Fishing heating up...LARGE moving into the flatlands ;-)

November 1, 2000:

    Greetings. Seems as the fall progresses the fish are getting bigger and better spread out. Last night I heard many, many things, all of which point to much better fish and a much wider spread of fish than any time thus far this fall. PhilL had a nice fish of 35# 4oz that inhaled a darter...and 7 other fish that were better than 34"...not too shabby for our flatlands! I head from Steve S that he did a number on some fish much further north than Phil....and from guys in between the areas Steve and Phil fished...all reported very good action. Me? I didn't get out till really, really late...I was waiting for Jim-DE and Art...they were actually earlier than expected...but it was still very late in the tide. I scraped out two fish and miss a few...and went home to let Jim and Art wait for the pre-dawn bite. I imagine they did pretty well if they made it to dawn but I won't know till one of them informs me later on.

   The bait right now is varied in size from sand eels to big bunker...with spearing and rainfish thrown in for good measure. What that means is any size/style of striper plug is not outta the question! Teasers for the smaller bait imitations...darter, swimmers, and bottles of the bigger stuff. It seems wooden swimmers crawled across the top at night are putting bigger bends in rods than most other lures...but again, you couldn't tell it by me, I've been scoring on the 5 1/2" MegaBait and 6" bomber...and the rigged rubber eel. The daytime bite, again, from what I'm being told, was excellent yesterday....from all areas...from Sandy Hook to south of IBSP...and who knows where else in between. It's prime time right now...it's time to put in the time...it's time for big fish to show up anywhere, even where you'd not expect them to show! Right on schedule for a change, between Halloween and Thanksgiving. With any luck, from here on in the fishing will remain somewhat stable...patterns might actually form...there might actually become some reliable bite where you can expect to run into similar action for days in a row! I think the sand eels are key to this...when the sand eels were here in force in 1998, there was something like 40 days in a row where you could expect there to be a vicious dawn bite of fish ranging from babies to 40#. It was nice to be able to count on a pattern like that...I'm thinking we might just run into such a thing again this year. There's apparently an enormous body of fish milling around our coast...I hope they find what they like and set up camp to get fat for their winter movements! 

    I hope to spend some real time out there this evening, gonna check out a few things and see if I can't find something LARGE to tangle with right here in NJ. It just might happen, things are certainly starting to feel a bit more normal with these fresh visitors...I hope the sand eels spread out and bed down...that would be really, really nice...there would be many smiles coastwide ;-)

    The Fall Fling T's are in the catalog now....check the odds-n-ends page. Also, Gibb's just filled some of their backorders...now we got the 1 1/2oz Polaris in red head and in pogie. They also reinforced our stock on the 2 1/2oz yellow darter...the fish just can't seem to get enough of these! I'm gonna put a blue darter in my bag tonight...you know, strictly for scientific purposes ;-) Funny thing about fishing darters...they appear to be doing nothing...you'd swear it was broken...but the fish keep slamming them. I'm guessing their big draw is the fact that they are the only truly mild and erratic subsurface lure made....that I know of anyway! They kinda slither from side to side while getting maybe a foot down....just like a disoriented bigger baitfish might do. One thing about stripers...especially the bigger ones...they are much more likely to eat something that has some erratic action rather than a steady rhythm....there's not much in the natural world that keeps perfect speed and tempo when it's hurt. And always...with all yer lures...you gotta throw in that occassional "pop" or "twitch"...it's that change in action/motion/direction that will trigger a hit from a fish that was just previously thinkin' about it. It really works, give it a try! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Weekend wrap-up....

November 6, 2000:

**UPDATE: It has come to my attention that our efforts this weekend were not in vain...we placed first in this tournament! As the tournament season winds down to the last three remaining tournaments, next weekend's is sponsored by Team Mullet with a minimum size of 32" (I like those kind, less death, bigger fish) and then Monmouth Beach Car Toppers with a minimum size of 32" (see above note ;-) And finally, starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is our tournament...actually, it's a giant, 5 day fish-a-thon! It starts on Wednesday at 5pm and we'll fish ourselves silly between giant meals of turkey and fixins right up to Sunday at noon! Unfortunately, our club still honors the 28" minimum. I guess I should go to more meetings and moan about that...it's all decided by a vote and if I ain't there to vote, I got no right to whine about it. Anyway, we are currently leading the over all standing for the year...the first time in my 6 years with the Shark River Surf Anglers!

