This was in yesterday's Providence Journal... where he talks about " the probably the most knowledgeable surf fisherman in the Northeast. " Don't let #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& hear that :P , actually he told me about the article...


Outdoor Notes by Tom Meade
Surf anglers fishing for answers on elusive trophy stripers
Surf fishermen want to know where the big stripers are. Some of them also want to know how to skin an eel and cook a bass.

They're asking all kinds of questions to the surfmeister himself, Frank Daignault , the Massachusetts author of several books including Striper Surf and his most recent, The Trophy Striper .

Daignault answers the questions in a forum on the Internet site www.stripersurf.com. It's like talking to him on the telephone when he's in his wise-cracking glory. He's always entertaining and probably the most knowledgeable surf fisherman in the Northeast. Sometimes, however, he leaves questions, such as the eel-skinning one, to other members of the forum.

One of the most enjoyable "threads" on the forum is all about goofy fishing experiences.

The question attracting the most response is about an apparent lack of trophy stripers, 50-pounders.

In The Trophy Striper , Daignault said that stripers born during the early 1980s -- when the fish were recovering from a precipitous decline -- simply haven't had time to grow to trophy size. It takes about 20 years for a striper to grow to 50 pounds, so fish born in Chesapeake Bay during the record-breaking year 1982 are just getting to trophy-size. "Keep your eyes open after 2000," he wrote in the 1999 book. "Today's trophy will be tomorrow's routine encounter, probably until fair numbers of 50-pounders are available."

Following last season's dearth of big stripers along the coast, however, Daignault says he is reconsidering his theory while still standing by it. "The moratorium breaking year-class, '82, is our first shot at 50-pounders, of which I expected a few coastwide in 2000. Instead, it appears that those fish, what remain, are from 38 to 43 pounds. Fisheries Service growth charts, where I got my information, are fuzzy at that high end, so it could have been an interpretation-interpolation problem. Maybe they need more time.

"It could also be that they click over all at once, say 2001 or 2002. Never forget that there are only four inches of length between a 42- and 52-pounder, so it wouldn't take long for my prediction to bear some results. Little was born from '83 to '89 so, quite predictably, 18- to 40-pounders should be hard sizes to find."

On the Internet site, Daignault also addresses the issue of size-limits that force anglers to release small fish while allowing them to kill large fish that may be genetically superior. "We are all noble releasers of undersized fish, dutifully waiting for a legal keeper," he says."Then a fish, which has exhibited superb growth qualities, a survivor of a genetic anomaly which took a million years to evolve, is caught and killed."



Could it be that Ole Frank is backpedaling a little? Unfortunately, that may be true...

The entire article can be found here:

http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/sports/04951311.htm

I went to the Mass Bass Show last year. This was just after Frank had decided everyone was in a conspiracy against him , including me. (In fact at the time I was going way out on the limb to try to maintain peace between all the sites). Anyway , I just avoided the guy , not wanting to get into words with him.

I go get a sandwich and soda and I'm sitting eating it when a guy walks up to the counter with a brand new Breakaway 1208 he had gotten from Hatteras Jacks. Brand new , top of the line surf fishing poll. Here comes "probably the most knowledgeable".. whatever that crap was , himself. Doesn't say hi to the guy , doesn't even know this guy but starts right in how this guy wasted his money on that Breakaway cause it was longer than 9 feet long!! Now I can forgive that the old buck isn't up on things and doesn't know anything but blonde colored Lamis but I have a hard time overlooking the fact that he walks up to a perfect stranger who just spent the long dollar on a new pole and he has nothing friendly or nice to say. Just instant , uneducated criticism. Knowledgeable fisherman? Maybe at one time he was. Nice guy?? You decide.

Watch out, John, you may live in RI now, but you're one of those "Eastern Mass" guys, too. :o

Frank is like Doc Muller, who feels that you should never use anything but an 11' parabolic S-glass, and who actually stated in print that you shouldn't buy a Penn 750SS because you'll be "undergunned" with it. Undergunned with a reel that holds 250 yards of 20# mono??? Wonder if these savants realize the only two 70s ever taken from the shore were taken on even smaller reels--Mc Reynolds on a 710, Stetzko on a 550SS. Frank and Doc both spoke at the same seminar here last September, and although I passed on their talks, I was hoping they'd get into a big argument on rod length and come to blows :-)

:P That's right, I forgot all about that "Eastern Mass Guys" thing, what was it again? That we couldn't tell the difference between our arse and a hole in the ground?? I forgot because after the chuckle, I round filed it :D

Man oh Man!!!! How long can this guy milk the bullsh#$T??

Look there is only so many ways to show someone how to catch stripers!! There are not an infinate amount of topics to cover! Its all rehashed bullcrap thats been gone over a million times a million different ways!! It all adds up to the same thing in the end...............


Stripers are not that hard to catch.You dont need all the fancy eqipment or the latest ballistic graphite rod.More than all the gear and no matter how much money someone spends on gear,It wont make you a better fisherman.The only way to get good is from time,time,time on the water learning conditions and what works for you and what you have confidence in.

Then,after all that you can catch a fish on a bluelight special and some handydandy line you buy at k-mart.

Frank was a product of the times,he was in the right place at the right time and caught some nice bass in the process,He also hurt alot of people and burned alot of bridges in his time.

He is arrogant (much worse than me) and has no problem calling someone a fool even after they just dished out 20bucks for one of his "Antiquated" books. Open his books up and presto!! Its 1978 all over again.

Dont learn to fish the "frank" way or the "#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&" way or anyone elses way,Learn what works for you and stick to it!!

I really like that last line you wrote #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&!

For an old guy he can still stir the pot.

#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& AMEN ///////

This is a perfect example of the credit people will give to those who can write. Just because the guy can write a book doesn't mean he should be placed into the Surfcaster Hall Of Fame. There a literally hundreds of people in New England that could out fish this guy with ease and are every bit as knowledgable or more so. Yet write a book and your an expert.

Careful, guys, lest this site get lumped in with all the rest of the "fiction pages" on the internet :D

The way I look at it, FD was a good fisherman, no more, no less. There were, as Jeff said, hundreds as good, andsome better. Frank earned his fish, anyone who put the hours in that he did deservers the catches he made. But, it was easier then than it is now, at least for size.

The problem arises when guys start believing their own press clippings. Frank should have learned he couldn't walk on water the night he drowned his truck out at the old Chatham cut. As guys line up to kiss your ring, it's easy to fall into the trap of arrogance.

An example was telling someone who makes some of the real works of art in wooden plugs not to quit his day job. Hey Frank, just because you don't use poppers and needlefish, no need to show your ignorance like that. Frank must be the only guy in the whole world who never caught a fish on a bottle plug. Yep, it wouldn't be my first choice to throw in calm surf when the fish are on sand eels, but that's no ecuse for a blanket indictment of the plug. Just shows either his pettiness (word was that old man Stan wouldn't grease him with freebies) or that he always fished a very closed universe.

Hey, Bill, c'mon, you know there's no graphite blank stiff enough to make into a conventional ;-)

good one #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& love that last line and very true .

in another thread you wrote "Im thinking about frank giving all that advice on the other board.I think if frank told them to strip naked,bark at the moon and cast while holding there peckers in there hands , they would do it!" this is also a very true statement too many people hanging on others words instead of going out and finding out for themselves . Its a shame . I met frank once or twice he seemed ok But I got a tinge of arrogance from him .
amen

Mr D... would that be a woof , woof or a hooowwwwling type bark. As for holding on to myself , would you recommend a neoprene glove or must It be bare handed. I'm afraid my fingers will get cold and then I won't be able to hang on good! :)