the new issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine is up for your reading pleasure

We interrupt the Hunt for Big Stripers musing to bring you a new video from the Berkeley Striper Club  annual plug builder extravaganza. Btw, has anyone broken his toes before? Man, this sucks. I got into an a fight  with a couch on Saturday and couch leg won. I should really watch where i am going. Time for new eyeglass prescription?

Anyway, the plug madness is back in vogue. Kind of nice if you ask me. I am not sure if its related to economy rebounding or what, but it sure  not related to improvement in the fishing stocks. I could not believe how many people were lined up at Asbury on Sunday waiting for the show to open. Record crowds there, Surf Day and I am sure Berkeley. I managed to snag our occasional contributor (and the guy I wish it would write more) Russ Paoline who makes Big Rock Lures fora  quick chat

And while we are discussing custom wood, lets announce the winner of Gary Soldati’s Big Water lures Swimmer. The winner by random number generator is ….Kris Magnotti

Haha, that is pretty hilarious. For those of ou that are not aware, Kris is a super duper tattoo artist working out of DaVinci Tattoo’s in Wantagh and is the person responsible for SJ Mermaid, grim Reaper and Moon girl shirt designs. Kris, you got five days to hit me with your hipping address at info@surfcastersjournal.com otherwise the GRS is going back into giveaway pile

Big Rock

[youtube]https://youtu.be/yhKIJGbvY5o[/youtube]

 STRIPER SURF DAY AT RIVERS END TACKLE , OLD SAYBROOK, CT – March 21                                  

                                March 21st, 2015  10-4

Under the snow there really will be a spring run.  Get ready and celebrate it at Striper Surf Day. It’s a great day to hang out, take in a seminar and tell some lies with fellow surf rats. We’ll have great speakers and an emphasis on how to demonstrations, factory reps, sales, raffle prizes, great food and good friends.

           FEATURED  SURFCASTERS  and  DEMOS

Toby Lapinski – conducting a seminar on “How to fish Block Island” Toby, Steve McKenna and Dennis Z. will also be fielding questions during an open Q&A format seminar.

Steve McKenna – will be demonstrating how to rig sluggos and load Redfins and Northbar Bottle Darters.

Dennis Zambrotta – will demo how to rig teasers using Redgills and Senkos and how he rigs his redfins 4 different ways depending on surf conditions. He’ll also be signing copies of his book “Surfcasting Around the Block”

Dave Anderson – will demo his online magazine “Surfcasters Journal” Be sure to sign up or renew your subscription

Adam Romagna – is displaying antique striper plugs and can help ID and appraise your old lures.

Shimano – Roy Levya will demonstrate their new line of long distance surf rods and reels, including the new 9’6” model.

We’ll also have various reps from

Van Staal,  Mak Surfcasting, Tsunami, Stormr,

Albie Snax lures, Gibbs lures, Guppy Lures,

Northbar Tackle and more.

It’s free, just show up.

Currents are very confusing for a lot of people and with a good reason. When you think about trying to explain why water is going out during the time of incoming tide, its difficult. Obviously the simple explanation is that large bays take time to drain through a narrow opening in the inlet,and there is a delay in current change. But still, when you come to the spot at three hours into incoming tide and the current is still moving out, it you can drive you up the wall. When targeting fish with lures I find that the most ….or I should say the best results come during the time of moving water. It’s not surprising then that most lures are designed to work at their best during periods of moving currents. What I also notice is that once the current starts to flow and fish start to feed they are rarely the big Fish from your dreams. Most of the time aggressive fish feed during the time of stronger current and big fish feed…… well during times you and I take a break haha…… Just kidding on that one but yes it seems a lot of times that we take a break, because the current has slowed down and fish have moved off, somebody nails the biggest fish of the night during that time. Is this an anomaly? Nope, especially in the inlets

