Surfcasting defined....

[Back Beach]

Obviously, there are a lot of ways to catch fish that are within close proximity of the shoreline. Unfortunately, true surf casting gets a bad name when results from the use of certain techniques get branded as “surfcasting.” Nothing wrong with skishing or pulling your boat within casting range of shore (I’ve done it) and literally catching fish from the surf. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, when I see a skisher, boater, or kayaker represent their catch as “surf caught” I immediately brand them as phony, liar, or clueless.
The question is where does “true surfcasting” end and “everything else” begin?

[The Dad Fisherman]

The definition we use at the club for the tournaments to designate a surf caught fish is that it needs to be Hooked, fought, and landed while standing on ground.

I would think the same would hold true for boat caught....Hooked, Fought and landed while in a boat.

If you hook up while in a yak and then hop out to fight it on a sandbar or in shallow water the only thing it counts for is a Nice Fish....that is for tournaments though

[fishbones]

I consider myself to be surfcasting when I'm fishing from shore or wading. I consider myself boat fishing whenever I am fishing from the boat, even if I am in very close to shore. Also, I use only plugs or eels, so I'm casting and retrieving. Are the bucket brigade condsidered surfcasters? It's still fishing the surf from shore. I guess that's another part of the discussion.

[Flaptail]

Well, in my humble opinion, you need "surf" to make it surfcasting and sand sliding and eroding from under your feet with the wash trying to suck you back down the shingle in white water up to your chest while at the same moment your heaving a bait ( readlug, rigged eel, live eel, metal, or jig)that must be manipulated in some fashion by your hands which are wrapped around a rod 9 to 10-1/2 feet long.

Where knowing that one wrong move will have you tumbling ass over tea kettle in a cauldron of salt and sand and did I mention it was pitch dark?

Then you look up just in time to see the 7th wave about to break all feathery on top against the starlite, of course in a nano second the stars are gone and you instinctively double over cause here comes that monster cold green heartless wave and you find yourself parralel to the sand digging your rod butt in as the last hope and hope your surf belt is snugged up tight.

And on the other hand you have:

I do a lot of fishing Cuttyhunk style as well and standing on a rock while your corkers have a tenous hold on the slime and bubble weed encrusted rounded top of that boulder and all the while trying and holding your balance by the slimmest of margins where even the task of casting can cause you to loose that erzast balance point and it's dark plus your keeping an eye on that dark shape coming towrd you which turns out to be a roller twice the size of the ones already trying to rip you off that slimy rock and you know you going to go over, no doubt about it now. So it hits and you bail off the rock and ride it hoping for some semblance of sure footing in the ink dark swirling water. Of course you had to walk over oval shaped irregular stones for a half a mile to get to this spot where you slipped and fell twice doing that and you occasionally see the sparks from your corkers grinding against the dry rocks further up the shore.

That could be surfcasting too don't you think?

[riverrat2]

Skishing as in fishing while swimming, no. Using a wetsuit to get out to rocks that are unreachable with waders, yes.

[Bishop169]

Originally Posted by riverrat2

Skishing as in fishing while swimming, no. Using a wetsuit to get out to rocks that are unreachable with waders, yes.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fields...478950,00.html


A good articale on skishing

[Gunpowder]

when my feet are touching land of any sort, i consider it to be surfcasting. otherwise, i think it hard to define it as anything else.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Karl F

If it's cold outside, snow on the ground, and threads like this, then it is winter

It's just beginning Karl.
By April 1 it will be all out war.
Soooooooooo, what's your take on this?

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

It's just beginning Karl.
By April 1 it will be all out war.
Soooooooooo, what's your take on this?

the wars will start sooner than you want, Mike. #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& and Clammer have been AWOL.

[thortum]

Seems like a simple question and answer. Surfacing casting means casting while standing in or at the surf. See how easy that was?

[Mike P]

We had a very lively, uh, "discussion" about this very topic back in our internet formative years, on the old WMI Wild West Show

I wonder whatever happened to Lughead the Dog

[numbskull]

"True surfcasting" ends, and "everything else begins" when you start buying eels. From there it is just a short step to boats, bunker, and sex with animals. Your wife will leave you, your children shun you, you'll lose your job, your house, your dignity, and one sad day, standing alone on a garbage littered beach, the cold fall wind tearing at your tattered lice infested jacket and freezing the snot dripping over the sores on your face, while a scrawny eel hangs lifeless from your nicotine stained, feces encrusted hand you'll think................



















"I wonder who my Yankees play tonight?"

[BassDawg]

WOW!!

that is sum funny-arsed sheet, Numbskull .

i am laughing my cohones off, right now. so this is what i have to look forward to?

it's all good except for the "feces encrusted hand" part .

[riverrat2]

I would rather have feces encrusted hands that painted fingernails

[Skitterpop]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Well, in my humble opinion, you need "surf" to make it surfcasting and sand sliding and eroding from under your feet with the wash trying to suck you back down the shingle in white water up to your chest while at the same moment your heaving a bait ( readlug, rigged eel, live eel, metal, or jig)that must be manipulated in some fashion by your hands which are wrapped around a rod 9 to 10-1/2 feet long.

Where knowing that one wrong move will have you tumbling ass over tea kettle in a cauldron of salt and sand and did I mention it was pitch dark?

Then you look up just in time to see the 7th wave about to break all feathery on top against the starlite, of course in a nano second the stars are gone and you instinctively double over cause here comes that monster cold green heartless wave and you find yourself parralel to the sand digging your rod butt in as the last hope and hope your surf belt is snugged up tight.

And on the other hand you have:

I do a lot of fishing Cuttyhunk style as well and standing on a rock while your corkers have a tenous hold on the slime and bubble weed encrusted rounded top of that boulder and all the while trying and holding your balance by the slimmest of margins where even the task of casting can cause you to loose that erzast balance point and it's dark plus your keeping an eye on that dark shape coming towrd you which turns out to be a roller twice the size of the ones already trying to rip you off that slimy rock and you know you going to go over, no doubt about it now. So it hits and you bail off the rock and ride it hoping for some semblance of sure footing in the ink dark swirling water. Of course you had to walk over oval shaped irregular stones for a half a mile to get to this spot where you slipped and fell twice doing that and you occasionally see the sparks from your corkers grinding against the dry rocks further up the shore.

That could be surfcasting too don't you think?

I love it when you talk dirty....nice words Steve.

I would think skishing would/should be included even though you are not always with feet planted.

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by Skitterpop

I love it when you talk dirty....nice words Steve.

I would think skishing would/should be included even though you are not always with feet planted.

Right on, Skitts

this, imho, would have to be the one allowable exception to the terra firma part of the equation. doan get me wrong, i think it takes a very "special" kinda LUNATIC to decide to Skish, but they are casting and they are in the surf..................ergo, surfcasting ~to the nth degree .

as for the wetsuiting element to this thang that we do, by the '09 season i plan to be fully neopreened-up and swimming to the best of the reefs and islands that NE has to offer. there are just TOO many times that i've looked out there and seen some unbelievably feeshy water and conditions that cannot be reached from the perch that i've secured by korkers and waders alone. besides, i actually believe that wetsuiting it would be safer and more enjoyable when them rogues and nor'easters rear their ugly and inevitable heads.

VERY expensive; but most rewarding, I hope ~since the NPT contingent seems to swear by this element of our sport .

[DZ]

I think many mistake "surf fishing" for "surf casting". Two very different methods IMO. Going to sit on some bait for some blues/bass, scup, tog, whatever - surf fishing. Going to cast plugs, eels, whatever - surf casting. If you're going surf casting - you need to be casting repeatedly.

DZ

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Well, in my humble opinion, you need "surf" to make it surfcasting and sand sliding and eroding from under your feet with the wash trying to suck you back down the shingle in white water up to your chest while at the same moment your heaving a bait ( readlug, rigged eel, live eel, metal, or jig)that must be manipulated in some fashion by your hands which are wrapped around a rod 9 to 10-1/2 feet long.

Where knowing that one wrong move will have you tumbling ass over tea kettle in a cauldron of salt and sand and did I mention it was pitch dark?

Then you look up just in time to see the 7th wave about to break all feathery on top against the starlite, of course in a nano second the stars are gone and you instinctively double over cause here comes that monster cold green heartless wave and you find yourself parralel to the sand digging your rod butt in as the last hope and hope your surf belt is snugged up tight.

