https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/10/extreme-fishing-montauk-wetsuiting-striped-bass/679574/?paymeter=hard-gate-email-test-1&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cr&utm_campaign=2024_Content_ContentTesting_Prosp_Sal es_Standard&utm_content=090524_ExtremeFishing_Copy_Short_NoCTA&utm_term=ContentTesting_LAL&referral=FB_PAID&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMAABHZ-SyYSv7r6RiQp-RRmZQYtSfRp5gtN4BdFGpLsRz6D2jjZvvYgDkKloSw_aem_Caa F6MA9dOI-yGvclAT0Lw&utm_id=6546449062477

Sausele is 27 years old. Shaggy-haired, tattooed, and muscular, he is a devoted practitioner of an extreme sport known as “wetsuiting,” which is both easy to describe and impossible for the uninitiated to understand. When I was first getting into the sport a few years ago, the advice I received from another fisherman was simply: Don’t.

Wetsuiting is a form of saltwater fishing that involves wearing a wetsuit and wading or swimming out to offshore rocks—almost exclusively at night, often during storms—to access deeper water or faster currents than can be reached in traditional waders. The quarry are striped bass, a fish that migrates every spring, mostly from the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, to as far north as Maine, and back down again in the fall.

I have never, ever heard skishing referred to as “wetsuiting.” The sound of it reminds me of that pic of RIROCKHOUND on his paddleboard :yak4:

skishing is what we always called it. I sold my wet suits this past Spring. To old to be doing it at 77.

Only heard it referred as skishing

I always thought it was n#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g futz..... I remember Victor swimming back to shore on Cuttyhunk moments after he had released a brown shark, which was obviously interested in the bass he had attached to his belt.....

I looked like a wounded seal trying to swim when I used my wetsuit.....A few years ago when we started getting more and more sharks, I sold it.

I went to a wetsuit after getting knocked down at PJ.
Never skished, just accessed rocks further out.
Doing a seal imitation at night never interested me.
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It as exhilarating but I jut used it to get out to a little further rocks, was funny seeing TT, Luds & Clogs, Redlite all out on way further rocks.

But I was always the BEST seal imitation which never strayed far from mind

It as exhilarating but I jut used it to get out to a little further rocks, was funny seeing TT, Luds & Clogs, Redlite all out on way further rocks.

But I was always the BEST seal imitation which never strayed far from mind
Yup. A lot of skishers on the Cuttyhunk trips. Also, PaulS, Zeno, ChefChris, and Andy Deer I think as well. Who else have I forgotten?

Were the dirty skivvies from a wetsuiter???

I’ll be 80 on a couple of months and don’t wade beyond my waist even on a good night. I prefer the dryness of waders, but will wear a wetsuit if I’m gonna be standing on any rocks even if they’re in ankle deep water. I think the wetsuit gives me a bit more safety when in the water.
Originally from NY and there wetsuiting and skishing were completely different other both involved wearing a wetsuit. Wetsuiting is an extension of wading, skishing is an imitation of boat fishing.

Well I have swim out to rocks fairly far, I'm certainly not brave enough to skish.

Pat , I would not have guessed your almost eighty.
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Hi Pat.




Agree, the skisher is floating / drifting the current, the wetsuiter was surfcasting in a wetsuit. Never heard it as wetsuiting

Yup. A lot of skishers on the Cuttyhunk trips. Also, PaulS, Zeno, ChefChris, and Andy Deer I think as well. Who else have I forgotten?

Were the dirty skivvies from a wetsuiter???


Yes, delivered by boat.

I’ll be 80 on a couple of months and don’t wade beyond my waist even on a good night. I prefer the dryness of waders, but will wear a wetsuit if I’m gonna be standing on any rocks even if they’re in ankle deep water. I think the wetsuit gives me a bit more safety when in the water.
Originally from NY and there wetsuiting and skishing were completely different other both involved wearing a wetsuit. Wetsuiting is an extension of wading, skishing is an imitation of boat fishing.

Right behind you Pat. 77 in 3 weeks.

Right behind you Pat. 77 in 3 weeks.

Hang in there and enjoy. Never stop moving. Welcome to the club

Best Advice in this article from the Atlantic is at he end of the first paragraph: “Don’t”

I spent a significant portion of my engineering career with Navy diver support. The Navy divers are young, in great physical and cardiovascular shape, and highly trained with the best equipment. They go in the water two at a time with a third diver topside on standby for backup. You don’t just have to prepare and worry about the expected hazards you also have to overcome the unexpected as well. If you do it long enough you may find that out the hard way.