When fishing on the open beach the current is not as pronounced as it is in the inlets. This is why it’s often easier to predict movement of bigger fish into the area in the inlets that it is on the open beaches. Do you target breachway’s and inlets specifically looking for big fish if we already know current is the king there? Does this mean that you only target bigger finish during the time of a slower current? Not at all. For the most part to make it as general as possible you use leadheads during the stronger current period and live and rigged eels and giant shads during the periods when current slows down.
How many times have you had a good bite of decent size fish during the time while the current was running only to have a bite slow down as the current wanes. Like most of us you probably walked away thinking that the bite is over. After all no one fishes during slack right? To some extent this is true particularly if your purist with plugs. Many of the lures that we use are much more effective during the time when water is moving at a good clip. So most of us go grab a coffee during the time when tide or current is changing. But let’s look at what happens in the place where there is a strong current when the current ends or slows down.

All of the fluke and flounder that have that been buried in the sand for six hours facing into the current will now have to unearth themselves and change position , 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Can you imagine millions and millions of these fish exposed for the first time, trying to reposition themselves? Do you honestly think that big bass do not know this is about to happen? Do you honestly think big bass not know that storm is coming and they won’t be feeding for few days? You run to 7-Eleven to get milk and bread as soon as weatherman yells STORM ,what makes things they don’t?
Add to the equation all the blackfish, seabass and bergals that have to change the position in a rocks because the tide is either going to drop or rise.They are going to be exposed to predators too.
Now I’m sure you have heard before, particularly from Crazy Alberto about why he likes to fish the time around the waning current and why he feels there is only a 20 minute window for him to catch the biggest fish of the day? I never really explored this in details with him so I’m just going to give you my opinion but it seems to me that with all this big bait shifting around, exposed to predators, it would only seem natural that the big bass will be waiting to pounce on them. Let’s be honest, all they need is one or those big meals and they will be set for today. During the time of the strong currents you will find bigger fish closer to the bottom 99 out of 100 times. The exception here is if the big bait is traveling high in the water column. But like I just explained before, you don’t need to have a lot of bait in the area for big fish to feed. There is plenty of food for them already. In fact, a lot of times when you have a lot of bait there is so much competition for the food and aggressiveness of smaller fish usually results in them gets to your lure faster then a calculating big cow. So as far going after big fish in a fast water, I would go with big jigs fishing them as close to the bottom as possible without dragging the bottom. This requires quite a bit of finesse and also requires you to observe the changing conditions and speed of the current. Most of the time you will have to increase or decrease the size of the jig as the speed of current changes. Otherwise you will be the dredging bottom or floating too high in a water column. Big fish only need a small depression in the sandy bottom in order to break the flow of the current and just because you can’t see it, that doesn’t mean its not there. My feeling on the structure has always been that big fast rips are great for all a lot of fish but the back eddies of those same rips might not be as good for “numbers” but they give you better shot at one big fish

more thoughts coming up in Part III

River’s End Tackle, Old Saybrook CT    STRIPER SURF DAY                                    

                                March 21st, 2015  10-4

Under the snow there really will be a spring run.  Get ready and celebrate it at Striper Surf Day. It’s a great day to hang out, take in a seminar and tell some lies with fellow surf rats. We’ll have great speakers and an emphasis on how to demonstrations, factory reps, sales, raffle prizes, great food and good friends.

           FEATURED  SURFCASTERS  and  DEMOS

Toby Lapinski – conducting a seminar on “How to fish Block Island” Toby, Steve McKenna and Dennis Z. will also be fielding questions during an open Q&A format seminar.

Steve McKenna – will be demonstrating how to rig sluggos and load Redfins and Northbar Bottle Darters.

Dennis Zambrotta – will demo how to rig teasers using Redgills and Senkos and how he rigs his redfins 4 different ways depending on surf conditions. He’ll also be signing copies of his book “Surfcasting Around the Block”

Dave Anderson – will demo his online magazine “Surfcasters Journal” Be sure to sign up or renew your subscription

Adam Romagna – is displaying antique striper plugs and can help ID and appraise your old lures.

Shimano – Roy Levya will demonstrate their new line of long distance surf rods and reels, including the new 9’6” model.