   Welcome back folks...it's Monday...the dreaded "beginning" all over again...happens every week, you get used to I guess ;-) Anyway, the weekend was good for some...not so good for others...but then again, ain't that always the way? Thursday night was a complete exercise in futility for us...we had a tournament and went chasing the success PhilL had the night before...or at least decided to do stuff in that area. I always swear I know better...but the call of someone else's first hand success just 24 hours prior is strong, I am weak...it almost always wins....but rarely does it pay off! So, we fished hard....just prior to bailing, I finally hooked up...the only fish of the evening...and since we had a 30" minimum for this tournament, the fish sucked in his tail to the point that he was only 29 1/2"...they are good at that! Matter of fact, through the course of the weekend, the 29-29 3/4" fish would dominate my evenings...smattered by a only a couple over the 30" minimum. I swear, if I'm to catch a 50" again, there will have to be a tournament where the minimum size is 51"...I'm certain to score some 50" fish at that point, it's always been that way ;-) So Thursday night was basically just exercise.

    Friday we decided on a complete change in plans...some local suds would get the nod...less driving...less walking...and hopefully, more fish! Our first stop was a washout...after about 30 minutes it was deemed devoid of fish...we would drive. The second stop was a little better to us....a couple shorts each on plugs...but still, we needed 30" fish here, not shorts...but at least they keep ya awake! We drive again...much further north and do some fishing inside the Raritan Bay....and we checked out one of the spots we can usually count on...it was barren...devoid of all life except for some small bunkers apparently tanning in the lights nearby. Getting slightly discouraged...and really starting to feel the effects of no sleep...we look to the Hook to save us. After an hour there, it's beginning to feel like it just ain't gonna happen. We'd been in touch with JohnM and PhilL who were haunting the same areas but still working north as we now headed back south...again. They were having similar success, some shorts on plugs. We probably passed them on the way south. We went back to a couple areas north of the Fling Zone that we'd already fished...but now the tide was dropping...a whole new tide full of entirely new optimism. We were rewarded well for the last 2 hours of the dark. I ended up with an even dozen to 31"...and lost a couple that were downright decent. Charlie had 6 but also had the pool winning 35" 18# unicorn as well as a fat 10#. As we packed it in with daylight inevitably on the horizon and the hammerheads fast approaching, we at least had something to show for our determined efforts! 

    Saturday....always a bit stiffer by the Saturday of a tournament weekend...but somehow we managed to get out much earlier than normal...even Steve S, when he found us noted that he almost didn't believe it was us when he saw the truck ;-) Yea, it was...but we shoulda stayed home and waited till much later. I had two fish stuck in the first 10 casts...and then it got real quiet. Charlie lost an apparent 30"+ fish that tried to steal his last 2oz Chernobyl Hab's needlefish...but the fish escaped just prior to capture.  Charlie wasn't really fishing...anything he caught, regardless of size would have to be released...he had his 2 fish from the morning and another wouldn't be eligible until after midnight.  I, however, still had room in the cooler for one more volunteer! I'm sure the second fish I lost would have fit in there nicely...but it was not meant to be. I did manage to land one a little bit later that was really close to the magic number...but still short. The idea of filling that empty spot before midnight had given way to the reality of just catching something! We moved around some, caught a couple small fish. We took it easy...went and had coffee...devoured a few bagels. About 2am we decided to put the look on to find a couple more worthy fish. Two spots there were shorts inhaling rigged eels...when I say shorts, that's short of the 30" minimum for this tourney...but over the 28" minimum of the state....some we're really close to that 30" mark...we don't bother with them, hate to be insulted at weigh in with someone measuring my critters! ;-) I'm glad they do measure them, there's been plenty of instances in the past where the actual length was less than the hopeful angler's measurement.  Some guys measure them across their body....that's not the right way and the fish will definitely be shorter than that should it be measured on a flat tape...the way the warden or weighmaster will weigh it...just thought you should know.  I don't remember if those rigged eel eating fish gave up on us or we gave up on them, but we were suddenly south again throwing plugs...it's gets fuzzy after 3 nights. In the end, I landed a 34" fish on a teaser to weigh in...and the fishing never really got started on Sunday morning the way it did on Saturday morning...but I eeked out 9 fish for good measure anyway ;-) Charlie napped in the truck for the last couple hours...wise move it turns out!

