Beach vs. Boat

[striprman]

I enjoy boat fishing, I like to groundfish. Scup, flounder, black sea bass, togs.

Wheres my frying pan ???

[Slipknot]

I'll catch bass any way I can , you know that Steve. But shorefishing is my passion.
I am also getting more and more discouraged by the fishing from shore lately, the closures and seals etc. are pushing us out and it's very sad. After this mornings experience I have decided to start a letter writting campaign to all the polititions I can. I drive all the way to the Race this am knowing there is about a 20 minute window just before sunrise to catch some bass from shore and after getting up after 3 hours sleep I find the trail to the light is closed so I have to go out by the station and it's only open for a few hundred yards for all the SCV and others, so I reluctantly park and walk I go where I thought I could get some and started fishing and only got a few bluefish hits for my efforts but found Ishould have gone another 500 yards or all the way to hatches because that is where they were for all of 25 minutes and guys dragged their bass all that way back. You have no idea how much I wanted to just drive right out there past the posts and take my chances, I saw no reason whatsoever for it to be closed
maybe I'll drag my skiff out there in that zoo tom. or the next day and tangle with the wireline crew

I HATE MUNG and Plovers

[beachwalker]

Bm and I wish we had aboat last night. shore fishing was a bomb here after looking so promising

[UserRemoved1]

Flap I feel the need to be sick....I wanna take you out there in the yeller barge...We picked some nice fish outta dem boulders last Wednesday...

[Crafty Angler]

Flap -

I'll be among the first to bust chops with BFDC, but all things considered, catching is a helluva lot better than not catching - and boats are just a tool toward that end at times.

On the other hand, there is a sense - for me, anyway - that a shore fought bass is superior game to one taken from a boat - but again, that's my own personal opinion.

There's a feeling of accomplishment and self-reliance in landing a cow from the rocks that just doesn't happen for me in a boat - I'm feel I'm relying on my skills and senses rather than electronics.

But all that being said, there are skills a good boatmen develops that go beyond just relying on a fish-finder, too -

At 56, however, I have to admit that at some point in the future I'll have to consider switching - I can only drag this old carcass around the rocks for so long - but as long as I'm still able to rely on the original parts - like hips, knees and shoulders, I'll stick to rock-hopping.

But considering the way the season's gone so far, if anyone asks me to go for a cruise.... ....hey, I can get my boat outfits together in real short order.

I guess the most interesting sub-text to this whole thread -and I'm not trying to hijack it here - is the real fall-off of shore-based catches for guys on the board over a pretty wide range in our area.

I dunno, DZ and I have had some conversations over the last year about it - and we both have the feeling that the shore-based caster is sort of the canary in the coal-mine. Locally, the near-shore fishery has been down while the boatmen are doing notably better on the reefs - and it just has me concerned about the state of both the forage and the bass

We'll see, I suppose....