Five Surf Fishing Reels for Under $250

Fishing in the surf is as rewarding as it can be challenging. Incessant waves, mighty currents, salty air, and heavy winds are just a few factors that test a surfcasters will as much as they test our gear. Surfcasters require reels with enough brawn to overpower large predators like striped bass, and enough durability to […]

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Final Trips in the Late Fall Surf

Many years, my surfcasting season ends with the intention to make one final trip that, for one reason or another, never materializes. I don’t think I’ve ever made a cast knowing it would be the last one of my surf-fishing year. Those trips usually end up being forgettable, fishless outings in the same or similar […]

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5 Steps to Catch More Steelhead

Finding and catching more steelhead on the Salmon River, or anywhere else for that matter, starts with good planning and an understanding of your quarry. Here are five tips to help you do just that. 1. Think Like a Steelhead When a steelhead enters the Salmon River, it’s on a mission. To accomplish that, it […]

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Remembering Bill Couch and his Pond Darter

Bill Couch was a generational icon in the Northeast striped bass fishing community.  He was the owner of Couch’s Cedar Works, through which he designed, built, and sold top quality plugs at an affordable price.  He was universally loved and admired by a group of fishermen who could squabble, bicker, and get nasty over any […]

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24 Gifts for Striper Fishermen

From surf to boat, and Maine to Maryland, the striped bass reigns supreme as the world’s  greatest gamefish. Here are some of the items at the top of our wishlist for next striper season. #gift-guide{max-width: 1080px;}#gift-guide .rcorners {margin:12px 0 15px 0; height: auto; overflow:hidden;}#gift-guide .rcorners h3 {margin:0;}#gift-guide .rcorners p {margin:0;}#gift-guide .rcorners .rc-title {border-radius: 15px; border: […]

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2022 Gift Guide: 9 Great Gifts for Surfcasters

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World Record Catches Likely to Stand Forever

World records come and world records go. That may sound a bit cavalier describing something as priceless and prestigious as an all-tackle world record, particularly for major game fish. But the fact is that such records are often surprisingly fleeting, broken by a larger fish caught years, months or even weeks later. In fact, there […]

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Looking Ahead: November Fishing In Long Island

Rockfish Charters gets up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Close to Metro New York and along the South Shore, November is often a banner month, especially for blackfish, bluefish, and striped bass. Peanut bunker have been prevalent and anglers look forward to finding stripers in the Rockaways, and […]

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The New Jersey Fall Run Finale

Capt. Jim Freda holding a large Jersey striper caught late in the season. The ocean waters off Ocean and Monmouth counties have been well known for the run of large striped bass in May and June, but over the last five seasons, these large bass have returned in the late fall. When the water temperature […]

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Get Into Turning Plugs

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Hickory Shad: The Unsung Heroes of the Fall Run

In pop culture, a hero is the subject of admiration, idealized for strength and ability. For most fall-run surfcasters, the striped bass fits the bill. However, there is a less-sought-after species that deserves recognition and should be included in fall-run forays alongside stripers, bluefish, and false albacore. To loosely quote Gary Oldman in Christopher Nolan’s […]

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North Shore Stripers at Night

Each fall, husky striped bass creep along the North Shore after dark to fatten up on bait in less-pressured waters. Growing up on the central North Shore of Long Island made it easy to fall in love with the sport of fishing. I live a stone’s throw from local beaches on Smithtown and Huntington bays, […]

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Bucktails In Boulder Fields for Big Striped Bass

Rocky, wind-blown beaches provide striped bass with a smorgasbord of bait, the ideal bucktail fishing conditions during the fall migration. Photo by Tom Lynch – ANGRYFISH.TV A little over five years ago, I walked into tackle shops and bought bucktail jigs, expecting to tie one on and magically catch fluke and striped bass. I ventured […]

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10 Stops Along the Fall Run

Fall run in full swing: A school of stripers feasts on small baitfish off the south side of Montauk. Photo by Mike Demarco It’s easy to romanticize the fall striper run. Changing leaves, crisp weather, empty seashore towns, and the striper season saving its best fishing for last. No matter where you fish in the […]

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Sandy Beach Soft Plastics

When it comes to plugs, I believe the versatile ones, the plugs that can do as many different things as possible, are the best. My reasons could fill up a book, but they actually come down to two essentials. First, if a plug is versatile, I don’t have to carry as much on each trip—I […]

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The Benefits of Wading Belts In the Surf

Z-Belt Gen 2Designed by Luke Znosko to alleviate the back pain from carrying a packed-to-the-gills plug bag over his shoulder, he combined the features of a surfcasting belt made of nylon webbing with a neoprene weightlifting belt to create a surf belt that provides lumbar support for long outings in the surf. A roller locking […]

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