Fishing is turning "fall"

October 3, 2000:

    Boy, Monday just plain got away from me and no page! My apologies, sometimes things just get outta hand...yesterday was one of those day fer sure! So, let's see where we left off....ah yes, Charlie had whupped up on me two trips in a row...and I had just administered a whuppin' back to him on the last page. Well the see-saw battle continued into the weekend. First, Friday night we didn't get started till pretty late, after midnight....and after a short excursion inland where we each got rid of the skunk fairly promptly...and Charlie got a good lead on me, 3 bass and a sizeable trout to my 2 bass, we headed for the suds. Wouldn't ya know it, as we were gearing up, outta the fog comes a familiar face...it was Jim-DE! Yes, he was a long way from home...kinda spontaneous trip he tells us. We tell him to grab his gear (all of it new, hi tech, and with funny imported names...but that's what we expect from the "Tackle Junkie") By this time, I'm toast...been toast for a couple days running...but especially toast as I was sharing my wife's cold at this point. <Sniffffff><Wipe><Aaaaa-Choooo!!!> Those guys head to the right and I find myself alone and walking ever eastward into the sizeable waves when I realized that was probably not the best plan I ever had....back up to the beach. After many casts and much walking...and a head that felt like it was stuffed with Kleenex from the inside...I happen upon a shallow cut running about a foot deep behind a sizeable sand bar...a bait funnel. Being toast I was entertaining myself by walking slowly through this cut and looking at all the schools of sand eels and mullet milling around....they were clearly dreading the now rising tide. The sand eels, some of the first I've been able to really watch in our local waters, were much lighter on the top when in the water than they appear when they are out. I watched the bait for maybe 20 minutes, slowly shuffling around with them....when I realized Charlie and Jim were watching me watching the bait. Back to fishing. Jim had the only bite up to this point, he landed a nice trout alongside a cut off jetty. I like Jim, he's good people to fish with and hang with...and the man has got all the toys in the world! ;-) We park ourselves behind a bar with the water coming up I had just noted to Jim that the water was about deep enough and the fish should be showing up any minute...when my black mambo got creamed! I wrestled the 24" bass to the beach and set it free. I love it when the bass do something they are supposed to...like show up on time! ;-) To make a long story short...I hooked 5 fish after that....landed only 1 of them...which was odd but happens. Charlie landed 2 or 3 which put him well ahead of my 4 fish night. Jim stopped by after the fishing to visit what he calls the "Candy Store" and left with an armload of Hab's needlefish. Nice to see ya Jim, say hi to Art for us!

    Saturday night...Dubs and I, again, get out late. We happen upon the Prefessa's car in one of our regular haunts. As we're gearing up, Joe comes hobbling up and asks for some help. Wondering what kinda help he needs, I walk over to him. It seems the poor guy took a spill on the slippery rocks and dislocated his shoulder...and his keys were in his pocket...his rain top wouldn't let him get to the car keys! What a pickle! I try to help him off with his pullover top, no good, the shoulder keeps popping out and he was in agony. After a few minutes, the top comes off, the keys are removed and we're helping him load up his gear. Luckily, he's ok to drive, just needing to keep his left arm very still. Even with Korkers and a light, jetties can sneak up on ya and bang ya up pretty good. It's impossible to stress how important it is to be so careful out there...luckily for Joe he wasn't hurt too bad but he'll probably miss the rest of the season on the bench, injured reserve. We hope ya get well quick buddy, rest that arm and we'll look for the knife ya dropped! After he left, we headed to the water...and it looked beautiful. Charlie found the fish first...he missed two hits on one cast. I fired one off that way and connected...the fish ate the schoolbus hackle teaser instead of the black bottle plug. Then Charlie connected. Then me again. Then Charlie was in and out quickly...and then it was over. A NJ blitz, 3 minutes of very fast action...and then nothing else no matter what or where ya do it. Man I'm getting tired of that kinda action...I dunno what it is, but a couple years ago, when you found a school of fish, you were in, they stayed put and you caught them for quite a while. Not this year, they are often gone after 2 or 3 fish are caught. It's sad, it's frustrating. On the way off the rocks, I stick a decent fish and park it on the rocks below me to retrieve my plug only to have the next wave wash the fish across a rock that cut my teaser and my 12# fish off :-( Oh well, I was gonna release it anyway but would have liked to have my teaser back! We fish some more along the sand as it gets later....and I catch 2 more on a black/white hackle deceiver fished in front of the red head 6" MegaBait...these red head plugs aren't like any of the ones I've ever seen before, the red is actually realistically faded into the other colors instead of that stark red/white line that most red head plugs have. Then Charlie gets one....and then he gets another one. That's it, we head home....I administered the whuppin' Saturday night. Hey, he got me on Friday, it was my turn, we were tied up 1 and 1 for the weekend.

