Crabcakes

IWouldn't try casting unless you're very good with a baitcaster. High winds from different directions and alot of sand to get in the parts make it troublesome sometimes. Also your apt to be doing some fishing at night or at dawn and dusk where it is difficult to see and preventing backlashes can be difficult. For the rod what you want depends on how you'll be fishing. Will you be on jetties where power is important? Will you be hurling 3-4oz wood plugs from the sand? Or 1oz bombers? The length action and blank style depend on that. For general purpose an 8-foot is a reasonable length and a 2/2--2oz weight range covers everything but real large plugs. If you anticipate throwing those step up the weight range. I don't know what your price range is but for the price I love Tica rods. I just love them. I was worried the cork tape would fall off etc but so far mines held together fine and has a very nice blank especially for baitfishing. Good guides decent components great price. That's all you need to start right there. Look at the lures you plan to throw and pick the appropriate weight range. Keep the length simple around 8 -8'6" to start. 424401 or 524401. Go with a mod fast action. Mines fast and its sort of a pool cue (real good for baitfishing but not best for casting plugs). As for the reel-Well if you can find a reasonably priced spinning real that doesn't have occasional fits surf fishing let me know. I don't know what your price range is. Go for a metal-framed reel. Get one that can hold a reasonable amount of your chosen line weight (I use 14lb test). My buddy has an old shimano stradic that's held up pretty well. The best I have is an ancient Mitchell. The things a tank. Plfueggers and Okumas have had drag issues with me. Sands gotten in them and they tighten when the drag goes out. Yes... the drag tightens when its pulled out so the more the fish runs the tighter the drag gets. I can clean it out but it has completely shaken my confidence in them. It's very heart breaking to lose a big bass that way. And you know they're big because they're pulling drag until it tightens down on itself and they break off. I take pretty good care of my stuff- it only took like 10 grains of sand in both of them. Ok rants over. A metal-bodied penn spinfisher might be a good choice but a bit expensive. Check out surf talk forum at stripers online about the reel they know alot more than I do.... sorry if it's against the rules to promote other forums but he asked a question that can be better answered by another site that specializes in the area. They might try and convince you need a Van Staal but set your price limit and be firm. Anywho that's what I'd buy as a first "serious" set up. Good fishing

I never thought it tasted that bad. But then again I love a nice big bluefish filet too so i might be a bit out of the ordinary when it comes to this question.

I'm not sure what part of New Jersey you're in but around Island beach state park/seaside heights area this is prime time. I caught 10 out of the surf last weekend in Ortley beach up that way. They are very catchable right now. 39 bass weighed in on the 19th of November and they caught them till Christmas last year. Plugging was bad while I was there due to dirty water. We got all of ours on clams. Standard clam rig is a heavy leader with two dropper loops attached to 7/0 baitholder hooks. Use fresh clams and thread them on multiple times. Don't be afraid to use a lot of them. Clams have been small lately where I fish so buy a few dozen if you plan to fish all day. I prefer all terminal tackle to be dull black or bronze so it doesn't flash and use 14lb test to avoid line shy fish. Might be unnecessary but I caught 10 last weekend and nobody within sight of me caught a thing. Weight to hold is usually 4-6 ounces but you'll have to throw the heavy lead sometimes to get the big ones in rough water. When I was there the bunker were out and they were on sand eels. Both the fish I kept had bellies full of them. They were on a sand eel/clam/general bottom feeding type bite. They were killing them with AVA jigs and little sand eely looking plastics. If the water is clear they'll hit plugs and I heard word of peanut bunker near the beach so they might be on fish again. They'll eat plugs in dirty water too it just usually isn't as good. I wouldn't screw around with live eels of the open beach. If your working a jetty or some structure they can bring in big bass but you might also feed the bluefish. They certainly respond differently to temps than largemouth do. They can handle much colder water. I would try a slow retrieve with most plugs though especially for the big ones. With poppers you need to make enough commotion to be picked up above the waves and foam in rough weather but you can slow it down in calm. Color is not a huge deal. Natural in clear water and bright and flashy in cloudy usually works. I like outgoing tides. Dawn and dusk naturally are best but any time is a good time to fish. Tide doesn't matter as much if you have good deep water but generally a moving tide helps. Look for areas where waves don't break or where the water is dark and choppy. Don't overcast if the water is deep in front of you. I caught all my fish last week about 10 yards of the beach in a deep trough. Guys like to get all macho and hurl it to the horizon and they plop it on a 6-inch deep sandbar. Grumpystackle.com That's your guy for central jersey north of Barnegat inlet. He'll give you up to date info and has a real nice store and website. If you're in another part of New Jersey like Cape May or Sandy Hook this info might change. But for most of Jersey it's good. Sorry for the book but I hope it's what you were looking for.

If you mean the past few days/weeks yeah tis a bit hot in NJ for them to really start yet. If you mean over the long term then conservation is a bigger focus as LBH said. Alot of saltwater fish are cyclical in abundance over great lengths of time as well.

Thats quite awesome

Thats awesome. Kind of a sad and beautiful story.

I've been enjoying alot of the recent fights. I can see why Griffin winning surprises him. Shogun gave rampage about 50 knees and left him flat on the canvas. Griffin also had looked mediocre in his last two fights and most of his wins came against unheralded competition. I was actually very surprised. Shogun ran out of steam in the second round when he used to let it fly for Prides entire 10 minute first round. Maybe he took him lightly and didn't come in shape.. or maybe it has something to do with not testing for steroids in Pride (makes you wonder at least). Forrest came in better shape better focused and performed well. Randy had him ready and he took it to Shogun. The UFC gets to put forrest in for a #1 contender shot now though. Griffin Jardine 2 perhaps? The UFC is pretty upset that Chuck lost. It messed up Chuck vs. Wandy in Dec and now they have Jardine who is 1-1 in his last 2 and very unmarketable knock of their posterboy. Chuck actually looked to be in much better shape than his last fight. I think Jardine just figured out his style. Knowing the UFC Chuck and Wandy will still fight since they're both 0-2 in their last fights. UFC 79: Redemption here we come Diego losing wasn't as big an upset. Alot of people had Fitch. The UFC didn't push him but he hasn't lost for a long time. I found it very humorous that there were no knockouts though.

There are officially two of us. Go Skins!

By the way did anybody hear Goldberg at 2:52 in the fourth round of hendo/rampage talking about new fighters then saying "we'll get fedor in here to fight the guy sitting next to us randy already knows" followed by an awkward silence as if he wasn't supposed to say that. Or was goldberg just speaking hypothetically? Or am I hearing things? I was honestly confused. I know Fedor was there and there was alot of talk of him being signed this week.

Good fights all around. The referees kept the action moving and let the fights progress. Not really sure about the Hammil decision but thats what happens when you let the judges decide sometimes.... :. Mirko was dissapointing he seems to have lost his fire. He was always a favorite of mine being the world's only cage fighting anti terrorist agent parliament member. People used to be afraid to step in the ring with him. He didn't even really throw in the last two rounds. The Davis/Taylor fight was pretty wild. The ref did a good job letting things go.

Video keeps cutting off at the 31 second mark. Not sure if its my end or the video though.

I don't like the pre rigged bugs myself. They don't have much in the way of action. Very stiff with sort of a funny fall. they do look pretty but they leave me with a very "dancing eel feeling". I'd use the regular ones and t rig them instead.

I've only used Tica surf rods but I was very pleased by them.

There really might be some kingfish and pompano in the surf now. Use the method in my first post. a 12inch or more kingfish fights super hard on light tackle

The pier is your cover. It provides current breaks and a place for baitfish. Its hard to identify bottom contour and structure without the use of a depthfinder or prior knowledge. In the surf you can read how the waves break but thats probably outside the scope of this trip. The piers won't be too crowded this time of year at night. I'm not sure if you've seen them but they're huge. 30lb line is ok but if you hook a big fish you probably won't get him up the pier without a bridge gaff or drop net. You also aren't going to hook a cobia or anything on bloodworms and squid at night so its not really necessary but it can't hurt. For spot and croaker i'd use #4 hooks for the size you're probably going to get right now. These fish are only a pound or so so you don't need really need leader unless your main line is very light. If there are big jumbo spot or larger croaker you can step up hook size a bit but don't go too big as you'll decrease hookups. You still won't really need leader with a 30lb main line. If you wanted to fish for bluefish i'd use cut bunker or mullet on a fireball rig or a mullet rig. If you see alot of bait or breaking fish throw a gotcha plug or piece of metal like a hopkins or kastmaster. If spanish are around try a gotcha plug or deadly dick. Bluefish this time of year are gonna run 1-3lbs probably. Minnows work (surf won't beat them up) but you have to be able to cast them far enough which you probably won't be able too (too light). There are sharks around but if you want to try and catch a shark you actually have to be prepared for what happens if you hook one. There might be dogfish and small blacktips around that you can catch on cut fish. Luckily the water is probably too warm for skates right now. When you get down there head to TW's tackle in Kitty Hawk or the stop and shop at mile post 7and ask them. They'll help you out with what you need. The stop and shop looks like a gas station but they have a good tackle shop and helpful people.

If you're pier fishing I'd get a 7-8 foot rod that could handle some lead and pulling up smaller fish. A surf rod will do in a pinch. Line size is up to you. I mean for spot 10lb is probably fine but you never know what you'll catch so heavier is a better idea. Don't just go to the deepest part and fish there. For bottom fish just drop striaght down near the pilings, they'll hold fish most of the time. If you don't get any action try casting further or moving around. don't just sit in one spot. Also, if you catch a big fish on a pier down there you need a drop net or a bridge gaff. Trying to swing a good size fish up a 60 foot pier isn't advisable. Fishing isn't stellar this time of year especially at night. Smaller Croaker will be around as well as various bottom fish. I'd go with a bottom rig and bloodworm or squid. Use whatever weight you need to hold bottom (2-3oz should do it). Do you have to fish at night? Alot of the fish available right now don't bite as well at night like bluefish spanish and flounder. During the day you could probably catch spot on bloodworm and bottom rigs and bluefish and spanish on gotcha plugs or small pieces of metal. You might get a flounder to hit a bottom rig but you're not going to do to well on keeper flounder right now probably so fishing for them specifically isn't your best option especially at night. In the surf i bet you could catch fish on your bass gear. Use a 1/2-1oz bank sinker and cast it about 10 yards just off the beach. Don't overcast. bait it with small pieces of bloodworm or sand fleas on small hooks. Let it roll around where the waves break for a few minutes. You don't even need to be good at reading the surf for this as these fish can be caught on all but the shallowest bars. Being in deeper water having better current/structure does help though. this method will yield spot pompano and kingfish (actual kingfish not king mackerel) all are good to eat. If you have to fish at night go with bloodworm and squid on bottom rigs. you never know what you'll get into and you have a good shot at croaker. Hope this helps.

Randy via stoppage due to strikes in the 3rd. Good for him. I heard the undercard fights were good as well. Frank Mir and Babalu both won in their returns.

Randys actually giving up 26.5 at weigh ins.... are there really only three of us excited to watch?

I may not be able to watch but i'll be keeping track. The main event should be good. Randy has experience behind him but gonzaga has really good jiu jitsu and on fight night will probably have him by 15lbs. I think the extra weight may be a problem for randy as he likes to wrestle and work the clinch which may be hard against a larger opponent (I know he beat sylvia but Gonzaga fights a completely different fight). Both are classy guys. Koscheck comes off as an arrogant jerk and is a boring (yet effective) fighter. I hope Georges wins but Koscheck may pull off a decision. I sort of dislike how Huerta is being made into a superstar by the UFC because of his looks and charisma. He's yet to really beat a top lightweight yet, or even a good one for that matter. Even so I think he'll beat crane (who is undefeated but against lower level competition). I'd like to see him against better competition

Oyster Toad!

I did not see anyything on the DNR site prohibiting it. My understanding is that since bluegills have no minimum size in MD (except in certain special regulation areas) they can be used as live bait where live bait fishing is permissible.

I wanted to get out there early but I had just been rockfishing all day on the bay the day before and was just too tired. Hopefully i'll run into you out there sometime.

Nice job man. Here's my estimation: I'd give it 4.75-5 but only because its a bit skinny. Little earlier this year and that fish would have gone 5.5-6. That picture isn't straight on so it makes it look a little longer. Only a guess its nearly impossible to tell from pictures. I was out there today but only managed 5 small ones from shore. Didn't see you- I was there in the evening. It was very crowded when I was there. Nobody caught much besides me (saw one or two other fish landed). All of mine were on the inside edge.

I agree that their braid is the best i've used. I have to say I liked sufix siege when I used it. Seemed to do what they said it would.A thick stiff mono well suited for fishing in cover. I did not notice any problems with abrasion resistance. Reminded me alot of trilene xt in regards to significantly overtesting, high diameter, being a little tough to manage etc. Most lines overshoot their breaking test and some like yo-zuri hybrid, trilene xt etc. do so by alot. But if it doesn't work for you you shouldn't use it. Sorry you weren't pleased but do try the braid- I highly reccomend it despite your sufix troubles.

Very cool my friends and I like to look for unusual snakes while fishing. We've seen some cool ones like northern hognose and the small worm snakes (might not be the actual name but they sure are interesting).