We’ll also have various reps from

Van Staal,  Mak Surfcasting, Tsunami, Stormr,

Albie Snax lures, Gibbs lures, Guppy Lures,

Northbar Tackle and more.

It’s free, just show up.

After giving a seminar on how to target big bass I got thinking because of something that was mentioned to me by Charlie M from Choopy Lures. He said that info in my book The Art of Surfcasting with Lures, was right on, BUT certain things do not apply to where he fishes. For example, head on winds are different direction on LI than they are in NJ. As such they create very different conditions. Talk about a white water fishing to guys from CT and you’ll get a lot of yawns in the audience. Not, not because I suck at speaking, but because they only see white water during extreme weather and even then its choppy little waves, not exactly what i have in mind when i talk about it. And then you talk to guys in Massachusetts and they are looking at you like you have three heads when you mention putting on a wetsuit because all you ever need at canal are white boots, bunch of plugs or bucket with eels.

What is different when it comes to targeting big fish from the stuff from that I wrote in my book? Just about everything. To be honest with you, when it comes to big fish I see the success rate go like this, from best to least, live/rigged eels, bait, plugs…. yeah, I’ll get a lot of hollering from purist who insist that they can do just as well on plugs as the guys with eels but I don’t buy it. I’ve seen it way too many times where eels took big fish when no one was doing squat to believe that. Trying to pull a cow from blitz of schoolies almost never works either. Yup. staying behind the blitz after the schooling fish have passed and using big metal lip and even a pencil popper (big edge here to Atom 40 or big Danny plug) has worked forever. But even then, the size of your “cow” is generally big in comparison to blitzing fish but in reality, rarely a 40 or 50 pound fish is even in the area. Big fish ignore plugs most of the time, they did not get that big by eating everything in sight. You’ll never see big fish in numbers feeding on white bait or spearing. It would take too much effort to fill their bellies. You’ll never see a Sumo wrestler on the line for salad bar either.

Where will you find a big fish?
Here is my opinion. You’ll find them in places not so different in structure along the Northeast coast. Generally, you want to be in the  place where deep water is in the close proximity in case they need to bolt out of there. Giant bass rarely are seen on mud or sand flats in inches of water. You want availability of big bait in the close proximity. One blackfish, fluke, sea bass or similar species will make a fine dinner for Ms. Bass. You want to find out where big fish are being landed and you want to find out when. Because in my opinion, big fish feed only during specific periods each day and then they are inactive or just schooling. ..and reading SJ on their waterproof IPad’s.

After you do all this, you still need moon and tides to come together to create optimal conditions for success. You can catch smaller fish from the surf under any conditions, even fishing the “wrong” tide for specific places, catching a big fish is in my opinion a little more challenging
In Part 2, I’ll look at tide and current influence on feeding habits of big fish.
For all you FB junkies i suggest you visit Magical Bucktail  FB page today. Dante Soriente is giving away a crapload of his signature ducktails

here is the link

https://www.facebook.com/pages/MagicTail-Bucktails/366916750153943?fref=nf

Show season is over for us for the most part other than River’s End and Patchogue Flea Market , we are done. It was awesome seeing so many of you, and again, thank you for your kind words about what we do. We all strive to make SJ better each year.

Speaking of SJ, Tommy who has been burning the candle on three ends, at home, doing shows and designing SJ told me new issue will be done towards the end of the week. Something I am sure many of you are looking forward to it

For those who were wondering why i looked half-dead at Asbury show yesterday, limping terribly….I had a misfortune of picking a fight with a couch and the couch leg won. Right now my foot is a size of grapefruit, no way to fit it into construction boot.

And the weather..50 degrees…Holy crap I forgot how sunshine feels with a minus zero windchill. i better get my fishing stuff in order asap..its what my brain is telling me. Some months we has a very good fishery in North Shore back bays on mud flats in March but I don’t think this is going to be that kind of a year.

