New to the surf,not fishing

[striper32]

Hello Guys,I am Patrick from Brooklyn,Just kinda gettn ready for the spring run like most.My question is(I know there are secrets about spots,and I would not want to intrude)I am new to surfishing scene although I have had some decent catches years ago,But now at 55(today)and new here as well,I thought maybe someone(hopefully productive) could give some advice into some fishing areas that are accessible to me,if I need a permit etc.I am currently trying very hard in reading all I can On just about everything pertaining to the sport.Well thanks,and I hope I am not asking to much.
Best
Pat

[BigFish]

First of all welcome to S-B! Second of all....Happy Birthday! Sounds as if you are on the right track Patrick....read all you can and surf the net! Also, just get out with your gear and learn the spots nearest to you.....put in your time on the water and it will pay off! I am not from Brooklyn so of course I am not familiar with your area, but keep doing what you are doing and feel free to ask questions! Also a good idea might be to try and find a fishing club in your area and join! There is a wealth of information to be found in a club not to mention you might make a few fishing buddies along the way! Good luck and again....welcome!

[fishbones]

Welcome to the site and Happy Birthday! I'm not familiar with fishing NY, but I would bet there are lots of good areas with the amount of shoreline you have down there. Like Bigfish said, check around online, read some books and look into joining a club. Once you have found some spots, you'll be well prepared to catch fish with the information you get here. If you ask any questions about gear, techniques, etc... you'll get more information here than you could get on your own in a lifetime.

[plankton]

I'm not familiar with the NYC area either, but one bit of info I can give you is to find a few spots and fish them until you really know them well, then branch out and find a few more spots and repeat. When I first started I tried to fish too many places, eventually I realized that it was better to have a couple of spots that I knew how they would fish at different stages of tide, moon phases, etc. so that I could just go and fish and not have to try and constantly be figuring out what was going on. As far as spots, one of my favorite activities this time of year is hunting for a few new spots to add to my rotation in the coming season. Fish are easy to understand, they will congregate in areas that have: 1. current 2. structure 3. a food source, its not hard to find places that offer all three. The difficulty in shore fishing is finding a spot that offers the above and has: 1. accessibility 2. parking 3. is not overrun with other anglers (I hate fishing in a crowd!). Hope this helps, good luck, and welcome to the site!

[Raven]

Born on february 14th eh?

i'll bet you always get some then huh


welcome to S-B

[bart]

"find a point."- Joe Lyons.

this is what Joe told me when i was first starting out. simple statement but extremely helpful. all points have structure. structure creates current/forms rips. (some points have more current than others). current/rips attract both predators and prey. fish the point hard throughout all tidal stages to figure out when it produces best. and use eels...

[CaptMike]

Welcome! I'm not sure how far you are willing to travel but the two places that come to mind are places in the montauk area and sandy hook. Both these places are great striper destinations, especially in the fall and spring. I don't know much about montauk but if you venture down to sandy hook stop by the tackle bow or Julian's, they'll point you in the right direction.

[Raven]

pun intended
===================================
i'll never forget the experiment where they took a bass
and put it in a circular tank that was pure white in coloration.

without any structure what so ever
...that bass swam in a continuous circle round and round and round never stopping.

then they added nothing but a black line on the side of the tank
that was say 3 inches wide...
but the side was still smooth as before...ok

now the fish had something to relate to
and it quit circling the tank
and hovered or suspended
right next to the black line
because now it had something to relate to.

keep that in mind