For those that have caught the BIG one, what one skill or factor would you recommend paying most attention to? I'd like to sharpen my focus as I move out of the beginning stages of surfcasting. I appreciate all advice.

For those that have caught the BIG one, what one skill or factor would you recommend paying most attention to? I'd like to sharpen my focus as I move out of the beginning stages of surfcasting. I appreciate all advice.

Don't be a part of the crowd or cliche or buy into a certain way of doing things......Do what you gotta do( legal and within reason) to reach that goal.......

Biggest mistake is to let your line go slack, never let your line go slack
keep constant pressure on the fish, don't horse it

i have not found the big one yet but the number one skill is TIME.. TIME on the water, spending enough TIME at one spot.. knowing what TIME is best to go.. PATIENCE comes next. having the PATIENCE to give yourself the TIME at the spot your at.

Be sure to know exactly HOW you're going to land a big fish when you get to a spot- eye out a specific path to the waters edge where you can safely land it.

Also, some good advice I received was to back off your drag when the fish is in close... If your rod tip is up high and the fish makes a sudden surge, that'll help to reduce the strain on your line.

Use live bait, and don't go light.

For those that have caught the BIG one, what one skill or factor would you recommend paying most attention to? I'd like to sharpen my focus as I move out of the beginning stages of surfcasting. I appreciate all advice.

This comes down to 2 points. (I haven't broke 50, but have been close from the surf)

1. You could catch one based on luck next outing.
2. In all honesty, if you have to ask the question, there is so much more for you to learn... You may find out some short cuts here and there given to you, but if you want to catch big fish consistently, you need to be 100% proficient and confident. You're the leader. Patterns always change, learn what makes them change. Find out the weather windows and areas the bigger fish feed and stage. Gear and techniques should be the least of your concerns (master this first). Through probability and odds, you pick through schools of big fish from 40lb+ in hopes of finding one heavy enough to be 50 pounds. Find as many good windows as possible, always fish them and you have a shot. It takes decades to get familiar with this and the reliable windows change... The quicker you can find new ones, the better your odds are, never ending cycle. To sum it up, it can become a living nightmare!

I fish mostly the surf. My last big one was 54lb 3 oz. She about kicked my butt. I had a custom outfit with a Sustain using 50lb braid. I hooked this fish in a bad rockpile-The Fenway-around the corner from Misquamacit Beach in Rhody. I had a tight drag and she swam away like i was using 10lb test like the drag wasn't even there.The big ones are a different creature.As I got her turned after the 3rd run she put her side against a big rock and wouldn't move. i held and she held too. I tried a trick an oldtimer told me about after 5min of neither giving in. I opened the bail and held my rod up as high as I could and put my head lamp pointing towards the tip of my rod so as to be able to see the line move when the fish moved off the rock.I counted to 10 as the line started to go through the tip. I closed the bail and the fight was back on but now the fish was 20 to 30 feet away from the rock going towards water that had a few less rocks in it.Once her nose was turned towards me i worked her through the rocks and landed her.I was shaking from head to toe.
The point is that you need to be as flexible as a big fish forces you to be. There is no one way to do it nor is there no best way but the one that gets a nice fish out of the water.Good gear,sharp hooks,patience and loads of luck all help.Map where your fishing to know where you have a chance to land a nice fish and what ever you do don't rush it.Keep your line tight as much as posssible. bow to the fish-keep your rod tip high so you can-when you need to and the closer the fish gets to shore lighten your drag . That way when the fish is in the wash it can be alowed to move with the wave in the wash so that you don't part off there-done it myself-and grab the fish not your line as quick as you can. Go for the gill plate or the lip not the slimy tail or back .Whatever you do don't stradle the fish and sit on it. The spiny fin barbs hurt and the family jewels can't be replaced LOL. Beyond that luck helps.There's not a one of us that's landed a big one that hasn't lost many that size or bigger due to on mistake or another. Ron

I caught my first striper at 13 yrs old in those rocks.
Was so excited, I knelt down to get the fish and broke off the end of by big brother's rod... (good news for me, bad news for him). That was 1967... he still has the rod :)
df

No 50 here, but I'll have to agree with Nebe that the #1 factor is TIME. Like almost everything in life, you get out of it what you put into it. Catching big striped bass takes up lots and lots of time.

Fish hard, fish often, fish big, as in big bait, and as much as I like catching fish on plugs, a live eel or bunker is your best ticket to a real slob.., do not buy into old myths, myths like flat water does not hold large bass, full moon scares fish from the shallows. are a bunch of huey..fish quality, not quanity.. large bass, 40lbs and up, tend not to hang with the smaller, more energetic "teenagers" will make large bass seek better feeding places... research traditional hot spots for "50's".. this means not just an area.. but an actual "spot".. fish of that size tend to reappear in those areas.....year in and year out....

this point in time is a good chance at a fish weighing half a hundred, there are fair number of them available to those that put in their time..

What Nebe said X3.

IMO it is very rare that you will ever hear of a weekend warrior catching a fish of great size. Occasionally a bait dunker may get lucky with a bunker head, but most of the guys that catch big fish fish all the time. I am not one of those guys and therefore have yet to break 40lbs. Fish at night and fish a lot. Good luck this season:)

What Nebe said X3.

IMO it is very rare that you will ever hear of a weekend warrior catching a fish of great size. Occasionally a bait dunker may get lucky with a bunker head, but most of the guys that catch big fish fish all the time. I am not one of those guys and therefore have yet to break 40lbs. Fish at night and fish a lot. Good luck this season:)

This is a very good way to catch a fifty plus........

Fish hard, fish often, fish big, as in big bait, and as much as I like catching fish on plugs, a live eel or bunker is your best ticket to a real slob.., do not buy into old myths, myths like flat water does not hold large bass, full moon scares fish from the shallows. are a bunch of huey..fish quality, not quanity.. large bass, 40lbs and up, tend not to hang with the smaller, more energetic "teenagers" will make large bass seek better feeding places... research traditional hot spots for "50's".. this means not just an area.. but an actual "spot".. fish of that size tend to reappear in those areas.....year in and year out....

this point in time is a good chance at a fish weighing half a hundred, there are fair number of them available to those that put in their time..

Joe has a 50 for each digit on both hands I believe. I always try to memorize what he says when on the FAR OFF endless search for mystical 50 skills :uhuh:. Good thread.

Following up on my TIME and PATIENCE post.. to further add the the patience part, you have to have the PATIENCE to cull through small fish by using tactics and tackle that are geared for big fish.. Its frustrating when guys around you are picking up 10 lbers on bombers and 8 foot schoolie rods while you are using a 1213 M and a giant eel..

Good stuff here. All I have is hope for a 50, hope that it happens and hope I dont screw it up if it does. I love the anticipation and the feeling that comes over when theres a big fish on, you know that extra firm grip you need to take on the rod when it bends and pulls away from you? Thats all I hope for.

Figure out what works for you and the locations hou choose to fish and try and develop a pattern. You have to know the location you fish.
ROCKFISH9 (Joe) Has caught more fifties than almost anyone I have ever heard of I guarantee if you asked him how he got to the point he is at he would be the first to tell you he gave the water everything he could.

Log everything you do in the surf successful and unsuccessful and then think about why you had success at one location as opposed to another and try and follow a pattern.
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Let me add something to my earlier post.Every fish that I have landed over 40 or 50 lb except a small few was while I was just out fishing and found big fish. The one I landed in Rhody wasn't alone and i lost a couple more of similar size. we were fishing for mostly blues with smaller stripers mixed in. the difference as to why I was hooking up on big bass is that I was using a black/purple pencil popper fished like a neddle in really messy conditiond in some great striper water. Flouro leader,dead slow retreive with a little twitch to the plug from time to time and casting right into the boulders where big fish like to feed. It was also pitch dark and raining before daybreak. People were landing nice blues on both sides of me and weren't hooking up on the bass. There was one other fisherman about fishing similar to me-slow retreive and striper plugs without wire leader who also hooked and landed a couple nice fish in the mid 40 inch range whil others around him were only hooking up with blues.Slow retreive makes huge difference. fat stripers are like fat fisherman. we don't like to run after our meals.I've landed 50's on both eels and plugs. My ist was on a white Atom P-40 fish at 10 am in a rock pile it weighed 53lb 11 oz and it wasn't alone. My buddy landed 3 in the mid 40;s and I landed a 47 lb 9 oz one too . So remeber the fish don't read these posts nor the books we write.Big fish are often where you least expect them but you need the gear to land them. Big fish on light tackle is a loose loose proposition. Ron

Been lucky enough to break 50 three times, all three came on a live bunker, being ready, being lucky and repeat scouting all came into play all 3 times.

52#: pure luck, snagged a fresh bunker Hingham harbor on a real light Penn spinner, 12 lb mono, barbs filed off the snag hook. Reeling in the bunker to put on conventional, line went slack, go to snag another one, only to learn why the line went slack. Years of experience playing fish and some luck factored in after that fish took off for the moring field.

55#: Same spot as above the following year, again repeat scouting and feeding patterns; same bait, almost the exact same spot, this time around with conventional gear to make it a little less challenging.

58#: Lunch Scituate, always grabbed my sub, headed to the overlook at Peogoty beach, did it for days every season I was working in Scituate after college, always had a rod ready. One day the blitz of blitzes, the entire cove white water, big blues had pogies trapped and they were ripping into them big time. Big bass in the mix, this one hit an adam popper, dropped at my feet, short hit, short line, short fight, but based on what I'd landed the previous years, this was my 60. Repeat scouting and time invested in checkout out that spot paid off.

Good luck in your quest for the holy grail.

Hmmm... I always thought the best way to get a 50lber is to bunk in on people, have no idea what you're doing, throw bait, sit in a lawn with your budlight and hit the lottery.

Hmmm... I always thought the best way to get a 50lber is to bunk in on people, have no idea what you're doing, throw bait, sit in a lawn with your budlight and hit the lottery.

Congrats. JD! I didn't know you had a 50 to your credit.:devil2:

Joe has a 50 for each digit on both hands I believe. I always try to memorize what he says when on the FAR OFF endless search for mystical 50 skills :uhuh:. Good thread.

Plus all my toes on one foot...

the absolute best advise I can give is to fish as often and as hard as you can.. be prepared to loose some sleep.. fish don't read books and have fins and a tail.. they just might show up anywhere... i don't know of anyone who has caught one from their living room ...

there was a nice article about this in last Junes On the Water magazine...Cow hunter, Crazy Al, Jason Coby and myself all gave our .02 on what it takes to find the fish of a lifetime..

Congrats. JD! I didn't know you had a 50 to your credit.:devil2:
This is what has me so frustrated. I should be a shoe-in for at least one. I don't know wtf I'm doing most of the time anyway. For me, fishing seems to be like little league - hit and hope. :smash:

In addition to what everyone else has said, make sure that all--and I mean ALL--of your gear is in top shape.

Cut back any frayed braid.

Keep your drag serviced. Take the washers out, clean them, and re-lube them several times a season.

Check your leader regularly. If there's even a little nick or fray, or an area that's been chafed even a little, take 30 seconds to so to tie on a new one. Mono's cheap. The memory of a lost slob to a frayed leader costs you, even if it's just sleep (I speak from personal experience here).

Make sure that your plug hardware is in good shape. No rusted hooks. Upgrade the hooks to 4x or even 6x strong. Replace stock rings with HD Rasco rings. Don't fish plugs with cheap-assed hook hangers--use only thru-wired, or plugs that have screw eyes sunk into hardwood.

Don't use cheap snaps.

And as much as it may pain me--guys that hang big bass year after year fish eels. :grins:

I have read and re-read the post and plan to print it out and add to the toolbox on the journey. I realize I have many years of ahead of me to fish and work towards my goal. I have the highest regards for the collective experience offered in these posts--you make it possible for the next generation to progress. Thanks for sharing.

I havent gotten a 50 yet. I am damn sure i lost 2 of them back to back mornings on block 2 years ago. Both fish were lost due to bent hooks. One was a mustad on a red gill, that didnt surprise me too much, but the brand new 5/0 vmc 3x siwash was a surprise. I had never been in such a horrendous fight with a fish. Both fish bulldogged down to the bottom after a short initial run. I could not budge the fish. If that same scenario happens again i will play it differently. I dont think i was mentally prepared for the fights. The first, ok, i screwed up, but the second time i should have played it different. I dont think i felt that it could happen again the next day. I should have thought more about what i did wrong on the first fish and changed my technique on the second. The moral of the story i guess is mental preparedness for when the big one comes tight to your line. If the fish doesn't want to move i will not be rearing back harder on her to get her to move. I wont give her slack, i will let a battle of wills ensue, and i WILL WIN.

I can give thousands of reasons why the big one never got landed, but I will never say it's because lack of experience (my ego is to big for that)

But seriously Big fish are big for a reason they're smart and they know what they're doing

I havent gotten a 50 yet. I am damn sure i lost 2 of them back to back mornings on block 2 years ago. Both fish were lost due to bent hooks. One was a mustad on a red gill, that didnt surprise me too much, but the brand new 5/0 vmc 3x siwash was a surprise. I had never been in such a horrendous fight with a fish. Both fish bulldogged down to the bottom after a short initial run. I could not budge the fish. If that same scenario happens again i will play it differently. I dont think i was mentally prepared for the fights. The first, ok, i screwed up, but the second time i should have played it different. I dont think i felt that it could happen again the next day. I should have thought more about what i did wrong on the first fish and changed my technique on the second. The moral of the story i guess is mental preparedness for when the big one comes tight to your line. If the fish doesn't want to move i will not be rearing back harder on her to get her to move. I wont give her slack, i will let a battle of wills ensue, and i WILL WIN.


This does not surprise me,,, I happened to be fishing next to a guy known for big plugs that catch big fish on a night where both of us consistently caught 20-30# fish all night . We stood side by side battling decent fish that hit and headed straight into the rocks. Gary just got a 36# fish out of the rocks by going with a slack line. I was glad I was using a 65# long leader and thought I was loaded for bear when I had a fish hammer a GRS slim....

The fish was like a freight train and never stopped. I never got a turn of the handle. Just as Gary said "you got a screamer" the line went slack..... when I reeled in the plug (front treble only) 2 of the three hooks on a 4/0 4X VMC were straight the other squished. Later that night I tore the front swivel out of a plug and lost another fish,,,,,,First time Gary ever saw that... A little while later I had a fish take a GRS giant sideways....revived and released.... These fish were on Big bait and very aggressive.

Was on Block....