I had a pleasure of having a table next to Cyclone yesterday who sold out in 23 minutes after the show opened. Which is late for him….haha

Here is my daughter with insanely big Cyclone swimmer

On the other side of our table was a new face at Asbury, Tank Surfcasting who is making some nice stuff

Its always nice to see guys from DT Lures. Looking forward to giving this 3.5 oz pencil popper a shot this spring now that my elbow has stopped barking

I got to see  Dante’s Soriente Bucktails which he makes under MagicTail brand on FB. Dude can tie one mean bucktail. Snagged this great looking bunker pattern from him

M Fischer Plugs popper looks sweet

One of the more interesting new plugs is Vertabrae Lures. It looks like a darter that jointed in 4 places. Lou Caruso said he did good one night with them last year and that they cast surpassingly well. I got my hand on one and I am looking forward to seeing this for myself. Definitely the most interesting thing I’ve seen in awhile

There was a lot of people at Ward Melville, Berkley and Asbury and it was great to see all. Hell some people were at all three shows, not displaying, but shopping! My wife got nothing on you, and you know who you are!

Luna custom plugs, Arsenal, DMag, Big Rock and so many others were there that if I wasn’t at table with my lovely daughter who asked to help and came for the first time, i would have left my mortgage $ there and begged for toll money to get back home. The plug madness, after being extinguished or docile for few years is burning brightly yet again. Good, glad to see record crowds at all shows and again, our sincerest thanks to Asbury, Berkley, Ward Melville, RISAA and Surf Days crews for putting together great events. Ward Melvile Expo is growing leaps and bounds and it might be time to expand it next year. Fortunately they have that ability. If you are a vendor put this on your list for next year. Seeing Don and Steve Musso from Super Strike Lures is always a treat.

I am hesitant to bring this up, don’t want to make this about sj gear but I also want to be fair…before we let everyone else know.

We know a lot of you could not make it to shows..everything that we had at shows is now in our online store at www.surfcastersgear.com, including new moon Girls and Mean Bass tees, restocked Long Sleeve and short Night crew, hats and whatever Mean bass hoodies are left from the shows. We figured we let the blog readers know about it first

More giveaway of some real cool stuff coming up

Any day that you find a box with some GRS Pikes from Gary Soldati from big Water Lures on your doorsteps is good day. Of course they are for you guys, after all, without you, there is no Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine but I do get to drool over them until one of you wins them http://www.bigwaterlures.com/

Today’s giveaway is for one GRS Slim Medium Diver, Dark Blue Iridescent Scale. You really got to hold this plug in your hand to appreciate it fully

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE3L-zisHzA[/youtube]
Few notes, SJ crew will be at Ward Melville Expo tomorrow and Asbury on Sunday. This is probably for most of you a last chance to pick up a new free SJ gear with renewal or subscription and hoodies at show special pricing. We hope to see you there

A note from SJ Rod Guru Lou Caruso who will be at Ward Melville Expo and for the first time he is going to have some prebuilt rods for sale, some blanks and also Rod Geeks rods on display.

Sabre 11′ Blanks (3)

Sabre 11′ Light action beach rods (3)

Sabre 10 1/2′ Light action rod

St Croix 10′ Avid 1-4

CTS Vapor Trail 11′ 1-3

CTS Vapor Trail 11′ 6″ 4-8

Rainshadow 1086 Extended from 9′ to 10′   3-6 Great jetty/canal rod

Fiberstar 8′  1/2 – 2  Great back bay rod

All rods were built with fuji K Frame guides with custom handles.

