Surfcaster's Journal Issue 12

SURFCASTER’S j o u r n a l

A

Surfcaster’s Paradise...

Located 12 miles off the Massachusetts coast.

1 hour boat trip from historic New Bedford MA.

Open

May Until EarlyOctober Mid

Since

1864 For reservations or brochures call

508-992-5585

Or visit us online at cuttyhunkfishingclub-bb.com

Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every m

moment. Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them.

John James Audubon

WE HAVE BEEN MAKING SOME STUFF IN HOPES THAT YOU WILL BUY IT

CLICK HERE

Surfcaster’ s Journal Issue #12 March 2012 12-The Tip(Wind Knots) 16-If Striped Bass Could Talk - Orlando 18-Geared Up 33-Beach To Table - Chase 41-Plugaholics Anonymous - Anderson 53-Rollin’With The Rock - Paoline 63-The Rod Corner - Caruso 68-Fly Fishing Update - Papciak 76-Outgunned - McKenna 90-Surf Fishing Virginia - Burnley 113-Ed Norris - Pintauro/Dennison 128-The Aging Athlete - Muller 140-The Sissy Stick - Papciak 160-Gamefish - Witek 187-Contributors editor in chief head photographer/hater magnet: Zeno Hromin art director/beach cred dept: Tommy Corrigan head copy editor: Roger Martin boss of the head copy editor: Marie Martin rod guru: Lou Caruso executive chef: Andrew Chase plug guru: Dave Anderson fly guru: John Papciak 4x4 guru/enforcer: Russell Paoline the new guy: Steve McKenna cover photo: Zeno Hromin

advertising and other inquiries info@surfcastersjournal.com Surfcaster's Journal is published bi-monthly by Surfcasting LLC. Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising submitted for publication. Surfcasting LLC and Surfcaster's Journal assume no responsibility for errors made except to republish in future issue any advertisement having an error.

Use of this material without express written permission of Surfcasting LLC and Surfcaster's Journal is strictly prohibited.

WIND KNOTS One of our readers asked about "wind knots" on our blog which we think is a great question. We believe wind knots are a little misunderstood. In fact, we think most wind knots have nothing to do with "wind".

Let's take a look closer look at the culprits Overfilling the spool.

If you are one of those who is constantly worrying about Joe Blow out-casting you on the beach, you will probably have your reel spool filled to the edge. This is usually a bad idea. It’s best to leave at least 1/8 of an inch space between where the line ends and the lip of the reel spool. If you overfill the spool, you are risking that more than one loop will fly off the spool at once, creating a "wind knot". This is not a wind knot but an "I-overfilled-my-spool-knot". Wind knot just sounds better.

Loosely retrieving the lure There are times you use a lure which will create little tension on the line as you reel it in. Retrieving a pencil popper can do this to your spool if you are not careful. A darter or a needlefish will put line on your spool very loosely if you retrieve them during a period of nonmoving water. Sometimes, small swimmers and tiny bucktails will create so little drag in the water that your line will lay very loosely onto the reel spool. This is usually not a problem until you do one of two things. One , you really lay into your cast. Or two, you put on a heavier lure and make a strong cast. The loose line that is coiled on your reel has a tendency to come out more than one loop at a time because it is spooled loosely, creating dreaded "wind knots". It has nothing to do with wind. To eliminate this, when using light lures or lures that call for a slow retrieve, pinch your line in between your thumb and your index finger during the retrieve so that the line is tightly spooled. This should resolve the problem.

If Striped Bass Could Talk By:Vito Orlando If Striped Bass could talk They would tell That too many things Are not going so well If Striped Bass could talk They would say Please take those damaging Gill Nets away If Striped Bass could talk We would be told Careful during release So we may grow old If Striped Bass could talk They would confide Respect the marshes So our small fry may hide

If Striped Bass could talk They would gloat Stop drifting Short Porgies From your twenty foot boat If Striped Bass could talk They would preach Please carry your garbage Out, off the beach If Striped Bass could talk They would vent And wonder aloud Where our Permit Frees all went If Striped Bass could talk They would chime Bag all used Mono And other old line

If Striped Bass could talk Their words would teach They way all fishermen Should act on the beach

If Striped Bass could talk They would ask us to abort The destruction of nature As its time grows short

If Striped Bass could talk They would relate Stop all over fishing Before it’s too late

If Striped Bass could talk They would declare Stop All the Pollution To clear the air

If Striped Bass could talk They would claim No need to kill fish To enhance your fame

If Striped Bass Could Talk They would stress That we all work together To clean up this mess

If Striped Bass could talk They would add a wish That we start to protect Other species of fish

columbia pfg supercell jacket The first time we laid our eyes on a Columbia PFG Supercell jacket we had mixed feelings. Yes, it was stylish like most of the gear that Colombia makes. And yes, there were double wrist sleeves, with neoprene on the inside which can be cinched down to preclude water from entering. And yes, there is a cool detachable hood with a visor, to keep you dry during rainstorms. It's just that the inside of the jacket looked.... like it was made for Mr.Spok? You see, the inside of the Columbia PFG Supercell Jacket features patented Omni-heat technology which draws the heat and moisture away from your body. In layman's terms, no more sweating and freezing your butt off when you thought you had enough layers on. The Omni-Dry technology makes this jacket super-breathable, wicking the moisture away from your body, keeping you dry and toasty.

We know what some of you will say "but it has a zipper!". Yes it does and your grandfather fished with three piece rods and caught the same fish you can't catch now with a thousand dollar custom rod.

If folks from Columbia just tossed in a zipper and called it a day, it would not pass muster with us either. Instead, they used a double zipper system, one on the inside of the jacket and one of the outside, making it impossible for water to penetrate. We had a chance to use the jacket in the late fall last year and walked away impressed. Very little if any water managed to get up our sleeves. We were as warm as can be and most impressive, no water managed to get though the zipper and get our clothes wet. We liked the soft collar and the removable hood was really good on those rainy days. There are times when a fully sealed jacket is in order, especially for those who know that they will be washed off rocks and have to swim during a trip. But for a beach fisherman, this is a really wellthought out fishing jacket that serves the purpose of keeping you dry and comfortable.

INFO

costa del mar - south point Some say that everything old becomes new again sooner or later. Some things that never go out of style are the classics. We know many of you had dreams of becoming the next Top Gun. Even snagging a hot chick like Kelly McGillis didn't seem out of reach back then. Where did the time go? Or your waistline? Or your hair? But don't despair, you can still channel your inner Tom Cruise. But now you can do it in style, comfort and yes, our equally overweight and balding friend, with polarization. What are we talking about? Getting your better half to surprise you with a pair of South Point Costa Del Mar shades.

Why Costa? These shades have Costa’s signature co-molded temple for enhanced durability, as well as adjustable silicone nose pads. No-slip Hydrolite™ temple tips round out the “forget-they’re-on” frame fit. South Point is available in sleek palladium and gold frame colors. They are super lightweight and feature impact resistant 580P™ lenses. The 580 lens technology blocks yellow light at 580 nanometers on the light spectrum. The result is the highest levels of polarization efficiency and razor sharp color enhancement.

Why South Point? We know that you are not up on the newest trends but you are not exactly a Neanderthal either. Evidently, you are clearly "in the know" since you are reading this cool publication that really doesn't exist other than in your mind. Don't believe us? Try to print what you are reading? It doesn't work? Try downloading it? Still getting nowhere? Go find it on a newsstand, we'll be here waiting till you get back. Ok

so we are kidding about the magazine but we are not kidding about the cool factor of this publication or how you will look, wearing Costa's South Point shades. Still handcrafted in Florida, Costa South Point features a classic aviator look that is more "in" today than it was then when they were hot. Do we make any sense? Of course not, but that is the idea. You want to look cool, feel great and be able to see fish under the surface. Just keep those South Points away from your better half. This is an honest warning and it's based on our personal experience. We let Da Wife wear them to the mall once. That was the last time we saw them. They are buried in a place to which no man ever dares to go, her purse. And she is not relinquishing them.

INFO

cts-vapor trail Just like many of you, we suffer from something we like to call "tacklelustis." It's a disease that attacks the central nervous system and makes grown men lust for the latest and greatest in fishing equipment. We at the Surfcaster's Journal Magazine are not immune to this disease; we’ve just found better ways to hide our purchases from our spouses. Like the time when we were caught red-handed trying to sneak the new CTS Vapor Trail stick into our garage. You'd have to drop on your knees and beg for forgiveness. Us, we just get to say, "we are unavoidably testing product for the magazine." Only after she stapled the credit card bill to the back of our head while we were sleeping did we drop to our knees.

For many reasons, many of you have heard great things about CTS Custom rods in the last few years and you probably are wondering why we tested the 11 foot Vapor Trail, instead of the S8 or other model. We knew you were going to ask that and we would too, if we were in your shoes.

The Vapor Trail series matches closest to the rods that we have traditionally been fishing over the last decade, namely the Lamiglas GSB series; except they are nothing alike. Confused?

Don't be, there really is a simple explanation. Actually, it's quite a long explanation, so let's get going. For starters, the CTS Vapor Trail series is a slower rod than their S8 series, which is considered fast action. What does that mean? It means that the blank will bend throughout the whole rod down to your reel seat. Yet it retains a flexible tip to make your poppers dance like Shakira's behind. They feel very crisp on casting and we were able to actually improve our casting distance. It took us a little time to get used to the thin diameter and the lightness of the Vapor Trail rod. This thing cuts through the wind like a hot knife through a stick of butter! And yet, you feel no fatigue after a whole night’s casting, as the rod is as light as a feather.

CTS uses a high modulus carbon blend to manufacture their rods, something we haven't seen before in slower action rods. But all these praises of being light as a feather, or casting a mile off the beach is irrelevant once you have to set the hook into the bony jaw of a big striper. Not only that, but does the rod have the balls to stop the fish dead in its tracks in a raging current or will you feel like you are fishing with a wet noodle stick? We used the Vapor Trail rated 3-6 ounces in the fall, throwing big live eels and large shads effortlessly. Yet we could toss a lure as light as a

one ounce bucktail with authority and precision. This rod was definitely overrated on its lower weight as we found it to be stellar for two to three ounce lures. But the moment of truth came when we hooked a cow in the south shore inlet on a night of a screaming new moon tide. We knew that if this fish got around the rock in front of us, the game was over, as we had lost many a fish before in this spot as that damned rock shredded our line, time and time again. Not this night however, as the Vapor Trail exhibited even more strength than we expected, considering that it "feels" so light and thin. This rod has balls and we are not afraid to say it. To those of you who are still fearful of two piece rods because in the past they, well, lets be honest here, sucked, we have a little anecdote for you.

At the end of the season, after not even once having had to reline our guides on our CTS rod, we went to take it apart so we could pack the rod into a tube for a plane ride to South America. It took two guys, each holding his end to try, without success, to take it apart. Then two more of our friends tried and they fared no better. Only after returning from the trip and unfortunately having left the rod behind, did we manage to take it apart. If you are a fan of slower, "moderate" rods, check out Vapor Trail from CTS. We don't know what you’ll like most about this rod, its relative light weight, its thin diameter or its remarkable strength, but we do know that this rod will take a little getting used to. But once you do, you will wonder why you weren't the first dude in line to buy one. Like our columnist Lou Caruso "The Rod Guru" likes to say, fishing with Vapor Trail is like fishing with a GSB rod on steroids! As we are writing this review, we just got word that CTS Vapor Trail rods are now being offered in one-piece configurations as well, in a variety of models. Consider your "I-don't-fish-with-two-piece-rods" excuse officially revoked.

INFO

rapala maxrap Do you suffer from “lure overwhelmatis” when you stand in front of a wall of lures at your favorite tackle shop? They all look pretty, don't they? Fancy finishes, shiny hooks and even the darnn packaging are calling your name. But when it comes to plastic swimmers, you have to admit that most of them look similar in shape and design. Yes, some have internal weights to help with casting distance, and others have longer or shorter lips which make them run deep or shallow. But most of them are similar in shape: narrow in tail, wider towards the midsection and then tapered towards the head. This is nothing out of the ordinary. After all, most baitfish are shaped by the hand of God in the same way. So what’s up with the Rapala MaxRap’s skinny shape? It certainly does not look like peanut bunker, herring, squid, or myriads of other baitfish.

Nor does it look like most lures on the market. Where other lures get fatter in profile the Rapala MaxRap stays slim. It almost reminds us of a needlefish with a plastic lip. What does this lure immitate? We thought you'd never ask. The skinny, torpedo shape is a dead ringer for the baitfish which has absolutely dominated the surf fishing scene in the Northeast in the last few years: the sand eel.

A few reasons why we like the Rapala MaxRap! It is a shallow diving lure which is perfect for the northeast’s gradually sloping sand beaches. The Rapala MaxRap dives a foot or two under the surface and it won't bump the bottom like many other plastic swimmers do. It has an incredibly tight wiggle. It almost moves in a straight line while it gives off an amazing flash from its sides thanks to its Internal Laser Etched Scales finish. For a light lure, it casts remarkably well, benefitting greatly from its internal weight transfer system which shifts on each cast to help you achieve longer casting distances. And yes, it even comes with VMC Spark Point hooks and 3D Holographic Eyes. But we have to throw in a word of caution. Lighten up on your drag when using these lures or swap the hooks for VMC Permasteel. Be advised that with any light lure, changing hooks affects the balance of the lure much more than on a heavy wooden surf plug.

INFO

Tuf line - tufleader How much do you hate bluefish when one cuts your line and separates you from your fancy shmancy lure that you bought at triple the retail price because it had one crooked eye? Yes, at first you told your wife that it was "collectible" and she went along with it. Then you found fifty more identical lures with the same crooked eye for sale from the same builder! You knew you been had. So you did the next best thing and attached it to your leader and caught some fish with it. Except now your Jack Sparrow swimmer is embedded in the jaw of one pissed-off bluefish while you are just standing on the shore looking like an idiot.

But it didn't have to be that way. If you only knew about Tuf Line’s Tufleader before.

Don't feel so bad, we did not know about it until recently either. What is Tufleader?

We thought you'd never ask. Tufleader is an advanced stainless steel leader designed for applications like the one you just painfully lived through. Yes, we all know there are other steel leaders on the market but how many can be knotted like mono? Tufleader features a unique process of wrapping T-304 extruded stainless steel around a Spectra fiber core. Not only does this make this leader durable and strong but it’s more flexible than any similar steel leader material we’ve ever used.

Those who fish for toothy fish will love not having to use their "junk" lures when they

fish. Those who fish with bait will rejoice as they can snell their hooks with Tufleader. And we would not be surprised to see this leader used in some "sticky" locations to increase abrasion resistance and increase the chance of actually landing that fish that has been eluding you because your leaders part too easily. We know what you’re going to ask.

Won’t the stripers become line shy when you attach the lure to the Tufleader? The same striper that just ate a foot long wood lure with giant steel hooks hanging underneath it? We sincerely doubt it.

INFO

zeebaas When we visited the ZeeBaaS Reel Company in Stratford, Connecticut in the early fall of last year, we walked away impressed. They brought in Rob DiConstanzo to run the operation and it was immediately evident, when we were setting up for a video interview, that Rob was a stickler for details (also known among videographers as a "pain in the ass"). Not only was he worried about the light that fell on his face through the window but he also tried to educate us on frame speed and sound quality. Which would be quite annoying if we did not know that Rob was going to bring this attention to detail to his job as the chief ZeeBaaS guru. In a relatively short time, Rob and his crew have succeeded in bringing most of the ZeeBaaS production back into the United States. In fact,80% of their manufactured value comes from parts made right here in the United States. Not only that, but no two pieces in the reel comes preassembled. Ron and his crew painstakingly build every reel in their Stamford Headquarters and have instituted a very tight quality control.

You can be assured that when your reel leaves the ZeeBaaS factory, new or freshly serviced, it has gone through rigorous inspections by multiple employees. And how many reel companies subject every single reel they make to an underwater pressure test before it leaves the factory? None that we know. But each and every ZeeBaaS reel that leaves the Connecticut headquarters does in fact undergo a pressure test in their super-secret testing tank. You'll have to take our word on this as we’ve seen the process with our own eyes, but we were sworn to secrecy.

Ok, so the manufacturing has been brought stateside, the quality control has been markedly improved and even the customer service is kicking butt according to those who needed service. But will owning a ZeeBaaS reel help you catch more fish? Yes

and if you use it at least three times a week, you can chuck that gallon of Rogane in the trash can as your hair will become silkier than Donald Trump's.

Seriously, no reel will make you a better fisherman but owning a ZeeBaaS might catch you more fish.

Preposterous statement, you might say? Maybe, but only if you have forgotten what happened to you on that fateful June night last year when you had the fish of your dreams attached to your lure. You were expertly fighting this cow, your rod tiring her to the point of exhaustion. She only had one more run in her and you knew you had won the battle...until your drag seized, your line parted and you were left cursing at the world. We’ve fished with these reels over the years and we can tell you that they have one of the smoothest drags we've ever had the pleasure of battling the fish with. It’s silky smooth and purrs like a kitten when a cow striper decides that she is not yet ready to surrender. We also love the fact that the drag adjustment is incremental and very precise. You don't have to worry about turning your drag knob a quarter turn and have your drag stop working.

There was a time, years ago. when we had reservations about ZeeBaaS reels, particularly about the holes in the drag knob when they first hit the market. Now the reel has been redesigned, quality control boosted way up and production brought stateside.

It has reached the potential we always knew it had. It is now one of the premier reels a surfcaster can own. And we put it through hell last fall and loved every minute of it.

INFO

rio striped bass intermediate -vs- rio outbound short If a fly fishing shop salesman suggests “one line can do it all,” you have our permission to call him a liar. In fact, choosing the right fly line (or lines) represents perhaps the most subjective and personal decision a fishermen might ever have to make concerning tackle.

For these reasons, we review not one product here, but two: RIO Striped Bass Intermediate and RIO Outbound Short Coldwater fly lines. These products are easily the two top-selling full length lines RIO offers for Northeast inshore fly fishermen.

One of us here at SJ wrote a primer on fly lines back in the November 2011 issue. If these products are of interest to you, it might be worth skimming that article.

We fished both lines throughout the year, in warm and cold weather, primarily casting fast-action rods made by Orvis, Sage and St Croix. Both lines required stretching, but both performed exceptionally well, and neither gave us problems pulling even larger flies through the air. Neither showed any signs of wear or cracks after a season. We might describe both lines as “feeling crisp, with a medium-bodied aroma, with hints of light woody flavors,” like some Hoity Toity Fly Fisherman’s Quarterly. Instead, we will tell you that these products, though both are targeted for the Northeast, cannot be more different.

As mentioned in that SJ November 2001 article, the technique of fly casting, which requires continuous sensory feedback on how the line is loading the rod, is usually the most difficult thing for a fly fishermen to master. For years, some fly fishermen got around that problem by up-lining a weight or two. You might not have felt the more subtle tug on that 9 wt rod while casting a 9 wt line, but you sure did by the time you up-lined to a 10wt, or even heavier line.

We first fished with the Striped Bass Intermediate line (‘SBI’ for short), using a line matched to the rod, no up-lining. No up-lining was required actually, with 260 grains in the first 30 foot section of the 40 foot head, the 9 wt line was already a bit heavier than the published industry standard (which is true for many lines). To us, it felt “about right.” A series of false casts, a good bit of line speed, and we dumped much of the spool, once we got into a rhythm.

RIO Outbound Short (or ‘ROS’ for short) is a fly line on steroids. The first false cast (after using the ‘SBI’) literally caused the line to pull out of our hands. In fact, out of the box, it took a good

fifteen minutes to adjust to the shortened head (30 feet versus 40 feet on the SBI) plus the extra weight. Put another way, depending on how one does the measurements, the head on the 9 wt ROS is approximately 24% shorter but at least 14% heavier.

You might be asking yourself why it might be necessary to migrate from a line that performed well, and is already a bit on the heavy side. Why opt for something even heavier, and with a shorter, more compressed head?

It all comes down to two things: casting style and intended situations.

SBI has a 40 foot head, which means a caster must get and keep most of that 40 feet in the air while false-casting. If you’ve ever found yourself wading in deep water, or in that tight location where you had limited space for back casts, you know how difficult it can be to keep 40 feet in the air.

ROS suddenly started to make practical sense. When we fished it at night, we quickly fell in love with the concept of minimal false casting, and much greater ability to pull even the bulkiest water-logged eel patterns through the night sky. We also found we could easily get around the over-lining sensation by simply down-lining - possibly the only product where we ever seriously considered doing so.

Our inside sources tell us ROS outsells SBI by a factor of 5:1 these days, but by no means does this imply we have lost our need for SBI. If you prefer that “classic feel” of loading the rod, and building line speed, or if you still want to make more delicate presentations in skinny water or while sight fishing, SBI would still be our choice. And because the head on SBI is so much thinner than that of ROS, we feel this line might still do better on certain windy days.

But if you want to make one or two false casts and send that line on its way, you can join the growing army of fishermen who have left the old school behind in favor of RIO Outbound Short.

INFO

Many of you have requested a set of guidelines for care and preparation of fish. I suppose I’ve resisted doing this because it seemed too basic. For some of you it may be just that, but I hope others will find it helpful.

First get your fish. If you catch your own and care for it properly, you will have the best product going. If you’re fishing for dinner, the first order of business is to stress your fish as little as possible. Bring it in quickly by using the proper tackle, bleed it and get it cold. I’ve linked to a really interesting article which experiments with different methods of killing fish and their effects on the flesh. Check it out; they even use laughing gas!

As long as you handle the fish carefully and keep it cold, cooking method trumps killing technique in terms of final condition of the flesh. It’s ideal to bleed the fish (I cut the gills) while it’s still alive and then to ice it whole (with drainage) until you get it home. I would recommend gutting your fish if it will be more than a few hours before you can get home or if you’re keeping bluefish, mackerel or any other soft, fatty fish as these spoil quickly. Dispose of the innards so

either the crabs or shore birds can get to them quickly but not where they will be encountered by other beach-goers. Removing the viscera along with bleeding the fish will eliminate most of the risk of bacterial contamination and destructive enzymes. That means the fish will stay fresh longer.

If you’re buying fish, find a market that you know is a quality place. Often this will be a small, family -run affair with access to what’s local. The pride and competence in how they run the business will be immediately apparent. A “gourmet” superstore bringing in all manner of exotica from far and wide and carrying a large inventory, many times won’t have the freshest product. I live in Manhattan and the best fish I’ve seen on a consistent basis is sold in a parking lot on the outskirts of Union Square Park.

Members of the Greenmarket, two family-run businesses, drive in from Long Island with whatever they’ve managed to catch the previous day or even the very night before. These are very modest operations with one or two small boats. The selection is limited but wouldn’t you rather choose perfect, just-caught whiting or monkfish over less-than-fresh snapper or sword? It’s pretty easy to tell when someone has great fish so I’d really recommend putting time into locating this resource.

You all know what fresh fish look, smell and feel like: * eyes that are full and not sunken; usually clear * gills that are bright red * flesh that is firm and elastic * a clean, very faint oceanic smell

If you’ve brought home whole fish you’ll need to butcher it. This deserves an article in itself which we’ll cover at a later date. For now, take your time, use a sharp knife and follow the natural contours of the fish and its bone structure; you’ll do fine.

If you need to store the fish before you cook it, keeping it cold is the single best way to preserve its freshness. Icing it is essential. Take care not to let the flesh actually touch the ice by keeping it well-wrapped in plastic film and improvise storage so that there is adequate drainage. A colander placed inside a larger bowl works nicely.

Avoid bruising the filets by piling too much ice on top of them.

A few notes on freezing fish: There’s nothing like eating fish that’s just been fresh caught but sometimes you’ll want to preserve your catch and freezing is the only way to go about it. You are going to sacrifice some of the “just-caught” quality but you will also be able to enjoy a fish whose season has passed, and probably some good memories to tide you over.

Most home freezers are not as cold as commercial ones so I recommend a fairly short shelf-life of just a few months. Freezing extends the shelf-life of fish by slowing or stopping bacteria and enzymes from degrading the flesh. Oxidation of fats (there’s a lot of unsaturated fat in fish) is slowed but still occurs. In laymen’s terms, freezing will preserve your fish for quite a while but it eventually loses quality as the fats oxidize and decompose. Three months is a good limit to set for keeping fish frozen before it should be eaten. Remember to date mark the packages before storing.

Freezing fish quickly and to the lowest possible temperature will help to avoid “drip” when the fish is thawed. This condition is caused by ice-crystals which form between the muscle cells during freezing. These crystals puncture the cell walls, and when thawed, result in fluid loss. Quick freezing at very low temperatures forms much smaller icecrystals which cause less damage to the flesh. Package your filets in small portions so they freeze hard quickly.

Freezer burn is something else to avoid. When the flesh becomes exposed to the air in the freezer, moisture is lost through evaporation. This can happen even if the fish is wrapped in plastic if it is not in close enough contact with the flesh. The best way to avoid this is by vacuum-packing or very tightly wrapping with plastic film; at least two layers.

Care must be taken when thawing your fish as the bacteria and enzymes that were in suspension while frozen become active again. The safest way to thaw any previously frozen fish is to transfer it directly from the freezer to the refrigerator until defrosted. Never thaw frozen food at room temperature.

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I’m not a big fan of high-tech fishing lures (I’ll refer you to the pea-sized brain of a striper if you need a reason). I feel like I’m being sold a Cadillac with all the options when all I really want is something I can drive to the beach and back without worry.

Sure, the nine speaker stereo system is nice and so is the shiny paintjob, but why do I need all this? The simple answer is that I don’t need it, but there is a pitfall in not at least taking that Caddy for a test drive. I have been guilty of writing off the next “big plug” for years and many times I have been right. A lot of the secret weapons that hit the market fizzle within a year or two and we’re all back to our standbys—albeit a little lighter in the pockets. And other times I have been wrong.

Yes, sometimes you just have to trust your impulses and at other times you really do have to follow the crowd, that is, when the crowd is hanging big fish on Wonderplug X and you wrote it off

because it was made of molded plastic with prismatic, laser-etched eyes, embossed scales and some lame gimmick like a “bubble chamber” or something. Yes, every once in a while the big lure manufacturers strike gold.

A great example of this is the Sebile Magic Swimmer, when I first saw one I took one look and said, “Eh, another toy, how cute.” But after the winter passed I saw a guy swimming one looking for early spring stripers—I was pretty impressed by the action but I was still certain it would not hold up to saltwater or a big bass. Knowing this… … I went out and bought one that night. Yes, I lack self-control and I’m terrible at holding onto money—my wife loves that about me… anyway. Then came the testing period and we all know how this goes…

First, it’s something like: You: “Dude, check this thing out!”

Your Buddy: “What were you thinking? That looks like an accessory for my daughter’s Barbie Mermaid!”

You: “I know, I know… but just LOOK at it in the water! Hey, where are you going?”

Your Buddy: [footsteps running back to the car—engine starting—squealing tires] But then, the plug bag hierarchy takes over and when you’re in the best situation to use it you fall back on old favorites and your new plug soon finds itself under an old towel in the back of your truck until you decide to clean it out six years later! This is basically what happened with the Magic Swimmer for me back when they first hit the shelves. Then I broke it back out the next spring and broke the ice with it catching a few spring bass to the mid-teens and then having the hooks mangled and again writing it off because it couldn’t stand up to the punishment of the surf.

But, I loved that action and I really loved the way the fish pounded that plug, it was easy to feel that the fish were convinced by the action. I started by trying to up the hook sizes but I found that it deadened the swim. So I eliminated the tail hook altogether and I found that on the 6.5-inch slow-sink model I could use VMC’s as high as 4/0 without affecting the action. What was even better was that when I put it to work, my hookup ratio was unaffected—and my landing ratio was nearing 100%! Now I don’t leave without one and the best thing is that because my Magic Swimmers have no tail hooks, they can be hung on the outside of a tube, leaving room for other selections.

Common misconceptions about the Magic Swimmer are that it can only be used in calm water or that it doesn’t cast well or that the joints will fail when hooked up to a big fish. I can tell you that it’s not a great tough surf plug. It’s just too light to deal with the swells. I’m not a fan of the fast sink models, the action just isn’t as enticing and I have not caught well on them, but they might be a viable rough surf option—further experimentation is needed here. As for calm water, they work great there and they handle current well, in fact they are a staple for all Cape Cod Canal casters—that should give you an idea about what they can handle. They look like they’d cast like a napkin, but they actually reach pretty well for what they are—their casting is a nonissue. As for their durability, I’m still using the first one I bought. Furthermore, after talking to the lure’s designer, Patrick Sebile, I found out that the wire connection from line-tie to hook-hanger registers an impressive 600-pound test! If you’re not carrying one, you’re selling yourself short.

Staying on the subject of Sebile, the Stick Shad is another plug I looked at with the same GI Joe attitude until I saw them being used. Unlike the Magic Swimmer, I prefer the fast sink model of this plug and I have had success with both the medium-size (#155) and the big one (#182). There is this tendency of just about everyone that uses this plug to want to jerk it, thinking that it’s just a subsurface walk-the-dog plug and sure, this jerking motion does produce a decent action and some strikes. But if you want to really see the power of this plug your mantra should be ‘less is more’.

I was standing on the side of the Canal this past June getting my ass handed to me by my good friend DJ Muller and just about everyone else around me. We all have those days (right?) where there are 1000 fish in front of you and they

just hate what you have to offer! This was one of those days for me. To my left I saw a guy fishing in a very peculiar way, he was casting uptide, pointing his rod directly at the plug and then following its position with his rod-tip while reeling in at a pretty snappy clip. Everyone was doing well, while I was putting on my casting clinic but this guy was murdering them. I noticed that he was using a mediumsized Stick Shad and since I wasn’t hooking anything anyway, I walked up on the road above him so I could get a look at the action of the plug.

These relatively innocuous-looking baits have quite the sexy little wiggle when you don’t try to cinch the choke-chain every other foot. And following the plug like that relieves a lot of the strain of the current against a tight line making it appear to be drifting along swimming frantically toward the shore. What’s more natural than that? Another method that works especially well when the fish are blitzing or pushing a lot of bait is to sweep your rod tip out to the side moving the Shad forward in fast four foot bursts with short 1 to 2 second pauses between sweeps. This gives the look

of a panicked baitfish that has been separated from the school trying to find a safe place to hide. I’ve seen this behavior in action most notably on a fishing trip in Florida fishing for Spanish mackerel. We were using live pinfish and when one of them came off the hook I kept my eyes pinned to it to see its behavior. Since we were in 40-feet of water, there was no chance for a speedy descent to find a crag or plume of kelp to hide in below. That poor pinfish was frantic, zipping back and forth in confused bursts—it didn’t take long for one of those macks to recognize that behavior and take deadly advantage—and stripers see that behavior the same way. I fish the Stick Shad without a tail hook as well; on the medium-sized bait I use a 3/0 or 4/0 VMC treble on the big one I go 4/0 or 5/0.

The last newish plastic plug that I’ll mention is the Daiwa SP Minnow.

This little bait is the one that I’ll admit that I had no interest in whatsoever. I looked at it and thought it was just another “New Red Fin”. As luck would have it, an SP Minnow was among the items in a grab bag I won in the Red Top Striper Derby. Enough people were using them and it was pretty clear upon closer inspection that the bait was made well so I tossed it in the bag one day and took it for a swim.

As it turns out, the SP Minnow is really not “just another Bomber or Red Fin”, it’s something special and it fits into a specific niche.

The first thing that will blow you away is how this plug casts, it takes off like a mini Pencil Popper, it doesn’t flutter or flip in the air either it stays stationary and soars like a rocket. The swimming action is pretty standard for a plastic minnow plug it has a good, steady

wiggle, but the rattles are heavy and when they roll forward to balance the swimming action they bring the plug down deeper than any other lure of its type. The SP runs between 3- and 5-feet deep and those big rattles offer a few more exciting attributes.

First, this bait is not susceptible to rolling out at all and because of this you can fish it in really fast water. You can really overwork it if you want to add the musky jerkbait method to your striper repertoire. I used the smaller SP in this fashion last Fall during a mackerel blitz and crushed fish. I’m also a big proponent of pausing a swimmer but a lot of other designs float up too fast for my liking. The weight of this plug makes it float up slowly which I believe gives it an edge over similar plugs.

My only beef with all of these plugs is that they aren’t made in simple colors! Sebile makes white ones but they can’t help themselves, they add glow-in-the-dark paint to the Stick Shad yet the Magic Swimmer is available in plain white. It appears that Daiwa now makes a White/Red Head SP Minnow (Thank God for the internet or I’d really look like an ass) so we can check that one off the list (I’d still prefer plain white!). But someone who has some pull within these companies needs to tell them that we need black and a simple chartreuse would be nice too. All of the other baits are some version of holographic chrome with black, brown, green, blue, perch or trout which are essentially all the same color—then there are the wilder colors, but I’m not going there. For now I’m happy with how these baits fish and catch and I’m not above using some sandpaper to scuff them up and then laying a coat or two of Krylon Fusion on there so I can shut myself up and have these plugs in the simple colors I prefer. And yes, I’m fully aware that there is something seriously wrong with me. But, I suppose that’s a symptom of the sickness known as surfcasting. [Sigh] is it Spring yet?

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Surf fishing generally takes place in the fall and the spring, and I'm sure you, like me, do most of your beach driving during those key times. However, I love to continue to drive the beach and see what the summer surf has to offer. This tends to bring up beach buggy situations that you wouldn't normally encounter during cooler weather driving.

Transmissions have an annoying tendency to run hot when driving in 4 wheel drive. Add to that a muggy 80 degree day and it spells disaster. If you are going to be doing a lot of beach driving in 4 wheel drive during the summer, you may want to consider a transmission cooler if your vehicle doesn't have one. Let's take a look at how and why transmission coolers work. They are also a huge benefit if you tow a boat or trailer or make use of a truck mounted camper to extend your beach stays. The transmission overheating situation can be looked at in terms of our own bodies.

When you carry small objects, like a book or a bag of groceries, you probably don't notice too much strain. It's easy to carry small things around without breaking a sweat; you might even be able to toss them from one hand to the other. But when the weight of the object increases, the act of carrying becomes more difficult. Carrying a couch or a television, for example, is much harder than carrying a book. Your body will need to work harder and expend more energy to carry the extra weight, and chances are you'll sweat a little in the process.

