January 8, 2000:

I'll keep it brief after yesterday's novel! Last night JohnM and I got a late start. We actually started casting maybe nearer to 11pm. The first spot we hit, John got his first January NJ striper. About 20 casts later, he got his first January NJ keeper, a fine specimen, 30-32" long and fat! I would say that's the average sized keeper we've been releasing for the past couple weeks. John was a little surprised that these sized keepers have been nearly as plentiful as the shorts that are generally much more common...especially in January! I assured him that his keeper was not a freak, that indeed, this was quite normal for Y2K striper fishing in Jersey. John let the fish go, which the fish thought was an excellent idea! ;) I was watching John land that fish when I had my first shot of the night, a real rod bender that I plain missed....a few casts later, I landed a fat one...and released it. Boy, it was quite cold last night, the chill worked on your extremities the entire time. Just when you got your toes back to the land of the living, your fingers would start to get a little numb....then your feet again. I guess there's no faster way to shed excess body heat than to stand on a big, cold rock for a couple hours. The rock is the same temperature as the air, 30 degrees last night...that's a full 65 degrees difference from the inside of your boots, at least it is when you start! It would take some serious boots to not allow the heat out of your boots...mine are good, but they aren't that good, my toes would start to go numb after 20 minutes or so without walking around.

The next spot yielded almost the same results, but much less action. We had many hits at the first spot, John probably 3 times as many as I did, they were a little tough to hook though. First cast, I land and release a short. John's wrestling one on the front that gets him in the rocks...and stays stuck. John basically decides he's not losing this rig and starts working his way into the water...not my first choice! :) He manages to get out there far enough to get it free...and the short is still attached...the fish was mumbling something about taking so long...John puts 'em back. I lose one on the next cast...has almost to the rocks. The cast after that, I had a good one come off in almost exactly the same spot...about 15 foot in front of me, it was like there was a pack of fish there helping get the hooks out just before we could reach them! Third cast, another hookup, I tell John 3 hookups in 3 casts....he reminds me with "and none landed...yet!" Yea, but I got that one in...and released. That's it for action there, we make a move now measured in miles. At the last spot, we spend the shortest amount of time, we were beyond shot. But wouldn't you know it, my first cast was met by a very good fish, but he had other plans. Second cast I land a fat short. Third cast I hook another good one...and much as you would expect it to, it didn't fall off, come unbuttoned or snag me in the rocks...I landed it. While it was a good fight, it was one that was oddly in my favor the entire time. While not a giant fish, it was extremely fat and probably 35-36"...and honest 17-18# fish. It could have been bigger, it was hard to really hang onto it from my rock. The proportions of this fish just remind me of a mini-world record fish. They are fat across the shoulders, huge around the bellies, and have that added fat near their tails that's my biggest measurement of how long they've been eating good...this one, for a while! It's easy for a fish to get fat, even one huge meal will bulge their bellies...when they get fat between their anal fin and the tail, that one's on a good diet! John's having a tough time, the rocks are winning more battles now, and even before he says it, I know he's done :) I managed to somehow land 6 fish there before they all left. I know I had 5 stuck in a row at one point, two of them pretty big....and they they disappeared again! After they split up, it was becoming a lot of casts between hits, John's more watching than really fishing now, he's shot...me too! Well, his goal last night was to catch just one in January, he ended up landing 3, including a very respectable double digit weight keeper...in January...not a whole lot of people can say that! :) Hey, anytime you can beat your goal by 300%, how can you complain...he doesn't. Matter of fact, I just realized something, when John and I first started fishing together last year, he seemed to get easily frustrated by the whole braid/jetty/fish/knots/busted line thing...he doesn't complain about those things anymore...either he's getting the hang of the type of scenarios I just introduced him to last year, or his patience has multiplied many times over...I'm betting that he just really knows what to expect now, so when the problems that we all run into happen to him, he realizes that's just part of fishing around rocks/bridges/pilings with braid, $10 lures, and good sized fish! Good for you John...remember the spring when I told you you'd get used to all the crap that can happen with braids? I think your there dude! I don't know how he's goes as long as he does, it's like 1 1/2 hours home for him, and I'm dreading the 15 minute drive for me! He's a trooper...he was telling me two days ago he was done...before he started last night he said this was his last trip...as he got in his truck to leave at 4:15am he said now he's not sure...he says his wife just laughs at him anymore when he leaves PA at 9pm with the temperature in the 20's to fish in the middle of the night...to quote JohnM himself, "Now I understand heroin addiction a little better." Yup, maybe we can start some program for all us striper junkies!