Built using the same quality any of my customs are built with

Ward Melville Expo is free, with all proceeds benefiting Ward Melville High School Fishing Club

PARTICIPATING VENDORS (alphabetical)
Custom Rods
Al Goldberg Custom Rods
ChunkZ Customs
Eastern Rodworks
Fishing Rods By Captain Neil
Keep’em Bent Custom Rods
Lou’s Custom Rods

Custom Lures/Plugs/Jigs
247 Lures
Aage Bjerring
Al Gag Custom Lures
Asgard Jigs
Big Fischer Lures
Blue Frog Bucktails
Chucks Bucks
DNO’s Tackle
Geezer’s Teasers
Harvey’s Killer Teasers
Nick Bocchino’s Custom Lures
North Bar (Sporting Wood) Tackle
Premium Bucktails
S & S Bucktails
Super Strike Lures
Tank Surfcasting Lures
Tom’s Trophy Teasers

Charter/Party Boats/Guide Services

Bloodline Sportfishing w/ Capt. Joe Wenegenofsky
Capt. Bob Fishing Fleet
Bucktails II Charters
Captains Table Charters
Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet
Eleventh Step Fishing Charters
King Cod
Lori-C Fishing
Maybe Tonight Fishing Charters
Moonlight Lady Charters
Northport Charters
Offshore Harry Sportfishing Charters
Orient Star IV
Osprey Fishing Fleet
Reel Science Charters
Shinnecock Star
Stony Brook Charters
Sunrise Charters

Individuals
Angelo Peluso
Lawrence Carlucci
Warren Dennington
Bill Durkee
George Fabricatore
Louis Falsetta
Paul Krupsky
Ron Powell
Ronald Setnikar
John Skinner
Bill Smith
Todd Teichert
Tom Kehlenbach
Mitch Barber
Mark Yetman

Tackle Shops/Small Businesses
Captain Kayak
Fishing United
ePoseidon Tackle Company
Fishy Business Tackle
Great South Bay Bait & Tackle
Jones Beach Fishing Station
L I Outdoorsman
Miller Place Bait & Tackle
Montauk Tackle Co.
Paulie’s Tackle of Montauk
River Bay Outfitters
Rocky Point Fishing Stop
Smiths Point Bait & Tackle
The Surfcaster
White Water Outfitters
Zev’s Best Fishing Rigs

Marine Photography
Captured McGraphics
Fish Guy Photos
Great South Bay Images

Organizations
1 @32 Pledge
Classical Education Services — Boaters Saftey
KFA-NY (Kayak Fishing Assn of NY)
Lady Reelers
LI Spearfishing Group
LIBBA (Long Island Beach Buggy Association)
Long Island Flyrodders
LUHI Fishing Program
North Brookhaven Sport Fishing Club
Sea Tow of Port Jefferson

Publications

Surfcaster’s Journal
The Fisherman Magazine

Asbury Park on Sunday

As promised, new video but first few things

This is a crazy season for us, we have two shows this weekend, new issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine is coming next week, we are making plans for two STRIPERTHON tourneys this year (stay tuned for details) and of course waiting for snow to MELT!!

Not happening anytime soon

The winner of Big Rock swimmer is oelfisher101@hotmail.com

Congrats, you have 5 days to contact me at info@surfcastersjournal.com with your shipping address to claim the prize.

You can see Big Rock at this weekend Asbury Fishing Club Flea market in NJ along with many, many fine lure builders. So many it will make your head spin and your mortgage $ go poof by 10am. I will be there with someone who has never attended the show before, the most awesome girl I know. If we have some hoodies left over from Saturday Ward Melville Expo I will try to bring them with me

We chatted a bit with Wes from Release Reels who just released a long anticipated Release Surf Reel Model. This reel has been in works for a long time, glad to see its starting to ship to stores

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

few things since I (and the rest of SJ crew) are running on fumes after RISAA and Berkeley shows this weekend..throw in some nasty weather and I am just glad everyone got home safe. Last week was Surf Day and East Meadow, this past weekend was RISSA and Berkley and this weekend we got Ward Melville Expo and Asbury.
We ran out of hoodies at Surf Day, unplanned for sure so we tried to rush re-order for RISAA but it could not happen. You would not believe how hard is to find a Fruit of the Loom 12oz heavyweight hoodies in the winter!!! Tommy snagged some zippered ones this time and we will have them at Ward Melville and Asbury with special show pricing.

