I am glad some of you like to be ball breakers with “Ken Burns” comments. I can’t say I am very familiar with the man’s work as I watch maybe an hour of TV a week but I am trying to brush up. I did watch part of his baseball stuff years ago if I remember correctly
But it made me think (which is not necessary a good thing..lol).
If you were Ken Burns and you wanted to do a story on historical perspective of sport of surfcasting, let’s say at Montauk since Jerry brought that up…what would you ask the fellows you were interviewing? About the old days, would it be gear, fishing, old trucks, cranky tackle shop owners, lure makers, fast chicks and cheap scotch?..lol
What is one question (or two) you are dying to hear the answer too.
This should be fun
See you guys tomorrow in Asbury
[issuu width=550 height=213 shareMenuEnabled=false showHtmlLink=false proSidebarEnabled=true printButtonEnabled=false shareButtonEnabled=false searchButtonEnabled=false backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=120111023118-9d1048647cfe41d090399d5cfee4d4ff name=issue_11 username=surfcasters_journal tag=fishing unit=px id=70069923-d325-f4da-96e8-406b89269658 v=2]
IT would have to gear and plugs,for me. I been to the IGFA hall of fame three times, and spend hours there looking at evolution of the gear from yesterday all the way up until now. It’s amazing plus watching all the old video’s is pretty cool too. My advice do it alone, send the wife and kids to the beach or shopping. They will get bored fast.
↓Ugh. So much easier to sit back and post wise@$$ replies. It seems that a lot of the early guys were WWII vets, fishing with ancient equipment, VW buggies and heavy, leaky waders so they all had to be serious characters if not worse. I love to hear the stories about strategies, conservation, equipment, motivation, obstacles that were overcome (or not) back then for a frame of comparison to the way we fish now. Also, just the crazy stories about (or from) the guys we consider legends today, especially about guys that very few people remember or even those that perhaps were better off forgotten. Plus there is the history of the place itself. Mundus, U-boat landing in 42, Roosevelt and his rough riders in 1900, Pelican disaster in 51… All this stuff about Alaska on TV now with ice trucking, fishing, flying, mining…. Mtk was the frontier for many people who lived in the greater NYC area in the 50s. There are several great museum out east with one at the lighthouse that is pretty cool if you’re ever out here with the family. Sorry, that strays off on its own and really doesn’t answer your question. One cool question would be ” do you have any old photos from back in the day”? Drive safely.
↓It’s funny, I would want to how basic surf casting was years back. It was all about the catch, the target, the Striped Bass. Many today get lost in all the pretty plugs, and high end gear. But years back it wasn’t about that. One didn’t need a high end reel, or pretty plugs to get a bass hooked. I like to hear about the days gone by, the way it was, the simple basics. I think this is important to all who do this thing we do.
↓I think painting the scene with what they drove to the beach who the main characters were at the scene and discussing their personalities is awesome. It gives you the vibe at the time. A much cooler vibe than nowadays.
Throw in the old school pictures of equipment and fish and it brings it to life. I dig the nostalgia stuff. I think that interview was great…much better than I anticipated when that old guy popped up on the monitor.
↓I wonder if they thought about conservation or if some day it would end.
↓All of the above mentioned. But far and foremost it would be “ZEITGEIST”= The spirit of the times, collective ambiance of the times, or the pervading atmosphere of the times and the difference to present day. Then it would be “Gear”. You chose Pg. 87 as your favorite shot. These fisherman mainly used conventional reels (Penn 140 Squidders) filled with probably Dacron lines, real thumb burners, and mainly 2 piece rods with heavy wood butts, metal ferrules and fiber glass tops 7′- 11’+ in some cases. I, like you, use 2 piece models but prefer the 70/30 splits over the 50/50, but that is another story. How did these fisherman cope with fishing long hours of tides and even days with such heavy gear as what we have now: Incredibly light high tech composites rods coupled with waterproof Spinning reels and immensely superior lines which gives us far longer casting distances with almost any type of lure or bait with far less effort. As for the fast chicks…well, I would get my butt handed to me by my grand daughters + D wife would die laughing, saying yea!! dream on! So I guess I would love to her the stories, and you guessed it- DREAM ON! As for the SPIRITS, don,t touch them anymore. I have converted to High energy protein drinks and the ubiquitous Gator-Aid. Lucky I kept up running, for it keeps in this sport. A bit of ranting, but got inspired!!
↓could you walk to weakfish rock then?
↓Documenting the hows and whys of the myriad of tackle manufactures who came/went/still live might be interesting. Mitchell, Crack, Harnell, Quick, etc. all made contributions to the “game”. With baseball we debate the different “eras” and try to compare the players considering the evolution of bats, mounds, lights, etc. Just a thought, made for a nice morning.
↓While most people are interested in the hardware, I’d be more receptive to knowing the access points they used (compared to today), the “beach” vehicles used, the erosion from yesteryear to today and the effect of the fishing from such shoreline changes.
↓Would also like to know how they got around the guards and sentry’s at Camp Hero 😉
↓Just the storiesthat they would pass on which would include any of the descriptions of lures used and hardships that were faced. I still remember the ones from my grandfather, but he was a boat fisherman out of Sheepshead Bay.
↓when did guys start measuring fish in inches instead of pounds
↓