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I’m pretty easy going when it comes to my favorite pastime of surfcasting but that wasn’t always the case. Many tides ago when I fished for money I often found myself pissed at other fisherman. Each hook-up was $$$. Fishing for $$$ brings out the worst in fishermen.
I’ve witnessed the gold rush shantytown atmosphere on block. Hand guns bandied about, fistfights in the wash, police called down to southwest point to settle disputes. Surf fishing back then was anything but relaxing and not for the faint of heart. But I was hungry for bass back then – if you weren’t aggressive you sat on the beach and let others catch the cows.
I tend to fish mostly alone unless I cast certain spots that have always been what I consider “picket line” locations like lining up on a cobble bar. I would consider the canal such a location where fishing in a crowd should be expected as the norm – especially during daylight. I do like casting in the company of a few guys on this site, Tagger, TattooBob, PaulS, to name a few, as they are good company and very considerate.
Not much “gets my goat” nowadays – although lobster gear buoys are my demon – if I had any guts most wouldn’t be floating “attached” where I fish – but my cooler conscience prevails.
What I’ve also found is that many of the younger casters (and a few of the vets) tend to have no consideration when surfcasting. I attribute this to the fact that many of these new guys didn’t start surfcasting in the more traditional ways of the past. That is starting out with short boots and splash pants, graduating to chest waders, then onto a wetsuit if desired. This gradual transition forced surfcasters to learn how to fish the shallow littoral areas where bass spend a good amount of their time. The younger generation now tend to jump right into a wetsuit and want to swim to the farthest perch they can see, completely ignoring the littoral zone. Because of that many have no clue how to catch shallow water bass in the first two waves and in fact swim right through the bass on their way to that off shore rock in the domain of boats – I call them “I wanna be a boat” casters. This is fine as long as they use some consideration and do not swim right in front of other traditional surfcasters - but many do. They just need a little education.
As I get older I see this surf casting game changing and it’s pretty fascinating to say the least. But I worry that this new generation doesn’t seem to get involved in the issues of fisheries management, public access, etc. This does not bode well for the future of surfcasting.
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