Here is an interesting phenomenon …surfcasters can’t wait till spring to wet their lines. That much we all know for sure. In New York, once bass show up in Little Neck Bay and bite becomes more or less predictable, place gets crowded in the hurry. Many of those who toiled in obscurity before bass showed up choose to find other places to wet the line as the crowds become too close for comfort

Manhasset harbor gets an influx of guys not wanting be crowded at Little Neck, plus they get accompanied by locals who are getting back into it after hibernating. They pick at small, barely legalish fish and those who fish at night see some respectable fish. But big fish, 20 pounds and up ? Most of the time they only see it, they rarely never catch it. Because many of those very early spring cows want no part of plugs or teasers. What they crave is bait, either freshest kind or live. The pluggers go home in frustration and come back with bigger rods, bigger reels and bigger lures…and incur same results .

Anyway, this has been my observation over the years. I will never forget calling my buddy who lives in the area at midnight one night after landing numerous fish over 20 pounds…on April 15!

He came ,he plugged and next night for the first time in his life, after 30 years of only plugging he bought bunker. …..

But this is not bait over plugs, not at all. That is the subject that is about as interesting to talk about as it is to  watch the paint dry.

Here is what puzzles me Continue reading →

The decade past……

Montauk sand beaches at dawn and dusk, big pencil and tins equal big fish. After so many years of  poor springs, after bunker boats have stopped harassing bunker, NJ beaches light up every spring for now seven or eight consecutive years. Spring storms , mainly with east winds bring big bass around Montauk Point in the June. Big fish catches in places like Cuttyhunk, Cape Cod Canal and Cuttyhunk in spring into the summer months

Fast forward to 2010

Spring 2010…insane bunker blitzes on the beaches of NJ. Boaters in NY get a shot at these fish latter in the spring. Cape Cod Canal explodes with mackerel being slaughtered by hungry stripers….

2011

Spring run in NJ is on. Rockaway boaters  are killing big bass on bunker spoons. The Delaware anglers are seeing the most insane blitzes anyone can remember. From our friend and popular author Eric Burnley :” Indian River Inlet in Delaware is in the middle of the hottest rockfish bite in memory.  The fish are coming in during flood tides and eating everything in sight.  Very few are under 28 inches and the largest to date has been 37 pounds.  Tsunami shads, white bucktails with a white worm or eels have been the most popular baits.  On Saturday from 4:00 to 9:00 PM every man, woman and child had a limit and released many more.  Sunday evening was almost as good and more were caught on Monday morning.

The surf is still a slow pick with cut bunker the most productive offering.  A few fish to 30 pounds have been caught from the beach.”

Where am I going with this? You should be able to figure this out unless you bought hundred of tins and are waiting for the fall run. I know many anglers who wouldn’t even bother fishing in the spring at all in the past. Summer too. Around Labor day, they would get their gear ready and they would catch lots of big fish. To them , spring fishery was too difficult. Too much fishing at night, too many hours away from bed, too many days of looking like zombie at work.

But even they are coming around realizing that their shot at big fish is right now, not in the fall.

The game has changed…the spring was always a great time to catch a slob but the difference is that fall run is rapidly becoming a second fiddle to spring run. I’ve seen bad falls, and I’ve seen great fall fishing and my feelings has always been based on patterns.

A pattern is a pattern till it’s broken. Then is not a pattern any more. Montauk sand hot fishing around July 4^th weekend is a busted pattern. For few years all you needed was a long cast and someone to put you up on the spot. Not that easy any more.

Fall peanut bunker was a pattern till peanut bunker disappeared. Now we have a sand eel patterns for few years in the row. That pattern is unbroken.

If you want a lot of fish and big crowds, by all mean wait for the fall. If you want a slob, your time is coming up soon and in many places its already here. If you want the crowds and big fish today… head to NJ…or Cape Cod Canal

who knows, this could be you

We have bunch of new videos for you coming up. Some clips from our winter seminar series, Rod Guru talking about new CTS blanks in the parking lot of West End 2 while freezing his butt off, a video on St Croix custom built Legend rod I am still working on, Roger is talking about using Casting Eggs and more….now if there was only about 60 hours in the day so I could get all the stuff done that I have lined up on my plate.