T

We are reordering Moon Girl and Mean Bass so we will have that in stock this weekend

Tomorrow i will have a Big Rock metal lip giveaway winner and a video we shot with Release Reels new surf reel at RISAA. Today I am going to try to fill you in on weekend shows

First, Ward Melville Saltwater Expo.

First of all its fundraiser for Ward Melville High School Fishing Club.

Two, It FREE.

Three , over 75 vendors including Super Strike, North Bar, John Skinner, Big Fisher Plugs and so one.

Four, over 15 free seminars.

Five, …….really, you need more reasons to come and support this great cause and listen to John Skinnerlicious and Lou Carusovich (Lou has been hanging enough with me to be made an honorary Croatian)

Seminars begin at 9:00 AM
SEMINAR SPEAKERS and TOPICS

Capt. Mike Bady — Captain’s Table Fishing Charters —North Fork Fluke and Striped Bass
Vinny Conwell — Eleventh Step Fishing Charters— Early Spring, Back-bay Striped Bass
Bruce Froh — Blue Frog Bucktails — Fishing the Bucktail
Capt. Harry Garrecht — Offshore Harry Sport Fishing— Fishing Offshore – 20-50 fathoms
Capt. Tom Kampa — Moonlight Lady Charters —Light Tackle Blackfish
Capt. Paul Mandella — Maybe Tonight Fishing Charters—Night Time Eeling for Stripers
Capt. Tom Mikoleski — Grand Slam Charters — Fishing for Striped Bass by Boat
Capt Desmond O’Sullivan — Celtic Quest Fishing Fleet — Blackfishing Techniques
Capt. John Paduano — Premium Charters/Bucktails — Light Tackle Bucktail Techniques From the Boat & Surf
Angelo Peluso — Angelo Peluso Outdoors — Fly Fishing For Sharks
Capt. Paul Peluso — Mamma Mia Fishing —Bucktail and Top Water w Capt Pablo
Capt Bob Simon — Stony Brook Charters —North Shore Fluking
John Skinner — John Skinner Fishing —Condition-Based Strategies for Surf Stripers
Capt Ed Walsh — Jones Beach Fishing Station —Techniques for Pier Fishing
Capt. Joe Wenegenofsky — Bloodline SportFishing— Unusual Tactics and Approaches to Fishing Montauk

Lou Caruso and AL Goldberg will both be giving presentations on custom rod building at their respective tables. Continue reading →

For  those of you who don’t know, the surfcasting world lost a legend this week. Tony Stetzko was one of those rare people that didn’t let his “status” in our tiny circle of the fishing world overshadow the fun he had doing it or his amazing enthusiasm for what he loved to do. In fact, Tony seemed like he wasn’t even aware that other surfcasters held him in such high regard and he honestly wasn’t interested. If you followed him on Facebook then you know he was a regular poster and his entries were injected with a rhythm that oozed a kind of excitement that is rare in people older than 12. Beyond that, Tony was just a really good guy that treated everybody like they were a close friend. That may sound like a cliche but, with Tony, that was just plain truth. In his decades fishing the Cape Cod beaches he landed untold numbers of bass over 50 pounds, several 60s and Bertha, one of the largest surf bass ever taken, she weighed a whopping 73 pounds. Take a minute to go back and read his posts and you’ll realize that he got fired up no matter what size fish he was catching. He just loved to fish.

Tony scratched together a living off of the land, he was a “clam whisperer” using his buggy to access virgin backwaters in the hopes of raking up a day’s pay. He may have been the last “true” Cape Codder. His loss will impact our great sport in ways that we don’t even know yet. But one thing is sure, whether you knew him or not, if you love to fish the surf you lost a friend this week and our sport lost one of its brightest supporters. Rest easy Anton, to say “you’ll be missed” would be a gross understatement. But you will

-D.Anderson

The Last Wave

Into The Wayback Machine

By Tony Stetzko

I got married in 1974, but the agreement was, “if we get married, we’re moving to Cape Cod!” I knew someone who would rent us a cottage in Wellfleet, right on the Bay. So we packed up my Scout and headed for the Cape, this was February—we’re talking cold. We arrived during a good northwest blow, inside the cottage, you could see your breath and the curtains were blowing up parallel to the floor. Man was it cold!

