Surfcasting 201 - The Surfcasters' Bible....Artificial Only thread....

[DarkSkies]

We already have a thread here called Surf Fishing Tips 101....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...rf+fishing+101

Very helpful, informative, and I thank all the folks who contributed to it.....

[DarkSkies]

However, throughout my travels in different states, I have run into a lot of folks who are really trying to catch striped bass on Artificials.....

Some of them, unbelievably, have never caught a bass this way.

I imagine them reading the reports of some of us, and saying to themselves...
"These guys are full of BS.....HOW the HECK can they catch all those fish, when I can't even catch one?"



First off, I want to let you folks out there know that if you can't catch bass on artificials, you aren't alone....
There are many times I walk the beach on the way home and see people trying, and not a lot of catching going on...
I feel bad for these folks...especially when I see a Dad with his Son, and see they are both trying, giving it their best....

[DarkSkies]

I think back to when I started using artificials. to catch my first keeper bass, and remember the difficulties I had,....the days turned into months, and finally years.....

Because I have to be quite honest here....
I have been fishing for striped bass since I was 10 years old....
And caught plenty of them using clams and other bait....

But once I made the transition to artificials....
It took me two years of effort to catch my first keeper bass....

Plenty of short fish, bluefish, and "almost" keepers during that time...
But I really didn't understand the big picture, and didn't have enough skill to know about time, tides, moon phases, where fish were feeding in the water column, and most importantly, presentation skills.











And, there was no internet to help me, had to do it all by trial and error, and some mentors I was lucky enough to meet along the way.....

[DarkSkies]

So I thought this thread could be Strictly about Surfcasting Tips for Using Artificials....
and maybe the thoughts that go through your head when you are out there....


I have some things I may be posting here from time to time as I get a chance...
For example, some may recall me saying "A good surfcaster...." as a preface to many of my reports, etc. As time permits I will try to search for them and post them here.....


In the meantime if any of you want to talk about what works for you when using artificials, and any general or specific suggestions about what you do to catch fish, feel free to jump in....thanks!

[storminsteve]

Learn one beach at a time-
I think one of the things you told me is to learn one beach at a time. I am amazed at the subtleties you get into, the level of detail in your thinking. Your advice to me the other night was spot on. I am beginning to think you can see them under water. And to think that way back when you were a googan who took 2 years to catch a keeper!

[paco33]

Don't be a superman with your casts. Sometimes the fish are right at your feet.

[DarkSkies]

(previously posted)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...s-Year-and-Why


Presentation and where the fish are....

1. At different times of the season, day, or moon phase, fish will be sitting in different levels of the water column.
2. Your job as a fisherman is to figure out where that is.
3. If you don't present to them where there are sitting you will never know that they are there.
4. In general, (my experience) colder weather, or a cold front, tends to put fish down, where they will sit closer to the bottom.
5. In my experience, this will hold, in general, unless they are feeding actively on bait, at which point they may rise to the surface.
6. There are so many variations for this, that the best thing I can say, is you need to understand the water you are fishing in front of you, and think about moon stage, time of day, current flow (during strong current flow fish at times tend to stay on the bottom or sides where current is less strong), water clarity, water temperature, day vs night time fishing, and some other ones I probably forgot to mention.
7. If you can figure this out, for the place and time you are fishing, it will allow you to work your casts more efficiently.
8. You will only be working on the part of the water column where the fish are most highly concentrated.
9. If you really try to keep disciplined about this, you will see that it will result in more hookups, and more fish.

[DarkSkies]

(previously posted)
Winter fishing thread...

Confidence in what you are throwing....
For the new guys - finding a "Go To" Profile and presentation that works for you....


I thought I would offer this to any other new fisherman/woman out there who is learning to fish with artificials...one who is still primarily fishing bait....because of lack of confidence and success, with artificials.....

Again,, with the disclaimer that what works for me, may not always work for you folks....so this suggestion is intended to help you find something that works exactly for you....

You will see a lot of discussion on "Go To" lures, plugs, etc etc.,....
For me, that doesn't work because of my obsessiveness. I feel that different conditions can be such that a slightly different plug or presentation can give me an edge sometimes....

other times this does not hold true. As long as you can get your offering to within a foot or so of feeding fish and can mimic the forage/bait movement, you should get action.....











Then why is a Go-To lure or plug so important for the new guys????
One word....Confidence.....

My suggestions....
1. Find a lure or profile (could be metal, wood, plastic, rubber, bucktail, etc) that works for you and you seem to be successful on.

2. When you are out there, and the conditions permit it, throw your "Go to" as your first offering. If that is the right profile for the forage that is there, you will catch....

3. But sometimes it will not be...and some people would say you would be stupid for throwing it....ex throwing metal when it's purely a plug bite and they won't touch anything else, not even rubber....so there is some thinking required on your part here, to implement these suggestions...



4. By throwing something you have extreme confidence in, you will telegraph that confidence through your entire retrieve,.... be more alert, and paying more attention, so there is less likelihood you will lose a fish by being unprepared for the strike......


5. If there is no activity on that after 5 or 10 minutes, try something else.

Ex - when I was a child, my Dad taught me how to bowl, by "following through" - he explained that no matter how well I thought my throw would be, it would never optimal unless I saw my hand following through, and continuing in a perfect swing, to mimic what "should" get me a strike or at least 9 pins in the first frame....

so, in essence, he taught me to pay attention to form, visualize myself being successful, and that visualization WOULD make me successful.....it did work, and when I did poorly he would always point out how I failed to "follow through"....
Looking back on that early advice, I remember that he was absolutely right....










** John...I had a really good in-depth post on when and where and how to fish bucktails....will post it when I get a chance......
Anyone else wants to add to this thread...feel free....thanks.....

[DarkSkies]

^ (Previously posted)

Bucktails......
Last year (2012) it was a goal to get keeper bass every month of the year from land and do it without leaving NJ....I did,, but July and August were extremely tough for me....managed a few keepers in July but very difficult as most fish were gone. I was picking away at needle in a haystack fish...

August... have to check my logs for exact number but I think I managed to scratch only one or two legal bass. One of them took hours of casting and moving from spot to spot.... I remember spending about 12 hours of fishing over a 2 night period. Even with the time and tide in my favor I could not find one....

The one thing that finally saved me was a 1/2 oz bucktail with grub....white......

.,my experience with bucktails is you have to tailor them to the
1.depth of the water
2.the current
3. Stage of tide

Where you are fishing -
There are times when you defiinitely need 2 oz in deeper water, rough surf, or the fast current of a full or new moon.,...but that also depends on tide stages...
There will be times during a new moon tide, which I feel can be stronger at certain times of the year, when I am throwing a 2 oz, but then at the end of the tide I will be throwing 1/2 oz....

When I fish inlets, rivers. or strong rips - at minimum I have 3 different sizes with me to adjust for changes in current flow.
You should get in the habit of doing that too....with bucktails the best place for me to be is bouncing just off the bottom. When fish are stacked up it is less critical but there aren't a lot of weeks when you have that.

The best bites I find on bucktails in NJ generally last from 1-2 hours at a time and are definitely stage of tide dependent.
Migrating forage will sometimes extend that bite to a little longer, but as you fish more you will see a definite feeding window.











** Important points -
A If the tide lessens and you are dragging on the bottom because your bucktail or jig is too heavy you're not presenting effectively.
B. If the jig or bucktail is too light, and you are not bouncing the bottom or close to it, you could be missing all the fish that are sitting on the bottom half and never know it....
C. Even with all our advice, the only thing that will make it work for you is to buy cheap, practice, don't be afraid to lose a few. You need to undertsand what it takes to get hung up and lose rigs, before you can learn the gentle finesse of keeping them just off the bottom

D. Bucktails and bouncing bottom, IMO are not as popular in NJ as they are in LI, RI and MA. I have friends who bucktail or jig from land and consistently outcatch everyone else in cold water. or when the water is so hot it feels like bathwater (bass are sluggish at both these extreme temps)



Learning to use them will bring you rewards as one night you will find the fish you didn't think was there, you will land that fish, being the only one on the beach, and let out a Caveman yell of triumph.... ...it will be sweet....but you have to lose some rigs to get to that point...JMO

Hope that helps.....

[jigfreak]

Good advice on bucktails ds I do the same thing. If you don't carry different sizes for different stages you will lose the fish. for slack tide dont forget to bring a popper or plugs because the fish will then move up and down in the water.
Another thing I like to do when the water is colder is let the fish tell you what retrieve they want. I start out slow but some times they want it fast. You have to experiment with different speeds and change it up if you want to get fish when it's a little colder in the water or when a cold front moves in. A lot of guys will leave if the bite is not hot. change up your retrieve and you could still pick away at them.

[hookset]

Another thing I like to do when the water is colder is let the fish tell you what retrieve they want..

Spot on. sometimes conventional wisdom doesn't work. One of the great things about fishing is it can be different every time. When one tbing doesn't work try the total opposite.

[dogfish]

^^^^^^^ Agree, well said. Have been reading a lot of talk on here about albies lately. You want to use the lightest line possible. No hardware direct tie. Fluoro leader for calm water. Not always necessary but since they are so spooky you want to have all the advantages. They are hammering them a little South of us in Rhody. Fun fish to catch but they taste worse than bluefish.