May 1, 2000:

**The new is up! Technical difficulties kept DPowell and I separated until this time...but all is well now and your weekly dose of surf-smiles is now in place! Again...I'm beginning to think DP might have some kind of inside information...I think he's acquired the "Striper Training Manual" and is giving us some insight gathered from it! ;^)

   Welcome to May everybody, it's officially striper-time! Miraculous things have occurred this past weekend...besides catching some stripers along the way, the water temps have suddenly moved into the "happy zone"! The temp in Raritan Bay at the top of the high tide Saturday night was 55 degrees....57 on the low tide....this is good. On LI over the weekend, it was 52 at low tide and 51 degrees with the tide most of the way in.....this also, is good.  Charlie and I met up with Crazy Alberto on Friday night. We met his friend (I know I'm likely spelling this wrong, my apologies in advance!) Kadir....a very nice guy, much easier to get along with than to guess the spelling of his name! Our mission was to fish all night long, then eat, acquire our buggy permit in the morning and come home. We got it all accomplished except we squeezed in 4 (extremely boring!) hours of chasing flounders from shore! Alberto caught the only flounder, a nice one, during this most odd outing...but Charlie and I weren't worried...we blanked poor Alberto with a couple fly rod caught stripers in his home waters ;^)  We spent the bulk of the night fishing some very nice stuff...we all managed to miss or lose a fish or two apiece when I finally broke the ice with a fat 24" striper that must have just gotten tired of watching that 3/0 snake fly drift past him! Charlie countered with a carbon copy striper that had to have a smallish red/white half and half. Alberto had one stuck on a fly for just long enough to bend the rod...then it mysteriously came unbuttoned.  Kadir had two well stuck on small plugs...both came unbuttoned! I'm thinking after all the razzin' Charlie and I took from these two guys about "tourists" and such...I'm guessin' they got just what the doctor ordered when they didn't land any bass! ;^) MikeP (Ditch) showed up a lil later to quickly pluck two fish out with his spinning rod...they were diggin' the phantom violet Mega Bait plug....and Mike missed a couple good shots as well.  Mike landed the only keeper of the 4 fish that made it to land...a  nice stout 30" specimen that was promptly admired and released. There were more fish about then we tangled with, but it was nice to see some bent rods and educated a few OPF's! Alberto then said he was going to pick up his truck as Kadir was shot and needed some rest...we didn't see Alberto for a good 3 hours after that...I was ready to put all his gear (some of it very nice!) on the auction here...but he made it back as Charlie, Mike, and I were just headed for some breakfast (lucky for Alberto's stuff!) We went to get the permit after visiting a little place that is sure to have me waking in the wee hours in a cold sweat....and the fact that there were acres of sand eels sure didn't help me leave there...but we needed to get the permit and head home. The line for the permit was monstrously long...that's when we decided to go catch (try anyway!) some flounder....and Alberto got his revenge by sticking the only one. After a few hours...and way too much sunshine for me...we went back to get the permit only to find the line twice as long now! We waited...Charlie got to play Dr. Dolittle and pet a young deer that was hanging outside of the permit place...the deer actually licked Charlie's hand as he got near it....we thought this was little odd...but after so many hours awake, we shrugged it off as acceptable. Finally, permit in hand, we said our goodbyes and headed home. It was a good trip...it always is when we get to hook up with MikeP and/or the Crazy One!

   Back home....a mere 3 hours of sleep for me, Charlie comes back over after his 5 or 6 hours sleep. Carole makes popcorn, we eat it...watching a movie about a teacher and some violins (an excellent movie by the way, two thumbs up!). The tides and the weather have my brain going again...we grab the rods and head out...Carole just shakes her head in the "I know your crazy" way and heads of to sleep. Charlie and I decide to try a spot we've been overlooking lately...and although we didn't land any stripers, I had a big one smack a slab fly so close to Charlie I thought he'd gotten soaked! I missed the fish...my only hit of the night....the boil this thing made when he hit the fly was extremely large! Charlie missed one fish as well, on a slab fly, but we saw some bad things chasing 2# bunker around! One of these big bunker/torpedoes hit me in the knee at full throttle and nearly leveled me! It's amazing how fast a big bunker is when it's running for it's life...it must have been looking backwards cause it didn't even slow down when it collided with my leg.  We didn't score, but we did see things that would certainly keep this spot fresh on our minds for the next time we got out!

   The next time was a soon for me as just Sunday night! As strange as it was, Charlie was posting on SurfTalk...Jim-DE emailed Charlie and asked him to pop in the chat room....within 20 minutes in the chat room, Jim was in his truck and headed this way to fish! Soon after Jim's arrival, Charlie decided that it was getting too late to go with us, so Jim and I headed out. Our first stop didn't yield anything...the NNW wind was making it a little tough for me being left handed, but we gave it a good try. The second spot...now we're talkin'! We heard fish breaking pretty good over a big area....and grabbed the long rods and hopped in the water! Although we had sizeable fish breaking within range, we didn't hook any...in fact, the only hit I had was one that tried to make off with my fly while I was working on a knot in the running line. I missed that one clean...but it did yank some line outta my hands which was exciting at that point. A little walk later, Jim was fast into something he said was "odd". Sure enough, he gets the fish close and I put the light on it to reveal about a 3# fluke (flounder to our southern friends!) He called it...that's odd. After a million casts at the frustrating critters into the hard now North wind, we decided on a trip back to the first spot. A short walk into the water, 2 casts later, I'm into a decent striper...yeeehaaa! I land and release the feisty 24 in fish and see if Jim's interested in coming to where I am...he replied that he was fine where he was. No sweat, I'll throw it there a couple more times then. A few casts later and I momentarily stick another fish on the 3/0 snake fly...but it comes off after just a head shake.  Jim's more interested now in my boot prints as I urge him to shuffle on over! Another cast before Jim gets here and the fly rod's bent again! A little smaller than the first and released quickly, I turn my boot prints over to Jim.  Jim was having nothing but problems with some super duper high tec clear intermediate line that he had to special order and is not ready to use on his weed whacker...but he's vigilant in his efforts! I don't think this fancy line was letting him hit the sweet spot...but after he was done there I traded boot prints with him to draw zero strikes in the same spot the other ones were in.  We figured it was getting late enough and grabbed a couple coffees for the ride home. Jim did score the first and quite impressive fluke of the year...I managed the only two unicorns for our quite interesting adventure! Always a pleasure my friend, we'll get 'em next time!

   Check out the new catalog pages....they are coming out very well...still got lots to do, but it's getting there! We're changing the layout of that whole section and adding new stuff along the way...one thing you should check out is the Lex A40 page...these lures are big, solid, and what they do in the water is amazing! 

May 2, 2000:

    Good morning ladies and gentlemen...and a very fishy looking morning at that! Oh, to have nothing to do but fish....I'd be up to my shootin' basket since daybreak if that were the case, things are starting to get moving just as they should in May. Phil L landed a moose the other night, unfortunately, it was landed in closed waters and had to be released...but it was measured and photo'd before doing so! 51 1/2" long (same as my 44#er) and 29 3/4" girth (dunno about my 44, never measured the gut!).  The standard striper weight formula for this fish (length X girth squared divided by 800) puts this fish at 56 lbs! Even if he was off by an inch on both measurements, it would weigh 52 lbs! Of course, this formula is not as accurate as a certified scale, it assumes the fish to be of normal proportions...and when it was developed, normal was different than normal is now....but then you consider the fish was likely full of eggs, it's extremely likely that Phil caught his 50...and then some! The fish ate a perch chunk (bait comments and teasing end at the 50 pound number ;^)) in the dark. I can't wait to see the pictures! Good for you Phil, nice fish!

    Recently...well, ok...longer than that....we've been teasing bait fishermen on  SurfTalk...it's always been tongue in cheek, just guys teasing guys. I've recently been asked by more than a few guys why we "hate" bait fishermen...I assure you, we don't hate bait fishermen at all! Yes, some folks look down on bait fishing as easy or lazy...or even just plain dirty! While I don't fish bait but a handful of times each year...and usually only when the opportunity presents itself...like when the bunker are flippin' all around me and I can't get a bit, I'll live line one on occasion. I don't bring them fishing with me, even though I had a thousand dollars in live wells, I don't use them! So, why is it that we sometimes appear to take issue with the "bucket jockeys?" If I had to guess, it likely has something to do with one of two things. Number one, we've all seen the trash...the heaps and mounds of garbage piled high on the sand where predominantly bait fishermen fish. Yessir, it seems that many of them think nothing of lugging in a flat of sandworms, a cooler of beer, and bags of food....yet when it's all empty (and much lighter!), they just leave it on the ground! How do I know this is not being perpetrated by guys throwing artificials? Mainly because guys throwing artificials don't carry flats of sandworms and while I've seen an occassional empty bomber package gracing our shorelines (yes, some artificial guys are inconsiderate slobs as well), I've never seen an entire beach lined with garbage produced by lure fishermen. We just don't leave our used lures and packages lying around...and throwing lures is not conducive to lawn chairs, cases of beer, and buckets of fast food! Do I think all bait fishermen are inconsiderate slobs? Certainly not...but enough are to cast a dark pall over all the ones that aren't...just look at a popular bait fish location, it will break your heart! This is why bait fishing is often associated with lazy, inconsiderate slobs...because they leave the evidence lying around that incriminates all bait fishermen! Police yourselves, tell the next lazy slob you see leaving his crap on the beach to take it with him....no one else is going to do it, the police don't seem to mind. The other reason bait fishermen are often viewed in a dim light is that we've all seen it...the lazy slob in the lawn chair, crap all over, 5 rods stuck in spikes, 7 empty beer cans under his chair, and a pile of dead skates nearby.  This is sickening, disgusting behavior...again, you won't see artificial guys doing this...it's just not how you fish lures/flies! I know many bait fishermen, they don't fall into either of these categories, but still, they whisper the word bait when they are speaking of a big fish recently landed...it just doesn't carry the thunder that a big fish taken on artificials does...and I can only speak for my neck of the woods...bait fishing is accepted in differing levels both north and south of here. It all goes back to personal preference, I just prefer not to fish bait...if for no other reason than I can't sit still that long and just watch a rod or two, I need to be doing something! Yes, I'll fish bait this year, the only thing I won't carry out might be the empty clam shells...I just consider that returning them whence they came, not litter. I'm sure that many bait guys are thoughtful, concerned folks who carry out even more than they carried in, but until the lazy slobs are removed from your ranks, it's an albatross that the entire bait fishing community will have to wear around their necks! As long as that vision of the dead skates, empty worm flats, beer cans, and buckets of chicken are refreshed in our minds, the bait fishermen will likely be looked down upon. If your not one of these slobs, please don't take our teasing personally, it's not aimed at you. If you are one of these slobs, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, no one wants to see your trash when they walk onto what once was a pristine piece of beach, take your garbage out, it's lighter now than when you first lugged it in, use your head! If you can't figure out how to get your trash out, buy a few plugs, leave your crap home, and just go throw lures...at least you won't make our collective world the pig sty that your world likely is! Whew, it feels good to get that out! So, fishermen are fishermen, bait, lures, or flies...whatever jiggles your Jell-O, but regardless of what you're throwing, take your trash out with you!

  Maybe tomorrow I'll try to figure out why boaters get a bad rap on SurfTalk as well! ;^)

Tim Surgent

open mouth, insert foot!
  or
can opened, worms everywhere!

Tim Surgent

Fishermen are fishermen