Last evening I found myself casting a fly rod in the Eisenhower park with my buddy Vin who is trying to teach me. Two middle aged dudes playing with sissy sticks on grass surrounded by dozens soccer playing also way-past-their-prime players. 🙂

This is going to be much harder then I thought. My mind wants to let the rod cast the line but my body wanted to put some oomph in it..got to start somewhere. Although catching a striper on a fly must be a very rewarding experience it really does not interest me that much. I would like to get myself to the point where I could sight cast to the fish on the flats in Florida or off the boat. Maybe even freshwater.

For some reason surfcasters don’t like the world change. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me “you are the metal lip guy” or “you fish Montauk a lot”…I’d have quite a few dollars. The truth is that I went to Montauk twice last year and never made a cast. Few shots with camera and I was back home. And metal lip swimmers I use today are totally different then ones I used when I wrote my fist book. Montauk is a wonderful place to fish I just wasn’t into it last year.

What is my point ?

I’ve meet many of surfcasters who refuse to change at all. Yeah, they got better reels and plugs and waders over the years but in their hearts, things are still always the same. They fish the same spots in spring, you know the inlets you’ll find them in summer and you can tell which rock in Montauk they will be standing on the last of incoming in the fall. And that is cool. I am just not one of those guys.

I am sure my current rigged eel kick will be replaced by another soon. Will I think that rigged eels are less effective when I move on to other things? Not any more then eel skins which were my favorite few years ago. Who knows what the future holds, only one thing is certain, don’t let this feel like a chore. Or a job ….oh wait, for some us it is.:-) although for how long is a big question.

Hopefully soon I will have something written for you guys that will make you look much differently on certain people in this sport, what are they doing to try to shut down SJ . I can see you purging lures of your surf bags for life……but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

 Hope you guys have a nice weekend. I am looking forward to Easter break and spending some time with kids . Somewhere warmer then here would be nice although the weather looks to be improving.

I remember April 15th of the past, catching 30 pound stripers in Manhasset bay on chunks at will. So much it was actually boring. For those of you that are new to the sport and are looking for  big fish this early don’t fish up front with bait or in the back with plugs. The one way to big fish (and they are there, you’ll have to trust me on this one) is with a live, snagged or chunked bunker in the back.

However, this will change in a hurry so don’t expect the bite to last for weeks. This time of the season, change progresses quickly. I would say in two weeks time we should be inundated with bluefish. Which would be cool, I missed those little devils.

No, not me…the STRIPERTHON contest

but first

the winner of Guppy Pencil popper is  Brian  … surfishingfool@gmail.com

please furnish your shipping address to info@surfcastersjournal.com

For those of you who are antsy for the official start of the season in NY and are looking for fresh bunker, Mike at Saltwater’s Tackle in West Islip has it. How does he keep it so fresh and slimy is anyone guess but the dude has some of the best fresh bait around.

Some of you asked whose lure was that in the Tuning the Metal Lip Swimmer video…it was lure that is made 515 Engendered Lures from NJ …His website is http://www.515lures.com/index.html

He gave me two plugs at one if the NJ shows few weeks ago, I thought it was a nice color for contrasting against water on video. That was the first time I used it..or I should say seen it as Lou Caruso aka the Rod Gure was the one that actually did the casting

Some of you have emailed us asking if we will do another catch, photo and release contest this year. I am happy to tell you that STRIPERTHON 2011 will make a  debut with our next issue. I know, I know, the first thing we are going to hear is you should have started early, we been catching fish already. Look, I got barely time to pee between my regular job, cook, chauffeur, writer, etc..you don’t need me naming  them all. You all do these same things with your families….so you know the deal

We thought that contest was great idea, we just needed a little time to catch a breath after last winter voting… Great sponsors like St Croix Rods, Penn Reels, Hansom pliers, Commando Custom bags, Guides Choice lures, Super Strike Lures, Tsunami Lures, Line Stretcher Lures, Wiley X polarized shades also showed their commitment to conservation and promotion of catch and release within ten minutes of being contacted. Sorry, you not getting that gorgeous Toyota Tundra 🙂

So, yes, we will do this once again this year so charge your camera batteries and sharpen up your hooks

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf7OQmfOkxU[/youtube]

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I found out yesterday that I created quite a stir among certain part of surfcasting community…unknowingly mind you. It seems like some people got their panties in a bunch because I opened my seminar at River’s End last Saturday by saying you can’t catch a big fish on a plug.

