Every time I go fishing it is an experience. Its always 5+ hours out on the water and I fish hard, do stupid stuff and crazy shit happens at times. I usually cover miles of beach each trip by foot. It always starts in the dark and I am normally alone. Each trip is an adventure for me.
Personal Best
My Personal best Striped Bass, it is always a goal to break my current PB. It is a big thing to me. Big. I do not weigh Bass, I feel that hanging them by their jaw could damage them. So I judge my Bass by length. I have marks on all my rods at the 30″, 40″ and 50″ distance from the butt of the rod (stripe around rod with Sally Hanson Hard as Nails white nail polish). I use that for a quick measurement (want to get the fish back swimming as soon as possible).
October 8th, 1994 I caught a 38 inch Striper on a Super Strike Needle at 4:15 AM. It was my largest at that time and I released it. It was ocean side at Sandy Hook. I was alone, was a great fight, I was thrilled. The adrenaline rush of landing and releasing that fish at that time was awesome. I remember the cast, strike, fight and release like it was yesterday.
I fished a lot between then and May 23rd 2009. It was that morning fishing in Long Branch, I saw some “funny water” a good 100+ yards out. I was fishing with my Breakaway Omega rod and threw a 4 oz. Jrod metal 100+ yards and caught a Striper that was 39 inches. A couple long casts later and I landed a 41 inch Striper. Both fought great, I was alone, I was thrilled. I kept both Bass that morning. I fished with that rod that day specifically because of it’s long casting ability, I needed every yard that morning.
Since that day I have only kept 3 Stripers. None since 2015. And my goal after that day was to catch and release my next personal best Striped Bass.
October 25, 2015, Demo, in the rips I caught a few Striped Bass on a Big Fischer Mega Darter. 3:30 AM I landed one close to 41 inches. Lost a larger one that night. There was an hour + fishing that night where I had exceptional action, alone and really had the adrenaline pumping.
October 18, 2016 Demo, in the rips, around 8:30 AM I hooked into a real nice bass on a white 3 oz Bucktail tipped with a Fat Cow Strip, strong outgoing current, the Bass gave me a great fight. A landed my new PB, 43 inches and SOLID. Was one other guy out there fishing where I was, he high fived me and I was super pumped. Awesome. Released.
Fishing out at Montauk August 2018 picking away at Bluefish my Avid rod broke at the handle. I had a roll of finger tape (J and J), relocated the reel and caught a few more blues.
So I have caught rays over the years, up to to 50 pounds. Some great fights. But 2022 mid September in the back I brought a Quake over a vertical bar, 40 feet from me a huge swirl and this ray was off to the races. Awesome fight.
Hooking Myself
Hooking myself. It happens. So far 4 times. The “weird” thing is that only one of the times I was fishing. The first time I threw a Super Strike Popper into a tree to hook a broken tree branch. Problem was the plug never left my hand (I have a good arm too). Trip to hospital for this one after the Immediate Medical Center Doctor said maybe you should go to the hospital for this (just before he was about to make his attempt) . Next time was when I was in a good bite around 3:30 AM and a 30″ Bass and my index finger were attached to a Super Strike Darter. I carry small bolt cutters and cut the hook, released the Bass and pulled the hook through and continued catching. Next time I was changing hooks and was stupid careless (trip to Immediate Care Center and they removed it).
False Albies
False Albies… “Adrenalin Rush!!”.
Caught my first Albie October 5, 2008 Long Branch, I was shaking as I had never had a fish rip drag off a reel so fast, awesome. Then I lost a few between that fish and the next one landed. Did not land another until October 14, 2018 out on western Long Island, blind casting I landed 3 and lost another 3, plus missed a few hits. What a great trip that was, VSX150 on the ODM Frontier X 9′ 6″ rod. Alone on a sand beach, drag screaming. Adrenalin Rush.
Dead Stuff
How about Dead Stuff? Finding some crazy stuff in the dark and even in the light can really be interesting..
The Year 2018
2018, the year. Fished 42 times which is a normal year for me. What was special about the year was the amount of different types of fish I caught, all from the surf. Striped Bass, Blue Fish, Weakfish, Spanish Mackerel, False Albies, Fluke, Shad and a Brown Shark. Fun year on the Island.
Fishing Roddy’s, Habs, Musso plugs, etc.
I like to fish and catch on different plugs, especially “special plugs”, like plugs my friend makes, old Musso plugs, Habs, etc. it’s fun for me, extra fun. One late November night in Sea Girt there was a trough close to the beach, I was throwing a Habs needle and I got into a nice bite of Stripers 24-28 inches. They must have been in the trough on sand eels. Caught ~15 in a two hour period, most on the Habs needle. Fun night, special in that it was with the Habs needle.
Two Blues on one Plug at the Same Time
Fishing Demo, May 2017, using a Billy Fischer Popper, sun came up, few guys doing what they do there…watch to see if someone hooks up… I hook up and it is a double of Blues on one plug. Nice size too. First time that happened to me.
So October 2nd, bay side Jersey. Around 12:30 AM I wade out about 40 feet and feel like something is odd. I look behind and see a racoon swimming out to me. I start splashing and yelling at it and it backs out of the water. Now me and the racoon are on the sand,, I make believe I’m a bear an am roaring at it, its coming at me, then backs up. We dosie-do for about 10 minutes round and round. I’m yelling at it and this racoon will not retreat. Finally I get a little space and am on the side where I came from. And I run away…..The racoon follows me for about 50 feet and stops.
The Bug Light, Sandy Hook
When I fished New Jersey I made many walks through the fence to the Bug Light. Would normally get back there around 1:00 AM and fish to between 8:00 and 10:00. Caught a lot of big Blues, a good amount of Bass, but never a big Bass there, but had a lot of fun experiences.
Bugs….At times if the wind was not in your face the mosquitoes and no-seeums would eat you alive. I started wearing latex gloves with the fingers cut to stop them from turning the back of my hand into nothing but red bite marks. Learned to never wear a short sleeve shirt or shorts back there. The walk back to the vehicle could be devastating without being drenched in some bug repellent. Was walking back one time in shorts and a tee shirt and some fisherman I just met offered me bug repellent when he saw I was in trouble (I’ll never forget that morning as I was in trouble, almost ready crawl up in the fetal position and urrender).
Another trip a couple years into my surf fishing, there were Gators stacked on the sand bar just west side of the light. All the Blues were 30 inches are bigger. I was alone and into them big time, when I finished up it was around 9:00 AM. That trip taught me about using single hooks on tails of metal and the value of good pliers. I took the long walk back to the Fisherman’s Trail at around 9:00 AM, not through the fence. I usually heard gun fire on the trail that leads through the hole in the fence so I made the longer walk after 9:00. As I walked around the bend and past at least 50 other fishermen I got a lot of weird looks. No one had caught a fish, while I wasn’t carrying a fish I was covered in blood from wrestling 20+ of those Gators.
I caught my first Roddy metal lip bass in the cove by the Bug Light just as it started getting light out. Another morning when Gators creamed a Tony Spina Pencil and Roddy’ s metal lips. Big Gators and a lot. One morning (1:00 AM) I found the top half of a deer at the rip (2 legs and a head).
Then one morning on the drive there in the park there was no one at the Ranger check in, so I just drove in. 2:00 AM I am out at the Bug Light, waded 200 feet out, just caught and released a Bass and a spot light lights me and the water up. I ignore them but the Rangers makes me walk back to my vehicle and gave me a ticket.
One of favorite Blue Fish catches was 1:30 AM, I was on the shore west of the light and threw a Beachmaster Danny, it gets clobbered about 10 feet from the beach by a huge Gator, water splashing everywhere. The silence and calm of the bay obliterated. May have been the meanest Blue I ever caught. After I landed and released that Blue I was covered in sand, water and sweat.
Here are some of my pics from the Bug Light area. As the years went by, the structure changed, more sand filled in the area. Rangers were stricter and I got kicked out more often. I fished the False Rip towards the end of my NJ fishing there and had some good nights (mostly trespassing when it was closed), but the Rangers started checking more and when it was open it was crowded, I don’t fish crowds, at all.
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy in 2012. I fished Sandy Hook, the False Rip Sunday AM (Sandy hit Monday). When I left the Park around 5:00 AM, the park was closed. I had a hit, missed the fish at the False Bar and then I landed a nice size Blue on an Afterhours Danny. Great fight. I drove down to Long Branch after fishing and the ocean was building. I took 6 weeks off after Sandy and picked at a few schoolies the rest of the year.
Lost Fish
June 18, 2017, fishing with Kevin west of the rock/jetty at Jones. I hooked into a real nice fish. The tail hook was bent and one of the trebles. Nicest fish of the year, by a long shot lost.
Al Ristori and a Few Rays
Here is a strange one, So in July 2012 I am fishing Sea Girt, was using a light 11 foot rod rated 1-3 oz, very light set-up, but able to cast far. I think I caught a small blue, a few shads and a couple big rays. At one point there was a guy that kept walking over by me when I hooked up, little chit-chat. Found out it was Al Ristori who wrote a column for the Star Ledger News Paper, he wrote about what he saw that morning
