I Don't Care What Anyone Says........

[Slingah]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

A couple canal high liners I spoke to yesterday mentioned it was sporadic (but good if you were lucky enough to be there) this fall. You basically had to be on patrol 24/7 otherwise you'd likely miss out. Same thing applied to a bunch of other locales...if you could be out 5, 6, 7 nights a week and keep up with things it was a little better.

Other than being out most nights, you were largely reliant on pure chance and %$%$%$%$ luck. I got the " you shoulda been here yesterday" report more times than I can ever remember.

Late fall was an exercise in futility...early fall was quite good for me though.

All in all it was an average year, IMO. I don't feel fish availability/numbers is the problem; it’s the distribution of fish meaning nobody knows what will show where and when.

Is the sky falling? I don't even remotely think so.

good post.
I think a lot of surfcasting is just that ...luck...
Going to a spot and blindly casting a plug over and over hoping a fish will bite can get you down or frustrated.
Too many variables to be able to call it a bad season from employing just that that method.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Slingah

Going to a spot and blindly casting a plug over and over hoping a fish will bite can get you down or frustrated.

You making fun of me?

[BigFish]

Most plug fishing is just that...."casting blindly"! Its the entire premise behind the technique! The fish are not always rolling on top and busting bait.......you mostly have to work for them, casting blindly, cycling through your plugs, altering your retrieve speed and finding what they want and how they want it!

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Most plug fishing is just that...."casting blindly"! Its the entire premise behind the technique! The fish are not always rolling on top and busting bait.......you mostly have to work for them, casting blindly, cycling through your plugs, altering your retrieve speed and finding what they want and how they want it!

Newsflash - most fishing is blind, regardless of what you use; plugs, tins, chunks, fly, eel, rubba, whatever . That may be the great equalizer, in most cases you do not see your quarry.

[Slingah]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

You making fun of me?

No.... I think your accomplishments speak for themselves....

Originally Posted by BigFish

Most plug fishing is just that...."casting blindly"! Its the entire premise behind the technique! The fish are not always rolling on top and busting bait.......you mostly have to work for them, casting blindly, cycling through your plugs, altering your retrieve speed and finding what they want and how they want it!

Oh I agree...I'm just saying it can be frustrating for me and not really a good indicator on the overall outlook/season. Just my opinion.
All I know is I am going to fish some different spots next year....like the big fish ones JohnR is talking about. I have been fairly successful in the past, do alright now and will hopefully improve my numbers next year.

[basswipe]

What a horrible year!

I've been fishing all along the Westerly beaches and surrounding areas every day for the past 3wks.Nothing to show for it.The Fall run was non-existant this year.

Its was such a poor year,out of the three setups I use the most I only changed line once on one of them.

[Cool Beans]

I really believe the crazy weather and lack of much of a summer effected the fish the most. Crazy temp and barometric shifts most of the year, can goof it up a lot. Not to mention it seems to be moving straight from summer to winter a lil too fast. Seemed to be a lot of weekends that my boat was grounded due to high winds and crappy weather. Personally I fished easily twice as much as last year and caught less than 1/2 the fish I did last year....

[spence]

Sounds like I picked a good season to take off

-spence

[flyvice11787]

Originally Posted by Cool Beans

I really believe the crazy weather and lack of much of a summer effected the fish the most. Crazy temp and barometric shifts most of the year, can goof it up a lot. Not to mention it seems to be moving straight from summer to winter a lil too fast. Seemed to be a lot of weekends that my boat was grounded due to high winds and crappy weather. Personally I fished easily twice as much as last year and caught less than 1/2 the fish I did last year....

Agreed . I believe the tough fishing has a lot to do with the wacky weather. Fall fishing isn't what it should be on Long Island. I'm just hoping for a very late run, and that I can tough out the cold weather to fish it.

[JohnR]

I think surfcasting is more fickle than boat fishing but less based on luck. In a boat, you move without thinking less about it. Your "spot" tends not to be a 20-150yd cone around some point or geographical fixture as in the surfangler but a drift of 500 yds along some particular location or rockpiles.

In the surf, if you are skilled, spend 4-5 of every 7 days of every week on the water at known productive big fish spots while using big fish methods you are going to do well regardless. Fish distribution will determine whether you do real good or just OK.

If you are fishing from the boat and apply that same high degree of skill and time, you are just going to have more quality numbers and more quality fish.

Me, I don't have that skill. But I get schooled by those people in those conditions often enough to tell you dats what it is