Except , I never said that.

What I said that if you are going to hunt for big fish your best options are in this order, live bait, cut or dead bait and then plugs. No surprise here to anyone who has been fishing for more than five minutes. There are very few spots were plugs are the only way to reach a fish and even there, the wetsuit will usually taker care of that

However, someone obviously wanted to twist this to benefit them. As if the guy who wrote a book on fishing with lures would ever make such a statement? The easy thing to do would be to call these fellows out but that is not what we do here.

Now that I got that out of the way, let me resume my regularly scheduled broadcast. Maybe we should be giving fresh bunker away or live eels instead of plugs? There is an idea

It was also brought to my attention that whatever I write here or talk in seminars could affect sales along the coast. Wow…we knew we were good but not that good. That is just silly however

Our job is to bring information to you, about lifestyle, conservation, new products, new places. But that is where we end and your research begins. Don’t ever let something written on this blog serve as a only reason why you bought a product or went to a certain place. You should do your own diligence on any products we feature on blog or mag.

Remember, your grandma silver spoon with attached hook  will catch a fish in  blitz.

As you can tell, today is a kind of a day when I wondered why I spent more than half a day making a 2 minute video on tuning a metal lip swimmer…or why does SJ still exists ? I am thisclose from walking away from all this…. 

Speaking of big fish…there are different views on how to set the drag. In fact there are different views on how to release the fish, hook a bunker, sharpen your hook, what waders are the best, what broad casts better and most importantly and something that keeps most of us up at night, who makes the best wood plug ……..right.

Who do I listen  to ? The people I respect. Like John Skinner

So here is yet another video for your amusement and education

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs2etM4Ls9Q[/youtube]

Not quite sure how , but no one guessed that my second picture in the magazine was one of Flip Pallot, staring in a rearview mirror on page 191. Not only its different and well composed but I love the dude…

So we well put you all out of the misery and award the Super Strike Killer Bee darter to the fellow who came closest which was a guess of a page # 188.

That would be a fellow by the name of  MattD

you still have to furnish us your shipping address however….within 5 days

Fishing is picking up in lots of places and it won’t be long before bluefish are found in the inlets. 80 degrees today ? Figures. God forbid it would be on weekend.

oh yeah I didn’t you to miss  this post from another blog thread

My fellow surfcasters,

I cannot thank you enough for kind words & support.
I will be the first one to tell you that I am not a hero.
But I have the privilege & honor to take care of our wounded heroes
as a mobilized Navy reservist nurse working in the NATO hospital here.
I am still proud of serving our country for 27 years,
also prior service w/ the USMC & NJ Army Guard.
Once again thank you for your support of our troops everywhere.
God Bless America!

Sincerely,
Vince MIralles

In other news….I figured you guys will get a kick of out this poorly made quick video…it’s the thought that counts 🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a6dFgNY2C8[/youtube]

To what extent do you modify your lures?

Even the lure like  a darter,  which mostly people find to be too temperamental to be tinkered with benefits from few modifications. Adding a single hook with a bucktail or a feather improves a profile and makes it appear the lure has a “tail”.

Adding a 4/0 or even 5/0 hooks makes a darter run deeper and dig better in the waves. And that only on the darter…all lures can be modified in some ways, regardless if you are trying to slow down its action with bigger hook, cast it better by adding a slip ring to back hook or add a split ring to a nose of a pencil popper to make it dance better…then of course there are modification that lets you add a fast clip easier to your lure..and on and on

One of the lures that I get asked about  most when doing seminars is a metal lip swimmer. We all know that you can make your lure swim “down” by bending a nose wire up and consequently the opposite will happen when you bend the wire down. But sometimes I think the words just ring hallow and some of you need a better “visual” of what I am talking about.

So here is a short “in water” demonstration.

I will apologize for a lousy edit in advance..unfortunately Mac  does not want to play nice with my avchd files that come out of my hd camcorder so still have to make everything on Corel garbage. I am not sure what I was thinking there, I didn’t have a time to buy a single permit this year, never mind leaning final cut. I do  have to admit that I am intrigued with the idea of fishing a whole year without a permit. that would obviously limit my mobility but on the other hand it would make me learn few spots that I fish better. It would make for an interesting year now that Lou is building me not one but two, two piece St Croix Legend rods.

.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAu4Yygu9MA[/youtube]

You figure with internet and print, by now you’d know every lure maker from Delaware to Maine, right?

Or at least those who are in the shops and whose plugs are highly regarded.

I have one lure maker in mind that I would bet good money flies under the radar.

Few years ago at Asbury show, Ryan Smith of the RM Smith fame, good friend and a very popular lure builder brought over the lure in a package and put it my hand. “Try this” he said” it’s my secret weapon when I fish the Cape Cod Canal”

it was a canal style pencil popper that was made by Hess family. On the package it said Guppy Lure Company. As usual , being that Asbury is in winter I didn’t even think about the plug till one June morning when I cast it into the Jones Beach surf. I knew immediately why Ryan had such a hard-on for this plug as plug sailed and sailed. Slanted pencil poppers or “canal style” are best suited for areas with current or moving water and that one was no exception.

Being that I fished close to the JI inlet I had plenty if current to work with and plug preformed beautifully. Over the last few years I fished a bit at the Canal and talked to many who swear by Guppy’s pencils. In fact, you can see the picture of Ryan Smith dragging the big fish out of the water at  Guppy Lure website.

www.guppylure.com

So today , in honor of undiscovered gems, we will give you a chance to win this yellow scaled 3 oz Guppy Lures  JoBo Jr. Pencil Popper

I would like to thank CT Surfcasters Association for inviting me to speak Wednesday night. Always a pleasure  hanging with  those fine folks. If you are not a member and you live in CT you should definitely check them out at http://www.connecticutsurfcasters.com/fishing-club/

500 miles of driving in two trips to CT sounds like a lot but an upcoming trip to Florida with two kids will be much more painfull I am afraid 🙂

I am having a hard time believing that not one of you have guessed my second favorite picture yet ….I guess I’ll have to award it to the dude that came closest.

Some of you asked for the address of Mr. Vincent Mirelles in Afghanistan

Here it is, go make his day..

Vince Miralles
NATO Role 3 MMU
APO, AE 09355

you want to drop him a line ?

reynspooner@hotmail.com

Did you ever wondered what was the first  lure  legendary Don Musso made in conjunction with late Danny Pichney?

You can hear it from the man himself

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5suRBeR1S-s[/youtube] 

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 I received this note from Amazon.com the other day

Greetings,
I bought “The Art of Surfcasting with Lure” from Amazon but Mr Zeno Hromin
refunded my money because I am serving our country in Southwest Asia.
I would like to send him a personal thank you for supporting the troops.
If he will not mind. can I have an address to send it to him. Thank you
for your time & assistance.

Sincerely,
Vince Miralles

What Vince does not know is that he does not need to thank us, we should be thanking HIM for everything he does so we can enjoy our freedom at home. I think I can speak for all Surfcaster’s Journal readers in wishing Vince safe stay abroad and safe return home to his family.

It turns out, Vince if from  Jersey City, NJ 

He likes to cast his line in Hudson River, off Liberty State Park and downtown Exchange Place to catch stripers, blues and fluke.

These days Vince is in Afghanistan, and on his down time he enjoys a good cup of coffee

 a Cuban cigar….

and a good book 🙂

..

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Since no one guessed my second favorite picture (my favorite is page 84) I will give you a chance to guess again, and since the winner of Super Strike Killer Bee Darter never claimed the prize….you will have  chance to win it

but this time I will make your life even easier

these are the numbers that were already guessed so now you know which pages not to pick !!

140,157,143,51,84,83,140,145,78,137,187,154,75,88,82,51,141,57,82,13,163,75,78,146,185,170,183,151,167,91,54,51,154,155,91,14,82,155,80,6,7, back cover, front cover

Many of you have stated an interest in something more than just a giveaway so here is your chance to win Super Strike Darter Killer Bee..witha  little effort and a lucky guess 🙂

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The winner of Surfcasters Journal one of a kind embroidered hat is

Vic D’Annunzio

for catching and releasing this nice fish few days ago. Picture taken by his buddy Greg who had multiple entries himself in last year Striperthon contents

Congrats and NICE FISH !!!

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