Finally tally, I had 9 including my best fish of this young year between 17-18#'s, John wrangled 3 out of the obstructions, including his best and first NJ keeper of the year! I say NJ keeper because over New Year's, he was in NC catching 10-28# stripers and red drum to 20#'s...check out the FishingReports! Have a good weekend folks, I may/may not write something tomorrow...I try not to on Sunday but sometimes I can't help myself ;-)

JohnM put an awesome weeks work (fishing) in down at the Oregon Inlet in NC. He also blessed us with a very detailed report in the FishingReports! Sounds like John had a banner trip down there, I am envious for sure! I've always wanted to catch some red drum, especially if I can do it without having to use fish parts for bait...John had all of his fish on Smilin' Bill jigs and on my red over white deceiver. He's had a love affair with those red-n-whites since the first order he picked up here...many bass for him as teasers, as flies on Block Island, and now again as teasers at Oregon Inlet. It's funny, that's also the preferred fly/teaser from the two trips Charlie and I took to the Cape Cod Canal this past fall! It seems the stripers everywhere, and now the drum as well, can't get enough of this fly. Charlie and I did very well fishing them on intermediate lines at the CC Canal during both the day and the night...and we tried many flies before finding that one their favorite. So much for color not making any difference! :)

And, for a newly confessed daily reader of this page, hi Dad! Love ya lots....

Charlie Fact: According to my records, I've caught 195 stripers since Charlie's last trip on December 4th...a fair number of them were keepers...the fishing just continues on, even though the weather is becoming less and less pleasant, they keep on eatin'! **NOTE: I was secretly shooting for 200 before they left...now I'm thinking that might have been a bit pessimistic of me, let see if I can get to 250 before they leave! :)

January 11, 2000:

**UPDATE: Boy, I dunno how, but you guys outgrew our new home already! It only took 2 weeks!! I will have to take down the picture pages temporarily again, my apologies...they just happen to be the biggest, easily removable section to take down. I will be moving all of you to higher ground in the next couple days, this is ridiculous. This morning, my ISP had "issues"...they were resolved quickly, but that's about the 4th "issue" since Y2K and that's too many for me. I've been with them for 6 or 7 years...I hate to leave, but I'd like to keep this site 100% reliable and if they can't do it, I may have to find someplace that can. So, we're gonna move...higher ground, hang on! Thanks for your patience...the board will be grooving in about 10 minutes!

First time this year, I ran into the skunk last night! Try as I might, the 5-6 foot waves...occasionally bigger...just apparently moved the unicorns out of the surf. At least in the areas I was looking. I did get to fish with a very dedicated unicorn hunter last night, he was out there an hour before I was. I was supposed to hook up with "Team L&H"...that's team Laurel and Hardy...humorous story there, it's really Geoff and Rich. Good guys, I like to fish when them but haven't seen them in some time. We had plans last night, but Geoff, much as he has become slightly known to do, decided to do some home improvements Sunday night in his bare feet....and wouldn't you know it, drove a drill bit into his foot. Rich tells me it's the same foot he sliced wide open a couple months ago. Both Rich and Geoff are in the insurance biz, Rich assured me their company doesn't underwrite Geoff's homeowners policy! Good thing :)

So I missed Geoff, but wish him well, and Rich and I fished for a few hours. The fishing was very challenging. The crashing waves and screaming wind certainly keep you on your toes when trying to keep your eyes on everything, and work the giant waves the right way. Well, something was amiss, the water certainly wasn't dirty, it wasn't "too" rough, it was actually up a degree in temp from the prior day...but it was also devoid of stripers. I imagine a properly equipped bait fishermen would have scored, but I don't hang around with too many of them! ;) Throwing bombers, darters, bottles, and teasers into the maelstrom yielded not so much as a hit. I was more surprised than anything, you can almost always find one or two. I'm pretty sure I could have caught a handful of them in a "desperation" spot...but I decided early on that I would take no heroic measures to preserve my skunkless season...I would either catch one right where I have been fishing, or I would proudly display the skunk flag on the trip home! I bought the skunk home.