“Tony, if you think I’m going to live here, you’re nuts!”

And so the marriage begins.

Okay, so we refocus and start looking for a better place. All I knew was from Wellfleet to P-Town! We picked up a newspaper called “The Cape Codder” and started driving around to look at the listings. Then Lorrie says, “Hey, here’s an apartment in Orleans.”

Orleans? I knew nothing about Orleans! We called and got directions to the cottage which ended up being right on the road to Rock Harbor—and at the other end, Nauset Beach. Sure, I had heard of Nauset, but I had no idea what it was really like. Well, I kept an open mind and we showed up at the house to find this cool, laid back guy, Ron Hovey Jones was his name. When we met it was as if we were long lost friends and we made an instant connection! He was working on a book of photography and when he showed me his work I was speechless. This guy was like a modern day Ansel Adams! Unreal photos!

The cottage was old. It turned out that it had been floated across the Bay from Billingsgate Island—there were not many nails holding it together, mostly wooden pegs. There was no sink in the bathroom, the kitchen floor could have been used for a skateboard ramp and the doors were apparently made for a family of little people! It was heated by kerosene—this house was just a super-old Cape Cod creation. But then it dons on me, “Ron, we have a horse!”

“No problem,” He says, “we can build a barn off the garage.”

Talk about meant to be! For $150 a month it was like a dream and I was just a few houses away from the busiest fishing port on Cape Cod Bay, perfect. We headed back to New Jersey for the rest of our stuff and we were back in April, for good.

Not long after our arrival I grabbed Lorrie and we took a ride to check out Nauset Beach. We found a private road called Callahands Pass that lead out onto the sand. I aired down and we proceeded directly into PARADISE. It was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen; bars, bowls, white water and (oh my Lord) at the end was Nauset Inlet. It’s giving me goosebumps just typing this! Guys, girls, for a bass nut like me, I had just seen God’s gift to the striped bass (and me). Of course I had a pole with me, a light rod with a Penn 712 reel, this was the size below the 704, but still green of course! The inside of the inlet was just wild, a big bar dropping off steeply into the channel. So I’m bucktailing the inlet with no action—the sun is setting, it feels like the best dream you’ve ever had. Lorrie suggests that we go get some food. So, you know how sometimes you make that last cast while you’re walking away from the water? Wouldn’t you know, holy shit, the rod just about gets yanked out of my hands! I had a big fish on! Line was screaming off the small reel disappearing at an alarming rate as I followed the fish into the back channel. I finally get her in, and she’s a beautiful 20-pound striper! Forget about food, I know how they want the bucktail now! I fire another cast out there and work it fast and choppy, like a Jig-It Eel—wham! Oh boy! This one is not stopping! It was another foot race into the marsh, after a long battle I had a 35-pounder at my feet. How could I leave beautiful New Jersey? Yeah right. Long story short I had three more fish before we left and all of them were between 20 and 35 pounds—and let me remind you that this was in April! This was the start of my lifelong journey that’s still going on.

The learning process on this beach was definitely a process. The tides here were nothing like the tides in New Jersey. Later that year I found myself with a mung problem. If you don’t know what mung is, you don’t want to! It’s an onslaught of small brown “monkey hair” weed that clings to everything, your line, your guides, your knots, your lures… it’s really frustrating stuff! So I get the bright idea that if I make my way out onto the outer bar I might be able to get past the mung. But, it was still mung city! Use your brain Stetzko! I get the idea to put on an Atom Popper—and I’m not a popper guy. But my thought was to just reel it in really slowly—like a needle—and it should get through the weed, especially with a dropper above it.