    Last night...well last night was a solid whuppin'...and from here on in, until Charlie whups up on me again, I'll not go into the whuppins for a while...well, not after this last time anyway ;-) We fished the open beach for a couple hours...found keeper sized bass outside the sizeable waves....they hit the 1oz black bottle plugs like they were starving! I landed 4 of them to 10-11#'s and lost 1...Charlie landed 1 and lost 2. This all happened inside 30 minutes...the next 1 1/2hrs, not a hit...and we moved around quite a bit looking for them! On the way home, I played a hunch...it felt right and needed to be investigated...and it paid off. In 35 minutes I landed 7 more bass, same sizes as those in the suds roughly...and one razor lips about 8 or 9#'s. Charlie wrangled 5 more bass outta this spot as well. He was at a serious disadvantage with spinning tackle...I had my conventional stuff. So that's it for the whuppins for a bit...like I said, till he whups up on me to the point of me needed to write about it! ;-)

   Go fishing, the fish are pretty well spread out, we've been scoring in the Fling area all the way north to the Hook. I've been getting reports from others fishing all over and it's the same thing, the fish are here, they are hungry, you just need to get out there and throw stuff at them! ;-) 

     Just updated the page with locations and a more thorough tackle recommendation...somehow, I let the tackle recommendations remain there that I listed for the Spring Fling!  Also, I put up the new ! Good one DP, I'm still laughing at this one! ;-)

      Let's get registered for the as soon as you are certain you can attend! Accurate numbers will help in all facets of preparing for the Fling! Much as the rest of you, this is my busiest time of the year, fishing wise that is! I'll be taking an entire week of at some point very soon...prior to the Fling, it would be nice to be able to have a fairly accurate number of Flingers. No, it's not really that important that you register right now, but the sooner the better! I've got some more info for the Fling pages as to the locations we're planning to fish, but first I gotta get up the Hab's Needlefish and Gibb's bottles and darters....soon, very soon my friends! ;-)

   The Gibb's bottles and darters are now up on the site! Actually, they've been up for a bit now, but you'd need to check the page to know this! Matter of fact, you gotta check the update page every single day in order to really keep up with what's going on around here...changes nearly every single day! I've got a huge pile of new photo pages to put up, my apologies to those of you who've been patiently waiting for me to do your photo page, things are understandably crazy around here and your pages will be up very soon!

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Things move tooooo fast!

October 4, 2000:

   I can't believe we're already into October....I'm sure you younger folks don't see things moving the way us older folks (34...but I feel like I'm 55 ;-) see things moving! You younger ones are just back to school...and all ya can think about is June when ya get out...don't rush it! You think summer goes too fast when yer in school.....wait till the first job ya get and your 10 weeks off in the summer turns to 2 or 3 weeks for the entire year! Yea, then you'll see how fast things move! ;-) Anyway...it seems like just yesterday I was saying good bye to Spring....and then the nights started getting a little cooler...and holy smokes, now it's October!?!? Not that I mind...if I had to pick one time of year to be my favorite, it'd be fall....and one month to be my favorite, it'd be the last half of October/first half of November.....that's a month, right? This was the week last year when the fire really got lit locally...it's the week Raritan Bay exploded...it's the week the flow of peanuts outta Sandy Hook got in full swing...it's the month that the dawn bites began to last hours instead of minutes. This is the month I went through about 2 dozen slab flies, destroyed by stripers that couldn't keep their mitts off them! This is the month where you almost can't be in the wrong spot...the stripers will be flowing along the entire shoreline, inside and out, looking to put on some pounds for their journey south. They'll be spread out...really spread out...fish just about any where you look...and groups of fish in a few places...finding those places is the trick to really scoring. While any open beach or jetty in Jersey is likely to have some bites on it for ya, look to logical places to find groups of fish. I mean we've found groups of fish recently, but they never stuck around long enough for us to do any real damage. The other night on the beach, I had 4 fish (all legal) hooked in 5 casts.....and then, much as we looked, not another bite for a mile of beach and an hour and a half of casting! Seems the fish are getting better at knowing when to split...I hate that! If you wanna find a group of fish that will hang out and let ya beat on 'em, you generally will need to find fish with a reason to be where you found them...a patrolling pack of piscatorial targets will bend your rod...once...maybe twice....three times if ya can get 'em unhooked quick enough. But to keep that rod bent for an hour or more, you gotta find a spot where the fish need to be there in order to feed! Current....structure with current....structure with current and bait passing by...and the best, structure with current and bait cornered! These are the kinds of places you'll find the longest lasting action...this is the main reason why it seems the folks north of us seem to have long nights of bent rods...they got current on every beach, every single beach...we got none!  

     Last night we looked in a likely spot...had current and structure...no visible bait but in years past, the fish have always hung out here. They were there, we did ok...Dubs did better than I did...he had 9 to my 5......but sometimes things just work out that way. We never moved...we just cast to almost exactly the same spot cast after cast...if the fish were currently "in" we'd both get a hit....if they were "out" we'd get nothing...sometimes they were be nearby and one of us (mostly Dubs!) would pick up a stray. They didn't stay in one spot for long, but we figgered out where they would pass through long enough to bend two rods and release two fish before they moved on. Sometimes that's good enough! ;-)

    Fall Fling T's are being ordered, if ya didn't register for the fling yet but intend to or suspect that you will be...please either email me or post on the board in the appropriate Fling T thread and let me know...the order goes out today and I'll be ordering some extra...but not a ton! Spring Fling T's will come, as odd as it seems, after the Fall Fling....I know, what can I say, sometimes things just move to fast for me to keep up! So, if ya want a Fling T, whether or not you're coming, planning on coming, can't come, don't wanna come to the Fling, let me know by the end of the day so I can get ya counted up and yer shirt ordered! They will cost $10 each...free to Fall Flingers....and they'll be ordered through the online catalog...but with a twist...I'll need to know you wanted one first, then I'll send ya the link to complete the order! Pretty tricky, huh? ;-) After the smoke clears and everyone who wanted one in advance has one, then I'll make the rest of them available to anyone else who wants one! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Gonna see my northern buddies!

October 5, 2000:

    Soon...very soon...we're gonna take the ride up and see some of our northern compatriots...and hopefully mess with whole bunches of OPF (other people's fish)! Originally, we were to bail tonight and be there in the dark...but that's not lookin' real promising at the moment. Things are really moving around here, the web site is taking shape, the crew is growing and growing...and the amount of pictures and articles that I'm receiving of late is absolutely wonderful! I couldn't be more thrilled. The emails folks send to me almost make me blush, it's our collective pleasure to be able to help so many guys catch so many more fish...may we be blessed to do so for a good long time to come! I'd like to thank all the folks here for making this site the pleasure to administer that it is, it's only because of all of you that it's growing so fast. Your comments, your suggestions, your purchases, and your participation have made my job here such a joy. We're fooling around with some advertisers right now...and some sponsors...and some other folks who want to be a part of what we're becoming...so please bear with us...you might see some funny ads in some funny spots for a bit a I get the hang of this kinda code! Initially, the ads you see will be non-target type ads...I have to use them to get the code and insertion stuff up correctly. They will go away one by one as real target advertisers are introduced here. Let's Go Fishin', Steve Barratt's site will be the first sponsor to be in the ad rotation! Steve's been a buddy online since I can remember, he's one of the nicest, most knowledgeable, and sincere folks I've had the pleasure of doing business with.

   So, how's the fishing you're probably wondering...enough with the shenanigans, let's talk about fishing! Well I didn't get out last night...not even for a visit...but yesterday morning on my way back from the doctors I took a spin by the beach and man, did it look ripe! The giant heave we had for a few days was gone...the 2-3 footers were perfect, sweeping white over the bars...I wanted go...really bad...but couldn't swing it, not with the upcoming jaunt north! BrianZ called me about 8:30pm last night, looking desperately for just one last Hab's Perfect Popper...but alas, they have been gone now over a week! I'm expecting tons more very soon and in different sizes, but had not one lone Perfect Popper for poor Brian! Seems Brian lost a real nice fish just before dark...the bigger bass were chasing the hickory shad wherever it was Brian was hunting...and 4 pops into his first cast, a biggin' rolled over and inhaled his last Perfect Popper! Unfortunately, the battle ended in favor of the LARGE and Brian was shortly thereafter chased from the beach by the most vicious of thunderstorms....that's when he called me. Sorry Brian, I'm gonna do my best to keep them pretty poppers in stock, I was caught off guard by how fast they left! Now I know...live and learn. I did offer Brian my one single Perfect Popper that I carry in my bag....luckily for me, he declined! ;-)

   Bassnix emailed me last night after his adventure in the suds...seems he only got a few casts in before the same lightning sent him packin'. He had just left here, a whole box of new Lex Lures in tow...and only the big ones for him! He was telling me that in his 4 casts, he got clobbered on the 2oz White Dani on his second cast but failed to connect! Hey, it happens, at least you got out there!

   While we're fishing up north for the elusive striped bass, checking the surf in MA, the rocks in RI and some places on MV...you guys are gonna be busy around here, things are starting to crack and the fishing is always 100 times better locally when Dubs and I are outta town! ;-) Hello Walkin' Jack, hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip to Noo Yawk City, don't let all them fast talkin' city slickers scare ya, they ain't all bad! ;-)

    Fall Fling T's are being ordered, if ya didn't register for the fling yet but intend to or suspect that you will be...please either email me or post on the board in the appropriate Fling T thread and let me know...the order goes out today and I'll be ordering some extra...but not a ton! Spring Fling T's will come, as odd as it seems, after the Fall Fling....I know, what can I say, sometimes things just move too fast for me to keep up! So, if ya want a Fling T, whether or not you're coming, planning on coming, can't come, don't wanna come to the Fling, let me know by the end of the day so I can get ya counted up and yer shirt ordered! They will cost $10 each...free to Fall Flingers....and they'll be ordered through the online catalog...but with a twist...I'll need to know you wanted one first, then I'll send ya the link to complete the order! Pretty tricky, huh? ;-) After the smoke clears and everyone who wanted one in advance has one, then I'll make the rest of them available to anyone else who wants one! 

     Just updated the page with locations and a more thorough tackle recommendation...somehow, I let the tackle recommendations remain there that I listed for the Spring Fling! 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent