April 17, 2000:

  The new     is up! I almost hate to say it, but this could be the best one yet! Still, I am out of superlatives to describe these funnies, so I'll just say this one is destined to be a classic ;^)  This one is indeed awesome!! 

   Hope this Monday finds all of you well and rested...and maybe with some battle wounds on your thumbs from our striped friends....mine are just starting to show up! Like old fishing friends, God willing, these rough "striper thumbs" will be with me from now until January. Charlie and I noted the beginning of "the" thumbs this Sunday morning...as we did manage a bunch of decent fish in a very abbreviated trip from 4:45am to 6:30am. All in all, we landed about 16 fish...I had 3 of them from 8-13 pounds...Charlie likewise had a couple keepers...and even the shorts were all pushing the 28 inch mark. Not a bad couple hours for mid April on jigs! It does seem that this year is off to a decent start...and there have been a good number of fish over 25#'s landed already this young season....as of yet, none by me :(  That'll change soon...every year, I begin the year saying this will be the year I break the 25 pound mark on the fly rod locally...I've gotten close...I've even had a couple bigger than that pretty well whooped...but it was not meant to be...each time, something happened and I was left either with a straight hook or busted tippet! But...this year will be different! ;^)  We whacked the fish Sunday morning in the currents of the Raritan Bay area...and they all took the 1 1/2oz Shad jig, painted pearl, with an 8/0 hook. It's  a new wrinkle on a very popular jig head that we sell. I painted some pearl on Friday, after pouring them with a monster 8/0 standard shank hook. They were dynamite...I'll have to now put the shad jig heads up for sale in pearl and in white...I did far better on pearl than on plain...but this was just one trip...I'll keep you posted as I work some science into this taste test! I've always preferred my jig heads either plain or with eyes when working plastics on them...this was a little bit of an eye opener for me, I will have to continue the testing before I start painting all my shad jigs pearl, that's for sure! 

   I'm aching to get in some honest fly casting...but each time we're all set, the wind comes screaming out of some bad direction. Last evening would have been perfect...but duty called and neither Charlie or I could make it! Sure, tomorrow night we might get a chance to do it, but no doubt, the wind will probably kick up and cause us fits! A couple more things to note...the bunker are big and they are numerous...hit your favorite spots inside Raritan Bay for a possible shot at some nice fish. I'm expecting these next couple days to see some bruisers landed for the bait guys...the lure fishing notoriously drops off a little bit with the advent of the full moon (Tuesday)...us lure guys have to hope the rain and the clouds are thick enough to keep it hidden! Those kinda nights can be fantastic...a full moon, but covered in heavy clouds or rain...I like those nights a lot! It was just that kinda night last May when Charlie scored his 30 pounder<---click here for my story on that night!) on a tiny teaser in the suds...a memorable night for the both of us! The night prior, I got a butt kickin' from 3 fish that size on exactly the same beach...I was using a rod that gave me no leverage from the rocks...they had their way with me.  I had gotten caught taking a pea shooter to a gun fight...but I've been very cautious not to let that happen again! So...given the right conditions around this full moon Tuesday...there might just be some good fish taken on artificials...ya never know!

   The Lex Lures are really flying outta here now...I'm thinkin' you guys are gearing up big time and the fish, they are gonna be in trouble! The Mega Baits page continues to elude me...but I look to get it done today...along with the snaps, swivels, replacement trebles, some fluorocarbons, Whiplash...and, and, and....oh, never mind....you'll see it all when I get the pages up! ;) Things are heating up, both in the surf fishing scene and here at StripersOnline...there are many, many new faces every day...I guess someone let the cat outta the bag and told folks what a great time we were having! Excellent!! Bring 'em on!  We got plenty of room here, kick off your shoes, grab a cold one, and just try and absorb all the tons and tons of info that you'll find here...I dare ya! ;^)

   Jim-DE just got back from a family fishing trip in Florida...he told me he was expecting his little girl to hook her first tarpon...and on a fly rod! Lofty goal? Hmmm...for me or you possibly...but not for this guy, he's got a good grip on the fly fishin' thing and if anyone could do it, he could! I'm awaiting the details as we speak...I've been trying to encourage him to write a lil something for the site....maybe this will help prod him! If it doesn't work, I could always plead my case to the people, put up an email link right to Jim....kinda like we did to poor Charlie when he wouldn't get his butt out and go fishin'! Man, you guys were great then, he called me at like 10am begging for mercy...seems his inbox was taking a beating! (Thanks guys, I knew I could count on ya!) Don't worry Jim...I wouldn't do that to you! Well, not at least without some kinda warning! ;)

   Have a good one folks, I'm off to get the aforementioned pages together for your shopping convenience! Below is the page from Saturday...I left it up for you folks that don't get online over the weekends! Talk to you soon, I'm counting the days (3) till our little Hatteras fishing excursion...me, Dubs, BrianBM, and the Crazy man...Alberto! We figure a fat red drum ought to get any remainder of his inclination towards chasing 3# trout right outta his head!  (Oooh...I'm gonna hear about that one!)

Best wishes and big fishes!

Tim Surgent

April 18, 2000:

   Tuesday....one more day and we're off to Hatteras! I hope this nasty ocean isn't kicking like this down there...it's an awful long drive to get your butt kicked in 8 ft waves and dirty water! I'll have to find a surf cam down that way and reassure myself that this won't be an 8hr drive to find the suds un-flingable! Last night I made plans with Paul Naj....we were to leave here at 9pm and greet the high outgoing tide in a little spot I had all planned out. About 8:30, I quit working and was headed to devour my dinner....then a knock on the door...it was Tony! Seems he wore himself out on his latest journey up north to hawk his plugs....this was odd, I've known Tony to wear us all out with his seemingly endless energy! I guess 2000 miles of driving by yourself would get old in a hurry! Anyway...as I was putting together my order for Tony, Dan and Geddis showed up....and dinner was getting cold! Dan banged up his new Abu Mag in his move to new digs...and he wanted to get some new wood to throw at the fishes inside Raritan Bay.  No sweat...we hooked the two of them up....Tony and Charlie went to the truck to fill boxes with Lex Lures...and again, I was thinking dinner. Then Paul shows up...right on schedule (he's funny like that ;^)) Dinner's freezing now....Carole inquires if she should just put it in the fridge and call it tomorrows lunch...I plead my case and she warms it up for me.  I get all 5 of these guys occupied, sit with Carole for 10 minutes, eat my dinner in one bite, grab my gear, Dan and Geddis split, and Charlie and Tony are writing the stuff on the order down....then the phone rings!?!?!  Most folks I'd have blown off at this point, but it was Crazy Alberto...and we had some stuff to go over! Luckily, if there's one thing Alberto understands, it's the need to get fishing...he quickly offers to let me off the phone...then he thinks about it. "You're not going fishing tonight, are you?!?!" he asks me, wondering if maybe he's not the only "crazy" one out there. Yes, the weather was horrendous....35kt NE winds, rain, and 40 degrees...I assure him that I am going out....he laughs and we say goodbye. Paul and I make a break for the truck and quickly hit the road! Geesh....9:45pm....and the winds really screaming. No matter, we're on our way.

     Paul and I never seem to run out of things to yak about....the drive goes quickly. It's blowing and raining so hard it's difficult to get suited up....we manage somehow and then we're off on a few hundred yard hike....did I mention it was rainy, windy, and cold? ;^)  We get to where we were planning on fishing....and sadly, the wind is more NNE than the ENE the tower said it was....and at 35kts, the belly in the line is terrible! We throw jigs...some plugs...and then more jigs. I get clobbered on one cast...but missed the hit....and that was it! One hit...very near where Charlie and I had 16 fish inside 2 hours just the morning before.  I'm blaming it on the wind! We try another spot where the wind is a little less intrusive....all I manage to do there is bust off two beautiful smilin' Bills.  Now we're desperate...figuring if we can manage a small fish or two, we won't look as foolish as we were beginning to feel! Next spot, nada...zero....zilch...and the wind is nearly blowing us into the water! Last two quick stops...ditto...not a hit! We did give it a shot....and we didn't see another soul anywhere (confirmation of our insanity?), yet just that one hit in the first spot! It did feel nice to get out...and Paul's good company, we always manage to find interesting things to flap our gums about...and even when we had nothing to say, the 35kt winds were flapping our gums anyway! Next time Paul, we'll get 'em next time! ;^)

   The approaches quickly from here folks! Just over 30 days!?!?!  Whew...it seemed so distant just a short time ago! If you haven't registered yet or have any questions about the fling, I put up the page yesterday....we need an honest head count and are closing registration to the fling on May 5th....so get there, get registered, get counted, and come to the fling! It's gonna be something that is talked about for a long time! I'd like to encourage everyone....and I mean everyone who can make it to Spring Lake, NJ on May 19th to join us...a great percentage of all the "regulars" and many, many new faces will be there...and we'll be fishing hard all night long! Surf stuff....and whatever jetties we can climb on....it will be a great opportunity to meet a lot of you and to fish with you as well! We've set the boundaries for a 7 mile stretch where travel is easy and on asphalt...so we plan on not letting any roots grow under our feet as we fish our way through the whole stretch, meeting as many of you as humanly possible...and you guys are welcome to scoot around and fish any spots you wish from Manasquan Inlet to Shark River Inlet! Do it, register, come fish with all of us! I'm also looking for more "locals" to be team captains...if you think you got what it takes, shoot me an email at tims@stripersonline.com and we'll quiz you, send you for a military style physical, and an obstacle course that would make a Navy Seal break out in cold sweats! If you think you got what it takes, we are looking for a few good men! ;^)

    The Bronco Bag page is now up...there are some more bags that will be added as I receive them, but for now, the 3 models that we've always used locally are up there and you can order them! Mega Baits.....I'm running into a problem with the form I'm working on....I want to make it easy for you guys...but that's now making it hard on this end!?!? Drats! I won't give up....never give up....I'll get the form working...hopefully in the next couple hours! Sampo snaps and Sampo swivels are in stock now, Whiplash is flowing again!!! And the Lex Lure man just filled up the shelves again....things, my friends, are certainly getting interesting!   

Best wishes and big fishes!

Tim Surgent

April 19, 2000:

   Finally got the Mega Bait page up! There's a lot more to come there, for now, I've only got the 4 1/2" and 5 1/2" listed on the page, but I'm working on it! We used the 4 1/2" ones last year and murdered the fish on them and we expect to do the same on them this year...as soon as the fish get in the suds. These lures were also excellent in the rivers and bays when the bass were in the peanuts....and they are great when the bass are on the mullet.  In other words, they work!  The Bronco Bag page is also up, and like the Mega Bait page, it's going to have more things added soon...but for now, you can order from both pages!

    Looks like the Hatteras thing isn't going to work out as planned...there's just too many things going on over this Easter weekend to walk away for 4 days....it'll turn into a week as Sunday I'm committed to the family stuff...and Monday we're all going to spend the day in Lancaster for a play! I know...a play versus Hatteras fishing...but when Mom says the family's going to see a play together, it's hard to say no! I tried very hard to get done to a point where we could leave everything for four days to fish....but sadly, it wasn't in the cards. Sorry Crazy....I'll hook up with ya in LI next weekend for an all night into the day thing...those I can still get away for! ;^) I hope you guys catch fish down there till your arms hurt! We're rootin' for ya! MikeP was kind enough to loan Charlie and I a couple of "heavers" which we sadly won't be able to use...I've never thrown a true heaver before! I'm sure they'll be other opportunities to do so, I was looking forward to this trip...but you gotta do what you gotta do! It's hard to walk away when something's going as well as this is going, I'll maybe learn how to at some point, right now I just can't do it!  I'm hangin' my head in shame...I wanted to go down there and meet my first drum....looks like it'll have to be another time for Dubs and I. In the mean time, just to console ourselves, we'll have to find a few hours to get out and greet some of the newly arriving stripers in our own waters!

   The approaches quickly from here folks! Just over 30 days!?!?!  Whew...it seemed so distant just a short time ago! If you haven't registered yet or have any questions about the fling, I put up the page yesterday....we need an honest head count and are closing registration to the fling on May 5th....so get there, get registered, get counted, and come to the fling! It's gonna be something that is talked about for a long time! I'd like to encourage everyone....and I mean everyone who can make it to Spring Lake, NJ on May 19th to join us...a great percentage of all the "regulars" and many, many new faces will be there...and we'll be fishing hard all night long! Surf stuff....and whatever jetties we can climb on....it will be a great opportunity to meet a lot of you and to fish with you as well! We've set the boundaries for a 7 mile stretch where travel is easy and on asphalt...so we plan on not letting any roots grow under our feet as we fish our way through the whole stretch, meeting as many of you as humanly possible...and you guys are welcome to scoot around and fish any spots you wish from Manasquan Inlet to Shark River Inlet! Do it, register, come fish with all of us! I'm also looking for more "locals" to be team captains...if you think you got what it takes, shoot me an email at tims@stripersonline.com and we'll quiz you, send you for a military style physical, and an obstacle course that would make a Navy Seal break out in cold sweats! If you think you got what it takes, we are looking for a few good men! ;^)

    The Bronco Bag page is now up...there are some more bags that will be added as I receive them, but for now, the 3 models that we've always used locally are up there and you can order them! Mega Baits.....I'm running into a problem with the form I'm working on....I want to make it easy for you guys...but that's now making it hard on this end!?!? Drats! I won't give up....never give up....I'll get the form working...hopefully in the next couple hours! Sampo snaps and Sampo swivels are in stock now, Whiplash is flowing again!!! And the Lex Lure man just filled up the shelves again....things, my friends, are certainly getting interesting!   

  The new     is up! I almost hate to say it, but this could be the best one yet! Still, I am out of superlatives to describe these funnies, so I'll just say this one is destined to be a classic ;^)  This one is indeed awesome!! 

Best wishes and big fishes,

Tim Surgent