   Friday night, the fish couldn't get enough of the 6" MegaBait...now much as I love this line of plugs, the 6" had been the only one that I hadn't developed any confidence in...the fish on both Friday night and Saturday night changed that...the yellow shad, kuro kin, and midnight shad will now become permanent residents in the bag. When the fish were eating them, they weren't eating much else...that makes them important for me! The 7" in yellow shad and midnight shad accounted for lots of the bigger critters I stuck on Friday...but sadly, they either escaped or missed the 30" mark. I did manage to stick a serious critter on the 2 1/2oz Yellow Gibb's Darter...which the fish busted off during the battle....only a couple hours later, Charlie caught the whole rig, minus the fish...I guess that fish wants to do battle on a level playing field and doesn't consider knot failure as a legitimate win? I hope so, I'll be extra careful in the near future when putting them big darters out there...fish with attitude eat them, knots should be tested thoroughly! 

    The Fall Fling T's are in the catalog now....check the odds-n-ends page. Also, Gibb's just filled some of their backorders...now we got the 1 1/2oz Polaris in red head and in pogie. They also reinforced our stock on the 2 1/2oz yellow darter...the fish just can't seem to get enough of these! I'm gonna put a blue darter in my bag tonight...you know, strictly for scientific purposes ;-) Funny thing about fishing darters...they appear to be doing nothing...you'd swear it was broken...but the fish keep slamming them. I'm guessing their big draw is the fact that they are the only truly mild and erratic subsurface lure made....that I know of anyway! They kinda slither from side to side while getting maybe a foot down....just like a disoriented bigger baitfish might do. One thing about stripers...especially the bigger ones...they are much more likely to eat something that has some erratic action rather than a steady rhythm....there's not much in the natural world that keeps perfect speed and tempo when it's hurt. And always...with all yer lures...you gotta throw in that occassional "pop" or "twitch"...it's that change in action/motion/direction that will trigger a hit from a fish that was just previously thinkin' about it. It really works, give it a try! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

The swell that never ends...and the missing fish

November 8, 2000:

   Now much as I love a good swell for striper fishing...much more so than flat, glassy waters....I'm getting tired of ducking and dodging these waves! I mean we've had W and NW winds now for over a week...sometimes real screamers...and the swell is still pounding the sand and rocks. I'm ready for a few mirror calm nights...the kind where you can see your bomber crawling across the still surface from 50 feet away at night...the kind where you see the hits before you feel them....it's November, I'm ready for some of that! I've been splashed, drowned, sprayed, and pummeled by every sort of wave in the past 2 weeks...I'm really ready for this swell to flatten out. Dubs calls it "perma-swell"...like it's never gonna go away. I'm beginning to believe him.  Granted, if your preference is throwing clams/bunker parts, this is a God send for you, this swell makes the bait fishing 100% more effective than the calm stuff. But I'm ready for some light rod plugging from the sand...and 3-5 foot swells just aren't the right stuff for a nice, relaxing night of the light stuff. Not to mention the yak!?! I'm dying to get out some during the day and yak up some fish...the ones that always seem to spend their days 400 yds of the beach...the reason for even having a yak! It hasn't been the right kind of water for that in a long time! I'm getting to miss all the things you can do in a real moderate surf. Soon...hopefully, very soon.

