The other  night, I  thought I had perfect conditions…and I did.

What I didn’t expect (again) was for my incompetence to rear its ugly head (again).I arrived at the inlet jetty only to find out that I left my surf belt hanging in the garage. On it were new pliers I am testing, Boga grip, hook remover and of course, my camera. Oh, what the heck, I said to myself, I am not going back home now. I grabbed a pair of Manley pliers I had in my truck, stuck them in my waders, and got onto the jetty. For you that been asking me about what exactly my next book will be about, you are just about to get a preview. Working title “If a incompetent googan like me can catch fish, so can you”…I should have no lack of stories to write….

I got to tell you, being without a belt felt like standing on the jetty in my underwear, Continue reading →

We like new stuff but we particularly like new stuff that comes out out of the shop of one of our supporters

check this out, these are new tins from Salty’s. No , not plated lead but pure old-fashioned tin that can be polished in the sand for as long as you own it. For those of you who like to use the tins at a very slow retrieve but were frustrated with your tins bumping the bottom, tin sinks at slower rate then plated lead lures.

Oh crap, why am I writing all this stuff?

just click here and go see for yourself

http://www.saltybugger.com/pocket_pak_tins.htm

I like so many others have taken advantage of the daytime blitz fishing going on out east. While out there 2 weeks ago, I witnessed a “fisherman” up on a rock on the south side. He had a pick of fish as the rest of us did. All of a sudden I see this guy rear back like he’s pulling the Titanic up from the depths of the Atlantic. After a few seconds he finally realizes he’s snagged. I watch in utter amazement as he locks down the drag and starts snapping back over his head with all his might to free his bucktail which was hopelessly snagged. He kept this up for 2 – 3 minutes before his line finally parted. There was no visible damage to the rod on the outside but if I were a gambling man I would venture to say he might have done internal damage to that blank. He may have fractured some of the internal glues & epoxies used to create the blank. Nothing may ever happen or he will be Shocked as hell when he finally hooks a 50 and the rod folds in half. Worse yet, when he forgets all about this incident and makes a simple cast and the rod folds in half.

The first words out of his mouth will be: “it’s a defect in the blank”

If you snag up, hold the rod straight out towards the snag and pull back towards you holding the cup of your reel.  Not at 180 degrees over your head. Either your lure will break free or your line will part.

Good luck out there this fall,

Lou Caruso

As we enter in our final month for STRIPERTHON 2010 I cannot hide the fact that I am disappointed in so many ways. Maybe our expectations were different, maybe you the reader don’t share our passion or do not have the camera or buddy handy. It can be many things….

I did came to realization that many anglers preach and practice catch and release…until they catch a fish that is over 20 pounds. Then something happens, and they must keep THAT fish. Maybe to justify it in front of Da Wife for spending small fortune on tackle, maybe for impressing friends or maybe for few moments of internet stardom. Believe me, I know how this feels, I’ve been there, done that. I am absolutely, 100% nonjudgmental as I type this. What I am trying to say is maybe we at Surfcaster’s Journal have not taken this into account.

You have to also understand where we are coming from. All of us are members of High Hill Striper Club, one of the oldest club on Long Island whose past members included such surf dignitaries like Jack Frech, Fred Schwab and William Doc Muller. I believe our club releases 99.8% of all fish caught, 4lb or 40lb, it doesn’t matter. This obviously has a lot of influence on how we feel about the catch and release.

We thought that participation would be higher but maybe we have to accept that we overestimated willingness of surfcasters to release big fish. Either that or we made rules to complicated. I trust that you guys will tell us what it is

You still have few weeks to enter a shot. Heck, you have a great chance to win one of the prizes with just about any picture. Don’t forget that new Penn Torque our Grand Prize is hitting the stores now, and I am just drooling when thinking about all the sick plug lots that will go to the winners.

Oh yeah, guys from Penn are sending us a reel…they said don’t hold your breath till stores get their orders in…lol