The same principles apply to our cars. When they're only carrying the driver, cars run easier and use less fuel. If you've packed up your car with every item from your apartment and are moving across town, you might notice the vehicle moving a bit more slowly, and your gas mileage would certainly decrease. Whether it's our bodies or a car engine, carrying extra weight requires extra energy, and extra energy creates excess heat. The great danger in these situations is overwork and overheating. Too much heat can damage your engine, which can lead to expensive repairs or, even worse, breakdowns on the road. The same is true for your vehicle's transmission. Tow vehicles carrying thousands of extra pounds of trailer weight do much more work than regular cars and they create lots of heat under the hood. Because of this, many people who tow install transmission coolers in their trucks, SUVs or recreational vehicles. How do they work? Is there one type of transmission cooler, or are there several different kinds to consider?

How are they installed?

Transmissions have a lot of work to do: They have to keep your engine's revolutions per minute (RPMs) within a usable range and transmit the power from those rotations to the drive wheels at speeds anywhere from 1 to more than 100 miles per hour. This generates

a lot of heat, and in order to keep this heat low, transmissions rely on a slippery, oily-like substance that lubricates and cools the moving parts.

Sometimes the transmission fluid just isn't enough to keep everything cool. There are times when the fluid temperature can exceed the maximum range of 160 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and when this happens the fluid begins to burn. This decreases the amount of fluid running through your transmission, which in turn can seriously damage all of the important moving parts within the transmission. The transmission is often one of the most expensive parts of your vehicle to repair, and replacing it is usually the last thing on a vehicle owner's mind.

Installing a transmission cooler is an extra precaution against overheating your transmission, and many people decide to use them in tow vehicles. Transmission coolers come in many different shapes and sizes, and there are a few things to consider when choosing one.

Perhaps the most important factor to consider is the tow vehicle itself. How much does the truck or RV weigh? How much cargo will you be carrying? How much is the most trailer weight you will be pulling? Is that the most weight that you expect to carry? Are you driving in super soft sugary sand that requires you to be in 4 wheel low quite a lot of the time? Matching a transmission cooler to your vehicle's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) is critical to allow this add-on cooler to operate properly. You can investigate all of this yourself online, or you could consult a professional for some (hopefully) solid advice. I personally recommend consulting with a dealer or shop that caters to off road enthusiasts, they are a wealth of knowledge in these matters. Another point to consider is the terrain where you will be doing most of your towing. Will you be towing across long,

flat stretches of highway or will you be towing in an urban environment where stop-andgo traffic is the daily routine? What about hilly or even mountainous terrains? Pulling a heavy load up a steep grade can generate a lot of heat in an engine and transmission.

Will the transmission cooler be able to cool it down? There's actually quite a bit more to consider than that, but at least now you're thinking of some of the variables that you need to consider when you're choosing a transmission cooler.

After you've chosen your transmission cooler, it's time to install it, if you have opted to do this yourself. Transmission cooler kits usually come with all the necessary tools, hardware and directions to install it yourself. First, you'll want to consider exactly where you want to mount your transmission cooler, there's not exactly a specific spot inside your engine compartment where you're required to place it, so you're given a little room to be creative; however it's still important to place it somewhere where you'll get the most efficiency out of the cooler. If you mount your transmission cooler behind your bumper, for example, there's little chance of it being very efficient since it relies heavily on airflow.

Mounting the cooler in front of the radiator and the air conditioning condenser is typically considered the best place. Here, they'll receive a sufficient amount of airflow, yet stay somewhat clear of road debris like rocks.

Transmission coolers are typically square-shaped and thin, so they can easily attach in between other components. Most kits offer adhesive mounting pads that allow you stick the cooler right onto the radiator, but there are also usually extra mounting rods that you can insert between the radiator and the cooler's mounting flanges. You should hook up all of the proper inlet and outlet hoses between the cooler and the transmission, after all, that's how the transmission cooler delivers the cooled fluid to the transmission. It's also a

good idea to make sure you keep the hoses away from any hot or moving parts. Heat would counteract the cooler's effort, and a moving part, like a fan blade, could sever the line. This brings me to another point that is rarely addressed, that is, until it becomes a problem. Many beach buggies have cooler racks mounted on the front of the truck. Sure there is nothing better than having a nice big 168qt. cooler on the front of your buggy filled with all the things you need for your fishing trip. Did you ever stop to remember that the cooling system on your vehicle somewhat depends on airflow through your grill. How much air do you think gets behind that cooler?

Driving with the cooler in the rack completely blocks airflow, and also blocks it when you are driving on the beach, so you run the risk of overheating your buggy even when it shouldn't. If at all possible the cooler rack should be installed far enough from the front of the vehicle to promote the best possible air flow and still be strong enough to hold the weight and take the abuse of beach driving without bending the support arms. If at all possible it's a better idea to carry the cooler in the rear of your buggy or in the bed of your pickup truck. You can move it to the rack when it's time to fish. If you can’t do this, at least keep a close eye on your temperature gauge and make sure you aren't going into the red zone.

There is an excellent old saying: “Proper planning prevents piss poor performance”. It has never rung so true than when applied to beach buggy driving. Till next time.......Tight Lines.

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Lou Caruso

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Some guys swear by a light rod such as the GSB 1321L. Hey it gets the job done. But is there a price? I used to fish an 11L at one time. Liked the way it handled lighter plugs and tins. Then as time went by, I started fishing structure with it. Was not a problem handling fish at slack current as long as they were no larger than 8 – 10 lbs. Then one night it happened, I’m bouncing a bucktail along the bottom and I hook up. Drag starts screaming and I can’t turn the fish. Did everything I could but to no avail. Took me right into the structure and broke me off. I swear to this day that fish was my fifty…LOL. It was around this time that I began to notice that if I didn’t turn a fish in the first few seconds, I was not going to. Being the stubborn Italian that I am, I can’t tell you how many fish I lost.

I also noticed that many times if I had a decent fish in the 20 pound class it took not only a long time to land the fish, if I was able, but it also took a long time to revive them. I finally woke up and switched to an 11M and my landing ratio went way up and the fish were much healthier when I released them.

Today I wonder how many succumbed after they swam away being overstressed from a long drawn out fight. Now I make sure that I am not under gunned for the type fishing I’m doing. I carry an “M” class rod for fishing structure, Montauk and even the ocean beaches when there is rough surf.

Nothing more challenging than trying to beach a fish when the waves are breaking right on the beach with a steep slope, as you get that strong backwash and undertow pull. Remember the Robert Moses fiasco? You had people showing up with 7’ trout rods. They were coming out of the woodwork.

I would watch in utter amazement as they would hook up and proceed to cross lines with anyone near them, as that fish ran first to the left and then to the right. The fisherman could just not get the fish under control. A lot of angry guys during that sand eel run.

Don’t get me wrong, light rods still have their place, such as fishing back bays, estuaries and many places along the north shore. A lot of the newer, light rods handle light lures yet they have incredible backbone to handle larger fish.

So, next time you head out, think about the conditions and choose your weapon wisely….

Tight lines, Lou

LOUSCUS

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In the last issue of SJ, we started a discussion on how our local back bays were a perfect place for fly fishing. As promised, in this issue, we’ll take that discussion a bit further.

Why do we need a separate dialogue on the back bays? Yes, it’s technically all “surfcasting,” but I hope I am not overstating the obvious, by calling out the huge differences in fishing (1) an open sand beach with what we call “soft transitional structure,” (2) man-made and intermittent hard structures like jetties, (3) inlets and (4) boulder field reefs and other rock formations. To be sure, there are many seasoned surfcasters among us who focus on just one or two of these types of locations. More than a few of these chaps will openly admit that they would be considered “greenhorns” at the other types of spots. The only thing we all share in common, is fishing with feet planted on terra firma – but even that goes out the window if we factor in the skishers.

It turns out there are highly personal reasons for the types of places where we choose to concentrate our efforts. Some of it is based on past successes or past reports, some of it is based on ease of access or proximity to home, but at least some of it is based on some other form of satisfaction that we derive from being there, that “je ne sais quoi” quality.

The “back bays” begin just behind the inlet and extend all the way out to the bay front houses and freshwater outflows. There is much to say about certain bay and river systems, but today’s discussion is focused on the waters inside the barrier islands facing the open Atlantic.

The barrier island is a unique geological phenomenon. It requires moderate wave action and a modest tidal range, which is exactly what we have here on the east coast. Science aside, the barrier island condition includes the waters of Long Island’s Shinnecock Bay, Moriches Bay, Great South Bay, South Oyster Bay, Jamaica Bay, as well as New Jersey’s Shewsbury/Navesink Rivers, Barnegat Bay, as well bays inside the barrier island chain south of Atlantic City, just to name a few.

My ideal back bay scenario includes an open bay with mud flats, funneling through a maze of islands, separated by winding channels, all with dramatically changing water depths.

There are few subtleties. Unlike an open beach where some structure is not visible unless there is good wave action present, there is no mistaking the structure, nor how the water would ramble and eddy during flood or ebb.

Since so much of my own fishing is at night, sight casting is seldom an option. I am usually targeting fish that I suspect will be staged in, or just slightly out of the current. In those opportunities when I have been able to observe fish undisturbed for longer periods of time, it’s almost always a “critter nose” into the current, with minimal side to side motion. Should that fish change position, it tends to return to the same place, over and over again, almost as if retracing its path.

These fish often appear to be taking advantage of obstructions or breaks in the current flow.

Locations where current suddenly increases – where water is re-directed, or where there are breaks in the current flow – are all places to spend some time and learn.

These types of locations usually suggest a feeding behavior where the fly rod has a potential advantage. The fly gear helps deliver an artificial (sometimes in close quarters) that is very close in size to the natural bait, and does so with a delivery creating only minimal disturbance.

Unlike some other surfcasting strategies, this type of fishing rarely requires long casts or fan casting in order to cover a larger area. Instead, fish are often in very specific locations, and as suggested above, will change position or venture into the stronger section of current on a limited basis, perhaps only to move or feed more aggressively.

To be more specific, unique back bay “feeding stations” are created or enhanced by one or more of the following: Funnels: As the name implies, this is any water flow that is constricted, where the flow rate suddenly increases. A rip can be thought of as a one-sided funnel. It is pretty obvious that funnels leave bait species more vulnerable.

Bridges: A lighted bridge is often built over a funnel. The bridge pilings can further create water flow obstructions, and the rocks and other debris can serve the same purpose as a reef. The lights from these bridges further act as a bait attracter.

Transitional Current Flow and Seam Lines: Water being redirected means areas of faster water moving past slower water. At times, fluid dynamics allow part of that water to spin in the opposite direction. The best transitional areas, at least at certain times of the tide, have a distinct observable seam – where fast water slides past slower water.

Channel Drop-Offs: Proximity or access to deeper water is always a plus, especially when combined with one or more of the above features.

Creek Mouths: Creek mouths are always a good place to stop and make a cast. The best scenarios have a creek emptying into faster moving water.

Flats: I mention flats here because of all the attention they get in salt water fly fishing articles and footage, and because sight fishing on flats is such a large part of salt water fly fishing. For a surfcaster, fly fishing the flats is not as effective, in my opinion. Add a boat and a poling platform and this is a different story. I personally spend less time chasing bass on the flats themselves. The flats can be a big place when moving along blindly at night. But those flats adjacent to some of the areas mentioned above offer some interesting possibilities. My own log includes some nights where fish were discovered finning or feeding noisily on the edge of certain flats.

Seventy five percent of the time, an intermediate or slow sink line should cover most of the water mentioned here.

A faster sinking line or head can be important when working into the channels or around bridges. The beauty in these types of back bays is that it is less traveled, so at times it is feasible to leave a spare outfit up on the marsh banks.

There have been exceptions, but in my own experience, one need not go crazy packing a myriad of patterns. A few deceivers in the three to six inch range in white, chartreuse or black (on darker nights) will cover most situations. The ever popular clouser will help reach a little deeper into the water column, but this is seldom necessary. I do, however, always pack one or two adult bunker patterns and one or two cinder worm patterns; the worm patterns can be important around the moons.

I suspect one of the reasons more surfcasters do not fish the back bays has to do with conventional wisdom suggesting that larger fish are more easily targeted in the inlets or open beach. I would have to agree with this – the majority of the striped bass I have personally landed over the last decade or so were eight to eighteen pounds, with anything over twenty pounds (lately) a cause for minor celebration. At least some of this can be explained by the lack or large baits like bunker in the bays that I have personally been fishing most extensively of late. I do know that other bays, at other times, have notoriously produced stripers much larger. I could also point out that certain back bay locations have been shown to hold very large bluefish at very distinct points in the season, with remarkable consistency –the puzzle for me is figuring out how they know to come up there.

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A customer came into my tackle shop one summer afternoon last season and immediately walked to the back of the store where we stock and display all of our saltwater artificial lures. We call this section of the shop the “great wall of plugs” which is the staff’s corny way of describing this pretty impressive area that encompasses an entire back wall of a fairly large commercial building. I continued to watch this customer as he started looking around in the far corner of the store and slowly worked his way down the wall through a long gauntlet of plugs, jigs, metals, tubes, droppers, teasers, rubber shads, slug-gos, and lead heads. He appeared very focused on his task, intently looking at what appeared to be every single lure on every peg all up and down the entire wall.

After about twenty minutes or so, I glanced over at the same customer and he was still browsing, about mid wall, but it appeared that he had decided on at least one item. I saw him reach up and grab a large package off the wall. He then gave the entire wall a quick scan, turned around and walked towards me and the cash register. He plopped the package on the front counter and asked me “Is this plug any good for striped bass?” The lure in question was a 9 inch, Zara Spook type, wooden plug that weighed 4.5 oz. according to the package. It was probably THE largest plug we had in our store which conservatively stocks over 5000 on any given day. I chuckled to myself a bit and then asked the customer what type of tackle he used to surf fish for striped bass.

He stated that his favorite outfit consisted of a 12 foot Ugly Stick rod, an 8500 SS Penn spinning reel with 65 pound test Power Pro braided line. I told him that the lure was “Ok” for bass and that he would certainly be able to throw it with his tackle. I then asked the customer why he used such a heavy outfit, both in weight and action, and the reason(s) for such a large plug. The customer replied “Because I want to catch big stripers and want to be able to pull them in”. The man paid for the plug and left the store.

This incident, which in no way is an isolated event at my shop, got me thinking about how a lot of us gear up for surf striper fishing. For whatever reason, many of us feel we have to “out-gun” stripers with our outfits and our lures. Now don’t get me wrong, heavy surf tackle and big plugs have their applications, but for the most part I think using lighter tackle and tossing smaller artificial lures to stripers is the way to go these days.

For the last ten years or so the average size striper I see coming from the surf is about six to ten pounds. Teen size fish are plentiful and once in a while a twenty pounder spices things up. Thirties are scare and forties are even rarer.

Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is and just because you use a 11 foot GSB Lami with a 250 Van Staal loaded with 50 lb. braid and chuck giant plugs doesn’t guarantee you’ll catch big bass every time out. Yes, you will be able to handle a monster (when you find one) with this set up but how are all those six pounders going to feel on that heavy duty 11 footer?

Big fish, say thirty pounds plus, are tough to find in the surf these days so why not make the most of the fish we usually catch? This is why I would always advocate for the contemporary surf caster to down-size in the rod and reel department. Presently, I am fishing with a rod called a “Montauk Live Eel Special”. It was developed many years ago by a rod maker named John Schauer. Every time I use this rod, and I have two of them, I thank John for his expertise, vision and rod building skills. You might think that a surf rod labeled “Montauk Live Eel Special” might be a one dimensional stick, however, this little baby is all you’ll ever need for most of your surf casting. I have about 18 years of experience using this specific rod and can tell you that it is definitely a great rod for throwing live eels to surf stripers. I can also tell you that it is the most versatile surf rod you will ever use. I have deftly cast ½ oz. buck tails on it as well as 3 oz. pikies. Its generous sweet spot is about 1 to 2 ½+ oz.

It works well with rigged eels too and I now call it my “Slug-go” rod because it is a pleasure to use when I fish this type of artificial. At 9 feet and minimal ounces of weight (only 6 3/8oz. at 10 feet) you can swing it all night without much fatigue. Being an old guy now I really worry about that but when I started using this rod I was much younger and still fell in love with its light weight and all of its other positives. The rod is a bear too, capable of handling the biggest bass you might encounter. I have taken a lot of big bass on it into the high forties in surf locations that would scare you. I fish manly around boulder fields and I have no problem dragging big fish in over such treacherous terrain.

I once took this rod to Cuttyhunk Island on my first surf fishing excursion there. A fellow surf fisherman who was also going over was helping pack the John Paul ferry. I handed him my “eel special” and as he was stowing it away he asked me if I was bringing a “big” rod? I laughed and said that was my heavy stick. He replied that he didn’t think it would cut the mustard at Cutty because it felt a little light for the Island’s unforgiving shoreline. On that trip, the rod proved itself again. I landed 44 bass up to 37

pounds in two nights along one of the roughest coastlines you’ll find anywhere. For those of you who don’t know, the Montauk live eel special is a custom rod fashioned from a Lamiglas GSB1201L graphite blank. The blank is cut twelve inches off the butt which makes it nine feet overall. Even with this extreme modification the blank maintains a parabolic, medium action which translates into beating a big fish in minutes.

The two that I have were made up with regular Fuji guides (6 and a tip), cork tape or hypalon grips, a reel seat and a butt cap. As tough as this rod is, it still performs well with the smaller fish that make up the majority of my catch today. I grab this stick in April at the beginning of the season when it’s just schoolie fishing and I never really put it down for the rest of the season. I usually match up this rod with a Van Staal VS150 or 200. I only use mono so I’ll spool the reel with 12 lb. test in the early spring then go to 20 lb. for the rest of the season. Lastly, I never felt that I wasn’t getting enough distance with this outfit.

Last November, I was having a lot of fun catching schoolies before dark on ¾ oz. lead headed buck tails on this outfit. At dark, I took off the buck tail and clipped on a rigged 9 inch Slug-go and started casting. A few minutes later a 44 pound bass grabbed the Sluggo and I was pleasantly reminded again, just how versatile, heavy duty and fun this lighter outfit can be.

There are certainly many other rods to choose from if my Montauk Lami doesn’t interest you. Many of them are even lighter than the one I just detailed. A lot of surf guys are going to the St. Croix Mojos and Legends blanks and the even newer Century or CTS blanks. I just recently ordered a 10 foot Century that is so thin in diameter and light in weight that I cannot wait to fish this rod. And, you don’t have to go the custom rod route because St Croix offers a nice selection on blanks already made up that you can buy right off the rack. I really like the Mojo 8 and 9 footers. A very good friend of mine, Dave Pickering, fishes with a St Croix Mojo 8 footer and loves it. He catches a lot of bass from the beach. Dave fishes daily throughout the season and used to catch well over 1000

bass each season. Dave also uses a VS150 or VS200 on this rod with 30 lb. braid for most applications. Like myself, Dave fishes a lot of different artificial lures and the eight foot Mojo handles most. Plus, more importantly, a teen sized bass feels great on it. You have to play the fish instead of “reeling them through the guides” which is unfortunately the case with heavier outfits. And there is no fear if that 40 inch plus fish comes along.

Dave’s son borrowed this rod one evening last October and landed a 50 inch striper on this outfit. I saw the fish. It was all of 45 lbs!

When you use lighter rod and reel outfits in the surf you almost have to cast lighter lures and bait. I personally don’t use bait anymore and strictly use artificial lures. The fake stuff I use generally weighs between ½ oz. and 2 to 2 ½ oz. I find that plugs, jigs and soft plastic in that size work really well on smaller stripers as well as the occasional larger fish that I encounter. I don’t find the need to use anything larger like that 4 ounce plus monster Zara Spook that my customer bought at the store at the beginning of this story.

I don’t buy that big lure, big fish yarn. I think if you use giant plugs you will catch bigger fish once in a while but you’ll miss out on a lot of small and quality fish in the mean time. A 1 oz. white buck tail jig will catch a load of bass of all sizes. This lure works well on light outfits too and it has a single hook which makes for positive hook sets and quick, harmless releases. Another lure that I use a lot during the course of a season and is similar to the buck tail is the Cocahoe minnow. This 3 inch rubber lure in pearl or glow threaded on a ½ to 1 oz. bare jig head is a marvelous striper producer. I start using it in the spring and use it all season long. I usually catch my last bass of the season on one sometime in November.

If you are not using one you are really missing out!

Some other lures that produce for me on my light outfit are Finish type plugs like the Red Fin, Bomber and Greenpoint. These plugs come in 5, 6 or 7 inch sizes and weigh between ¾ and 2 oz. I normally cast these in conjunction with a 4 inch black or white RedGill dropper or teaser. This combo seems to work very well when smaller bait fish are

on the bass’ menu. In Rhode Island, sand eels and spearing are the bait which prevail throughout most of the striper season. I really like the all black Greenpoint swimmer I used last season. The bass like it too and I caught so many on it that it got ripped apart. (see photo).

I also use another variation of the “plastic” plug. Last year I discovered the Sebile Magic Swimmer. I found the 145mm, fast sinking model in natural shiner or ghost colors to be an absolute killer on all sized stripers. I used it in conjunction with the Red Gill teaser rig too and saw a large proportion of my 2012 catch come on these two deadly lures. The next plug that I like to use is a smaller version of a surf classic. The spin atom eel skin plug produced by Beachmaster is the one I like best. At a couple of ounces it casts well on my outfit and looks good to all size bass. I don’t think I would leave my house to go fishing without one. On many trips it has saved the evening. By the way, I rig it up two ways: one method is to use just one belly hook, a cut 3/0 VMC 4x strong treble (see photo) or I use the same cut belly hook and a 5/0 VMC siwash stinger( tail) hook. Either way the skin spin atom is a bass magnet.

The last light lure that I throw at the stripers around Rhody waters is the Slug-go. I love this lure in 7 and 9 inch sizes. During the day, I mostly use pearl (albino) Sluggos in the 7 inch size. I rig them with two 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hooks and weight them with two large Lunker City insert weights. This rubber lure probably weighs an ounce and a half and casts well. After dark, I prefer the 9 inch model in black. I also rig this with two Gamakatsu hooks, size 7/0, and insert four Lunker City weights. This makes the Slug-go heavy and very castable even into the wind.

This lure fills the live eel/rigged eel void for me. It isn’t as good as either of those two baits but it’s pretty close. I have the utmost confidence in the 9 inch, black Slug-go. When I am using it, I know I have a good shot at catching if there are any stripers around.

These are just some of the lighter fare you can cast to stripers. Believe me, there are plenty more artificial lures that you can use and that can be very effective fish catchers. If you’re not sure what to use, why not try some of the aforementioned lures or clip on some of your favorites.

Gearing down the tackle that you use for stripers is advisable these days based on the average size and the overall availability of the fish. Why not give the light stuff a try this season and get more “bounce for the ounce“. It is productive and can be lots of fun and that’s what it’s all about.

Surf Fishing The Barrier Islands Of Virginia

ERIC BURNLEY

Those of us who surf fish anywhere along the coast from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras know finding a beach where the fishing is good and the crowds are small is a daunting task. There is one area where you may have an entire barrier island all to yourself and with luck you can catch big red drum and striped bass. The Barrier Islands of Virginia provide that opportunity.

Back in the 1970s the Nature Conservancy purchased as many of these islands as they could and where the entire island was not for sale they bought as many lots as possible.

This was the beginning of the Virginia Coast Preserve and led to my first fishing trip to the islands.

In March of 1976 I was working the Fisherman magazine’s booth at the AMSA Fishing Expo in Ocean City, Maryland when I was approached by Barry Truitt, assistant manager of the Virginia Coast Preserve. Barry explained how the Nature Conservancy had purchased most of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Virginia to prevent them from being sold to developers. Some people had started rumors that once the Conservancy purchased the islands they would be off limits to the public. Barry said this was not the case and asked if I would be interested in fishing with him during the spring red drum run. I said yes.

That was the first of many trips I have made there and each was an adventure of its own.

The inaugural sojourn was to Hog Island on a beautiful day in May. Barry supplied the boat and bait while I quickly learned that I had brought along way too much gear.

Shortly after we arrived on the island we were into drum. Using peeler crab we caught a mixture of black and red drum to 35 pounds right in the wash. The bite lasted the entire tide and I have no idea how many we caught and released.

My last trip to Hog Island in 2010 (the weather and my schedule did not cooperate in 2011) was with Daren Purcell and Morty Morton. We met another friend and former New York resident Ken Schultz at the dock and the four of us had the island to ourselves until a boat load of bird watchers arrived around noon. Once again, peeler crab was the bait. We had two reds in the 40-inch class and two high 30-inch stripers.

Between those two trips I have had many others. Some provided fast action on reds and blacks while others were not so productive. One of the most memorable was in 1978 with two young guys named Jerry Gomber and Pete Barrett. We used Pete’s 18foot Starcraft to get to Hog Island and walked two miles to the point.

From the first cast to the last Jerry and I had a fish on. Peeler crab was the bait and no matter what he tried, Pete could not buy a fish. Towards the end of the tide, as we were running out of bait, I quit fishing to let Pete have a better chance. Jerry was not that kind and stood next to Fishless Pete reeling in drum after drum. As long as Jerry and I are alive, it will be a day that will live in infamy for Pete.

PLANNING Going to the barrier islands takes planning. Figure the trip will take four to five hours from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Follow Route 13 south from the bridge to the junction with Route 1 south to Dover. Pick up Route 13 south again in Dover and follow it to Virginia.

You must secure bait, and peelers can be hard to find at times. I suggest making arraignments with a bait shop in your area to have peelers (shedders) delivered the day before you depart. The other alternative is calling a bait shop in Maryland (Sea Hawk Bait and Tackle 410-957-0198) or Virginia (Chris’ Bait and Tackle 757-331-3000) and reserve the crabs for the day you arrive. You can try other baits, but I will not go if I can’t get peeler crabs. Peelers will live for several days if kept cool, but never wet. Figure on three dozen a day for each angler. Nobody said this was cheap fishing.

Since the trip is long I suggest staying at least two days and three would be better. There are numerous motels along Route 13 in Virginia and most are quite reasonable. The local restaurants specialize in seafood.

Next you will need two heavy surf rods and matching reels. I use a Tsunami TSTSS 1102 XHD rod and ROVEX SILUN 7000 reel filled with 60-pound Stren braid. Those who prefer conventional tackle might try a Tsunami TSTSC 1102 XH rod with an Ambassadeur Big Game 9000CT reel.

A top shot of 50-pound mono gives me something to grab when the fish is in the wash.

Do not take more tackle than you will need. I carry a dozen 8-ounce sinkers, a dozen fish-finder rigs, two sand spikes, a spool of 80-pound leader and plenty of 8/0 circle hooks. My rigs are tied with no more than 6 inches of 80-pound leader. A black barrel swivel goes on one end and an 8/0 circle hook on the other. The standing line goes through a fish-finder and is tied to the swivel.

The extra rigs and bait are in case you encounter dog sharks and skates. On some trips they are non-existent while on others they can be a pain in the butt. If you get overwhelmed by these critters you can try moving, but in my experience they will find you no matter where you go.

If you want to bring along a few lures I would recommend Hopkins Hammered spoons, bucktails and a Polaris popper or two. Red drum and stripers will take either of these.

As for clothing, this fishery is good during the warm weather of May and June so waders are not required. I do wear wading boots to protect my feet. A pair of shorts and a fishing shirt completes my outfit. If you have light rain gear, like Frogg Togs, they can come in handy. I carry an extra set of clothing because before the day is over I will probably be soaking wet. Driving home in soggy underwear is not a pleasant experience.

Carrying all this stuff can be problematic. I use a Roll-Eze cart and it is perfect for the job. I could not find Roll-Eze on the web, but did find beachcart.com. They have a Wheelezz cart that is similar to mine for $299.00.

Use a cooler that will fit into the cart or does not require a Sherpa to carry. The only liquid you should take is water. Save the beer for a celebration back at the motel. The only food I take is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese crackers and an apple.

None of this food or drink requires a cooler.

I use a backpack to carry the sinkers, rigs and lunch. This frees my hands to carry rods, sand spikes and my beloved camera. This is catch and release fishing, so a camera is necessary to record your success.

Make sure you have a small first aid kit and sunscreen. The sun in May and June can burn you to a crisp in a very short time. The first aid kit comes in handy when minor injuries occur. Should something serious happen, get on the cell phone or VHF right away and ask for help. You are at least an hour from shore and then the victim will have to be transported to the hospital in Nassawaddox. The nearest Coast Guard helicopter is in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Finally, and this is very important, bring lots of bug juice. In my opinion, the more Deet the better. The flies and mosquitoes on the islands never see any type of insect control and are allowed to breed uninhibited. Warm-blooded animals are at a premium so the bugs are very hungry.

THE BOAT The only way to reach any of the barrier islands is by boat. There are no marinas, no docks and no moorings. The boat will have to be pulled up on the beach behind the island or anchored as close as possible to shore.

I have used a 14-foot tin boat on most of my trips to the islands. I currently have a 16-foot Starcraft and it works just fine.

Carolina Skiffs are very popular with local fishermen because of their shallow draft. A heavy fiberglass boat will require anchoring and that can be a problem.

With a 14-foot tin boat you just pull it up on the beach, secure the anchor in the sand and go fishing. A larger boat must be anchored in deep water as close to shore as possible. I use two anchors for this job. One set on the bottom from the bow and one set on the beach from the stern. The stern line is used to bring the boat back to shore for unloading and loading.

There are numerous boat ramps on the seaside and over the years I have used most of them. They are all free, but you will need a Virginia saltwater fishing license and Virginia FIN number. Both are available on line at: www://mrc.virginia.gov/recreational.shtm.

Running from the ramp to the islands can be a bit tricky. There are marked channels from Wachapreague and Quinby to Hog Island, from the ramp at Folly Creek to Metomkin Island and from Oyster to the south end of Cobb Island. Getting to any of the other islands requires traveling over unmarked water that may be very shallow. The good news is Hog, Cobb and Metomkin all provide excellent fishing.

READING THE BEACH All the barrier islands have natural beaches. There are no jetties, bulkheads or sea walls. You must find good structure by reading the beach. Most of the beaches are off limits to beach buggies so walking is the only means of transportation. This is why you pack light.

Some days, a good hole may be close to the landing site and on other days a walk of a mile or more may be required to find a fishy looking location. Count on soft sand to impede your progress.

I look for a deep hole between the outer bar and shore. If I can find a place where the outer bar meets the beach with a deep hole or pocket at the junction I will set up there. I have also caught drum in water so shallow I could see them roll when I set the hook.

This was at the far end of a small point on a falling tide.

I suggest you spread your crew out and try different locations until one or more of you find success. I have found that once the fish pick a spot to feed, they will stay put for the remainder of the tide.

I plan my trips for optimum tides. I go out and back on high water so I can fish the outgoing and incoming. I will try to choose a day with an east wind because it will push bait and fish to the beach and keep the bugs in the marsh. As the day goes on and the tide changes the fish will move from one place to another. Since low tide will occur during the middle of the day it is easier to read the beach and find better structure for the incoming.

FOLLOW THE RULES The islands owned by the Nature Conservancy and open for day use, which includes surf fishing, are Hog, Cobb, Myrtle, Smith, Sandy, Rogue, Godwin and Mink. Parts of Metomkin and Cedar owned by the Conservancy are also open for fishing.

You are not allowed to bring pets, camp, build a fire or in any way disturb the bird life on the islands. During nesting season, when most of us will be fishing here, travel along the beach and stay out of marked nesting areas. For more information and a map of designated nesting locations Google Virginia Coast Preserve Nature Conservancy or call 757442-3049.

CHARTS NOAA has a chart that covers the barrier islands of Virginia, but it is a bit cumbersome for use in a small boat. I go online to Geo Garage Marine where I can view and print the local chart. This chart is not for navigation, but can be useful when planning the trip. Do follow all navigation aids and don’t stray from the marked channel especially on a falling tide.

It can be a hassle and a bit expensive to visit the Virginia Barrier Islands, but in my opinion it is heaven on earth and for heaven, I can do hassle.

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Eb Norris And His

Norris Jet Squid

EB Norris tinkering in his workshop and smoking his ever-present Tampa Cub cigar. Look closely and you’ll see Jet Squids hanging from the rafters.

FRANK PINTAURO / DAVE DENNISON

Most of the appreciation and knowledge we have about the unique looking and highly desirable Norris Jet Squids comes from an interview Ed Poore did with EB Norris’ daughter, Sally, in March of 1990.

But recently Dave Dennison unearthed information that furthers what we know about Norris lure production and clarifies the story behind one of the masterpieces of New England lure making ingenuity and that is……. EB Norris had not one partner but two!

Thanks to Dave’s persistence and detective work what follows are interviews with Ruth Norris (EB’s daughter-in-law) and Briar Cook, the son of Bill Cook, one of EB’s partners. Enjoy!

Dave Dennison: So your father, Bill Cook, made the lures with EB Norris here in the basement [of the Cook house].

Briar Cook: Yes, that’s correct. My Dad and EB were really close friends and fished together all the time.

Ruth Norris: EB had a sister named Pearl, who was married to Everett Kelly. They lived in South Yarmouth. Everett also made lures and sold them out of his house.

DAVE: So we know for sure that your Dad – Bill Cook – made them with EB?

EB in March of 1961 with a nice redfish. Based on Poore’s interview with Sally Norris, EB was probably using his winter vacations in Florida to field test his needlefish.

BRIAR: That’s right. Everett got involved later on once EB and my Dad got established an them. Everett picked them up later on and kept them going for a while after EB lost intere how long.

RUTH: As far as I know, Everett made a lot of lures and sold them but I don’t know what kin DAVE: Ruth, can you fill me in on EB’s family?

RUTH: EB had a daughter, Sally, and a son, Bradford. EB also had a sister, Pearl, and a out in Dumont Drive in Hyannis. I know Uncle Chester was a carpenter and also had a work made the lures. I married EB’s son Brad in 1956.

DAVE: A lot of people call it the Brad Norris Jet Squid and I know there was confusion o clear that up, Briar?

BC: Ernest’s middle name was Bradley. Ernest’s son Brad was not involved in the p knowledge did not even fish. One other thing worth noting is that Ernest lived in Hyannis an Kennedy’s, who lived in Hyannisport over a mile away.

DAVE: Do either of you remember when they started making the lures?

BRIAR: I would guess it would have to be sometime between 1949 – 1951.

RUTH: That makes sense because I married Brad in 1956 and I know they were involve came to the Cape.

nd were dead set on selling est but I can’t remember for

nd they were.

brother, Chester, who lived kshop, but I don’t believe he

over who made it. Can you

production at all and to my nd was not a neighbor to the

ed in that long before I ever

EB – his usual cigar and a nice teensize bass.

BRIAR: One thing you need to know: I was here at the house when EB brought in the first jet squid. And he was really anxious to get my Dad to go with him to try it out. Dad and he, of course, fished all the time, so they went over to a place called Great Island. Now Great Island is a private area but my father knew everybody and was allowed out there. So they went out to the end of Great Island where there’s a rip. There’s a lighthouse tower on the top. You have to go down about sixty stairs to get to the beach. They went down to what we call a rip, a shallow area where the water runs pretty hard. EB cast out a jet squid and caught a striper on the very first cast. So that got them going. Once they did that they came home and almost immediately they started making them.

DAVE: So EB caught a striper on his first cast with a Jet Squid?

BRIAR: That’s right!

DAVE: Wow!!! Briar, do you recall their set-up?

BRIAR: They turned the lures out of both houses, which were only a stone’s throw from each other. EB had a lathe in his basement and my Dad had a lathe in our basement. I remember seeing the lures stacked like cordwood down there.

DAVE: Who painted them?

BRIAR: They both painted them. I was too young at the time to help.

DAVE: Do you remember anything about the packaging? Or where they sold them?

Jointed needlefish found in Sally Norris’ basement. All feature different hardware, hook configurations and sizes as EB was obviously experimenting with different models.

BRIAR: They probably took them to different shops on the Cape. I know Goose Hummock was one shop – they also sold them out of the back of their car.

RUTH: EB’s daughter, Sally, was very artsy and she might have had something to do with the Hobby card but we don’t know for sure.

DAVE: Do you know where they purchased their hardware?

BRIAR: I would guess at Barker & Chadsey. Dad worked there for a while and they were wholesale distributors for a lot of plugs.

DAVE: Your father was also quite the trapper?

BRIAR: Oh yes. He did that for years. He was a mailman. He would take 30 days off in the winter and he trapped every day of that 30 days. He’d bring home anywhere between 80 and 120 muskrats a day. He’d hang them up on the line – like a clothesline – and my brother and I would come home from school: “Take a look at that clothesline, Tom. Oh gosh, he did it again!” So we’d have to come in and get them all skinned before dinner. And we also trapped otter, fox, and raccoon. He and one other man were the major trappers on the Cape. He trapped the whole Cape all the way to Provincetown.

DAVE: The great Stan Gibbs was a trapper before he got into lure making full time.

It’s kind of neat that your Dad, Bill, did the same thing.

What came first, the Jet Squid or the needlefish? There is conflicting information and we may never know.

Shown here are a Jet Squid and two needlefish found in Sally Norris’ basement.

BRIAR: I am sure my Dad knew Gibbs.

DAVE: What can you tell me about the needlefish?

BRIAR: Well, I don’t think they came first. I don’t think they came before the Jet Squid!

The hardware was different on them but that was because of time and the amount of money we did not have. Dad got whatever parts he could from whomever, so they would vary.

DAVE: It is actually possible EB and your Dad developed these needlefish for fishing in Florida. When Ed Poore interviewed Sally Norris she indicated that EB was field testing the needles in Florida and the Florida guys actually joked with him that his lures were “too big” for Florida fishing. Little did they know that by the 1980’s they would be one of the most popular lures on the East Coast for striper fishing.

BRIAR: That is something.

DAVE: When did production of the Jet Squid end?

RUTH: I don’t think EB made these after 1959 because that is when EB’s wife died and he went down to live in Melbourne, Florida and eventually remarried.

These “atom” like swimmers were found in Sally Norris’ basement. We presume they were made

by EB and as such are an important discovery.

More “atom� like swimmers, including two jointed models. Each jointed lure features a different lip configuration.

Ruth Norris, EB’s daughter-in-law and Briar Cook, Bill’s son, were both instrumental in helping clear up the production history of the Norris Jet Squids.

These two Norris needles were purchased by Ed Poore from Sally Norris in March of 1990. The top one is a magnificent 9� model and quite rare.

A sample of the variety of needlefish that came out of Briar Cook’s house.

The lathe in Briar Cook’s basement used to turn Jet Squid bodies. Cook remembers them stacked like cordwood down there.

Bill Cook (r) and fishing partner with a pair of cow ba a great outdoorsman, fishing and trapping on the Ca long.

ass. Cook was ape all year

Eb’s calling card usually affixed to the packaging of the Jet Squid.

Note: Jet Squids were made in three colors.

Norris’ Hobby Shop calling card said Jet Squids were made in two colors but we know they made them in three: a pink, a light brown and a white.

Extremely rare Junior Jet Squids with an early example of a Jet Squid with carved tail relief.

DAVE: Briar, any other memories, fishing with EB and your Dad? BRIAR: Oh yes, my brother and I would be in the back of the Model A and Ernest and Dad would be in the front. And Ernest would be smoking that rotten cigar. And he’d just about kill us by the time we got there. But we had a great time fishing locally with them and, of course, we ran the whole Cape beach out to Provincetown with the Model A. In those days there were no restrictions on where we could take the buggy.

DAVE: Thanks so much for your time, Briar and Ruth. We greatly appreciate the memories.

(We are grateful for the time Briar Cook, Ruth Norris, and Sally Norris spent with Dave Dennison and Ed Poore to make this article possible. Readers wishing to contact Frank Pintauro may do so by calling 516-741-7044 or e-mailing masterlure@aol.com. Readers wishing to join the Salt Water Lure Collectors Club should go online to swlcc.com.)

The Aging Athlete HOW TO KEEP ON SURF FISHING AS THE YEARS PILE UP.

In the venue of sports, I’ve always considered myself to be an athlete. Not just as a younger man playing football and baseball, but also later in life as a competitive surf fisherman.

WILLIAM A. MULLER

Stay In Shape: To that end, I’ve worked hard to keep myself in shape in order to endure lost sleep, long hours, heavy pounding surf, and long stretches of time wielding an eleven-foot stick tossing heavy lures.

Taking care of my body and maintaining my health also helped me with the rigors of battling, landing, and releasing big fish under adverse conditions. Being fit also supports stamina and means that the two thousandth cast I make during a tide is as long and as accurate as the first one.

So, I’ve kept my weight under control, worked out, jogged, I practice yoga, and I maintain a healthy life style so that I believe, at age 69, I’m in better shape than lots of much younger men. All that being said, there’s a reality that can’t be denied: I’m getting older, not younger. I can’t turn back the clock, I can’t run the 40 in 4.3 seconds the way I used to, and I can’t find a 90-mile an hour fastball with the fat part of a bat on a regular basis, either. That’s reality, and I have a choice about what to do with that reality: I can deny it, or embrace it, but more about that later.

Favorite Sport Film: One of my favorite sports films is For Love of the Game, with Kevin Costner. If you’re not familiar with the flick, it’s about a premier aging pitcher who has pitched for a terrible team during the better part of two decades. We discover he’s conflicted about his personal life, and then suddenly he finds himself trapped in a baseball situation he has no control over. It seems the owner of the Detroit Tigers is selling the team, but the new owners want to trade the aging pitcher. Kevin Costner’s character doesn’t want to become a figurehead for another team. He wants to pitch for the team he loves, and he ponders what to do if his great career is actually at an end. On the last day of the season he pitches against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium and throws a nohitter. His teammates rise to the occasion and play well above their abilities in support of his effort. Before he leaves the dugout to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning, he writes a message on a baseball to be delivered to the owner of the team that says, “I’m done, for love of the game.” It’s a seminal moment for him, but it mirrors the feelings of thousands of athletes who, as they approach the end of the best part of a career, must decide between denial and reality. Joe DiMaggio made his decision and left the game on top, while others have stayed too long and not only blemished a career, but also embarrassed themselves on the field of competition.

Although it might not seem to be an apt comparison, I think this dilemma faces many an angler, too. During the decades I’ve fished in the surf I’ve met lots of good guys, fished with them, and watched them face this dilemma as they aged. I’ve had more than my share of fishing partners, but sadly watched as most of them couldn’t cope with that point in their life when they simply couldn’t “do it” physically anymore, and choose to quit fishing. It was sad watching these guys make an unnecessary choice, and it was disheartening losing a great fishing buddy.

Not a Viable Choice: Sorry, but that’s not a viable choice for me. I don’t want to fade away or give up fishing because I’m not as strong, as durable, or as resilient as I use to be.

I love surf fishing much too much for that. But I still have a choice to make. If I deny the reality of an aging body and continue to try to fish the way I did decades ago, several things will happen and they’re all bad. I could get hurt, I very likely could come up short, I might embarrass myself in pursuit of achievement, and I could likely end up being discouraged and beaten. At that point, just as others have walked away from the sport, so too might I, and cheat myself out of the enjoyment I get from this great sport.

To me, a different choice makes a lot more sense. That is, I embrace reality, accept that a 69 year-old man can’t compete with a 30 year-old in sports, and then adapt and adjust to a new life as a surf angler. That’s exactly what I’ve done, and it’s exactly what I recommend for any surf angler squeezed between denial and acceptance of declining physical ability.

Regimen: I don’t want to surrender to age, and I also don’t want to try to be something I’m not.

So, compromise seemed to me to be a wise approach, and that’s what I’ve done.

When I was young I survived on two to four hours of sleep each night as I worked all day and fished most of the night. I can’t do that now. When I try to fish with little sleep I end up feeling like a limp wet dishrag for the entire following day. I’m useless to anybody or for anything the next day, and that’s unacceptable.

Nowadays I fish with a medium power nine-foot rod most of the time instead of my beloved eleven-footer. I also don’t often try to fish an entire tide anymore, rather opt for the prime time hours nestled somewhere in the six-hour rhythm of tidal progress.

I don’t fish in the heat anymore either, because it makes me sick, and I don’t fish in the extreme cold because the effects of chill penetration on my body requires hours of recovery instead of the minutes needed decades ago.

Most importantly of all, I continue to stay in the best shape possible for a man of my age. I exercise everyday, I practice yoga for strength, flexibility, and balance, I eat well, making sure to control calories and eat lots of vegetables and fruit to support my wellbeing. I gave up smoking almost thirty years ago, and I drink alcohol in moderation. My new goal isn’t to win a competition or be the loudest cock crowing on a fence, rather my present goal is to keep fishing until the day comes when the good Lord takes me.

Another Dimension: However, there’s something else I can do to continue to enjoy surf fishing: a totally different dimension of my participation in surf fishing. Fortunately, the knowledge I’ve acquired over the decades hasn’t faded away. Thankfully, my mind is still functioning at a high level. So for me, and people like me, although there’s a great irony in aging since the mind works better than the body, I can still contribute to the sport. Again, I have a choice. I can deny this reality and get in all sorts of trouble, or I can embrace the reality. I’ve chosen the later, and although I have keen memories of what I use to be, I’ve also embraced what I am. When I thought about this point, I realized that the encyclopedia of surf fishing information in my head is still available, and can be given to others even if my own body can’t quite implement it as I used to.

Hey, I realized, I’ve been doing this in some ways for decades anyway, through articles, books, and seminars. Hell, my latest book, Surfcaster, is basically an encyclopedic accounting of what I know about surf fishing. It’s out there available to be shared by others. But, I thought, why not share it at the one-on-one level?

I’ve been an educator my entire adult life, so a transition from performer to teacher seemed a logical choice to me. Oh, sure I still fish the surf, and there are times when I fish hard, but my best role in surf fishing today is as a mentor to young enthusiasts who bring to the table a conservation ethic, a controlled ego, and a willingness to work hard. As I did as a professor, watching young adults blossom into physicians, teachers, engineers, and dentists, so too now I get a huge kick out of watching these terrific men mature in the sport of surf fishing, and I have the privilege of making a contribution to the process.

Light-Stick Watcher: Although some anglers have chosen to go from being hard-fishing lure fishermen to sitting in a chair and watching a glowing light stick bounce at the tip of a long rod, I don’t believe that choice is always necessary. In fact, my approach shows that it isn’t necessary for most folks. Instead, they can embrace reality, modify their approach to the sport, adapt to their individual limitations, and still be successful and proactive lure fishermen.

As I tell my mentees, it’s a choice. It’s always a choice. You can choose to make a right turn, a left turn, or go straight ahead, but don’t ever tell me “yeah, but.” There are no “yeah, buts,” only choices that we should own up to. I understand that change is difficult and that for many of us the devil we know is less scary than the devil we don’t know, but if we are going to age gracefully and continue to ply the surf zone in a meaningful way, we need to consider the value of change and adaptation.

So, don’t make excuses, make a choice instead. Perhaps this discussion gains added importance in a world where millions of baby-boomers are maturing into senior citizens.

I’d hate to see some of them disappear from the surf zone because they can’t confront reality and make a better choice: a choice that’s in their best interest.

It’s my plan to stand in that surf for as long as I can, for as many years as I can, and be as effective as I can but, all the while, not losing site of my reality. No, I’ll not melt away, or fade away, or surrender. I’ll be there: you’ll see me in the spring, summer, and fall firing bucktails, poppers, and tins out towards the bar and hopefully pulling back on lots of fish.

It’s a good choice I’ve made, and perhaps one you’ll choose to make, too.

THE SISSY STICK JOHN PAPCIAK

Fly fishing’s long and winding road toward gaining acceptance among Northeast Surfcasters

March 1996 - I rushed to find an empty seat for the annual meeting of the New York Surf Fishing Contest. This April-November surfcasting marathon, sponsored by the Long Island/NY Edition of The Fisherman magazine, was (and arguably still is) one of the premiere surfcasting contests on Long Island. Modeled after the R.J. Schaefer Salt Water Fishing Contest of the 50’s and 60’s, it was open to regional fishing and outdoors clubs. Nearly all of the participating clubs were focused exclusively on surfcasting.

I was representing the Farragut Striper Club, a Long Island surfcasting organization formed out of the Farragut Rod and Gun Club of Brooklyn. Farragut had been in existence since 1948, and like the High Hill Striper Club, The Great South Bay Anglers and the Mid Islander Surfcasters (among others), the club had active members with 30 or more years of surfcasting experience. I was invited to join Farragut the previous year, but as a new member with a lot of new (albeit naïve) ideas, I was somehow “elected” to be the representative that night. Somebody had to go.

Many of the fifteen or so clubs slated to participate in the 1996 contest sent a two-person delegation, but others came that night with a greater show of force. A few looked like they were ready to rumble.

Members represented a mix of ethnic and economic backgrounds. Some were clean shaven and wore collared shirts. Others proudly displayed pony tails, tattoos and even a few earrings. Many wore jackets and hats, boldly advertising club colors and logos.

Some jackets were decorated with pins or patches, to signify club and individual contest achievements from previous years.

The contest offered no prize money, and there was no calcutta. The only potential recognition for a year of brutally hard fishing was a trophy. It mattered little. For many in this room, the New York Surf Fishing Contest was of utmost importance. It was not unheard of for a top surfcaster to sacrifice his job, or even a marriage, in order to keep fishing.

The primary purpose of this meeting was to complete paperwork and review potential rule changes for the upcoming season.

I knew that discussion on rules was seldom easy. One year, a fist-fight nearly broke out when the representative of one club suggested that a certain rule might favor a rival.

Tom Melton, then Editor of the LI/NY Metro Edition of The Fisherman, moved swiftly through the agenda. I could tell he was anxious to wrap things up.

“Is there anything else anyone would like to raise?” he announced.

I put my hand up.

“Why don’t we introduce a fly fishing category for the surf contest?” I asked.

The room got very quiet as a half-dozen hands shot up. If there was ever any doubt as to how some of these surfcasters felt about fly fishing, it was going to be cleared up right then and there.

“Does this mean we have to open the contest to other clubs, like the Salty Flyrodders?’ moaned one club representative.

“If a flyrodder catches the biggest bass, they are not eligible for the Overall Largest of Species Award, are they?” pleaded another.

“In some cases, fly fishermen have an unfair advantage!” protested a third.

I was dumbfounded, and while I feared I was in the minority, I couldn’t let these ridiculous comments go unchecked.

“Guys, if a flyrodder lands a bigger fish than the pluggers or the chunkers, that’s one hell of an accomplishment worthy of the Overall Award,” I reasoned. “And if the Salty’s want to join the contest, isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want to expand the contest?”

I already knew the answer. As debate continued, body language made it clear that many had already made up their minds. Several representatives finally did step forward to offer support, acknowledging that while they didn’t fly fish themselves, this was a growth area. But by my own count, I could see that my proposal to add a fly fishing division to this surf contest would have a tough time surviving any show-of-hands vote.

Fred Golofaro, publisher of The Fisherman, and a renowned surfcaster in his own right, sat next to Tom Melton at the front table. Fred remained silent, but listened intently as the fly fishing debate continued. Finally, he jotted something down on a pad of paper a slid it over to Tom.

Tom read it, and immediately looked up to address the room.

“Ok, it’s final,” announced Tom. “Fred just gave me a press release. The surf contest will introduce a Fly Fishing Division, and there will be additional awards in the Fly Division for False Albacore and Bonito.”

There were moans, but no outright objections. The contest was generally run in a democratic fashion, but in the end, everyone understood that the decisions of The Fisherman were final. No one dared cross Fred Golofaro.

I left that night feeling a small sense of victory – thanks in large part to The Fisherman but I would later learn that the opposition was not ready to give up. Calls were reportedly made to The Fisherman offices over the next few days as certain surfcasters continued their protest. In the end, The Fishermen withdrew the bonito and false albacore categories, but stood firm on their decision to create a Fly Fishing Division for striped bass.

Fly fishing was still relatively new to the Northeast, but I felt certain that our coast would see much more of this sport in the years ahead. Many of the surfcasters in the room that night simply echoed a sentiment that I had already felt on local beaches - “the sissy stick” had no place in the surf, not on “their” beaches anyway. It would take a major shift in thinking before surfcasters as a whole could be convinced that fly fishing had a legitimate purpose in the northeast surf, a fact that remains true today.

From Fresh to Salt I will come clean here and admit that my own background might have taken me along a different path than your typical surfcaster.

I spent a good part of my youth fishing in freshwater, becoming completely obsessed with trout by the age of 13. Trout streams meant fly fishing, and I quickly learned that some of the best stretches of trout streams were set aside as “fly fishing only.” It should come as no surprise that some of these fly fishermen saw themselves at the top of the angling pyramid; at least as far as local trout streams were concerned.

I still remember the jokes some New Jersey fly fishermen made about spin fishermen, especially when the “Fly Stretch” of Raritan’s picturesque Ken Lockwood Gorge was opened each spring to spin and bait fishing in the 1970’s.

This image brings me back to that scene from the movie Caddy Shack, when the exclusive country club – for that one day – let “the hired help” use the pool. You might recall, the pool had to be emptied and cleaned. Trust me; a few fly fishermen practically felt that way about “The Gorge” after the spin and bait fisherman “invaded” the river.

Through my early years, I fished trout streams armed with my fly rod, but did all of my surfcasting using spinning gear. It was not until the mid 1980’s that I observed a fly fisherman working the surf from a jetty in Spring Lake NJ.

I remember bombarding the poor guy with a million questions that morning. The rod was different, the cast was a bit different, and the “flies” were most certainly different.

But it was still fly fishing, and I made the decision right then and there that I had to do this.

The bare bones approach of fly fishing – offering nothing but a decorated hook – seemed a natural fit with the purist views of surfcasting.

The vibe from local beaches might not have been positive, but saltwater fly fishing most certainly felt like it was going mainstream in other parts of the world.

By the mid 1990’s ESPN Outdoors was in full swing, broadcasting weekend fishing shows showcasing pioneering efforts in saltwater fly fishing. The most memorable of which was the Walkers Cay Chronicles. This fishing show featured exceptional footage of fly fishermen traveling the world to tame all species found in the salt. Film crews even came to the Northeast, including Montauk, on several occasions. I fondly remember walking into John’s Pancakes in downtown Montauk early one morning to see the show’s host, Flip Pallot, seated at one of the tables. Flip and Walker’s Cay had arrived – or, as the rest of the country probably saw it - Montauk had arrived.

What A River Runs Through It did for freshwater fly fishing, shows like Walkers Cay were doing for the salt. A number of fly fishing shops, some clearly targeted for salt water, opened in the NY tri-state area. Local winter fishing shows allocated a greater amount of space to saltwater fly fishing.

Lou Tabory introduced a book entitled, Inshore Fly Fishing, possibly the first ever extensive reference guide dedicated to Northeast surf and inshore saltwater flyfishing.

Tabory went on a speaking tour, and his 1994 stop on Long Island filled a hotel’s ballroom to capacity. I was there that night, and counted a number of hard-core surfcasters in the audience.

In the months following that 1996 surf contest meeting, some members of other surf fishing clubs admitted that they had recently purchased fly gear. The running joke was that the new Fly Fishing Division might be hotly contested after all.

The late Jeff Heath (nephew of Montauk’s legendary jazz musician/surfcaster Percy Heath) recorded the first bass in the surf contest’s new Fly Fishing Division, an 11pounder from the LI North Shore. Based on the chatter, I began to wonder if a 30 pound bass might be needed to ultimately win the new fly category.

But it was not to be. Jeff’s fish held up for months, as there were few fly fishing entries submitted for the remainder of the year. Anthony Lombardo of Farragut finally bested that fish by a couple of pounds after running into an October “first light” flurry at Montauk’s Gin Beach. Yours truly eventually had the winning fish, a fifteen pounder, which was one of many in that class beached on a freezing November night along the tidal creeks emptying into the back bays of Jones Beach. (I remembered the night well, not necessarily because of the fishing, but because I slipped off a sod bank into deep water. I eventually had to leave the fish biting after succumbing to uncontrollable shivers.)

And so it went for the surf contest’s Fly Fishing Division in the years that followed. Each year, only a handful of anglers recorded bass eligible for the contest, given the10-pound minimum cut-off. I never quite understood if the lack of entries was due to the 10-pound minimum size or lack of effort.

What was most striking to me was that local fly fishermen – at least the ones I had observed in and around Long Island – were seldom fishing at night, and none appeared to be approaching the surf the way other experienced surfcasters did.

As far as the Montauk surf was concerned, the fly contingent remained decidedly small. I am sure there were others, but during that era, if I ran into another fly fisherman after dark (an extremely rare event), there was a 99% chance it was one of a small handful of people: Craig Cantelmo, James Kang, Jeff Heath, Anthony Lombardo or Bill Jacob.

This was fine by me. I enjoyed hours of conversations with Lombardo, Heath and others, trading ideas for getting flies into the same rips and drop-offs where we had successfully duped large bass with plugs and bucktails. With such a small group, there was genuine willingness to share ideas (and swap flies) whenever we crossed paths. Of course, this type of behavior was considered almost freakish among hardcore surfcasters of the previous generation - many of whom fed outrageous lies to anyone dumb enough to ask.

The number of professional fly fishing guides willing to work the night shift was even smaller. The late Bob Robl of Fly-A-Salt Charters was the only guide whom I could recall booking clients for night tides on LI’s North Shore. Robl successfully targeted the spring sand eel and cinder worm feeds. His efforts were noteworthy to a number of us, since he was often working areas that could be waded.

The remainder of the small but growing for-hire fly fishing fleet favored sight fishing in shallow water, and “running and gunning” during fall bait migrations. While this daytime fishing was exciting, there was little in common with the time-honored night/tide/conditions strategies employed by most experienced surfcasters.

Outside of Long Island, it appeared fly fishing took better root in the New England surf, particularly in Rhode Island, but also Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Frank Daignault, the MA author of a number of very influential surfcasting titles, dedicated entire chapters on the effectiveness of the fly rod in the surf. He eventually came out with a book dedicated to this topic, “Fly Fishing The Striper Surf.” In the end, Daignault was also brutally honest with his observations – “Most Surfcasters Reject Fly Fishing.”

We can debate the “why” forever. Having spent so much time within the quirky surfcasting community, I have my own subjective and highly unscientific list of reasons why fly fishing has (so far) failed to attract more of a following in the surf.

Letterman has his top ten, let me try to explain it in five: #1: Fly Fishing marketing techno-hype is confusing and a potential turn-off.

A recent sampling of some rod company product descriptions, and reviews, yielded a sampling of the following gems: “…Utilizing higher modulus third generation Boron/Graphite composite, Boron IIIx rods offer unprecedented performance…. highly responsive and very powerful, yet lightweight with great feel and liveliness…” “…a new matrix of fiber orientation, which enables the design of fly rods with increased strength power and lightness. Built to achieve light swing weight and ultra-sure trajectories…” “…torsional resistance and the ability of the rod to rebound instantaneously…material is placed strategically in the butt section for more power and more sensitivity in the tip…The Modulus Positioning System varies the modulus rating along every inch of the rod, which means maximum performance and reduced weight…” “…a woven graphite reel insert, anodized aluminum hardware. High-strain, highimpact graphite. New thermoplastic-enriched thermoset-resin/scrim matrix…”

While the superlatives and marketing hype might entice one type of potential customer, it turns off another, especially if that customer is a no-nonsense surfcaster.

“And just who believes this shit?” laughed one surfcasting buddy, while thumbing through ads from one of my glossy fly fishing magazines.

“So, if I want to take up fly fishing, now I need to figure all this out? No way, my head is already spinning,” he chuckled, before throwing the magazine back down on the coffee table. #2: Fly casting is harder than even some experienced fly fisherman will readily admit.

It is clear that the feel of loading a fly rod, and the concept that the weight of the line must pull the lure - not the other way around – is foreign to many surfcasters. Fly casting, like a golf swing, requires ongoing practice.

I can almost see the emails of protest from the fly industry clogging my inbox. Any industry professional who suggests that throwing a line a reasonable distance is “easy” might be living in his (or her) fly fishing bubble too long to see this objectively. Besides, nothing turns a fly casting student off faster than telling him it is “easy” while he continues to struggle.

No need to take my word on it. If casting were just so easy, why in the world would there be such a market for fly casting instructional books and videos? Why did the Federation of Fly Fishers find it necessary to create a “Casting Instructor Certification Program?” #3: (You’ll love this one!) Surfcasting is a macho sport for many, so the idea of being seen with a “sissy stick” is totally unappealing.

The surfcaster image is of a man’s man in oilskins, braving the elements, and then shoving that large bass up the arse of a jealous friend, ranks high in the appeal of it all.

As a group, we Surfcasters sure do like contests and weigh-ins, don’t we?

Besides, stepping away from one’s comfort zone, and potentially appearing awkward in front of peers – especially while struggling with sissy fly tackle, of all things - is not the image that every surfcaster wants to project. #4: Fly equipment is just not strong enough to handle quality fish.

Though probably 100% false, the “flimsy gear” argument is probably the most frequently mentioned reason why so many surfcasters reject fly rods.

I will admit having my own doubts, initially. I personally put this to bed in the early 1990’s after visiting a tackle shop in Belmar NJ. At the time, I was eyeing the (now obsolete) Loomis GL3. The shop owner politely asked me if I wanted to break the rod.

What? A strange request, but he tied the line to a door handle, and asked me to pull from the rod handle.

“Hold here, and pull as hard as you would like,” he offered. “Try to break it, if you can.”

I huffed and puffed. I could bench press almost 400 pounds “back in the day” while a running back at the University of South Carolina. But I could not break that rod, not at the angle I was pulling, with my hand at the reel seat.

It is important to point out that I was applying much more pressure than I ever did while actually fighting a fish - at least at that time. Things would change, and I quickly learned to use considerably more pressure (using 10 to 12 wt rods) to land fish in roughly the same fight time as I had with spinning gear.

While my story might do little to convince skeptical readers here, I can offer another bit of trivia: Tarpon twice as heavy as the current world record striper have been successfully landed on fly rods - so often now that it is hardly newsworthy.

#5: Surfcasting is hard enough already.

Regrettably, this is the one argument that has solid merit.

I cannot count the times and places where quality fish were taking with reckless abandon, but the weather or location made fly fishing impossible: (a) A swift inlet rip, where the depth jumps from 40 to 20 feet, (b) A point of sand, staring straight down the throat a 25 knot N’oreaster, (c) A rip 200 feet from shore There are so many others.

I have struggled many nights deciding whether to take the fly rod with me, but I stand firm with my belief that I fish where the fish are, and not let the gear dictate the plan.

There are enough times and places where fly gear works, and works exceptionally well.

And What About Price?

Ten years ago I might have cited “price of fly tackle” as a barrier to entry, but I no longer feel this is justified for the current surf crowd.

Prices have come down nicely, thank you, to the point that you can now buy quality fly fishing gear at prices below (yes I said below) comparable spinning gear.

At the same time, I have also grown to realize that surfcasters, as a whole, love to bitch about prices, but always seem to find the scratch when it comes to their own chosen high end tackle. The price for a “high end” spinning reel now rivals the best fly reel, while the price for custom surf rods exceed all but the highest end factory fly rods. There is actually less of a market for custom fly rods, not when most factory fly rods come with a lifetime warranty against breakage!

Ah yes, and the price of plugs – the custom plugs that many surfcasters now buy with their retirement money? Plug makers like Beachmaster quickly sell out of each run at ever high prices, while surfcasters complain only about frequent rationing. This obsession to “buy and hoard” has not infected the saltwater fly fishing market - at least not yet!

A Time and A Place For me, surfcasting remains a connection with the ocean, pure and simple, free from electronics, boat noise and all the baggage that comes with it. Fly fishing simply takes surfcasting a step further, where a decorated hook is the only lure. I am now all but convinced that these flies, when tied even remotely correctly, can be a better imitation of bait species than most popular surfcasting plugs. It comes as no surprise that the most widely used lure for spin fishermen is nothing more than weighted fly made of bucktail.

I have been lucky enough to catch quality fish on all type of baits and lure, but whenever I feel the direct connection of a bass taking a fly, and whenever I am palming the spool during a fight, I still wonder why more surf fisherman are not doing this.

TOP OF THE LINE

COMPONENTS

GAMEFISH

CHARLES A. WITEK III

Throughout the striped bass angling community, one frequently hears calls for regulators and/or legislators to declare the bass to be a “gamefish” throughout its range. Such a grant of “gamefish status,” as that term is generally understood, would have the effect of prohibiting all commercial harvest of striped bass but would place no additional restrictions on recreational angling or recreational harvest. A number of angling organizations have made “gamefish status” a prominent feature of their fishery management agendas, and at least one group, Stripers Forever, has made the abolition of the commercial striped bass fishery their primary raison d’etre.

(Because Stripers Forever is so focused on the “gamefish” issue, and because so many of the most outspoken “gamefish” advocates are numbered among its members and its leadership, this article will from time to time use quotes from its website, www.stripersforever.org, to illuminate both the arguments made by “gamefish” advocates and the complexities bedeviling the issue.)

Many “gamefish” advocates see such a commercial prohibition as the necessary cornerstone of effective striped bass management. Perhaps they are right. But in raising “gamefish status for stripers” to a level approaching that of the Holy Grail for bass fishermen, such advocates overlook the fact that prohibiting commercial harvest is not an end in itself, but a tool, and that before one decides on the right tool for a particular job, one must first define the sort of job that he’s trying to do.

“Gamefish” advocates cite three primary justifications for a commercial prohibition: improved conservation of the stock, the higher economic value of the recreational fishery and increased public opportunities to catch and eat striped bass. It’s not unusual to see all three justifications put forth as part of a single appeal for “gamefish” status, despite the obvious internal contradictions.

For example, it is difficult to understand—or believe—the argument that a commercial prohibition will, at the same time, lead to both decreased harvest and more striped bass being killed and eaten by anglers. A further complication is added when economics are thrown into the mix. There are more than a few people who own tackle shops and/or operate for-hire vessels, who believe that their profits can only increase along with the number of striped bass that are killed.

The remainder of this article will examine those issues, relying on trends in striped bass management that have emerged in the five current “gamefish” states (and in federal waters more than three miles from shore, where “gamefish” status has been achieved through an Executive Order), angler and angling-industry responses to regulations throughout the striper coast and the real-world experiences of other east-coast species that have achieved “gamefish” status.

Economics Favors “Gamefish” When looking at all of the arguments in favor of “gamefish” status for stripers, the economic argument is the easiest to defend. Even intuitively, it feels right. Commercial fishing depends on a relatively high level of efficiency. The fisherman who can land his or her annual quota in as few trips as possible, and spends the least amount of money in doing so, will reap the highest profits (assuming that the market has not responded to a flood of fish with significantly lowered prices).

On the other hand, the recreational fisherman seeks to spend as much time on the water as possible, and thus incurs greater overall costs, yet does not necessarily have to kill a single fish in order to gain satisfaction from his efforts. Thus, those fish which are killed by anglers would seem to come at a higher unit cost than those sold by commercial fishermen.

But that is all intuition. There are also at least two technical analyses of the relative value of commercial and recreational striped bass fisheries. Both strongly support the premise that striped bass would generate a greater economic benefit if the commercial fishery were eliminated.

The best known of the economic analyses is probably the so-called “Southwick Study” commissioned by Stripers Forever and prepared by Southwick Associates, Inc., an economic consulting firm with extensive experience with recreational fishing issues, in 2005. The Southwick Study advised that:

“By adapting information from existing sources (Kirkley et al. 2000), rough estimates of the total economic value of the striped bass fishery to the Atlantic coast were possible. A 100 percent allocation to the recreational fishery produces the greatest societal benefit among various management scenarios. However, without a detailed analysis of economic value, which was beyond the scope of this study, interpretation of results should be cautioned. Nevertheless, based on these best available data, a hypothetical 100% allocation to the recreational sector would produce nearly 11.5 times as much value compared to a complete allocation to the commercial sector, and about 1.3 times as much value compared to current harvest allocations (or approximately $50 million).”

The Southwick Study found that the striped bass resource would yield the greatest overall economic benefit to the nation if the bass was managed as a “gamefish.” However, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Committee on Economics and Social Science (“CESS”) found that the Southwick Study’s methodology was flawed, saying: “CESS advises that it is not appropriate to use estimates of economic impacts from an input/output (I/O) model as a basis for allocating all the striped bass resource to the recreational sector. Allocation decisions should be based on the economic value or net benefit, which consists of consumer surplus, producer surplus, and social impacts. Furthermore, decisions about allocations among user groups should be based on marginal values estimated using a cost-benefit analysis. In other words, each individual state should clearly define their objectives (e.g., maximize employment, preserve fishing dependent communities, maintain the status quo in the fishery), so that an appropriate cost benefit analysis could be done that suggests how that objective could be achieved at the least cost to society.

Then, comparable costs for commercial and recreational fishing operations estimated in the cost benefit analysis could be used in the I/O model to determine regional impacts for each management alternative.

The committee found that in general, there are too many gaps in the data and assumptions for the study to be used as a basis for making decisions about resource allocation among competing user groups. Further, the results from this study are likely to be outdated because much of the information used was dated. Additional information, which is more recent and more relevant to the various coastal states, needs to be developed for an appropriate analysis of the economic impacts and net social benefits.”

At any rate, whether or not the study’s methodology was valid, it was tainted by the fact that the study was ordered and paid for by an advocacy group that was dedicated to eliminating the commercial striped bass fishery. In addressing that issue, CESS noted that: “To achieve equitable and effective management, allocation options must be evaluated impartially.

Unfortunately, this report is frankly and forthrightly biased. The preference towards recreational fishing is explicitly stated in the goal of Stripers Forever to ‘eliminate all market fishing for wild striped bass, thus reducing overall mortality, and manage the resource to improve recreational angling including catch and release.’ The study additionally states its objective as being “to demonstrate the greater returns to coastal economies from recreational fishing for striped bass compared to commercial harvests.” The report grossly overestimates economic impact of the recreational fishery and fails to describe any benefits associated with commercial striped bass fishing. To fully inform readers, the report should have at least included background information on the current allocation and regulatory framework for each state.”

Of course, CESS is not without its own biases. As a committee comprised in part of social scientists, CESS stepped outside of the purely economic arena to criticize the Southwick Study because it did not assess “the importance of commercial fishing as part of a community’s cultural heritage” or “the benefit a commercial fisherman receives from the enjoyment of going fishing or the benefit tourists receive from visiting a working waterfront.” Thus, an angler and/or “gamefish” advocate would be justified in asking whether CESS viewed the Southwick Study objectively, or

whether pro-commercial biases affected the outcome of the CESS report. Southwick Associates ultimately responded to the CESS criticisms, pointing out where it believed that CESS ignored or misinterpreted the data presented in the Southwick Study. However, in the end, the issue remained unresolved.

Fortunately for those who would argue for a commercial prohibition, there is another study which was conducted in an unbiased academic environment and came to the same conclusion as the Southwick Study. It was funded, in part, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Sea Grant, and conducted by the Virginia Graduate Marine Science Consortium and Virginia Sea Grant College Program, institutions that clearly have no biases favoring recreational anglers or disfavoring commercial fishermen. Entitled “Economic aspects of allocating striped bass among competing user groups in Virginia,” the study prepared by James E. Kirkley and two other researchers (the “Kirkley Study”) revealed that “It was the intent of the study to…determine an optimum mix of allocation (i.e., a certain non-zero percent allocation to each user group). Early analysis of the economic impacts and societal benefits, however, revealed the optimum allocation should be 100 percent to the recreational sector.” It went on to state “there is no mixed allocation that generates higher net benefits than the 100% allocation to the recreational sector.” Ultimately, the Kirkley Study determined that, in order for commercially caught striped bass to generate the same net benefits as recreationally caught fish, they would have to generate a consumer surplus (the difference between what a consumer was willing to pay and what they actually paid for the commercially-caught striped bass) of between $14.89 and $32.15 per pound, undressed weight.

The Kirkley Study was conducted prior to the Southwick Study, and Southwick Associates cited it with approval in its own work. However, because the Kirkley Study only addressed the Virginia fishery, its conclusions could not be lifted verbatim and applied to the entire coast. That is unfortunate, because Kirkley and his associates appear to have adequately addressed all of the issues that, according to CESS, were not properly presented.

For example, the Kirkley Study’s conclusions were not derived from an input/output model, but through the application of the concept of “consumer surplus.” It was conducted in an unbiased academic environment, and not sponsored by an advocacy group. And it specifically couched its conclusions in terms of “economic impacts and societal benefits,” and not merely in pure economic terms (although a pro-commercial social scientist would likely still dispute the outcome). Thus, the conclusions of the Kirkley Study are much more difficult to dismiss than those of the Southwick Study, even though they are practically the same.

Still, the Kirkley Study is more than ten years old, and addresses only a limited part of the striped bass’ range, and that could expose it to criticism. While “gamefish” advocates are ultimately left with only two somewhat flawed studies to support their cause—the Kirkley Study, with its aging data and limited scope, and the advocate-sponsored Southwick Study with its allegedly flawed methodology—it should be noted that there are no studies which even attempt to present a technical, intellectually rigorous argument supporting the economic superiority of the commercial striped bass fishery. That fact alone sends an important message.

If economic factors were the sole consideration, there would be little standing in the way of “gamefish” status for striped bass. The economic argument is simple to make, and there are no economically valid studies which contradict the basic premise that angling produces more value from the striped bass resource than does commercial fishing. However, other arguments are being made, and should also be examined.

More fish for anglers—a two-edged sword Since the late 18th Century, the trend in wildlife management in the United States has clearly favored making natural resources broadly available to citizens wanting to harvest them for personal use, and has disfavored widespread commercial harvest. Market gunning for waterfowl was outlawed about 100 years ago, and it has been a very long time since any terrestrial gamebird could legally be taken to market. Similarly, except for a handful of furbearers that can be legally trapped for their pelts, no native game animal, large or small, is currently harvested commercially in this country.

The picture is not quite so clear-cut in the case of freshwater fish, but the general trend remains. Important sport fish such as largemouth and smallmouth bass, muskellunge, native trout species, etc. can be sold in very few, if any, states, although walleye, some panfish such as yellow perch, and “rough” fish such as catfish, eels, suckers and carp can be sold in a number of jurisdictions. There are also numerous commercial fisheries which target anadromous fish such as salmon, shad and herring—and striped bass—which spawn in fresh water but spend most of their lives in the ocean. Perhaps not coincidentally, the majority of such commercially targeted anadromous species are not thriving, and many fisheries for them have been or are soon going to be shut down as a conservation measure.

Only salt water fish provide an exception to the general trend disfavoring commercial exploitation of wildlife resources, and even there, commercial opportunities are slowly being restricted. Along the traditional “striper coast”, the waters between Maine and North Carolina, bass are already “gamefish” in six jurisdictions: Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. South Carolina, which hosts a resident population of striped bass, has also outlawed commercial sale and, thanks to an Executive Order signed by President George W. Bush, the commercial harvest of stripers is outlawed in federal waters (which is somewhat irrelevant at this juncture, since all fishing for striped bass in

federal waters is prohibited by National Marine Fisheries Service regulation; however, should that regulation ever be changed, the Executive Order could prove valuable).

“Gamefish” status has also been awarded to other east coast species, a partial list including Atlantic marlin and Atlantic sailfish (National Marine Fisheries Service, most states in Mid- and South Atlantic regions), snook (Florida), porbeagle shark in state waters (New Hampshire), tarpon (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida), red drum (South Carolina, Florida), speckled trout (South Carolina) and bonefish (Florida). Efforts are being made each year to expand the foregoing list. Thus, it can be argued that “gamefish” status for striped bass is consistent with existing trends in wildlife management, and that there is ample precedent for eliminating the commercial harvest of popular recreational species.

On the other hand, this argument, more than any other, leaves “gamefish” advocates open to the argument that their sole goal is a “fish grab,” that is, to hoard all of the available resource to the less than 1% of the population who engages in striped bass angling (in deriving the 1% figure, the author relies on the Stripers Forever website, which claims that “There are some 3,000,000 recreational striped bass anglers on the Atlantic Coast between South Carolina and Maine” and on U.S. Census figures that place the nation’s population at more than 300 million individuals).

Commercial fishermen and others who oppose the “gamefish” designation argue that all members of the public, and not just anglers, are equally entitled to consume wild striped bass, and that commercial fishermen are essentially the representatives of the non-angling public who provide that public with access to a natural resource and dining experience that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

Probably no organization has been as aggressive in that regard as the Garden State Seafood Association, which represents New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry. The Association’s website, at www.fishingnj.org, contains a number of attacks on “gamefish” advocates, naturally concentrating on those in New Jersey. While those attacks sound hollow to those familiar with the fishery, they hammer on the points most likely to sound a chord with non-

anglers who only hear one side of the story: anglers are wealthy “sports” trying to impede the livelihood of hard-working blue collar fishermen by taking all of the bass for themselves (“the only people in New Jersey who can eat striped bass are those with the time, inclination, money and access to catch one themselves”); anglers kill far more stripers than commercials harvest, which often take the form of fish which are released just for “fun”, but die anyway (“a huge percentage of recreationallyreleased stripers die. Both the recreational and commercial fishers end up with dead fish. Only the regulated commercial harvest benefits the general public, which gets food”) and that anglers who release their fish are shrill, intolerant catchand-release anglers who play with other people’s fish, and some people’s livelihoods (“There is a catch and release ethic much in vogue among most recreational anglers and all Striper Nazis. Catch the fish, pet it awhile, and let it go.

Bye-bye, fishy.”)

Like all effective propaganda, taken as a whole it paints a false picture, but one with just enough truth in it to give the propaganda traction among many of those who hear it. There are striped bass fishermen who are wealthy, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on boats and gear, etc.; there are also a lot of bass fishermen who can barely afford basic gear and the gas to get to the beach. Recreational release mortality is believed to be higher than the commercial harvest, but each bass that is released will, statistically, have the potential to be caught eight more times before it dies (the most recent estimate of release mortality is 9%), while commercially-caught fish have never been known to survive the trip to the market.

And there are some folks who can get a little overbearing with their constant criticisms of anyone who takes a bass home instead of releasing it, and that can make it hard for non-anglers to realize that the average bass fishermen is far less dogmatic; he or she likely releases more fish than are killed, but also keeps a couple for the chowder.

Unfortunately, some of the pro-“gamefish” rhetoric plays directly into the commercial industry’s hands. For example, when an organization such as Stripers Forever complains that “fish for fun anglers are more often than not prohibited by strict size regulations from keeping any of the stripers they catch,” then expands on that comment by writing “In states with coastal commercial fisheries, the minimum legal size for anglers is 28 inches, which puts a bass for dinner our of reach for the great majority of rod and reel fishermen,” it makes it easy for the writer of an article reproduced on the Garden State Seafood Association website to claim that “gamefish” advocates efforts are nothing more than “we-want-it-all, quasi-conservation propaganda.” The fact that, on the same page of its website, Stripers Forever also clearly states that “converting any part of the current commercial quotas to increase recreational bag limits—or even maintaining the existing recreational limits—should depend on the successful pursuit of the conservation goals outlined [elsewhere on the site],” making it clear that the health of the stock is the organization’s first concern, can and generally is ignored by the commercial spokesmen, who strive to cast “gamefish” advocates in the worst possible light. The general public, unlikely to research the source material, is likely to believe the propaganda.

Making the striped bass a “gamefish,” and treating it in the same manner as so many other species of fish and wildlife native to this nation, is in general accord with what has been called the “North American Model” of wildlife management—broad public access, with little or no privatization of a public resource. It would also be in accord with an evolving trend to treat more and more species in such a manner. However, such matters of public policy will be decided by politicians and a public that, for the most part, do not fish for striped bass or for anything else.

Thus, if “gamefish” advocates are going to make the policy argument that striped bass should not be commercially exploited and rather should be broadly available to the public, those arguments should be cast in the most altruistic light possible, and not in a manner that would permit commercial interests to easily characterize it as a mere “fish grab” motivated by a desire for “More fish for us!”

The conservation argument, which must probably be successfully presented to the public in order for any “gamefish” effort to be successful, is also affected by this point, as will be discussed in the next section.

Conservation Picture is Cloudy The key issue Most serious striped bass anglers are conservationists. Older fishermen remember the stock collapse of the late 1970s and 1980s, and don’t want such a calamity to befall the bass again. Younger anglers have heard about the collapse from their elders, and generally don’t want to see today’s relative good times end. Even if fishing is worse than it was five years ago, it’s still fairly good when viewed against the scale of history. Thus, when discussing “gamefish” status with striped bass anglers, it is the conservation argument which will normally win the most converts. For the most part, unless they also guide or own a tackle shop, they are unaffected by economics, and the vast majority have long grown past the stage when they must keep every legal striped bass that they catch.

The conservation argument is also the point most likely to win over the average, non-fishing voter, and the legislators who do not represent coastal districts and the businesses resident there. Because it forms the keystone to the “gamefish” effort, and because it can only be argued convincingly in the context of and with reference to the other two points, it is the last substantive issue addressed in this article. That is probably a good thing, because it is also the most complex point to address.

The first thing that everyone, “gamefish” advocate or not, must realize is that “gamefish” status alone, without more, has no conservation value at all. If all that a “gamefish” designation accomplished was to outlaw commercial harvest, so that fish once killed by commercial fishermen are now killed by anglers, then from a conservation standpoint, nothing would have been gained (although the economic and policy goals described earlier could well have been fulfilled).

To conserve fish, one must kill fewer of them. Right now, striped bass are managed to a fishing mortality target of F=0.30, which means that about a quarter of the population can be removed from the population in any one year. Since, in recent years, overall F (which is a combination of commercial and recreational fishing mortality) has fallen below the target, with the 2011 stock assessment returning a fishing mortality rate of 0.23; in order for “gamefish” status to have a positive conservation impact on the striped bass stock, it would have to cause F to fall significantly below that figure.

Decreasing the minimum size to increase harvest erases conservation gains That probably means that, in the event that bass were given "gamefish” status, achieving any meaningful conservation benefit would require that most if not all of the current commercial quota would have to be "reinvested” in the stock, and not merely reallocated to anglers, so that the target fishing mortality rate could be reduced to not more than F=0.20, and probably to some lower figure.

Any attempt to relax what some have called today’s “strict size regulations” in order to put “a bass for dinner” within “reach for the great majority of rod and reel fishermen” would quickly run afoul of such conservation considerations. There are a few concrete examples of why this is so.

The best example may come from Maine. After Amendment 5 to the Atlantic States Marine

Fisheries Commission’s striped bass management plan was adopted in the mid-1990s, states were permitted to liberalize their bag and size limits from the 1 fish at 34 or 36 inches that prevailed in all coastal jurisdictions to 2 fish of at least 28 inches in length. However, ASMFC also permitted states to adopt regulations that did not exactly conform to the mandated 2 @ 28, but instead had the same “conservation equivalency,” that is, such differing regulations would have no greater impact on the striped bass stock. Maine anglers, and angling organizations, noted that the 1993 year class—the first truly dominant year class since the collapse—was abundant in Maine waters, but that such year class would not reach legal size until about the year 2000. To make it less likely that Maine anglers would have to go home from fishing with their buckets empty until then, angler advocates in that state argued for regulations that would permit fishermen to take home a smaller fish, and so allow them to tap into that first big year class.

In order to do so and still be “conservation equivalent” to two 28-inch bass, Maine had to drop its bag limit to a single fish, and set the size limit into two “slots” that let anglers keep either an immature, 20-26 inch fish, in the beginning, at least, likely out of the ’93 year class, or to keep a mature female measuring 40 inches or more. Fish that fell between 26 and 40 inches—mostly young females in the 7-20 pound range—would have to be released and given an opportunity to reproduce.

That Maine regulation would provide a pretty good example of what other states could also have, today, without taking action on the “gamefish” issue. However, if striped bass were designated a “gamefish” throughout their range, and anglers wanted to take advantage of that designation to kill smaller fish without accepting all of the restrictions currently imposed in Maine, they would quickly erase any potential conservation benefit that “gamefish” status offered, since the fish “saved” by the commercial prohibition would merely be used to relax the recreational rules.

Killing bass less than 28 inches long has a dramatic impact on striped bass conservation.

To demonstrate why this is so, it is necessary to cross the line into the commercial sector, and take a look at what has happened in New York. Commercial bass fishermen are restricted to the same 28-inch size limit that applies to anglers, although the number of fish landed is regulated by an overall state quota, rather than individual bag limits. In the case of New York, that quota is about

1,060,000 pounds. However, New York faced a problem in the form of polychlorinated biphenyls (”PCBs”) found in striped bass that spawn in the Hudson River, which can pose a potential health problem for people who consume contaminated fish. Since PCB concentrations are higher in larger fish, New York sought a “conservation equivalent” regulation that would permit its commercial fishermen to concentrate on bass in the 24 to 36 inch size range. In order to permit New York’s commercial fishermen to do so, New York’s quota had to be reduced by 22%, to about 828,000 pounds.

That is a big reduction, and it illustrates the negative impacts of reducing the minimum size, even by a relatively small amount, and shows why lowering the size limit, in the event that bass were designated a "gamefish” is inconsistent with conservation goals. If the conservation argument is to be made in support of “gamefish” status, any thoughts of using any portion of the former commercial harvest to relax angling regulations for striped bass should be quickly and completely abandoned.