  The strangest thing last night...the fish were mysteriously absent! Yup, we fished only a couple different spots, but they had been very productive even the night before...and last night, they were nearly devoid of all striped bass! I managed 3 bites in 2 hours of plugging...Charlie never had a hit! I only hooked one of the 3 bites, on a rigged rubber eel, but even that was short lived as the fish came unglued after only a very brief head shaking wrasslin' match. It didn't make sense, everything was pretty much as it has been for the past week...same swell, same white water, same bait...pretty much identical to the past nights where we've been doing double digit nights on them. Last night was as if someone had turned a switch...or some of the gill netters had just plain wiped them out...something was drastically different. Weird.

   We'll try again tonight...it's unusual for them to be absent 2 nights in a row this time of year, they ought to be giving themselves up to any well presented lure/teaser. Sometimes I think the fish take a night off...just to throw a monkey wrench into your mental picture of what's going on...a ploy to throw you off track. The natural thing to do...and what I think they expect...is that the next time out, you'll go somewhere else....I don't fall for that! ;-) That's what they want...they want to storm back into your spot and really tear it up...they figure you'll be somewhere else and they'll have the place to themselves...I don't buy it! I'll be back, same place, same tides that they have been feeding...and I hope to catch them totally off guard and get the rod bent many, many times!

   Monday nights fishing was pretty good, I ended up with 11 fish to 14#'s...the bigger ones ate long thin yellow hackle teasers...many fish ate the 6" bomber and 6" MegaBaits. Paul and Otter were out in the same neck of the woods...we crossed paths a couple times ;-) Turns out, they had about the same action and then, just when they were preparing to leave...they stumbled onto a jetty pocket that was over flowing with 22-24" unicorns! It happens this time of year...in northern states, they could have easily been 30-36" unicorns...but in Jersey, we'll take whatever we can, picky we can't afford to be. They hammered these little unicorns, bites on every cast for like 40 minutes or something. Paul guessed he had 21 or so before it ended. I'm not sure how Otter did...but he was wearing his nice new Bronco jacket and I'll bet he was toasty warm! ;-)

    I am now working on the photos for some of the picture-less catalog pages...like the Fall Fling T's...the Yozuri Mag Darters...the Hab's Lil' Scrapper poppers...the Gibb's Polaris Poppers...and the Gibb's Stubby Needlefish. I should be able to get these edited and up today. Check the page to see when they are updated.

   The Fall Fling T's are in the catalog now....check the odds-n-ends page. Also, Gibb's just filled some of their backorders...now we got the 1 1/2oz Polaris in red head and in pogie. They also reinforced our stock on the 2 1/2oz yellow darter...the fish just can't seem to get enough of these! I'm gonna put a blue darter in my bag tonight...you know, strictly for scientific purposes ;-) Funny thing about fishing darters...they appear to be doing nothing...you'd swear it was broken...but the fish keep slamming them. I'm guessing their big draw is the fact that they are the only truly mild and erratic subsurface lure made....that I know of anyway! They kinda slither from side to side while getting maybe a foot down....just like a disoriented bigger baitfish might do. One thing about stripers...especially the bigger ones...they are much more likely to eat something that has some erratic action rather than a steady rhythm....there's not much in the natural world that keeps perfect speed and tempo when it's hurt. And always...with all yer lures...you gotta throw in that occassional "pop" or "twitch"...it's that change in action/motion/direction that will trigger a hit from a fish that was just previously thinkin' about it. It really works, give it a try! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Fishing, politics, and another tournament....

November 9, 2000:

   Let's get the most unpleasant stuff outta the way right off. It seems we are still unsure as to who won the presidential election now two days old. Strange for sure. Paul said it best last night quoting SteveS..."I feel like we're in some third world country, we had an election but we don't know who won!" I hear ya Steve...I hear ya. There's some lively debate and very interesting political insight on SURFTALK right now...I'm learning new things there each day from my more politically informed friends....like, did you know we still had hamlets in the US? ;-) Seriously, I do find the "way things work" as one of the most interesting topics...almost regardless what it's referring to...I've always liked to know how things work. Now I have a much better understanding of the presidential election process...so at least something positive came from this election!  Oh, and the thing about the hamlets ;-)

