Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post - Should "wetsuiting" be its own category of fishing

DZ · 12-11-2008, 10:56 AM

Good thread Frank - I've used both methods over the years and here are my thoughts. It's a blurry line between "traditional" surfcasting (with waders) and those who fish with a wetsuit. IF you're "swimming" a considerable distance to a perch with a suit then you're pushing the definition of surfcasting - it might still be surfcasting but in my book I'd have to place an asterisk next to the term "surfcasting*". Conversely I'd still consider it traditional surfcasting if your wetsuit is primarily a way of giving you some more time on a rock or bar when you'd otherwise be filling your chest highs with green water. I had a conversation with a very good surf fisherman recently who was talking about how good the fishing has been the last few years - at the end I asked him the following question: How many of your large bass would you have taken this past season if you had to wear waders only? His answer - none. My point - many surfcasters think that fishing for big bass in the surf has been pretty good and some may even say that this year was the best year they've ever had - but many of them have really expanded their horizons by "swimming" to areas normally in the domain of boats (in some areas swimming up to 100 yards offshore in water depths over 15 feet) - I label these guys as "Wanna be a boat". In many cases when they tell me how good the fishing may have been I know I have to discount it because a traditional wader clad fishermen simply has no shot at the fish they are catching - "e.g." "Surfcasting*"

Use of wetsuits is here to stay and becoming more popular each season. What I see happening is that many of those new to surfcasting are going directly to a wetsuit. When they do this many tend to always want to get out to deeper water and while doing so swim right through the shallower areas where bass normally could be. I'm fine with this as long as these guys don't swim through this "skinny water" while I'm actively fishing.
But by not starting out with waders these new casters haven't learned the "when's, why's and where's" of a large part of the striped bass puzzle - fishing the shallow littoral zone(the region or zone between the limits of high and low tides).

DZ

12-11-2008, 10:56 AM	#85
DZ Registered User iTrader: (0) Join Date: Dec 2000 Posts: 2,574	Good thread Frank - I've used both methods over the years and here are my thoughts. It's a blurry line between "traditional" surfcasting (with waders) and those who fish with a wetsuit. IF you're "swimming" a considerable distance to a perch with a suit then you're pushing the definition of surfcasting - it might still be surfcasting but in my book I'd have to place an asterisk next to the term "surfcasting". Conversely I'd still consider it traditional surfcasting if your wetsuit is primarily a way of giving you some more time on a rock or bar when you'd otherwise be filling your chest highs with green water. I had a conversation with a very good surf fisherman recently who was talking about how good the fishing has been the last few years - at the end I asked him the following question: How many of your large bass would you have taken this past season if you had to wear waders only? His answer - none. My point - many surfcasters think that fishing for big bass in the surf has been pretty good and some may even say that this year was the best year they've ever had - but many of them have really expanded their horizons by "swimming" to areas normally in the domain of boats (in some areas swimming up to 100 yards offshore in water depths over 15 feet) - I label these guys as "Wanna be a boat". In many cases when they tell me how good the fishing may have been I know I have to discount it because a traditional wader clad fishermen simply has no shot at the fish they are catching - "e.g." "Surfcasting" Use of wetsuits is here to stay and becoming more popular each season. What I see happening is that many of those new to surfcasting are going directly to a wetsuit. When they do this many tend to always want to get out to deeper water and while doing so swim right through the shallower areas where bass normally could be. I'm fine with this as long as these guys don't swim through this "skinny water" while I'm actively fishing. But by not starting out with waders these new casters haven't learned the "when's, why's and where's" of a large part of the striped bass puzzle - fishing the shallow littoral zone(the region or zone between the limits of high and low tides). DZ
	DZ Recreational Surfcaster "Limit Your Kill - Don't Kill Your Limit" Bi + Ne = SB 2 If you haven't heard of the Snowstorm Blitz of 1987 - you someday will.