in Surf Fishing 101 Episode # 22 Lures for Montauk Surf , we will make it public in few days so stay tuned.
First , lets get you guys outfitted with some new SJ gear.
This giveaway will be for some new gear now in our online store at www.surfcastersgear.com (for those of you that keep asking for zippered Night Crew hoodies, limited numbers will be in online store this weekend)
So lets do this…
One winner , in his choice of size, our new Mean Bass Shirt
One winner in his choice of size , Tactical Creeping while Sleeping shirt
One winner , one color of his choice of SJ 100% wool cap (blue,olive,brown,black)
One winner , SJ Striper Pin
Enter the giveaway here by inserting your email address. Winners will be randomly picked by app and notified via email
All of these and more can be found in our online store at www.surfcastersgear.com
Now that show season is over, we are restocking everything and last thing to add will be Night shift crew shirts and zip hoodies this weekend
There are 3 new Surf Fishing 101 videos included in the new march 2017 Issue #42 of the Surfcaster’s Journal Online Magazine
here is a video preview
To view full length version of any videos please log into your Surfcaster’s Journal Account
I want to get back to a regular schedule of talking about fishing and all things fishing related now that the show season has ended. We have one more Flea Market in Patchogue this upcoming Sunday and then its back to fishing full time for SJ crew. We’ll maybe not for me as I am awaiting for a surgeon to call me on Monday to discuss my shoulder MRI results. It is what it is, we’ll see what happens. I have few very special trips planned for this year so I hope that I don’t have to cancel them.
I know many of you are already wetting lines and some even catching few striped ones in the process. Yes, I know there are few who catch the holdovers all winter too. There are also few guys who actually fish with DMag plugs too but there is no point in bringing more attention to that either, right? The most asked question at fishing shows is “Are you antsy to get back to fishing? “ to which my answer is …hell no.
I watched my kids seemingly grow up from wearing diapers to college graduates over night, I no longer wish my life away. Hell, I do not want Sunday afternoon to come any faster than it already will as I type this on Sunday morning. The spring will come, the fish will come, I am not wishing for one minute of my day to go by any faster than it already will. For some of you younger guys, you’ll get this at some point later in your lives.
Here is the video I shot last year in early fall but kind of forgot about it. I was introduced to another product in the fall, Otter Tails after using Jig Strips and I can say that they are both excellent replacement for pork rind. I will also admit that there is something special about that supple pork rind that has been beaten up and chew up and spit by stripers. But products do come and go and these new bucktail trailers to me are more than a sufficient replacement for a pork rind
Otter tails website http://otterlures.com/
Fat Cow Fishing website https://www.fatcowfishing.com/
New issue is up for your reading pleasure
Enjoy
A little disturbing news while we waiting for the new issue of the SJ Magazine.
We know that plug buying/selling has reached crescendo last few weeks and in fact its probably slacking off now that everyone turned their attention to fishing and better weather. All it takes is few warm days in the spring for most guys to forget about buying plugs and start thinking about where to make first few casts of the spring.
Although the few plug builders that make lures only for winter shows have closed their shops the standbys that most of us fish with, the Super Strikes or North Bar lures continue their production so that you can find them on your local store shelf when you need them.
I always admired Larry’s Welcome resolve, financial and emotional , to invest in this (fairly small) sport via his North Bar line of bottle darters. To first design the lure and then to go through countless plastic prototypes and finally to invest a sizable chuck of change into making a mold cant be easy. I mean, the guy has one good product but its still only one product! I know that he always have things in his head that he wants to bring to the market but you can understand that this takes a considerable resources. From what he told me he never took one dime out of North Bar line but reinvested everything back into the business. And yes, because his lures are 100% made here is USA they are priced at slight premium over similar lures.
So it came as a shock to me when i heard that his bottle darer was copied to the “T” by someone and sold as Darting Swimmer under Capt’ Bill Custom Tackle brand. From what I understand there were offered for retail sale at RISAA at price that is UNDER his actual production cost! I am not a hypocrite and I am definitely not a huge “buy USA’” guy as i am typing this on the phone made in China while sitting in truck with 90% of parts from Mexico while wearing a underwear made in Bangladesh. (too much info ? lol)
And I understand that although these lure builders , be that Gibbs, North Bar, SS are not protected by patents, that does not make it ok to make copies out of inferior material abroad and them peddle them to fisherman and stores as their own. I would be furious and i know Tommy loses his shit every time he feels his artwork is being copied. I am ok with anyone coming out with their OWN VERSION of whatever but to copy another’s man work is just wrong. I have not seen these in person and all i can go by is pictures I was sent but to me it looks like a pure copy (and was told by a third party that resemblance is ridiculously identical)
I am staying away from these plugs until i can more info and I suggest you do your own due diligence. I can only give you info that I have.I still cant believe that other dude is selling copies of SS needles as if its no big deal, now we got this. The fishing world is losing all sense of ethics