Fishing with Rich is probably pretty close to looking in a mirror and back some years...even though Rich and I are the same age. He takes this serious, it's fun...but it's serious fun. He thinks through the things he runs into out there...always got an idea as to why or why not. I often share some of the theories and reasons he comes up with to a given situation. He devours both fact and postulation...he will be an above average striperman as his hours on the water add up. He and Geoff are actually quite the pair, while Rich tries to put so much together in head about why and what, Geoff's trying new things, going to new heights...even throwing the rigged eel a few times as his season was winding down! These guys will be a force to be reckoned with...and they're both good people. If I had to put together a "team to watch", I'd couple these two up with DanO and say that a couple more seasons and they'll be taking fish when others are finding none. Dan brings to the group a more intimate knowledge of the local places, he lives a few hundred yards from the beach and is beginning to understand when to look where and why. Plug that into the equation with Rich and Geoff.....the unicorns should be trembling in fear! :)

So, Rich and I got nothing, we talked about it a bit. Rich was wondering if the fishing gods were possibly angry at him, his last trip he caught more fish than all the other trips this year combined...he was almost feeling guilty about it! I offered that while that might affect his fishing for the evening, I hadn't been feeling guilty at all, why were they not available for my enjoyment. Then it hit me, I have been getting a little high on the fact that I hadn't missed this year yet, I was being rightfully humbled, putting the fact that the fish are the deciding bottom line factor to success...without them, no one scores! I did need to be reminded that sometimes, even when it looks great, you just won't find them. Am I worried about this being the end, about the fat lad sneaking in last night in the form of a 40kt south wind? No, not a bit. I think our combined efforts back in the icy cold late December trips have held the fat lady off. She's already visited places hours south of us, I think these fish will entertain us until we are done fishing. The cold will likely drive us out of the surf before I think the fish will leave! Why do I think this? Mainly because we have had respectable, even hot fishing, right through the couple times when the water was tickling 44 degrees...and that's very odd for NJ, I've worn the skunkskin cap more than a few years when the water got to 46 degrees...catching 10-20# fish through the beginnings of January is certainly an oddity and from here on in, everything is new. This being the first January I've ever fished, each event is new and will be recorded should they ever decide to stay in NJ this long again! For now, I continue with the optimism that they will be here, they will bite tonight, they will bite tomorrow night. I will give them a look see tonight and see if they come storming back into the surf as it calms down from the blow. I'll tell you what, in water like we had last night, if it were July, we have had some LARGE for sure...it was the perfect rigged eel water!

Thanks folks, your contributions to Surf Talk are drawing interesting people who are remaining as more good questions are being asked and answered. A bulletin board where you can ask/answer any questions you would like, when run properly, is a beautiful thing. The only rule, and it's being followed perfectly, is to respect each other...with respect for each other, the silly stuff won't get a foot hold to start. And the board won't turn into a teen chat room and it won't turn into an infomercial for stuff I'm selling...I want to keep it pure fishing, mixed with just the right amount of everyday life blended in for realities sake. You guys there are doing a great job! :) People are using the FishingReports! section very well. As much as I thought it would be simple to change that script around to append new entries to the top of the page instead of the bottom...it's not! I'm still working on it, there's hope, but the simplest method won't work unless I can get my ISP to upgrade his server-side files. I'll have to do it the long way, I don't like having to scroll to the bottom to read them either! I'm working on a favorite dozen hackle/bucktail teaser assortment. It's hard to turn my back on some teasers, but I'll have to in order to put together this assortment. In this past month, I have used 3 new teasers, all bigger than normal at 3/0-5/0, and all have shown great promise. The newest of which debuted last night, my first two fish on it were big. The other two new ones have been around now since early December, and the schoolbus hackle deceiver, "Paul's teaser", has taken more of the fish over 10#'s in the past 3 weeks than even the bombers. It will be hard to be objective in selecting 12 teasers right now! Odds are, I'd put 4 schoolbus hackle teasers, 4 black-n-purple hackle teasers, and 4 black bus hackle teasers in a box and call it a great selection for right now! I know, you want variety and a selection that will do more than score in January...I'll do it. Just telling you, my "dozen" would look like I said! :))