First up is Line Stretcher Tackle ….I, like many of you, was totally wrong about this lure. Heck, I don’t know if there ever was a lure which was more misunderstood then Surface Tension. Most guys look at it and say it’s a bluefish lure or something that can be cast long distance when cast is needed…but then you realize you have to sloooooow down your retrieve and wonderful thing will happen.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhVgL6xsz5I[/youtube]

Get familiar with issue #7…nice giveaway coming up for those who know what to look for 🙂
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today we have a video blog, courtesy of Evan , the maker of Lure Tubes Tackle System at http://luretubes.com/

Here is his new video showing functionality and many uses of his Lure Tube System

Make sure you watch it because there is going to be a test 🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ecedQ2Mw0&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

And to make it really cool, after you watch the video we will give one of you a chance to win this Lure Tube and a cool Lure Tube hat. Shipped to your casa by Surfcaster’s Journal and courtesy  of the Lure Tubes Tackle System

Because you are worth it 🙂

You know those ubiquitous ads that were plastered all over the Long Island Railroad , bus stops and TV , telling you how Flip camcorder is the best thing since sliced bread? How many of you bought one and even invested in a waterproof case afterwards?

I hate to tell you but Cisco (who owns Flip) announced recently that Flip is no more, gone, kaput. Cisco should really stick to networking sales to businesses and government instead of trying to peddle consumer products like Linksys and Flip. But that is more of a blog post for Jim Cramer, Herb Greenberg or even Larry Kudlow then SJ .

Where am I going with this? I have no idea but thanks for asking J

Wait’ it just came back to me. Yes, Go Pro and LCD screen. For those of you who don’t know, Go Pro makes a sweet ,tiny full HD waterproof video camera with a sick 180 degree view. We love our GoPro and we wrote a review in one of our past issues….but we felt compelled to write a lengthy follow up in this issue

Why?

I knew you were going to ask that…so instead of typing with this one poor finger of mine I did there next best thing….video

WARNING !!!!  GRAPHIC IMAGES OF MIDDLE AGE MEN IN WETSUITS AND  RIGGED EELS SLITHERING THOUGH THE WATER

I just thought I throw that in there…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHHyJVm-KEI[/youtube]

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Of all the lures I use, darters, needle, poppers, you name it, the one style I use the least are plastic lip swimmers. No idea why, it probably has to do with places I fish. Just like most surfcasters, I get carried away with trying to cast the lure a mile, every time….

But swimming plugs are insanely productive lures if used in the right places. Bombers, Yo-Zuri, Mambo minnows, there are literately hundreds of companies making similar lures. Used in back bays, inlets, around jetties, these lures catch more fish than they ever get credit for.

Last night ,I am standing on a local jetty, thinking what to toss first. This particular place has always been bucktail/shad heaven. Yes, I took fish on darter, bottles, and needles but jigsheads rule the roost. So with that mind I started my exploration with a bucktail. After few casts with no result I switched to a shad. Now, you know the deal with shads in early May. You might not be catching anything but as soon as you toss a rubber, the bluefish appear out of nowhere. But not last night…strange

Yet I know bluefish  were there….how, you might ask?

 Maybe I have a special clairvoyant vision. Maybe my vast years of experience tells me the exact location where fish are at any point. Maybe my new prototype WileyX heat seeking shades let me see under water…

Or maybe its because I seen two dudes with Kmart rods carry half a dozen bluefish of the jetty as I was walking on…lol

I peaked in my bag at darters and bottle daters but they weren’t really suited for this part of the jetty. They were fine for the tip where small rip formed but here, at midpoint of the jetty, water was moving too slow to make them effective.

I grabbed Guides Choice Old Swimmer and attached it to a clip. This is a lure I heard a lot of good things about last year but with that sand eel bite in the fall, I really did not give it its due. But it’s on my radar to be used this spring because I like the action a lot. I like the hardware too, top notch from split rings to hook to wire.

How does it cast? Like most plastic lip swimmers, not bad and not great either but for the places you will be using them, it casts fine. As I reeled up the slack I did not expected a bump and I missed the fish. Darn! On two consecutive Continue reading →

We haven’t asked this in awhile ..

It’s important for us to bring you the stories that you want to read. So here is your chance to voice your opinion on what you want us to feature in the Surfcaster’s Journal magazine in the future issues.

We are always on the lookout for fresh ideas and concepts and we try to involve as many people as we can so magazine does not get stale. Give us some feedback on what you want to see…more old articles, how to, interviews, places, photos, etc

As I mentioned the other day, we are always looking for ideas and content. You don’t need to be a “pro” for your writing to appear in the Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine. In a lot of ways, we’d prefer you not to be one, to be perfectly honest. If you are fearful of someone stealing your idea for a unique article, feel free to shot us an email to info@surfcastersjournal.com.