And on the other hand you have:

I do a lot of fishing Cuttyhunk style as well and standing on a rock while your corkers have a tenous hold on the slime and bubble weed encrusted rounded top of that boulder and all the while trying and holding your balance by the slimmest of margins where even the task of casting can cause you to loose that erzast balance point and it's dark plus your keeping an eye on that dark shape coming towrd you which turns out to be a roller twice the size of the ones already trying to rip you off that slimy rock and you know you going to go over, no doubt about it now. So it hits and you bail off the rock and ride it hoping for some semblance of sure footing in the ink dark swirling water. Of course you had to walk over oval shaped irregular stones for a half a mile to get to this spot where you slipped and fell twice doing that and you occasionally see the sparks from your corkers grinding against the dry rocks further up the shore.

That could be surfcasting too don't you think?

So I didn't get it - is the "sand" a necessary part of the equation or not? Or do the theivenous rock hoppers get a little love too? Otherwise it might be called SandCasting

Surfcasting: done by the individual, usually in an upright position, with feet mostly in contact with terra and even sometimes firma, along the perimeter separating the salt body of water with the shoreline of land. Often this zone between sea and land will have the surf built up.

When I am fishing a marsh, a riverbank, the generally protected insides of a bay, I consider that shorefishing, not surfcasting

[HESH2]

pretty much agree with john r except for fishing tidal rivers.standing in chest deep in river water fishing a rip during tidal flush for bass and blues to me is surf fishing.granted not on a sandy beach or rock pile,but not standing on shore fishing either.in some cases at the mouth of these rivers your on sand casting into the surf where river meets larger body of water.HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL.

[fishaholic18]

Surfcasting=not fishing from a boat. Simple

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by fishaholic18

Surfcasting=not fishing from a boat. Simple

Pretty close to what I'm asking, but I'm shooting for people's representation of what a "shore caught" fish would be. In other words, where is the line between a true shore catch and all others. I think Dad Fisherman already answered it best though. Surf casting and surf fishing are the same thing to me(shore fishing).
You need to hook, fight and land from terra firma.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by JohnR

So I didn't get it - is the "sand" a necessary part of the equation or not? Or do the theivenous rock hoppers get a little love too? Otherwise it might be called SandCasting

Surfcasting: done by the individual, usually in an upright position, with feet mostly in contact with terra and even sometimes firma, along the perimeter separating the salt body of water with the shoreline of land. Often this zone between sea and land will have the surf built up.

When I am fishing a marsh, a riverbank, the generally protected insides of a bay, I consider that shorefishing, not surfcasting

Yes, the rock hoppers get a little love and actually I am being way more "christian" in my description of surfcasting than Numby, he won't let a live eel be included as a method of the same. I won't use them but still see them as a viable methodolgy.

Does that make me gray in Numby's black or white world?

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Yes, the rock hoppers get a little love and actually I am being way more "christian" in my description of surfcasting than Numby, he won't let a live eel be included as a method of the same. I won't use them but still see them as a viable methodolgy.

Does that make me gray in Numby's black or white world?

It was a JOKE, Steve. Please don't read more into it than that.

[Gunpowder]

ohhh jeez here it comes....

[NIGHT STRIKES]

Surf fishing is the sport of catching fish standing on the shoreline or wading in the surf. This may include casting from sandy and rocky beaches, rock jetties, fishing piers or any other shoreline location. With few exceptions, surf fishing is done in saltwater. Equipment"Make no mistake about it, surf fishing can be expensive... But you don't have to buy everything at once. Until you are sold on fishing the surf, there is no point in spending money that a couple of cold, wet, fishless nights might make you wish you had invested in a nice warm golf cart." -- (Fallon.29)


The basic premise of most surf fishing is to cast a bait or lure as far out into the water as possible. To facilitate this, basic surf fishing is done with a long 7’-12’ fishing pole with a large spinning or conventional spool fishing reel. It is important to keep in mind that all gear will be used in the harsh saltwater environment, subject to the corrosive effects of salt air, salt water and the destructive effects of sand on reels and other equipment. In addition to rod and reel, the surf fisherman requires an assortment of hooks, swivels, lines, and leaders (“Terminal Tackle”), tailored to the type of rod and reel they are using and the size and species of fish they are targeting.