The last colors of the sunset were visible in the darkening sky as I began working my popper and right around the time I started talking to myself about how nice the stars looked and what a nice night it was, I got banged. My old Lami bent just about in half! Good fish! Within a few minutes I had a giant bass on the sandbar. I cast again, bang, another good one on the beach. Then I made maybe five or seven more casts before I was on again and this fish was taking line and shaking her head like nothing I’d ever felt before! Now it was really dark, and I had nothing but the faint glow of the northern sky to light my way when it donned on me, “what about the tide!?” I looked down to the inlet and smiled, water was still spilling out. Now back to this creature on the end of my line! I’ve had this fish on for about 15 minutes, my arm was getting tired but I finally had her close and I saw the biggest swirl I had ever seen in my life. I’m could hear my heartbeat now, kind of a cool sound when it’s mixed with sound of the waves starting to build. But the waves usually start to build when the tide is coming IN. The music of the sea is always changing, but again I looked down and the water was still pushing out. The bar I was on ran parallel to the beach and was about 100 yards out. I had this fish coming now and when I had about 20 feet of line left to go I started walking backwards to beach the fish. (Never reel up closer than 20 feet when you’re trying to beach a big fish.) Then I saw it, “Holy moly, double shit!” It was a double header—two giant bass, one 38 pounds and the other 42, my first 40-pounder!

Now I had four big fish and I decided that it was time to go in. Back then I was selling my fish but me being me, I didn’t bring anything out there with me to lug them back with! So I took off my belt and strung three of them up on that and threaded the fourth onto the butt of my rod. I stepped off the bar and the water was like 5-inches from the top of my waders and my belt, I’ll remind you, was being used as a makeshift stringer! Can you hear my heart pounding now?! I was shitting my pants! Every wave that crept over the bar sent a short gush of water into my waders and I had to go 100 yards! All the while I’m wondering how the water has gotten deeper when the inlet still shows a dropping tide?! This was how I learned, the hard way as usual, about the tide lag in the inlet. As I was getting close to the halfway point I remember saying to myself, “Okay, this is the deepest part.” Nope, suddenly I had to swim and I am not a great swimmer! Luckily I was in good shape and somehow I was able to swim in waders with no belt, with a 40-pounder on my rod butt and dragging three others over 30 on my belt! Evidently God really loves me because I made it!

The funny thing is I know I found myself in the same predicament a few more times and every time I did I could hear my dad saying, “Kid, it ain’t worth killing yourself for a fish!” Love ya Pop!

Since I only exist in the internet and at the shows lately, let me give you a quick run down of what SJ crew is up to.

First, we sold out of hoodies at Surf Day. We apologize but that was supposed to last through the whole show schedule. Or so we thought. We tried to rush order but no dice, they wont be ready till Tuesday so no hoodies at RISAA or Berkley this weekend. We’ll have them Asbury and Ward Melville show next weekend and at Patchogue Flea Market if we have any left.

BTW

Patchogue Flea Market is again featuring Crazy Alberto as a speaker on March 22nd

I will be at RISAA with Mr Dave Anderson on Friday and tommy and Ray are coming on Saturday while I have to split in afternoon to get to Berkeley Flea Market. You can stop at any of the shows and pick up a free shirt with renewal or new subscription. new issue should be out in about two weeks so that is another thing to look forward too….other that RAIN of course

The winner of MEGA Needlefish giveaway is  Chad McKenna

You have 5 days to contact me at info@surfcastersjournal.com with your shipping address. Please understand that we are at shows and might be a day or two before we get back to you

And now for today’s giveaway , in honor of Big Rock who will be at Berkeley Flea market (for at least 20 minutes before he sells out..lol)  a Big Rock Metal Lip swimmers

you cant buy in anywhere other that ebay and i will cost you a pretty penny but today you’ll get a chance to win one from my personal stash

Good luck to all of you and please stop by if you are at the shows and tell us how we are doing. Its more important to us to get feedback on SJ than for you to buy a shirt. If we don’t put a GREAT product out there, no shirt will make up for that. See you soon

in case you are wondering why they call him Big Rock

You cant be big enough as a cop in Trenton,NJ