Can anyone recommend some great books that were really helpful and informative when they were first learning about striper fishing???
Thanks gang!

Yeah, this hear on-line fishing book. It talks back to you. "Books" are so passe.:putin:

Try Daignault's "Striper Surf". His head is a little big but there is a lot of good information in this one. He also wrote Trophy Striper" but this is pretty much a rehash of "Striper Surf". Try looking on Ebay for "Atlantic Surf Fishing" by Lester C Boyd. I read this one every April when I start to get antsy waiting for 50 degree water. Your best bet is to talk to people on the beach. Most of us are happy to help out.Look for guys who are smiling or are catching fish when noone else is, or both. Buy all your stuff at one place, the people at that shop will start to know you and you will learn a lot from them and their other regular customers. good luck...Longshot

Anything by Frank Daignault SweetieFace. Thats what got me started. :uhuh: Enjoy.

SF,

You might want to check out some of Mike Laptew's video series also.



Russ

Hey how about a SB library or exchange program? I've got a "The Striped Bass" by Nick Karas I've read, I'll donate it to the SB library. SF if you'd like it let me know how to get it to you, then when done maybe you send it to John and he forwards as members request them.

Still, you can't beat time on the boat, water, beach or jetty:). Good for learning, good for the soul.

Reading the Water by Robert Post

If you could find one Slip. I know someone on this board has one, wonder if they would let me borrow it.

Lou Tabory has written two very good books and while overall they are about fly fishing for saltwater species like striped bass he does cover techniques that can be applied to both fly and spin fishing. The books are titled; Inshore Fly Fishing and Stripers On The Fly.

specialist, was at the book store down by the cc mall a couple of months ago, and they had a copy of reading the water, in paper back.

if ya cant find one, ill gladly let you read mine........for collateral, you have to leave me a plug or 2, just untill i get it back.....;)

Thanks guys. I feel better now, because I actually was looking at some of those same titles online yesterday.

Got Stripers, is the Nick Karas called just The Striped Bass?

Because I found a few under his name:

The Complete Book of Striped Bass Fishing,
The Striped Bass
The Complete Book of The Striped Bass..... ?

Nick Karas - The Striped Bass - He spends the first half talking about the science of striped bass, where they spawn, etc and the second half is about how to catch them.

Striper Surf - Frank Daignault

The Compleat Surfcaster - C Boyd Pfeiffer - A very basic book that will cover how to cast to how to clean a reel.

SF it's "The Striped Bass" and like Steve said he spends a lot of time on the history, spawning, biology and migratory habits of the striped bass, but if that stuff doesn't bore you to death it's got some good information. Like any book, you get some good, some bad and some stuff in the middle.

There are two books that are MUST HAVES in any striper angler's library. I have dozens of books on fishing - but these are the two that that I would recommend FIRST:

1) The Compleat Surfcaster by C. Boyd Pfeiffer. This is surfcasting 101 - no nonsense how-to on equipment and strategies for hunting fish from the surf.

2) Fishing for Striped Bass by Gary Caputi. Page for page, this is the best STRIPED BASS how-to book hands down. Extremely informative. This is published by The Fisherman magazine.

Hope this helps!

-Ben

Hi sweetieface I read Nick Karas, The Striped Bass over the winter.Great book, covers everything . I got it on half.com for $4 well worth it.

WeeWee - have heard but never read Caputi's book - I'll trade you Rowan's Surfcaster's Quest about fishing Block :D (if you haven't read that one yet :D )

John,

I loved Surfcaster's Quest. I had just finished the book and I saw him at Finn's one night.

John,

As luck would have it, my copy is out on loan. :rolleyes:

No prob - let me know when you get it back... I'm not stocking my library at this time in my, uhh, employmeny cycle :rollem:

10-4

I fished with Roy Rowan out on Block Island last summer. Picked his brain about writing, etc. I've got a bunch of slides of him.
He wrote a best seller about managing people and about 5 other titles. He was Mid-East Bureau Chief at Time/Life and held a few executive positions there as well.
He’s a real dynamic guy. Not every successful person will help you, but he was very gracious with his time. He’s in his early 80’s -he’s got a summerhouse on the Block, off Corn Neck Road. Not your average fish writer.

All great suggestions, thanks guys. I'm looking at them online now, comparing prices.

Hey, whosever idea: Reading the Water was, can I borrow the 139.50 it will cost me? Lol.
That is, if I get it at Amazon, anywhere else (including ebay) I've seen it for as much as 700.00.
For $700. smackers, I can get all the equipment I will need instead! I can hire one of you to full-time crash-course train me!!!!

Whats in that book for 700? Does it come with an instructor and a small ocean full of 75" stripers?!

SF - Reading the Water is an out of print book that is both good and extracting the benefit of a lot of new money in the surfcasting game... A good book to read but it would be good for you to borrow a copy 2 years from now instead of making an effort to find it now.

I recommend that you fisng some of the other books - like the Complete Surfcaster - which delve into the nuts & bolts of surfcasting... Good luck :)

I agree, Rowan's Surfcaster's Quest was a great read! A few other books I enjoyed, although not really "how to" were:

Both of Greenlaw's, The Hungry Ocean and The Lobster Chronicles

The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass
by Peter Kaminsky

Blues
by John Hersey

and Paul Quinnett's books

For "how to," I'd also have to go w/ Daignault.

Tight Lines,
Rob

Surfcasters Quest is really about the pursuit of solitude. Reading The Water provides insight into successful techniques for big fish.... including luck. There are good techniques woven into the stories but they are not geared for a newbie.
Woolner & Lyman's Striped Bass Fishing is still good but getting dated tackle-wise. Secrets Of Surfcasting At Night is good but it I don't think it went through more than one printing. I have not read The Complete Surfcaster so I can't comment.
Lou Tabory's Inshore Fly Fishing provides a wealth of information relating to structure. The discussion transcends fly-fishing with many practical applications for surfcasters.
But I would have to say that Striper Surf and the Shore Guides from OTW are really all you need - excellent how and where-to resources.

My two cents:

Pfeiffer "The Compleat (sic) Surfcaster" - a great how-to book

Rowan - "Surfcaster's Quest" - one of the best books of any kind that I have read. Not really a how-to, gets to the heart of why we like the surf.

Eric Brunley "Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast" (1989) - covers a lot of the same ground as Boyd.

Woolner & Lyman, "Striped Bass Fishing" - I agree it is a little dated, but an interesting read nonetheless.

Saltwater Sportsman, "Salt Water Strategies" - not as in-depth as some others, but simple, easy to read, and great pictures!

Milt Rosko, "The Striped Bass Book" (2002) - I just started reading this. Has some good current info on life cycles, migration, etc. before it gets into the how-to.

The Fisherman magazine has published several books that are basically compilations of their previously written articles:

"Guide to Surf Fishing, Vol I & II"
"Guide to Striped Bass Fishing"

Finally, I recommend Gary Soucie's "Hook, Line & Sinker, the Complete Angler's Guide to Terminal Tackle" (1982). More of a reference or handbook than a reader, but has everything.

Good luck.