In addition to terminal tackle, surf fisherman carry artificial baits and lures, casting and retrieving them to entice a bite from the target species. There are hundreds of different lures effective for surf fishing. Most can be purchased from local bait and tackle shops, online tackle retailers, at fishing tackle expositions or specialized surf fishing catalogs like The Surfcaster. Most surf fishermen utilize a “surf bag” to carry a selection of lures with them into the surf allowing easy switching from lure to lure until an effective lure is found, saving trips back to the beach or vehicle to change equipment.

In addition to the basic equipment, there are several other items that that surf fisherman (surfcasters) utilize to improve comfort, convenience and effectiveness. Among these are waders, used to wade out into the surf to gain distance from shore when casting the bait. In addition to extra casting distance, waders provide improved footing, protection for feet and legs from sharp bottom objects and stinging/biting fish and crustaceans, and protection from cold water temperatures. In areas where the bottom consists of slippery rocks or when fishing from mossy and slimy rock jetties, Cleated boots or cleated sandals (Korkers) are utilized to improve footing and enhance safety.

Much surf fishing is done at night, in the dark to coincide with the nocturnal feeding habits of many target species. Many surf fishermen add items such as flashlights, headlamps, light sticks and other gear to facilitate night fishing. DangersAs with any water sport care must be taken to participate safely in this sport. Much surf fishing is done in rough whitewater surf conditions. Powerful waves and strong undertows can cause serious injury or death if proper attention is not paid to safety.

Areas fished should be scouted in low tide conditions to note sudden drop offs or dangerous conditions hidden at high tides. Any fisherman with waders should wear a wader belt to keep waders from filling with water in the event one falls in the surf. The aforementioned cleats should be worn anywhere there are slippery rocks or shells underfoot. PFD's (personal flotation devices) should be considered especially when fishing alone in big surf or on jetties. In that most lures and hooks feature razor sharp points, care must be taken not to hook ones self or others when casting. In the event that one accidentally hooks oneself or someone else, it is a good idea to carry a quality cutting pliers capable of cutting the hooks you are fishing with. SpeciesA wide array of species is targetable from surf and shore. Chief among these for most surf fisherman is the Striped Bass. This species is available from shore and can range in weight from a few lbs to the world record of 78.5 lb lbs. Fish in the 30 to 40 lb. range are fairly common, especially on the northeast US coast. Other species targeted include Bluefish, Redfish (Red Drum) Tautog (Blackfish), Flounder (Fluke), Weakfish (Sea Trout), Bonita and Albacore Tuna, Black Drum, Pompano, Spanish mackerel, Snook, Tarpon and numerous others.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Well, in my humble opinion, you need "surf" to make it surfcasting and sand sliding and eroding from under your feet with the wash trying to suck you back down the shingle in white water up to your chest while at the same moment your heaving a bait ( readlug, rigged eel, live eel, metal, or jig)that must be manipulated in some fashion by your hands which are wrapped around a rod 9 to 10-1/2 feet long.

Ok Flap,

So what you are saying here is if we were fishing, say, Race Pt. with a 25KT southwest breeze, balls deep in the "surf", and skipping plugs over the tops of the waves we're surf fishing. Let's say the "surf" fishing sucks and we decide to head around to the back with eels. There's no real "surf" now, because the sou'west has flattened out the water. As I reach my feces encrusted hand into the eel bag, Numbskull suddenly appears from the dunes stark naked with an animal under each arm and shouts out, "What the %$%$%$%$ are you guys doing?"
What's your answer going to be?

[Saltheart]

Shore and boat. that's what i would distinguish. If you are in a boat , it can't be called surf fishing. If you are not in a boat , its shore fishing and may or may not be surf fishing to those who want to bother their brains about such things.

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Ok Flap,

As I reach my feces encrusted hand into the eel bag, Numbskull suddenly appears from the dunes stark naked with an animal under each arm and shouts out, "What the %$%$%$%$ are you guys doing?"

Obviously I need an eel for lubrication, that fcking smelly jelly we put on plugs just doesn't do the job.

[fishaholic18]

Must be winter there...

[Flaptail]

At 25 sw at the Race the wind would be on your port quarter and still producing "surf" but go just around to 2nd rip and then you would be in the calm, no surf stuff.

Then you would be bait fishing with a live eel or more correctly shore fishing.Everryone knows the true surfcasting (w/plugs) doesn't happen until you get south of High head in Truro anyway! RP is a lee shore most times!

Numby, I know it was a joke, so wasn't mine!