Quote Originally Posted by buckethead View Post
It is sad that is what striped bass fishing in May and June has come to mean for New Jersey. I remember the days when you just went down and casted hoping to hook into a fish. .

Thanks for your observations buckethead. I remember those days too.






Blind Casting VS Fishing....

I do not mean to down on people who use this term...as I am just as guilty of using it.....

Was talking to Jimmy Cousins the other day........
He mentioned how someone came into Giglios (Jim is there on Mondays if ya want to go down, bring him some coffee. and shoot the breeze....)
They said they got a nice fish "blind casting"....this turned into a conversation between me and Jim, about how these terms came to be....

Jim: "I dont understand blind casting. Back when I used to fish the jetties all the time, we didn't call it blind casting....we called it fishing!"



I agree with ya, Jim....
I think that many things have changed in the game of fishing....one of the things that embarasses me most, is the mentality by some, that you have to see feeding or blitzing fish in the water to catch one......

I was just relating a story how..when I was first making the transition from bait fishing to plugging....I was alone by myself at the beach, one hot morining July 3...it was 75 degrees out....the water was about 70....it was bright sunlight...and it was the end of the ebb tide....we had very low water at that beach at that time.....

Of course, back then I didn't know that the night bite was better.....and I merrily set out casting my pencil popper.....for 20 minutes in the bright, sunny, July day......




When I was starting to wonder if I would even catch a bluefish in that heat and sun, out of nowhere, a 23# bass (a giant to me, at that time...) comes lunging out of the water to eat my pencil popper!.....the adrenalin I felt at that moment...was higher than the highest high you could ever experience....it was off the charts,
to see that big head,
the disruption in the water,
feel the weght of the fish,
and realize that although I was an eternal googan, I had hooked the biggest fish, on artificials, in my fishing career, so far.....

My brain was going crazy with the dopamine receptors, flashes of light and excitement.....and the doubts I had in my abilities as a surfcaster....and my ability I would have to land this fish...and it being anything other than a fish story...if I couldn't get it in to prove to my friends and family I had managed to hook that fish.......

Kept telling myself....."Don't screw this up, Rich...keep pressure on the line,......no slack....pay attention...don't screw this up......you'll never forgive yourself if you lose her........don't screw it up you freaking Googan! "

After a few runs, I managed to drag her up on the beach...and it was a helluva large fish for that day....in fact I later confirmed it was the only bass caught on that entire stretch of beach..for that day......Guys came running from all directions as I dragged her up on the beach.....(and yes I did weigh and eat that fish....at that time I didn't know as much as I do now, about fish conservation)













So what were the odds of finding that bass?....when the pickings were obviously so slim?....with no one else catching bass?...the only thing that seemed available were fluke and skates......

Yet the bass I caught was kind of what is described today as "blind casting".....

1. If I was waiting for a blitz, I would have never known that bass was there...
2. If I was more knowledgable, I would have not thought to fish for bass on July 3, at the bottom of a tide, water as warm as it was,,,,and the air as hot as it was.....
3. If I had the knowledge I have today....I would have been anywhere else but that beach, at that time, in that weather and conditions....but I would not have caught that bass, then..........













**My point to you folks.....as emphasized by the conversation with Jim Cousins....

I can't change the mentality of the new breed of anglers that is out there today...if that's the way they want to fish....and big fish in a blitz are the only thing that is important, or has value to them......so be it....

Even though we like to think we gain more knowledge as the years go by......and know when the optimal times to fish are.....there is something to be said for just going out there....and giving it your all, when you are fishing, instead of just standing around.......ya never know what you might find....on the end of your line.....