   Fishing....that's right....we're supposed to be talking about fishing! First off, the fish that were missing on Tuesday night came back (in part) last night...and the guys south of here that did well on Tuesday night experienced the fish void that we had on Tuesday. Last night looked promising...within 15 minutes of casting I was releasing a fat keeper....little did I know that it would be my only fish landed for 4 hours of plugging! Yikes! That's terrible. At least it was confined to me...Paul Naj had 4 fish and Dubs had 3 fish including the pool winner at 33 1/2"....all fish were released, a little wiser, but none the worse for it. I just had one of those nights, we all have 'em, I didn't let it bother me that my conversion ratio was a dismal 1 for 5...not a bit. Had 5 bites, put one on the rocks...but there's definitely room for improvement over last nights action! And just what in the world is keeping that swell so BIG!?! I mean there'd be 5 minutes of nice 1-3 footers...then all the sudden a monster set of 6 footers would be looming down on ya! Boy, sure keeps ya on yer toes! I'm ready for some nice, wind driven 2-3 footers...I like them, at least you know there's no giant monster waves coming and can prepare accordingly! 

   There's a E to SE blow coming this afternoon...and some rain. Look for a serious increase in striper activity this afternoon and into this evening. The table's set...the baits all over - spearing, sand eels, peanut bunker - the fish are in the area...lots of them. This blow should bring it all together! I say should cause you just never know...sometimes the fish have different idea. The fishing this afternoon should be killer for poppers, darters, bottle plugs, teasers...and yes, even for the clamming crew! In the dark, the black bomber and assorted dark colored wooden plugs will take over. Almost forgot Bill...the Smilin' Bill will be big if the water's moving a lot...fish it with a teaser...cast it at an angle into the incoming waves and let the waves work the jig/teaser towards shore...into any holes and across any bars...always fish it with a teaser...they'll cream the teasers above a jig! I'm gettin' myself so worked up, it's gonna be hard to keep at this stuff all day waiting for this tournament to start!?! ;-)

    The tournament...yes, the tournament. Our club, the Shark River Surf Anglers, is involved in another of the fall series of tournaments. We are leading overall for the first time since my involvement in the club! So, all you SRSA guys, make sure you get weekend passes from da' wives and fish till yer hands are raw! ;-) 32" minimum size and Reel Life is no longer a weigh-in station per the owners request **At least this is what a Reel Life employee told me last weekend just before midnight after an earlier phone call to them when I was assured they were a weigh-in station...go figger?

    I am now working on the photos for some of the picture-less catalog pages...like the Fall Fling T's...the Yozuri Mag Darters (coming soon!)...the Hab's Lil' Scrapper poppers...the Gibb's Polaris Poppers...and the Gibb's Stubby Needlefish. I should be able to get these edited and up today. Check the page to see when they are updated.

   The Fall Fling T's are in the catalog now....check the odds-n-ends page. Also, Gibb's just filled some of their backorders...now we got the 1 1/2oz Polaris in red head and in pogie. They also reinforced our stock on the 2 1/2oz yellow darter...the fish just can't seem to get enough of these! I'm gonna put a blue darter in my bag tonight...you know, strictly for scientific purposes ;-) Funny thing about fishing darters...they appear to be doing nothing...you'd swear it was broken...but the fish keep slamming them. I'm guessing their big draw is the fact that they are the only truly mild and erratic subsurface lure made....that I know of anyway! They kinda slither from side to side while getting maybe a foot down....just like a disoriented bigger baitfish might do. One thing about stripers...especially the bigger ones...they are much more likely to eat something that has some erratic action rather than a steady rhythm....there's not much in the natural world that keeps perfect speed and tempo when it's hurt. And always...with all yer lures...you gotta throw in that occassional "pop" or "twitch"...it's that change in action/motion/direction that will trigger a hit from a fish that was just previously thinkin' about it. It really works, give it a try! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Happy birthday Dad!

November 10, 2000:

    Happy birthday Dad and thanks for all the many things that you've said/done/taught/shared with me over the years. As it's been said before, it's funny how much smarter our parents get the older we get! I can still remember all the times I was absolutely certain you were wrong...you weren't. All the times I was mad at you for the things you made me do that I thought were stupid and unnecessary...they weren't. All the decisions you made for me that I thought were ridiculous...they weren't. So, happy birthday, God bless you for all that you've been to me for so many years, I love you.

    That needed to be said, what better place than this! ;-) Seems this storm has done nothing more than blown itself pretty much out overnight...and stirred the waters...and added to the substantial heave that we've been having for a couple weeks now. But that's ok this time of year, the fish are entrenched, happy to have the addition of clams on their daily grind menus! If you can get out during the day, the fish should be catchable in any pocket of any jetty in any town...you just gotta go. If clamming is your thing, you should be in your glory...the fish will respond with bells on! We missed getting out last night...the nap I needed from 8-11 never happened...so I just collapsed right around midnight when the tournament started. Maybe the screamin' SE wind and rain was mentally too much for my tired bones to handle, I dunno....but it doesn't seem the fellers that got out did all that much catching for such fishy conditions. So the fish got a reprieve last night...but for that, we'll make them pay by getting out much earlier this evening! Our club is looking very good for the overall win this year in the multi club tournaments...we would like to continue to add our points and as such, must try a double shift this evening. Oh well, it's Friday, we fish till we drop pretty much every Friday anyway, what's one more night? ;-) I would say the best bet till this water calms a little bit might be the bait route...they'll definitely be feeding on clams, no question about that. But then again, when aren't they will to inhale a nice, fresh clam? ;-)

    Next weekend, there will be an informal gathering at Indian River Inlet.....organized by Plug who's a real IRI hardcore. I've long wanted to fish these deep and swirling waters...now I've got the perfect excuse, a pseudo Fling it's been called! Check on for the details...at present, Dubs and I will be making the journey to harass these OPF....and we'll be bringing the heavy jigs and stuff to work some of the depths that don't often see jigs. If you are interested or would like more info on this informal Fling, please check the board....since it's not an "official" Fling, there won't be registration....just gonna meet there and fish! 

    The tournament...yes, the tournament. Our club, the Shark River Surf Anglers, is involved in another of the fall series of tournaments. We are leading overall for the first time since my involvement in the club! So, all you SRSA guys, make sure you get weekend passes from da' wives and fish till yer hands are raw! ;-) 32" minimum size and Reel Life is no longer a weigh-in station per the owners request **At least this is what a Reel Life employee told me last weekend just before midnight after an earlier phone call to them when I was assured they were a weigh-in station...go figger?

    I am now working on the photos for some of the picture-less catalog pages...like the Fall Fling T's...the Yozuri Mag Darters (coming soon!)...the Hab's Lil' Scrapper poppers...the Gibb's Polaris Poppers...and the Gibb's Stubby Needlefish. I should be able to get these edited and up today. Check the page to see when they are updated.

   The Fall Fling T's are in the catalog now....check the odds-n-ends page. Also, Gibb's just filled some of their backorders...now we got the 1 1/2oz Polaris in red head and in pogie. They also reinforced our stock on the 2 1/2oz yellow darter...the fish just can't seem to get enough of these! I'm gonna put a blue darter in my bag tonight...you know, strictly for scientific purposes ;-) Funny thing about fishing darters...they appear to be doing nothing...you'd swear it was broken...but the fish keep slamming them. I'm guessing their big draw is the fact that they are the only truly mild and erratic subsurface lure made....that I know of anyway! They kinda slither from side to side while getting maybe a foot down....just like a disoriented bigger baitfish might do. One thing about stripers...especially the bigger ones...they are much more likely to eat something that has some erratic action rather than a steady rhythm....there's not much in the natural world that keeps perfect speed and tempo when it's hurt. And always...with all yer lures...you gotta throw in that occassional "pop" or "twitch"...it's that change in action/motion/direction that will trigger a hit from a fish that was just previously thinkin' about it. It really works, give it a try! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent