It's on!  8-)

Nice fish...........

Great fish Matt! I wish I could do more saltwater fishing, I'm jealous.

look at the head on that thing! how did you catch her?

I'm jealous!  Your wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up!!  Dang...  we were 96 degrees and humid yesterday.  

I also miss striper fishing!

Nice fish dude.

I'm jealous! Your wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up!! Dang... we were 96 degrees and humid yesterday.

I also miss striper fishing!

Thanx all. Heading out in a bit to try to hit some more.

I am SOOOOOOO sick of spring in New England. Everyday seems to be 60 and overcast. The wind was whipping out of the south at 20-30. Normally thats a WARM wind right???? It's almost June for crying out loud!!!!!

look at the head on that thing! how did you catch her?

Dan, there is a sand bar that extends off of the point that I'm standing on.  the wind was pushing the water over the bar, and the tide was also coming in. It was setting up a nice rip on the point, very rough water on one side of the point, VERY calm water on the other side. I took one look at that, made 3 casts into the rip and got hammered.  8-) Hopkins NO EQL was about the only thing that would cut through the wind.

Doesn't seem to matter, a bass is a bass is a bass.  

nice. I just caught my first stripers while trolling on a charter trip in the Chesapeake bay. It was fun but I would really love to catch them on lures. That sounds like a lot more fun. We caught some nice fish by trolling but I didn't feel like I really earned the fish. All I did was reel it in...

Here's a pic of the one I was allowed to keep:

I hear ya, surfcasting can be very rewarding, but you have to put in an insane amount of time. Lot's of long nights, lots of miles on the truck running up and down the coast. It helps to have an understanding spouse.  

I hear ya, surfcasting can be very rewarding, but you have to put in an insane amount of time. Lot's of long nights, lots of miles on the truck running up and down the coast. It helps to have an understanding spouse.

what kind of gear do you use?

For the bay I love this new St. Croix Premier. One piece 8' M. will throw 2oz. Just put a '09 Stradic 4000 on it. With 30lb Stren it throws a mile. I put just over 200 yards of Stren on it, and with a 1oz Hopkins it had about half the spool left!

For the ocean front, gnarly surf rock hopping, I LOVE my Loomis 1266. It's 10'6" and will throw about 4oz comfortably. It's paired up with a Daiwa Emblem 6000X and that thing will throw a bucktail to the horizon. I also have a Penn 704Z that is on it way back from being drilled out and powdercoated. Should be sweeeet. If you like that old junk   8-) 8-) 8-)

704Z

Cool, thanks Matt. I've been wanting to try to go after striper down here in the bay with some spinning gear but I didn't really know where to start.

That reel in the picture is pretty sweet. Is that your Penn or is that what you are getting done to it?

That's a 704Z that they did for a friend. Mine will have the spool drilled also, and a custom machined handle. It will resemble a Van Staal.

PS... another night, some more action. KABOOM part 2!

Lost a real quality fish due to a straightened hook on my Kastmaster. I am kicking myself, but I did manage this one on the 5th cast...

Van Staal was the first thing that came to my mind when I first saw the pic you posted. That's gonna be sweet, man.

Can you keep the fish you are catching? I still have some left over from my fish and I don't really know how to cook it. I've never cooked striper before..

Yeah, I would like a VS or a Zee Baas, but the $600 -$1200 price range is just a wee bit crazy.

In R.I. they need to be 28 inches, so yes, they are legal... but I toss em back. Let em grow up. Our striper stock was decimated a few years back so I allow myself only one a year, usually in the fall.

My favorite way to prepare it is to get it home within a few hours, fillet, de-skin and right on the grille with some olive oil and salt and pepper. That's all they need. Best tasting fish in the ocean IMO. LBH probably has some killer recipes, but I like it "straight up"  

Yeah, 28 was the limit down here also. You can keep one over 28 until this Saturday I think, then the trophy season ends and you can keep two but only one can be over 28. Or something like that...

We only kept one for each of us so we have 4 filets. I'll give the "straight up" approach a try.

LOWWWWW heat on the grille. Until white and flakey. MMMM MMMMMMMM  

got it. thanks dude. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Also, FWIW... my Uncle is a DIE HARD Rhode Island Surfcaster, and he never landed a 50 from the surf. He had to go out on a charter trip trolling a tube and worm in about 70 feet of water to finally get that cow.  Two different ways of achieving the same goal I guess   That's a fine looking fish you have in that pic.  8-)

Yeah I was really excited to catch such a nice fish but I just can't get over the feeling that I didn't earn it. The charter captain found the fish, the crew rigged the umbrella rigs and put the lines out on a planar board and handed me the rod when it doubled over. All I really did was reel... I would much rather catch fish like yours by finding it, casting to it, working the bait, and fighting it on lighter tackle.

WTG Matt, another nice fish.

I bought a 12' rod and reel combo from cabelas last year and was out only once last year. Everyone told me "Bigger is better" so I got this freakin rod I can barely cast.  ;D Its a nice setup for chucking cut bait and heavy sinkers but at 5'10" 145lbs I really want a setup more my size and something I can work lures with. I'll have to look at those st. croix's.  

Dan, you just gotta decide to go do it!   Be careful tho, you might get "hooked"  8-)

Slomoe, I hear ya on the "bigger is better". My Dad had a Lamiglass rod made for him, 11 ft one piece. It's pretty unwieldy for anything other than throwing chunk bait / bunker heads. Even my 10'6" get's tiring, but when the big girls are migrating inthe fall, I would rather be geared for the action. TOTAL DOMINATION!  

The St. Croix retails for $160 for the 8 footer.

Hitting Port Edgewood this evening from shore, you in?

I'm ready