The Joke's on Us!
Hmmm, is there any stretching of the truth in surfcasting? Nahhhhhhhhhhh!
Got a funny story? Send us an E-mail!
The Laws of Surfcasting1. There is nothing as enjoyable as seeing a buddy lose a big fish.
2. The Laws of Large Fish
You will catch many big fish if you let them all go.3. Surfcasters who tell others about a secret spot get what they deserve.
You will catch more big fish if you don’t bring a scale.
You will catch even more big fish if you don’t bring a camera.
You will catch the most big fish if you don’t bring a witness.4. Never trust a striper ‘sharpie’ with a sun tan.
5. Never trust second-hand information.
(which, by definition, includes any NOAA weather radio forecast)6. The relative “skill” of a surfcaster can be easily quantified by dividing the number of years of his fishing experience by the number of different plugs he throws during the course of an evening.
7. Not airing down is good for the economy.
8. Surfcasting Odds:
1 in 1,000
…Odds of witnessing a blitz.1 in 5
…if you don’t have a fishing rod.1 in 4
…if you don’t have a fishing rod and…
…you are on your way to work.1 in 2
…if you don’t have a fishing rod and…
…you are on your way to work, and…
…your wife is in the passenger seat.1 in 1
…if you don’t have a fishing rod and…
…you are on your way to work, and…
…your wife is in the passenger seat, and…
…your mother-in-law is in the back seat.
John asked Santa for a few spools of 20 lb. Big Game line. This left John's wife (A.K.A. "Santa") with a problem: Fishing line comes in 1/4, 1/2 and 1 lb spools. What to do? Ah, but the answer seemed so obvious. John's wife opted for the 1 lb spool. Why? "Look how much more line you get on the 1 lb spool...imagine how much farther you'll be able to cast!"
This past September at Montauk, we observed a young boy, maybe 7 or 8, trying to cast a plug to bass swirling about 20 feet off the beach. Casts went straight up, sideways, everywhere but where the fish were. "C'mon," his father coached, "you can do it, just straighten out your cast." Finally the boy (now holding back tears) turned to his father: "Why don't we just forget about it, let's face it, I suck."
No Pets Allowed:
Montauk motel owner makes the rounds and notices a large Igloo cooler in Mike's room, right next to Mike's bed. Something looks fishy. The cooler has numerous air hoses coming out of the top, which connect to three air pumps purring away under the night stand.......Motel owner (looking shocked and amazed): "You don't have any live eels in here! Do you????"
What this vehicle needs is a cooler rack!
This photo comes from a surfcaster who found this guy stuck on the outer beach in North Carolina. (Sorry photographer/fisherman, but somehow we lost your name). Anyway, thanks for the photo! We normally don't find humor in seeing other people stuck on the beach, but we just couldn't resist publishing this picture!
This story came in via email from Peter . We thought it good enough to print. You decide if he's pulling our chain errrrr drag.
Funny story or some phreak accident?
Was fishing last october at the Montauk Point. 10 foot Rod. My 6th cast was a little too high. So it flung up in the air instead of going sideways it went up! Don't ask me how this happened.
But in anycase...the plug goes up and hits a gull. The gull gets really stuck around the leg area. So its flying around and I was in shock. So I release the drag, and let it flying around. So it takes of with my plug and my line is going out of my 750 SS real quick. ( and there are many fishermen around me who stop what they are doing and are amazed by this) So I start setting the drag a bit tighter. I am thinking to myself 'shit, I could be a great hunter instead of a fisherman'. But something odd happens and the seagull falls about 100 yards in the water. So I think that it may have gotten loose by now. BUT NO WAY! It is still struggling (I see a lot of blood now). So I am trying to reel it in gently so that I don't rip it's leg out. 30 seconds go by and WHAM! A Shark from the bottom inhales it! HOLY SHIT! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! With 20 lbs line I got this Shark on it! And the spool is going out like crazy!
So I say to myself nothing at this point in time is going to surprise me. So I get ready for the fight for a couple of hours. Nothing to loose, what the heck! So I adjust the drag. I am there for 1/2 hr.! Always adjusting the drag. Because I can't seem to adjust it. Suddenly it shoots out of the water. The bird was no where in sight.
Then it goes crazy on me. It sets out like speeding bullet. My line is going out like crazy. Until SNAP! The line gets cut!
A surf fisherman, 65 years of age walked up to me and says "Son, I have been fishing since I was a baby, but I have never seen anything like this!...Good fight!"
Funny or a phreak incident? YOU GUYS DECIDE!
This story comes from Tony in NJ. We thought you might get a chuckle.You Learn Something New Every Day
Today, while working at a house in Ventnor NJ, a lady (about 35-40 years old) walks past, as I was getting a few tools out of my truck. The lady stops in front of the truck and looks at it for a moment, then asks me, "What are those pipes on the front of your truck for, I've lived around here all my life, I’ve seen trucks with those things on them all the time, and I just don't know what there are for?"
So I politely answered the lady and told her they were fishing rod holders.
She then asked, "Why would you carry fishing rods on the front of your truck, when you could just put them in the back?"
So, again I politely answered her and said, "Because in the back, the rods bounce around and get broken, in the pipes they stay put, and besides when I'm fishing on the beach, the rods are easier to get to."
With that she said, "You mean you can drive on the beach?"
With that, I asked, "How long did you say you lived around here?"
Lady: "Why do you ask?"
Me: "Because people have been driving on the beach to fish for about as long as there has been motorized transportation."
Lady: "Where can you do this?"
Me: "Around here... Brigintine, Ocean City, Sea Isle, Avalon, Stone Harbor, and Wildwood. From September 15th to May 15th, except Brigintine where you can drive year round."
With all that said, this lady shrugs her shoulders and says, "Oh, I guess you learn something new every day!"
I stood there and watched her walk accross the street and climb into a 4x4 pick-up that had a business name on the door.
RIVER LADY CHARTER SPORT FISHING
Opinion
The Future of Surfcasting?It was the second week of June. Prime time for fishing a local inlet. I packed the usual suspects, an assortment of bucktails, everything from ¾ oz. up to 3 oz, along with pork rind in three different colors. A few plugs rounded out my arsenal. The anticipation was almost unbearable, and as I sat on my tailgate I could feel my hands trembling as I put the finishing touches on a new leader. The worries of the day: the office politics and the never ending list of home improvement projects were all but forgotten. My only concern at the moment was how fast the tide was running, and the direction of the wind, both of which would help determine the size leadhead I would be throwing.
As I made my way to the rocks, something looked suspicious. In the dark, I could make out 3 figures, but they did not appear to be doing the ritualistic cast and retrieve. They remained motionless. As I got closer, I began to make out the images of many rods, wedged in between the rocks. The tips of most of the rods were fitted with a small light, a strike indicator.
A productive rockpile lining an inlet is seldom unoccupied for any length of time during the spring and fall. In fact, unless we are fishing at some ungodly hour (which is entirely possible), we should fully expect to share this prime real estate with others. Luckily, most inlet jetties are fairly large, some fitting up to a half dozen casters, sometimes more, without risking a tangle.
This new crew fishing bait created a whole new set of problems. The tide was now moving at a good clip, and the placement of their rods made it all but impossible to find a place to cast without picking up a line. I've seen this jetty hold eight or more casters, but tonight it could only hold three. Each time they made a cast with fresh bait, the current pulled the line about 150 feet downtide, and with all the rods, the place was rendered unfishable with an artificial of any kind.
To add insult to injury, it appeared as though these bait fishermen were having quite a time of it. On the rocks, in between some empty beer bottles and remnants of bunker and clam baits lay a 20 pound striper. Not a huge fish, technically yes a keeper, but a fish most jetty regulars would have quickly released. The futility of the situation made me a little angry. Yes, there were fish here, but no, I would not be able to fish at this spot tonight. I got the sinking feeling that all fish landed by the trio, legal or not, were probably going to be kept. As I left, I began to wonder if I would be shut out of fishing this location in the future.
To make a long story short, I got over it…to a point. Since that first episode, I’ve been discouraged to the point of walking away from other spots, due to an influx of bait fishermen. In some cases I’ve written off spots altogether. Where these fishermen have come from, and why they have come, I'm not really sure. Some anglers point to the lowering of the size limit from 36" to 28" in the Empire State, a move which they say has turned off the "sporting" types, while encouraging those whose only interest is in taking more fish home. I'm not so sure its that cut and dry, but I must admit that I'm seeing baitfishermen like never before.
Its a bit odd, if you ask me. With more fish around, you would think that the chances for hooking up with an artificial are all the greater, much greater than was the case 10 or 15 years ago. The number of anglers has increased, but outside of the flyrodding contingent, more and more anglers seem to be opting for bait. I've relayed my story to many fellow surfcasters, and many others agree - the world appears to be changing. Now I don't think of myself as an elitist, I’ve somehow learned to accept all of this, but please understand that I don’t have to be happy about it.
The truth is, my problems with this growing baitfishing phenomenon has less to do with the bait, and more to do with the characters that somehow come with territory. The code of conduct is to leave the place in the same condition that you found it in, or to take it a step further by picking up any trash laying around. Why is it that so many bait fishermen have a problem with picking up after themselves? Its pretty obvious that its bait fishermen we are talking about, I'll usually find the telltale empty bait containers. This year I found one location with decaying bait, hooks, lines, empty sandwich bags, and empty bottles of beer. If that wasn’t enough, it appeared as though one of those fishermen decided to leave his mark by taking a dump right on the rocks – a real class act.
Etiquette is another concern. Over the years, some locations, particularly those rocky areas with swift moving water were generally left to the bucktailers and pluggers. It made perfect sense, why run the risk of fouling with another line? And why not enjoy a spot that can actually produce with artificials on a frequent basis? The Montauk Lighthouse and Shagwong Reef come to mind, but there are others. In each location, baitfishing now seems to be taking hold. Today, on any given day or night, a small group of bait fishermen may limit access at either location, if not shut it down completely.
Catch and release (or lack thereof) is yet another source of frustration. Why is it that so many bait fishermen seem to want to keep everything they catch? Why is it that they can't gently release skates and other unwanted species? Why is it that they seem so oblivious to the regulations concerning sizes and bag limits? And since the rods are so often left unattended, what are the odds that a fish will swallow a hook and die after the release anyway?
Back to the bait thing, most reasonable fishermen, including many of the so-called purists, are not morally opposed to bait fishing. There are very few fishermen who haven't fished bunker, worms or clams on occasion, including yours truly. Yes, some club members do fish bait, but most, if not all, appear to have good common sense. In an organized "sportfishing" club, peer pressure can be applied to ensure that all members, bait fishermen and pluggers alike, are doing the right thing - one of the many benefits of some type of club affiliation.
And who can knock the effectiveness of bait? Each year, the overwhelming majority of better fish entered into the New York Surf Fishing Contest are taken on bait, particularly on cut menhaden. If competition is the prime motivational factor, bait is the only logical choice. We must also remind ourselves that there are some locations, and some periods during the year, when cut bait may be the only way to scare up a fish or two. The miles of open beach from Jones Beach to Cedar Bar come to mind.
If so many anglers are fishing bait these days, what does the future hold for anglers who want to fish artificials? Aside from some flyfishing contests or categories (where participation is not what it should be, at least not in the surf), there are few incentives in our local tournaments for assuming a handicap by going the artificial route. The rewards for fishing artificial are entirely intrinsic. The problem is, that with so many more anglers opting to go the bait route, an angler may find himself at a tremendous competitive disadvantage, unless he decides to do as the Romans do. Further, many anglers believe that as soon as the smell of bait hits the water, the fish start to behave differently, and may be much less willing to take an artificial. I have not done an experiment in a controlled environment, but there are more than a few occasions where I've seen this play out. And as we see more and more “Romans” working locations once practically reserved to bucktailing and plugging, will it become increasingly more difficult to find a place to try for a fish with creations in lead or wood or tin or feathers?
The issues surrounding the bait vs. artificial debate are rife with emotion and innuendo. Volumes can be written on this debate and nothing will ever be resolved. The bottom line is that there is a time and a place for baitfishing, which goes hand in hand with basic angling etiquette. Nobody wants to tell another angler what he can or cannot do, but how do we keep from having the most productive and popular plugging and bucktailing spots overrun with spiked rods? There are no easy answers. Just like the "bait vs. artificial" thing, not everyone shares the same set of values, and not everyone fishes for the same reasons.
In freshwater, it is very common to encounter a river or lake which has been set aside as artificial or even fly only. I don't necessarily believe that such is necessary in the salt, but after seeing some of these "new style" fishermen in action, I must admit that the thought has crossed my mind.
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