I've gotten many pictures lately that I need to put up, bear with me fine picture senders, I'm on it! All new ones are welcome as well. And thanks to you folks for continuing to place orders, I know it's winter, but you can never have too much stuff! :)) I'll be adding stuff in the near future, fluoro leader material, hooks, Zap-A-Gap, headlights, hook sharpeners...just a few of the things I see people out there can use. I think I might also sell the rest of the stuff necessary to tie the plain smilin' bills that are moving faster than I would have guessed. See, if I was thinking, I would have realized that you northern guys are fighting cabin fever, what better times to paint and tie jigs! I'll get bucktails and thread and Zap-A-Gap and you'll be in business! Thanks to all of you for your continued praise and best wishes, I really do hear each and every one of you!

And, for a newly confessed daily reader of this page, hi Dad! Love ya lots....

Charlie Fact: According to my records, I've caught 207 stripers since Charlie's last trip on December 4th...a fair number of them were keepers...the fishing just continues on, even though the weather is becoming less and less pleasant, they keep on eatin'! **NOTE: I was secretly shooting for 200 before they left...now I'm thinking that might have been a bit pessimistic of me, let's see if I can get to 250 before they leave! :)

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

January 12, 2000:

Still trying to get used to the 2000 thing, I guess I go through the same thing every year, when you write/type the date 100 times a day for 365 days, it kind of gets embedded in some little year holder spot in your skull. :) Here's the deal, we're moving. That's right, two months, we've outgrown our little chunk of cyber space here and we're packin' our bags! Moving to higher ground! I set up the account last night (right now actually, midnight) and I'll be sending things over there tomorrow...hopefully not tomorrow night, I'd like to get out and do a lil fishin'! I think you'll like the new pad, it's much roomier to say the least. After tossing some more cash at my ISP, I got our space here up to 20MB...the new place has 350MB! It's also been certified as "Guaranteed up!" That means, it don't go down...that's the kind of place I want you guys to have, only the best for my fellow striper addicts! I've also finalized the credit card purchasing stuff, so once we're in the new digs, I'll do the programming and such and you'll all be able to order and put it on the plastic, automated and such. In the beginning, I promised you all the world, I'm trying to do my part, and you've all shown your appreciation along the way to the extent that I am humbled by it all. At heart, I am really just a guy who loves to fish more than I love to eat or sleep. I've been doing it long enough to know that there are many of you out there that share this very same obsession and what I want here is a place where even the most hard core striper guys can feel right at home. There are other sites that are somewhat geared towards striper fishing, but they are, for the most part, hosted by people that are more geared towards selling stuff and telling you what you need...that's not me. I am geared towards pulling out all the stops to make this place the place where real fishermen/women share with other real fishermen/women and where they will do it with respect for each other and for themselves. I have been very pleasantly surprised by the class on Surf Talk! I expected nothing less from the guys that I know and by their lead, everyone else has followed and it is quickly becoming a place where everyone can feel at home. There's no name calling, no finger pointing, no "chat room" antics...just some of the best surf fishermen asking and answering questions. There's new guys, surf veterans, young folks, and my elders. Don't worry "elders", that's not saying much, I'm just looking at 34 next March, you might not feel elderly, but you are to me! ::))

So my way of thanking all of you for your interest, your support, your orders, and your encouragement is to pack us up and move us to a place where we can really grow! With the kind of space we'll have, I can host all of your photos, even the ones you just want to "leave" here to refer to on other sites. Yes, BlackBeard, even all your Penn Mag photos, I got 'em, I just flat ran outta room here and couldn't put them up right away. They'll be the first ones up when we make camp, I promise! So, hang on, things are once again changin' and this time, changing for real, no Band-Aids, no "additional 10MB", we're gonna do this once and do it right!