We are looking forward to what you have to say

btw…our friends from Jersey Island have just uploaded their new issue. If you remember they were featured in the past issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal. They asked me to write a story for their magazine on needlefish so you will find it inside of this issue.

enjoy the read

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By now, the bluefish should be found in just about any place in northeast, creating the havoc as they are known to do. The striper migration although slow this spring has improved dramatically in last few days.

Yes, the New Jersey surfcasters are still reaping the bounty of countless schools of bunker along their shores. They don’t come close to the beach all the time but when they do …watch out. Few days ago big stripers pinned the bunker between the jetties resulting in one of the most memorable days in recent history. After speaking at the seminar in Seaside Heights last night I came to realization that most New Jersey surfcasters are not aware that once these bunker schools and big pods of overgrown stripers that follow them, leave NJ waters they never make a landfall in New York…or any other place to be exact. I guess it’s God’s way of paying back hard working NJ surfcasters for saddling them with sky high taxes…or McGreevy…or mullet heads. Stop by or call Fisherman’s Headquarters in NJ for info if you need any. They are good people and have been supporters of SJ since we started this publication

Story is that bass are stacked like cordwood in some places around Buzzards Bay. Sometime this month the Cape Cod Canal will lit up like the skies on the Fourth of July when stripers start feeding on mackerel in the canal. There is a very good story by DJ Muller in this issue of the Surfcaster’s Journal that describes the scene and how to cash in on this phenomenon.

One of the participants of our Seminar Series that we conducted this winter let us know that he nailed his personal best of the rock somewhere on eastern portion of Long Island few nights ago. Forty Pound plus was a verdict and yes, the fish went back into the drink to swim another tide. I guess the Seminars helped :-)…Congrats pal.

If you know where to look CT has had a good bite for weeks now. Some will say more like months…mum is the word as access in CT is defiantly more difficult that most other places. Just go into River’s End Tackle and ask for Pat, he’s got as good pulse on the fishery as anyone in that area. I would like to again thank him for inviting me to speak at his Surf Day in April. It a defiantly an even that I look forward to (especially when others are speaking..lol)

Our smallest state Rhode Island has had an influx of schoolies last few weeks and bigger fish are starting to trickle in. Once the sand eels get established look for Red Gill teasers to become ubiquitous. I for one am thrilled that they are back on the store shelves in USA once again after somewhat of an absence or scarcity at least. Nothing that I’ve ever used, a feather, bucktail or rubber was ever as effective as a Red Gill teaser. Granted, in recent years I shied away from using the teasers at all as I use rigged eels a lot and I prefer not to use teasers in conjunction. But take a Bomber or a Super Striker needlefish, attach a Gill and watch out.

I know many of you appreciate the of writings by our renowned chef, Andrew Chase. His mouthwatering recipes have made Surfcaster’s Journal even better publication then it was.

You know that he is a dedicated surfcaster, right?

But do you know to what extent he would go to get the freshest ingredients for his recipes?

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDcIclhdYo[/youtube]

Here are the winners of last week giveaways. Congrats guys,, you have 5 days to supply us with your shipping address. Email us at info@surfcastersjournal.com

• The new book, Complete Guide to Surfcasting by Joe Cermele goes to Rob G rgugs83@aol.com
• The Lure Tube set consisting of a Lure Tubes shirt, 2 Lure Tubes and a Lure tubes that goes to Rich S rschenkewitz@optonline.net
• Ebbpooint Carabineer clip goes to Scott L magicflesh@yahoo.com

I hope you guys are enjoying the new issue of the magazine. I thought Rich Trox piece was probably the most riveting piece of fishing literature that I’ve ever read. And I’ll throw guys like Hemingway into the mix. I been telling Rich that he probably has a book in him…of some kind. I know that most of the  new guys are many of old guard will read nothing but how-to’s but I really think Rich has a special talent for writing. We are proud and honored to have him be part of Surfcaster’s Journal Magazine.

Speaking of books… There are two books in the works I know of and probably both will be I stores this fall. John Skinner is working on his second book and William” Doc” Muller has written his first new pure surf fishing book in over twenty years. I haven’t read John’s yet but I have read Doc’s one and its very, very good. This is why I told you, if you guys have some interesting pictures you want to be considered for a possible inclusion in the book, send me a note at zhromin@optonline.net

While we are on subject of writing, yes, we are looking for your contributions. Yes, we are interesting in any ideas you might have for possible stories for the Surfcaster’s Journal. And yes, we try to compensate our writers better than any publication in northeast. So send us your ideas for articles at info@surfcastersjournal.com

ok…. now you go back to reading Surfcaster’s Journal 🙂

and don’t forget to visit us on facebook

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