[melion]

South Shore Advice Needed

Just got my 10' Lamicopy called Tica and Penn 104Z. I'm planning to hit the south sore this summer and catch my first fish in LI. At this point I'm thinking of hitting Field 6, West End at Jones Beach and Moses with bunker chunks. I'm a total newbie at surf fishing used to fishing serene lakes in Maine. Any advice? Any lures(wt,legnth) that are a must? Any spots I should definitely check out? Is it worth hitting beaches when you see no bait, action from shore or should I walk until I see something? I'm willing to do the leg work but any hints or directions would be much appreciated. BTW, what's the difference between North Shore and South Shore fishing? How is it different?

(This post edited by melion on 02/13/2003)

 

[Capthookem]

FISH, FISH & FISH

melion,
Welcome aboard !!
All those spots you mentioned can be good at times. The answer however is not that black and white. Go as much as you can. Take notes and log them. Talk to the other fisherman you meet. Talk to the people in the tackle stores. Information in fishing is crucial. We all have good days and bad. Try to increase the number of good days with as much recent good information that you can collect. In short, Fish, fish fish !! Hope this helps. I'm sure it's a lot like fresh water fishing.
Good luck,

Capt. H

(This post edited by Capthookem on 02/13/2003)

 

[629660]

Learn to read the beach.

You can start your scouting now.Go at low tide & High tide,Learn where the troughs ,points,Eddys & bars are,read the beach it can tell you alot about whats under the water,a slow slop,a steep slop,points are easy to pick out,troughs are easily seen at low water.Just because you don't see bait does'nt mean there is'nt any there.Try fishing the same area time & time again untill you realy feel comfortable that you understand whats under the water.Once you feel confident that you really now how to read the beach then you can move on to new areas.Just remember this will not happen over night,do your research & keep a well kept LOG book,Even if you don't catch,Things to keep in a log include,sun rise,sun set,moon rise moon set,High tide,low tide,time fished ,plugs/bait used,time of day,how many hours fished,area fished,reason you think fish were holding,bait present.My list goes on,but heres a little to get you on your way.You gotta put your time in,I've spent days at a time in 1 general area,consistantly takeing fish from the same spots time & time again.
Good luck to ya & be safe.

 

[melion]

Any must have lures?

I will definitely study the beach when I can get a chance. How about lures and poppers and such? Any must haves?

 

[SurfaceStrike]

For Lures think of fishing in columns.

For the top column (Floating lures). Pencil Poppers, Gibbs Metal lips, Poppers.
Middle Column. Needle fish, Bombers (Bombers can actually be all three columns depending upon which ones you buy and how fast you reel them, some float some dive a little some dive a lot.(check package)
Bottom Column. Diamond Jigs, Bucktails, Hopkins and of course bait but now we are mixing religons.

As for colors the rule goes fishing in the light use light colors (White, yellow, Blue). Fishing at night use dark colored lures (black, purple.)

Scout the beaches at a dead low. Preferably during a full or new moon phase (Yes I mean day time, the moon is still there). The tides are more dramatic. Look close to the beach. You cannot cast 300 yards.
The fishing is good on both the North and South Shore. The biggest problem with the North shore is that legal parking is very limited.
I am a big fan of fishing new and full moons plus or minus 2 days and 2 hours in front of and 2 hours through high tide.

Like JP said keep a log. Overtime you will see trends.

 

[615965]

North opposed to South, if you like big surf, stronger currents, more eel grass on your hook 3-8 ounces of lead plus a chunk to hold bottom focus on the South Shore, if you want something that reminds you more of big lake conditions, less current, more structure, less wind, larger tidal rise and fall, 1/2 to 3 ounces of lead plus a chunk to hold bottom choose the Norh Shore both have there productive periods, although access on the north shore is harder to come by, what i can suggest is choose an area or 2 that is known to produce and focus your efforts there dont try to chase fishing reports all over the island, know a spot and know it well fish it evry phase of the tide all season you'll be suprised how often u hook up, these fish are at a spot sometimes 1 day and the next day are far away, chasing reports will have u there after the fish are well gone, focus on your choosen spot commit yourself and you'll be screaming FISH ON....

 

[624421]

If I may add to this...?
You WILL be discoraged easily. No lie.
To help anyone I can I always like to start them out by saying "Go at night and bring swimmers". Fish the backsides of inlets and some rocky North shore beaches. Start out fishing those perfect windless nights and toss those Cheekin' scratch Long A 7/8oz. bombers and retrieve so slow it hurts. That should help anyone just starting out. You'll know and grow from there. Each spot you fish you'll see which stage of the tide does best for that location. As well as moon phase and wind direction. Key thing here is night! Never trust a Striperman with a tan!
Hope this helps...and "Welcome"

 

[623628]

ohhhhhh EQ your getting my cabin fever to be alot worse. I love those calm windless nights. I stroal up to one of the points on the north shore and throw a black broken back Red Fin! And all of a sudden out of the silence. "SMACK"

 

[MakoMatt]

melion, someone mentioned something about not getting discouraged if you don’t catch a fish, this is true. I have been throwing lines into salt water from shore for about 44 years now, and can tell you firsthand that is not a very productive way to catch fish. Some may argue this, but trust me, much more often then not you will catch nothing.

I can give you a couple of tips, based on the places YOU mentioned, I would stick to the inlets, Jones Beach, West End 2, is a good one. If you are bent on catching fish, stick to one good place and learn it, but understand, it will take time, you must put in your dues. You can walk the beaches till **** freezes over and more often then not you will not see any signs of life that you can cast to.

The other thing I can tell you is this, you need to go often, a lot, and this applies not only to surfcasting, but all fishing. It is simply a mathematical thing, you can do everything right but if you only go out a few times, you won’t catch, on the other hand, if you go often, you can do everything wrong and catch fish. It’s really a matter of being in the right place at the right time, plain and simple. You will however learn to put yourself into the right conditions, in the right place, and hopefully, the rest will fall into place for you.

One last tip, if you can, go to Montauk.

MakoMatt

 

[melion]

Permit Info

Where and how do you get permits to fish at night? I know you need permits after the sun sets in Jones Beach West End, Field 6. Where do I get this permits and other permits for other spots? WHich permits are musts?

 

[624762]

There is a season for everything...............

Starting off summer ??????
Did anyone fail to tell you that May and June is the best months, then September, October and November are the other.......
Summer ? There will be only beer cans and plastic bags left for you by these guys..........