I've been mulling over the domain name for the site. I don't know if I'm giving this decision too much weight or not enough, but I am taking it seriously. One of the names I chose was immediately shot down by my "panel." Of the other three, the results were mixed. Some loved one, others loved another one....the bulk of the results did show the majority of my "panel" appeared to like the one that was secretly my favorite...and I didn't tell them which one it was! So, within the next few days, you'll be logging onto StriperAddicts.com! I like the name, for those of you that fish like I do can surely attest, this ain't no "hobby", hell, it's not even recreation, it's certainly an addiction! The folks that didn't like that name, I understand your reasoning, there are negative connotations with anything containing "addicts", but that's part of the reality of the whole thing. Any addiction, even one to striped bass fishing is not in itself a good thing...but I understand that the first step in healing is to admit your an addict, so why fight it!? Hi, my name's TimS, and I am a striperaddict. I'd really like to hear what all of you think about this name, for I do have a very narrow window of time to possibly change it. I do like it, but as BrianBM said to me earlier in an e-mail, he doesn't know of any browser bookmark feature that shows any preference to what we find interesting in a name! I agreed. I wanted a name that would be easy to say and easy for others to understand and remember...that way when someone tells them to check the FishingReports! on StriperAddicts.com while sharing a jetty in the middle of the night, the next day at work they can dig deep and recall the name. There was one notable runner-up that Paul told me to look into, and it's more a reference to an insult pointed my way, but Paul thought maybe I should register

Imalocalsogetoffmyjetty.com

Another anonymous suggestion was

clamtossingtourists.com

Sadly, both these names were taken when I went to reserve them...oh well, first come, first served! :) I apologize for the attempt at humor above, some of you nearly fell of your seats, others are wondering what in the world it is that is so funny...there's even a few that are possibly fuming. Oh well, I'm entitled to a little poke once in a while, I get poked enough! Just to clarify the second one, it's not an insult directed at anyone who fishes bait or clams, honestly. It's a somewhat inside joke...I fished both clams and bunker heads this year and I am not one to throw stones while perched in a glass house. Clams and bunker heads are part of what stripers eat, to never use them would be foolish. Granted, I don't do it much, but my hands have been as dirty as the next guy along the way!

Needless to say, it's 1:15am, I'm typing instead of hanging up my boots, so I didn't go fishing. It looks like I might be busy in the fishing department for the next few days...at least the next couple, so I spent this fine evening with my better half. She swears sometimes she'd get more attention if she had scales and stripes....somehow, I doubt it...I like her just fine the way she is! Besides, if she had scales and stripes, then even the safety of my bedroom would be haunted with stripers and I'd never rest!!! :) Tonight (Wed) I fish, I believe I will be having some company from a RI boy who somehow ended up on LI...now that's an accent combination that I don't think was ever intended! ;-) So, here's to all you guys that did make it out last night, I hope you scored, I anticipate your FishingReports!, even if you didn't score...I made my first Y2K skunk public knowledge, don't be ashamed. Sometimes you can learn more from a trip where you don't score than you can from a trip where they are committing suicide! Post them reports, I'm still trying to get my ISP to update the FP extensions so I can have the reports append to the top of the form...but that'll be just another thing fixed in our new digs!