Will anglers be good stewards of the resource if striped bass are designated as “gamefish”?

The conservation argument will probably ultimately hinge on anglers willingness to “reinvest” the former commercial quota into the striped bass spawning stock, rather than merely seeking to harvest it themselves, in the kind of “fish grab” that is frequently described by “gamefish” opponents. But will anglers really be willing to do so? While it is impossible to predict angling behavior with absolute certainty, their historical actions in the current “gamefish” states certainly provides a clue as to what would happen if “gamefish” became the law everywhere on the striper coast.

In New Hampshire, anglers have proved themselves good stewards of the resource. They retain the 28 inch minimum size, to protect immature bass (at least 50% of females, and perhaps more, can spawn at that size), and although they retain the 2-fish bag limit, only one bass over 40 inches may be kept, in an attempt to provide at least some protection for the largest, most fecund spawning females. Maine, as mentioned earlier, has opted for a smaller fish, but still adheres to

rules that have the same “conservation equivalency” as 2 fish at 28 inches. Thus Maine’s anglers, too, have not attempted to increase their kill with the bass formerly killed by commercial fishermen.

Elsewhere, the record is not so good.

In Connecticut, where striped bass have been “gamefish” since the 1950s, the temptation for anglers to cash in on uncaught commercial quota finally became too great. So on May 6, 2011, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection issued a release stating, in part, that: “For several years, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has allocated a small striped bass commercial catch quota to Connecticut. However, this quota has gone unused as the commercial harvest of stripers is prohibited in this state. ‘The Connecticut River Bonus Striped Bass Program was developed to take advantage of the opportunities that the commercial quota provides,’ said Susan Frechette, Deputy Commissioner of DEP.” The bonus program referred to in the release allows anglers fishing certain sections of the Connecticut River to kill a projected 4,025 striped bass between 22 and 28 inches in length during the months of May and June, thus “using” Connecticut’s commercial striped bass quota—and assures that, in Connecticut, “gamefish” status will provide no conservation benefit to the striped bass population.

Of course, the oldest and largest “bonus” program can be found in New Jersey. As described on a website maintained by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Fisheries, “New Jersey is allocated a commercial harvest quota of striped bass under the Striped Bass Interstate Fisheries Management Plan as administered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). Since New Jersey does not allow netting or sale of striped bass, this quota was transferred to the recreational fishing sector resulting in the origin of the [Striped Bass Bonus Program].” New Jersey permits anglers to keep 2 striped bass of at least 28 inches in length each day. Those who purchase a $2.00 bonus permit are allowed to keep an additional bass of 28 inches or more in length each day, although a new permit must be purchased for each “bonus

fish” that is retained. If the reported numbers are correct, very few “bonus fish” are harvested—about 13,000 pounds out of a 322,000 pound quota—and New Jersey’s decision to grant “gamefish” status to striped bass does provide a net conservation benefit.

However, it is not clear how many anglers actually comply with the bonus program’s rules, and report every “bonus fish” taken, and how many merely purchase a single $2.00 permit as a sort of “insurance” against getting stopped by fisheries enforcement agents, and harvest multiple striped bass without reporting them to the New Jersey DEP. Without knowing whether anglers are playing by the rules, it is impossible to judge the conservation benefits of “gamefish” in New Jersey, as the bonus program significantly clouds the issue.

Pennsylvania is the final “gamefish” state that must be considered. It does not receive a commercial allocation that could be reallocated to the recreational sector, but nevertheless, in 2009, managed to convince ASMFC that it should be permitted an exception to the general 2-fish-at-28-inches rule, which would permit anglers who fish in the Delaware River during the months of April and May to kill 2 striped bass per day, provided

that they fall into a 20 to 26 inch “slot” (no larger fish may be taken at that time). The logic was that the rule would permit the harvest of surplus males while protecting “most” females, and thus not impact the stock. However, when ASMFC was considering the matter, one commissioner, Dennis Abbot of New Hampshire, likened such provisions for small harvest increases to a “death of a thousand cuts,” adding “we’re really going off the rails here. When we adopted a coastwide limit of 28 inches and 18 inches for producer areas, that is what we said, but we keep weakening that. I just think that it’s the wrong way to go because in a lot of circles people think that striped bass fishing is not as good as it was, and continuing as a management board to do these things is not going in the right direction.” So clearly, merely having “gamefish” status for striped bass in Pennsylvania does not mean that harvest will be constrained or that conservation will necessarily be the top priority of anglers or fisheries managers.

And that leads into the final question about stewardship. Can “gamefish” status alone even assure a healthy stock?

It is impossible to draw any conclusions from the striped bass data, because as a migratory species, individual fish frequently cross state lines, moving from “gamefish” to non-“gamefish” jurisdictions. So perhaps it would be beneficial to look at other species that were granted “gamefish” status, to see whether any data relevant to those species can cast light on that question.

Perhaps the two species that best illustrate the effects of “gamefish” status are red drum and snook in Florida. Neither species engages in long coastwide migrations, but rather engage in seasonal onshore and offshore migrations. Both species are very popular with anglers, and can serve as a sort of “striped bass surrogate” that can be caught in a number of different water types, on both bait and lures, etc.

Florida red drum management shares many parallels with striped bass management. The stock collapsed in the 1980s, leading to a complete closure of the fishery. Harvest in federal

waters is still prohibited. When the state waters fishery reopened, it was governed by very strict regulations, including a 1 fish bag limit, an 18-27 inch “slot limit” (red drum are managed based on “escapement,” or the number of fish that survive past age 4, when they begin to mature, and “escape” offshore, where spawning takes place; it is a management approach tailored to a fish that can regularly live for 40 years or more) and a closed season. Red drum anglers, like striped bass anglers during the Amendment 6 process, wanted drum managed for a “quality fishery” that contained many age classes and a good number of older, larger fish; however, unlike the case with striped bass, the drum anglers succeeded, raising the target escapement rate from 30% to 40%.

The population is healthy, and is exceeding the management targets in both the northeast and northwest regions of the state.

Thus, we can argue that, with respect to red drum, “gamefish” was a success. However, “gamefish” status didn’t operate in a vacuum. It was accompanied by strict, biologically sound restrictions on harvest, a complete prohibition on recreational take by any method other than angling (e.g., spear fishing) and even a prohibition on using more than one hook (and no treble hooks) when using live or dead bait. In 2012, the northeast and northwest regions will see new regulations that permit the harvest of a second fish, which is arguably a sign of an erosion of the conservation benefits that “gamefish” status, along with the complementary regulations, have conferred on the species. However, 2012 will also see the imposition of an 8-fish vessel limit, which will help keep the drum from becoming a “meat fish” targeted by for-hire vessels trying to fill their customers’ coolers. When everything is taken into account, Florida red drum provide a good example of how a “gamefish” should be managed. A similar approach, with regulations tailored to the life history of striped bass, would serve both the bass and bass anglers well.

The management of Florida snook took a different path that, because of the biology of the snook, is yielding somewhat different results, in part because this tropical species has a tendency to die off during unusually cold winters. Still, the key points of successfully managing a species for the exclusive use of anglers emerge once again. Snook was made a “gamefish” in 1957—more than half a century ago. After that, the species was ignored by managers—but not by anglers—for

twenty years, until complaints about decreasing abundance, even absent a commercial fishery, became impossible to ignore. The various populations (Florida snook appear to remain relatively local, with fish from the Atlantic, southwest and western portions of the state mixing little, if at all) generally continued to decline through the early 1980s, but then probably increased in abundance during the ‘90s in response to tightened management measures that included a reduced bag limit, strict size restrictions and a season closed during the five months when snook were the most vulnerable. Angler effort, and harvest, also increased, from about 200,000 trips statewide in the early ‘80s to about 1,500,000 trips in 1995. Harvest during the same period increased from about 25,000 snook to nearly 90,000; however, along with the increased trips and activity came a change in angler attitudes, and the number of snook harvested in 1995 represented no more than 8% of the number that were caught (which compares favorably with the recreational striped bass fishery for the same year, when harvest represented about 10% of the total catch). Florida notes that “The strategy for managing snook in Florida has been to maintain very high standing stocks by instituting low bag limits, closed seasons and

slot limits, and by encouraging catch-and-release fishing.” Once again, snook reinforce the point that “gamefish” designations can provide conservation benefits if accompanied by appropriately strict regulations (currently a 1-fish bag limit, 28-32 inch slot and a 4 ½ month season closure; because of the cold 2010-2011 winter and resultant winter kill, all snook harvest in the Florida Keys, Everglades and Gulf of Mexico is prohibited until at least September 1, 2012) but do not prevent stock declines if such complimentary regulations are not put into effect. “The great majority of rod and reel fishermen” most certainly cannot take home “ a [snook] for dinner” under Florida’s current rules.

In conclusion—Is “gamefish” status for striped bass a worthwhile and achievable goal?

If approaching the question of designated striped bass as a “gamefish” solely from an economic standpoint, it is a worthwhile effort, as there is general consensus that the greatest economic benefit from the species will result if 100% of the harvest was allocated to the recreational sector. There is no rigorous economic study, conducted either in an academic setting or commissioned by a private entity, that provides an argument to the contrary.

Such an allocation would also be consistent with the trend seen in the management of other forms of wildlife, including terrestrial mammals and gamebirds, waterfowl and fresh water fish.

“Gamefish” designations are also an existing, and expanding, means of managing various salt water species including, in some states and in federal waters, striped bass.

However, the question that will make or break the “gamefish” issue in the public arena is whether such a designation is needed to properly manage and conserve striped bass, and on the conservation issue, the arguments are not quite as clear.

Whether anglers want to admit it or not, there are a number of people, including commercial fishermen, fish wholesalers, fish retailers and restaurants who depend on striped bass for some portion of their incomes. While it is true that few if any of those individuals have livelihoods that depend solely on striped bass, it is also true that most fishing-dependent livelihoods depend on catching and/or selling a number of different species, and that striped bass are an important part of

that multi-species mix for many individuals. Before legislators or regulators will be willing to deprive fishery-dependent businesses and individuals of a significant portion of their incomes, they will have to be convinced that such action is both necessary and desirable.

To make a convincing case that “gamefish” status should be granted to striped bass, advocates must convince decision makers that such status will help to assure the integrity of the striped bass stock by providing a more natural age and size structure, which in turn will help buffer the stock against consecutive years of spawning stock failure. They must argue that a healthy stock is one which is present throughout the species’ traditional range, from Maine to North Carolina, and does not leave the outer edges of that range devoid of fish at times when they would normally be available. They must be willing to accept regulations even more restrictive than those which they fish under today, if those tightened regulations are needed to achieve a desirable biological outcome.

“Gamefish” advocates must not, in other words, argue that they are trying to eliminate the commercial fishery so that more anglers can take home “a bass for dinner.” For while anglers will still be able to take home a fish from time to time, likely about as often as they do today, if striped bass are designated a “gamefish”, the “more dead fish for us” argument will probably doom any “gamefish” effort to a quick death, ushered along by commercial interests who deem it not a legitimate conservation effort but merely a “fish grab’ intended to benefit “wealthy anglers who want to play with their fish” at the expense of “hard-working fishermen who work in order to feed the nation.”

On the other hand, if “gamefish” anglers are willing to reinvest the entire commercial quota into the breeding stock, in order to achieve the clear biological goals already described, and maintain the recreational fishery as one characterized by very small bag limits, restrictive size limits and whatever additional measures are needed to assure the long-term health and integrity of the stock, then “gamefish’ status is a worthy goal and one that, with time and persistence, might well be achieved.

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Contributors

Roger Martin has fished the rocky beaches of Rhode Island, plowed through soft sand on Cape Cod beaches and navigated the treacherous rocks of Montauk. But most of the time, you'll find him close to home, on the sandy beaches or the back bay marshes of Long Island’s south shore. Over the last half century he has written numerous articles, authored a chapter in William Muller's book “The Secrets of Surf Fishing at Night” and given many presentations on the subject of surf fishing.

He was taught how to rig eels by his friend, the late Al Bentsen, and has passed this knowledge on to many others. Roger and his wife Marie are co-editors of the Surfcaster's Journal and they are the ones who labor over our sloppy writing, bad grammar and terrible pronunciation errors. For that alone they should be saluted .

Zeno Hromin is the author of two recent bestselling books, “The Art of Surfcasting with Lures” and “The Hunt for Big Stripers.” He is a budding angling photographer who has won numerous awards for his camera skills. He is one of the founders of the Surfcaster's Journal and a frequent contributor to the Surfcaster's Journal Blog. You can get more information about Zeno on his website www.zenohromin.com Email him at info@surfcastersjournal.com Lou Caruso is a long time member of the Farragut Striper Club, Surfcaster's Journal official "Rod Guru" and one of the most well regarded custom rod builders on Long Island, NY. His web site is www.louscustomrods.com Tommy Corrigan is an insanely driven, ridiculously talented dude who designs the Surfcaster's Journal magazine from his head. No guidelines, no drafts and no boxes into which to plug articles.

Everything that you see is the result of late night inspirations on those nights when his better half makes him stay home. When he manages to sneak out you will probably find him on a local beach, plying his craft. His talents are vast and range from music CD cover designs, to posters, books and tshirts. Don't be surprised if the design on the shirt you or your kid is wearing was created by our design guru. You can send him an Email at tommy@surfcastersjournal.com

Dave Anderson is an editor of “The Fisherman Magazine”, New England edition. You have probably read many of the articles on surf fishing he has written over the years for that magazine and other publications. What you probably did not know was that Dave is also a well respected plug builder who creates exceptional lures under the name Surf Asylum. You can receive his newsletter by dropping him a line at danderson_nef@yahoo.com Andrew Chase is a renowned chef and a passionate surfcaster. He is equally comfortable around the stove as he is casting his lures for stripers. Along with his partner, he is a proprietor of Cafe Katja located at 79 Orchard Street in New York City. It's a great place to grab a beer and sample some authentic Austrian cuisine. No pretentiousness here or sky high prices, just an intimate neighborhood watering hole with exceptional food. Chef Andrew might be behind the bar or serving food on any given night but as soon as the lights go off you will find him on his favorite rocks casting into the darkness, looking to catch his own dinner. For more information about Cafe Katja please visit http://cafekatja.com Russ "Big Rock" Paoline is a well respected New Jersey lure builder whose creations are some of the most sought after lures on the market today. He creates his lures in small batches, one at a time and the quality and attention to detail are evident on each lure he makes. Russ has been a fixture on New Jersey beaches for many years but don't be surprised if you run into him at Montauk, NY or even Cuttyhunk, MA. In fact, Cuttyhunk is where we met him for the first time. A mountain of a man in every sense of the word, Russ is imposing figure in the night surf but have no worries, he is one of the nicest person you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting.

John Papciak is a well known New York surfcaster who is equally comfortable with a fly rod or a surf rod. John is one of the most fearless surfcasters of this generation and one of the rare anglers who fish from the far rocks with a fly rod. As much as we all admire his fearlessness when swimming to the rocks in the middle of the night, we are even more impressed with his conservation ethic. He was one of the people involved in the Bring Back Big Bass campaign in recent years and he has been always on the forefront of the conservation movement among the surf fishing community. You can email him at info@surfcastersjournal.com Frank Pintauro is an avid vintage surf fishing lure collector and the author of many articles on classic lures and lure makers. Frank's work has been published in The Fisherman magazine and Fishing and Hunting Collectibles Magazine among others. He is considered the leading authority on the authenticity of vintage surf fishing lures and their origins. Readers who wish to contact Frank can do so via email at masterlure@aol.com Steve McKenna is one of New England’s most respected anglers of the past few decades. His humble persona and lack of an oversized ego, which is often found among surfcasters of his caliber, make him one of the most liked surfcasters walking the beach today. Based in Rhode Island, Steve has found success not only at home but in most places he has visited: Cuttyhunk, Block Island or Cape Cod. Put the rod in the man's hand, stand back, watch and learn. Steve has written numerous articles over the years for many Northeast publications including a chapter in Zeno Hromin's book, “The Hunt for Big Stripers.”

Eric Burney is an accomplished writer with four books on saltwater fishing in print, including "The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing" and "Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast". You have probably read one of the many articles on surf fishing he has written over the years for magazines in the northeast and other publications.

William A. Muller, perhaps better known to east coast anglers simply as “Doc,” has been fishing since he was five years old. Doc began writing for magazines such as The Saltwater Sportsman and Offshore in 1973 and, of course, has been a member of The Fisherman family since that time too. He began surf fishing competitively in 1974 and between that year and 2000 finished first in a variety of competitive categories over 100 times. Although he still competes for his club, The Traditional Surfcasters, he has refocused the bulk of his efforts towards mentoring new surf anglers and writing.

William A. “Doc” Muller received a PhD in biology in 1972 and was a professor for 35 years. In addition to eight books on fishing, he has recently authored two novels: Plague of Terror (2007) and the critically acclaimed Vanishing Cures (2010). His newest book, Surfcaster: The Ultimate Surf Fishing Guide (2011) is in stores now and at Amazon.com.

Charles A. Witek III of New York, is a well respected New York angler and Chairman of the Coastal Conservation Association Atlantic States Fisheries.

This issue is dedicated to our friend Mark Levy.

We will keep an eye on your rock.