Thanks folks, your contributions to Surf Talk are drawing interesting people who are remaining as more good questions are being asked and answered. A bulletin board where you can ask/answer any questions you would like, when run properly, is a beautiful thing. The only rule, and it's being followed perfectly, is to respect each other...with respect for each other, the silly stuff won't get a foot hold to start. And the board won't turn into a teen chat room and it won't turn into an infomercial for stuff I'm selling...I want to keep it pure fishing, mixed with just the right amount of everyday life blended in for realities sake. You guys there are doing a great job! :) People are using the FishingReports! section very well. As much as I thought it would be simple to change that script around to append new entries to the top of the page instead of the bottom...it's not! I'm still working on it, there's hope, but the simplest method won't work unless I can get my ISP to upgrade his server-side files. I'll have to do it the long way, I don't like having to scroll to the bottom to read them either! I'm working on a favorite dozen hackle/bucktail teaser assortment. It's hard to turn my back on some teasers, but I'll have to in order to put together this assortment. In this past month, I have used 3 new teasers, all bigger than normal at 3/0-5/0, and all have shown great promise. The newest of which debuted last night, my first two fish on it were big. The other two new ones have been around now since early December, and the schoolbus hackle deceiver, "Paul's teaser", has taken more of the fish over 10#'s in the past 3 weeks than even the bombers. It will be hard to be objective in selecting 12 teasers right now! Odds are, I'd put 4 schoolbus hackle teasers, 4 black-n-purple hackle teasers, and 4 black bus hackle teasers in a box and call it a great selection for right now! I know, you want variety and a selection that will do more than score in January...I'll do it. Just telling you, my "dozen" would look like I said! :))

I've gotten many pictures lately that I need to put up, bear with me fine picture senders, I'm on it! All new ones are welcome as well. And thanks to you folks for continuing to place orders, I know it's winter, but you can never have too much stuff! :)) I'll be adding stuff in the near future, fluoro leader material, hooks, Zap-A-Gap, headlights, hook sharpeners...just a few of the things I see people out there can use. I think I might also sell the rest of the stuff necessary to tie the plain smilin' bills that are moving faster than I would have guessed. See, if I was thinking, I would have realized that you northern guys are fighting cabin fever, what better times to paint and tie jigs! I'll get bucktails and thread and Zap-A-Gap and you'll be in business! Thanks to all of you for your continued praise and best wishes, I really do hear each and every one of you!

And, for a newly confessed daily reader of this page, hi Dad! Love ya lots....

Charlie Fact: According to my records, I've caught 207 stripers since Charlie's last trip on December 4th...a fair number of them were keepers...the fishing just continues on, even though the weather is becoming less and less pleasant, they keep on eatin'! **NOTE: I was secretly shooting for 200 before they left...now I'm thinking that might have been a bit pessimistic of me, let's see if I can get to 250 before they leave! :)

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

January 13, 2000:

First, a couple updates. The debate raged yesterday at to the domain name that we would all be proud to be a part of. I had already "decided" to go with StriperAddicts.com when fellow fisherman, good friend, and apparently quite the scholar, Saltheart e-mailed me with a list of names. One of his names jumped off the page and slapped me around, I immediately registered it. Much as I fought it, much as I thought to go with my first choice, I could not ignore this one. The dilemma began. Tortured with valid arguments for both names by my noble contributors, I had to choose. Also, throw into the equation dealing with inept folks at the credit card processing company....the company has a great history, the folks I had contact with should have been handing out French fries at the McDonalds down the street! Right up until the moment Paul and I left last night, the credit card folks and I were battling it out. One thing that really got my goat, the virtual link to the bank costs $10 to be delivered. If you don't get it, read it again. Yup, "delivering" a virtual link. The package is expensive enough, not that $10 adds any percent to the total, it just bothered me, so I told them. They said if it bothered me, just cross out that line item...I already had. Another thing that had me in fits, there's a page in the many page long contract called "Internet/Mail Order Addendum." Much as I learned when I was about 15, read things entirely before you sign them. I did. The very last paragraph before my required signature stated "This form is only required by merchants who will key in 70% or more of their orders." I thought this was pretty clear, I would key in a small percentage of my orders, very likely under 5%, I disregarded this page and told the folks there that I had. They insisted that filling that form out in it's entirety was mandatory, they still will not address the wording in this last paragraph. Some people just don't get it. Back to the domain name thing. Not only had I previously settled on StriperAddicts.com, but I had placed an order with my newly chosen domain host with that name. I placed a change order when Saltheart name hit me like it did: StripersOnline.com. There is a lengthy thread going on right now on , if you would like to be heard, I'd appreciate hearing from you on which of these two choices you think would be most representative of this site, the people here, and which you think is the better one.

A brief fishing report. Paul and I did get out last night. He met Carole for the first time, and he and Calvin (my cat) are practically old friends now. We fished a few different spots last night, all in the same area we've been fishing. My first fish was an extremely rotund specimen, just short, but probably close to 9#'s. It took the "Paul's Teasers" a.k.a. schoolbus hackle teaser with an orange collar. I'm telling you, I'd love for my next 45" fish to have these proportions! Paul had one tear up a screw eyed needlefish and dropped 2 more there. We moved and failed miserably at the next stop. After that, the next stop, I had a keeper and a short...Paul was deep in the funk. As we prepared to move, Paul took a few casts to the north and landed three "cute" ones in a row...and had at least 3 other hits. In the same area, I could get no attention at all! Once the lil fellas calmed down, Paul proclaimed that the funk was gone. We were at 3 fish a piece. The next spot, Paul had dropped one, I landed another keeper and a short. Then it happened, Paul's funk left him and enveloped me! He landed one...then another...and another. Granted, these were small to tiny fish, but they were fish! I moved to his right...still, he's connecting and getting hits...me, I might as well be cleaning my finger nails! I bet he landed 7 of these lil guys in a row while I couldn't buy a hit. Well, out of my 5, 3 were nice fish...this was my consolation thus far. It didn't last, his next fish was a keeper, then he lost a keeper near the rocks....when would it end! My consolation prize of at least bigger fish was quickly turned into a booby prize as Paul continued this onslaught with another keeper. I did manage to get a hit there before we left, but to his maybe 8 fish, it was a sad score for me. Funny thing, he was taking them on a needle-fish...at least some of the bigger ones. I had a couple needle-fish with me, but the fish weren't impressed...the wanted a thinner bodies plug that rode high at a moderate clip...mine were fatter and required a fairly quick retrieve.

Last spot, Paul's immediately in again...I watch him releasing a decent fish when I get clobbered and miss my first one of the night. I have been deadly as of late. I had many problems earlier this winter (??!!!??) with fish coming off and me missing good hits. Last trip I landed 12 out of 13 hits with none lost. So far this trip, while I wasn't getting lots of hits like Paul, I was 5 fish landed for 5 hits...them's good odds! So, I missed a good shot. Next cast I stick a solid fish....then I notice another shot...I hooked a double! I looked out and saw two separate splashes at the end of my line, one much bigger than the other....as I did what I could to drag them in, suddenly the rig got very light...the bigger one had bailed on me and I was left with the "cute" one that ate the teaser! Paul loses another one. I'm shot, I think I was even complaining a bit, sometimes the pain gets the best of me. I got another short...as I was saying last night, another "suicidal" one....that's how I picture the few fish that grab your plug when all the others are obviously giving you the cold fin. As it ended up, what started with me having a substantial lead ended with me at a substantial loss...Paul: 13, Tim: 7. Hey, it happens! :))

So, we enter the third week of January and still, we are releasing keepers on every trip...the one with the 7ft waves not withstanding :) It's still odd to me, but I continue to educate as many as possible as they migrate...if that's what they are in fact doing, I'm beginning to have my doubts. We are supposed to get some crushing cold weather this evening, wind chills below zero...my back needs some rest...I got this entire site to re-do and move to our new digs. I hope the windy/cold doesn't last too long, I still need another 36 stripers to meet my goal of 250 since Charlie stopped fishing! :)

Thanks folks for your input on this name thing, it's a tough one for me!

And, for a newly confessed daily reader of this page, hi Dad! Love ya lots....

Charlie Fact: According to my records, I've caught 214 stripers since Charlie's last trip on December 4th...a fair number of them were keepers...the fishing just continues on, even though the weather is becoming less and less pleasant, they keep on eatin'! **NOTE: I was secretly shooting for 200 before they left...now I'm thinking that might have been a bit pessimistic of me, let's see if I can get to 250 before they leave! :)

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

January 14, 2000:

Gonna be a brief one today. The name has been decided, it was a close race, I'm not even sure a clear winner was chosen by all of you....but it will be:
StripersOnline.com

I am quite happy with the name, yet I also was happy with the other one! I do think that this name is more family friendly, it'll be less likely to cause anyone undo concern than the connotation of addicts. Yes, many striper fishermen are addicts, but as a fellow "addict" said, it shouldn't be our proudest trait. If you'd like to follow the entire process of opinions and rebuttals, check it out on Surf Talk. Thank you for all the first timers that came out of the shadows to let me know your feelings on the name, I deeply appreciate your input. Thanks to everyone who let me know their feelings on the names....everyone's input was considered. I do have to say, the end result of StripersOnline.com certainly is a result of Saltheart for e-mailing me this troublesome tidbit, and for the well intentioned and pointed replies by Plug and J Powers. Sometimes when we can narrow down a choice to two, even if both of those are extremely popular and a few people have bad things to say about one of the two, it might be considered. Sure, StriperAddicts.com is cool, but there is negativity involved in its core. StripersOnline.com is cool as well, with none of the associated negativity. The deal is done, you are all to thank. Maybe I'll put up that 12 step program on StriperAddicts.com and the last step will be a link to StripersOnline.com! :)) maybe...

No fishing last night, it was too cold and I had too much going on. If you went last night, there should be a T-shirt commemorating this accomplishment, the wind chill was double digit negative. If you went, I hope you didn't catch anything...not to be mean, but if you did, you'd never recover from the wet hands!! Maybe tonight, stands to be seen as of yet. I will be hopefully putting the finishing touches on the new site today. I've got everything there, including Surf Talk, but I haven't configure the software to run there yet. I will be inviting a few folks over there in the early afternoon to poke around, click on stuff, and help me find potential hassles. After a frustrating day yesterday, I got much more done last night that I had anticipated...so I guess it was a draw for the day! The first guy I gotta drag over there is the big cigar smoker, JohnM, hope he doesn't stink it up to bad on the first day! ;^) See, at John's work, they have my current domain blocked. John inquired and they said there was no work related content on Monmouth.com. Can you imaging that, work related or John's mental health...what's more important! Those selfish IT people at John's place, I hope they're happy! So, I'll invite John over for the guided tour, we'll click on stuff and check it out. I hope to be able to open the doors by this evening for everyone. At first, it will look just like it did here, except the extremely long name of the site will be changed to just StripersOnline.com. I need to work on some new graphics, so new pages, but I'll invite you all there as soon I get it cleaned up a bit. I won't be changing the looks of the site just yet, I got too much going on, but there will be a lot of new features! I will get the features all running one at a time, preparing each one as thoroughly as possible before letting you all lose on it! I really think you're gonna like it. My goal is literally to make this site the one place you need to go, that's it. In my head, it will have exactly everything you need right here to completely satisfy the striper urges/needs. No, this isn't going to be a tackle box, but there will be some quality tackle available here. It won't be the National Weather Service....but I have a script that will give the latest hourly update from the NWS for any city in any state. Nope, won't be NOAA either, but I will have tide charts for NJ and north. I already wrote the pages for NJ to VA, I guess I could do from VA to TX as well, what's another couple thousand miles of coast :) I could go on for days, but I won't bore you. Hang in there, we'll be moved in within the next 24-48 hours and we can resume growing then! Thanks again for all your help and your support!

So, we enter the third week of January and still, we are releasing keepers on every trip...the one with the 7ft waves not withstanding :) It's still odd to me, but I continue to educate as many as possible as they migrate...if that's what they are in fact doing, I'm beginning to have my doubts. We are supposed to get some crushing cold weather this evening, wind chills below zero...my back needs some rest...I got this entire site to re-do and move to our new digs. I hope the windy/cold doesn't last too long, I still need another 36 stripers to meet my goal of 250 since Charlie stopped fishing! :)

Charlie Fact: According to my records, I've caught 214 stripers since Charlie's last trip on December 4th...a fair number of them were keepers...the fishing just continues on, even though the weather is becoming less and less pleasant, they keep on eatin'! **NOTE: I was secretly shooting for 200 before they left...now I'm thinking that might have been a bit pessimistic of me, let's see if I can get to 250 before they leave! :)

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent