The Ditch, the fish, and the fine folks up there!

June 12, 2000:

    Well folks, seems like the wheels kept turnin', even in our absence! My apologies to my beloved wife for my delinquent phone call...she took to to get the message out to me! Sorry honey, our "schedule" was a little out of synch with your sleeping schedule and our cell phones wouldn't behave that far from home...yes, we did see some pay phones, but Saltheart finally saved my skin at breakfast on Saturday morning, it was good to hear your (sleeping) voice and yes, next time I will make sure that I call you ASAP! We met a few old friends and made a few new ones, but sadly, we didn't educate all that many fish. Well, not if we compare the numbers to those from last fall, but relatively, we clobbered them. That is, compared to the "reports" or to what the locals were catching, we killed them, but it just wasn't up to the level of activity that we had become used to. Still, on the trek home, Charlie managed one last "God, I love that place." Yessir, I couldn't agree more!

   The big winner, hands down, was the new MegaBait jig, 3 1/2oz size, color didn't seem to matter. It started the first time we tried to fish in the daylight, Charlie was catching fluke in the "Aquarium"...the only spot in the Ditch that we'll take credit for naming. I had just landed a short on a MB jig and watched another follow it up to my feet. I moved slightly east to a very prominent point and put on a 4 1/2" MegaBait plug, just to check the rip I was fishing for anything "paying attention" to the top few feet. My first cast was interrupted by a LARGE taking the tiny plug about 3 feet from where I was standing! I saw the fish, easily mid 20# class, grab the plug and just start heading north to the middle of the Ditch. No sweat, the drag was giving line smoothly...Charlie noticed the well bent Loomis and started making his way to my spot. About 50 feet into the first run, the fish just fell off! Grrr......  It happens, no big deal, but I woulda liked to land that one!  We caught stripers, blues, fluke, a seabass, and countless starfish on the MegaBait jigs...many of them in broad daylight! These jigs cast further than anything else we own, they sink quickly, and even though we bounced them on the bottom for the majority of the trip, we lost a total of 3 of them! They are possibly ideal for the Ditch in that when you are done bouncing them, as they swing out, just a couple turns on the reel handle and they come up quickly to avoid the under water rock cliffs. Killer jigs, we were sad that we didn't get the chance to throw them into any breaking fish, certainly they'd have killed these jigs...and the distance we could throw them would have put these things in front of many fish. Next time...we'll find the breaking masses next time!

  So, let's have a rehash of the trip, one day at a time. Wednesday, we left....and got stuck in traffic in CT (always in CT!) for a solid hour.  Our arrival at the Ditch at 3:45 Thursday am wasn't too bad...except the first hint of the coming sunrise was already starting in the east! Egads!!! That's early! OK, we got past that....grabbed some gear and headed to Good Hole, there we would meet Saltheart in short order. Charlie missed one on his first cast.....I had to wait till my 3rd cast for a hit, but mine was landed, measured, and released. My first fish was over 31", not too shabby. Saltheart and his buddy Fishpart showed up a couple casts later.  After a short greeting session, it was back to casting. A couple casts later, I was in again, another fish over 30"....and then a short....and another over 30". Unsure of what I was doing different from the other folks, I let them know what I was throwing...a 2 1/2oz Smilin' Bill and a 7 1/2" Pork-O white/chartreuse trailer. My next fish was between 35-36" and fat.  Charlie had disappeared to the east a little...and found some tiny stripers chasing sand eels on top that grabbed his small shad jig...and then he came back. It wasn't fast fishing...it wasn't easy fishing...in fact, it was tough for the Ditch we had come to know...but when the smoke cleared, we had landed a few fish. I had 8 landed, 5 over 30", one over 35"...and two shorts around 24-26".  Charlie had a few little ones on rubber baits/shad jigs. Saltheart and Fishpart had "casting practice" as Saltheart called it. It did seem that the big white/chartreuse Pork-O's were the trigger, I was the only one throwing them consistently here.  I handed out a couple jars at the truck, we made plans for the following evening and split up. It's always good to see Saltheart, I only wish he lived closer, he's a truly good egg and we always enjoy his company! It was good to meet his buddy as well! Also, as we got back to the truck, SteveK introduced himself to us...good to meet you Steve! It seems that there's no sneaking around for us, not even 320 miles from home ;^) That's ok, it's always a pleasure to meet the find folks from this site! 

  So, that was our first little adventure at the Ditch...we had an outstanding breakfast at Quintal's, rounded up a room at the Herring Run Motel, where Mo, the manager, always makes us smile. See, Mo is a female striper nut....and it's always nice to run into females who share our love of this sport! She's also a super nice person, lots of info as to what's what up there with the herring and the fishing, and she always makes us feel welcome. We'll stay there again....and again...and again! 

  That's it for now, there's a lot of catching up to do around here, not to mention the hit the brownie point jar took from my lack of a simple phone call! Rats, I hate to lose those hard earned points over something that simple!?!? I made a mental note and hope to avoid having the jar dumped out again! ;^) 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

The Ditch...and some local news

June 13, 2000:

UPDATE: Lex A-40's<---(click here to see them) are now reduced nearly $3.00 each! These are 3oz wooden swimmers...for just $11.79! This price won't last long, it's just to get these beauties out into some of your hands, they are gorgeous and will swim even in a decent current!  Also, the (click here->>>Trilene Big Game (click here->>>Trilene Big Game page is up! More coming all the time! ;^)

   Whew, lots to do when you sneak away for a few days! The good news is all the preparation prior to our departure is paying off, the orders that came in whilst we were away have been all filled and shipped...no delay on that front! My lovely wife Carole even packaged one and shipped it on last Friday, the stuff I was waiting for arrived as I suspected and she sent it right out...go Carole! ;^) Lots of pages to update, changes to make, and even some updates for the photo pages slated for this afternoon. 

   We've long ago decided that Murphy guy, the one who controls "Murphy's Law", we decided that he exists primarily to mess with fishermen.  Another prime example happened while we were away. Long ago...very long ago...we ordered a substantial supply of Triplefish fluorocarbon...we fell in love with it last year at the Cape. As of our departure on last Wednesday night, it hadn't arrived yet. Up at the Cape, I ran out of fluoro....I was forced to purchase some at a retail establishment up there....and paid $15 for 25yds of 30# fluoro - OUCH! Sure enough, the day after I returned, the box arrived...a sure sign of Murphy. So, another page to put up....125yd spools of Triplefish Fluorocarbon, $24.39....and this is the same stuff we used all year last year in both 20# and 30# and were very impressed with it! Smaller, 50yd spools will be available in both 20# and 30#, but they only sent me the 20# at the moment (them rat bastages!) Other new things of which the pages are being built right now....Fireline, 10, 14, 20, and 30# - $14.49/125yds. Trilene Big Game, both green and clear, 1/4# spools, 15, 20, and 25# test - $7.49. Spectron Braid, 150yd and 600yd spools, only in 35# and 50# test. Uncle Josh pork stuffs, and a new favorite for me, Pork-O pork trailers...and 6" Mr. Twister trailers, the nice long, thin ones, in white and yellow...in packs of 12. More flavors of Fin-S-Fish, Sampo snaps and swivels...and all sorts of other stuff!  Ok, let's get back to the fishing, but keep snooping around the , things are changing there all the time!

   Locally, in our absence, there were some notable fish taken. Chet, a member of the Berkley club, landed a 53# striper. Buddy, from the Spring Lake club landed a 43#er....and DanO from our club had one around 20#. Tony G from our club had one just shy of 30#, Barry W from our club had one around 25#. It seems our smallish club, The Shark River Surf Anglers, won another tournament this past weekend, even in the absence of many of the guys who usually contribute much to the scales! Way to go to all the guys who did get out and win this one for us!!

  Ok, we've covered our first stop at the Ditch on yesterday's page...the hot lure was 2 1/2oz Smilin' Bill, 8/0S, w/ a white/chartreuse 7 1/2" Pork-O trailer. This turned out to be the most consistent producer for me, eventually, for Charlie as well...he's sometimes a little resistant to throwing big hairy jigs, he likes his rubber stuff, shad jigs, Fin-S-Fish, Slugg-O's...but he's not a slow learner! So, Thursday afternoon, we awoke at 4pm...rubbed the cobwebs from our eyes, showered, and had a delicious dinner at Penner's just west of the railroad bridge....and I would recommend that place to any hungry fisherman! Ummmmm....  A little driving around and we found ourselves looking down what we will later deem "the 100 steps of death"...a nice scenic overlook at the top of the hill on the land side of the Ditch, just west of the Herring Run. Funny, somewhere in the back of my skull I remember MikeP warning me to never go that way...he counted the steps, 119 or so...but on the way down, it just didn't look that bad! So, we took the plunge, no gear, just a fact finding tour.  Ah, no sweat, we bounded down those steps like two little kids, wondering what MikeP was talking about! At the bottom, the first thing we noticed is that we were a couple clicks shy of a spot we like to fish on the west tide...and then Charlie saw them....herring...and lots of them! And they weren't just hanging around, they were being actively pursued by stripers! It didn't take long for us to realize that we needed some ammo....and it was about 40 steps into the climb back to the truck that Mike's words were beginning to make sense. After about 85 steps, I could even hear his voice....and by the top, it made perfect sense why one shouldn't take that route! No matter, after a short sit down/catch your breath session, we grabbed our gear and bounded back down the steps (slow learners I guess) The fish were still chasing the herring, Charlie was throwing slab flies at them, I was fishing far past them with the same 2 1/2oz jig/Pork-O combo that had worked that am. Nada...and the herring were making their way past and the fish were no longer chasing them. Charlie took up his position down current from me and cast a jig right off...and grumbled audibly about backlashes. I then stuck a feisty 27" short, which was promptly greeted and released. I moved a little closer to Charlie to offer him moral support that he didn't need....and then stuck a decent fish. After a proper tussle, I landed a nice 34-35" unicorn, again, greeted and promptly released. Charlie immediately stuck one, a very near keeper that gave him an encouraging battle.....and then it was over, not another hit in 15 minutes more casting. Hmmm...strange critters these unicorns!

   Just then, a booming voice from above made me stop and take note...the voice said "Tim?"  Uh oh, wondering what I had done....and then I heard Charlie respond "Nope, that's him."  Alright, at least I wasn't hearing things! I turned around and met MikeF, long time on-line acquaintance who had braved the 100 steps of death to meet us! Brave man. We shook hands, exchanged recent war stories, and invited him along for a little walk to a spot we fished last fall. We yakked and chatted the whole way, a nice guy Mike is, and fellow long rodder to boot! Anyway, we got to the other spot as the tide was dying, no hits, no runs, no errors....and began the long climb up the 100 steps of death once again. Winded and wounded, we said good bye to Mike, and headed for a "short" rest....got involved with the never ending Devils/Stars hockey game and didn't make it back out again until 1am...but that's tomorrow's story! ;^)

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Good clammin' waters, Ditch trip continues

June 14, 2000:

    Greetings all, good morning....it's hump day....I always thought that was an odd thing to call Wednesday...does that make June "hump month"?  Or should we change lunch time to "hump hour"? I dunno, just something to think about ;^) Last night started harmlessly enough, Paul was planning to swing by and put some grommets in some tin squids he's had laying around....then it turned to the wonderful conditions (unwritten rule: there must be some precipitation before Paul and I can fish together - don't ask why, I dunno, it's just the way it is!) From there, it turned to talk of some of the local impressive fish that were caught recently....all the sudden, it became a short fishing trip. Turns out, when Paul showed up, we still put grommets in a couple dozen squids, but we did give the fish a shot for a couple hours. The conditions were almost perfect, wind E at 10-12kts, waves 3-5 feet from the east, but it seems the tide was a bit low. When the waves are as big as they were last night, on the jetties they will break off the front, then roll white right passed the jetty...rolling white foamy stuff does nothing more than drag your lure towards the sand. The rips that had set up off the jetties were quite impressive...at least to us! The fish didn't seem to appreciate the efforts of the water or our efforts, but we did give it a shot. Paul had one weakfish he described as a "two footer" on a Smilin' Bill. Me, I had but one lone shot, a weakfish no doubt by it's head shakes as it tried to eat the 7 1/2" Pork-O on my Smilin' Bill...but it never made it to the hook. Well, at least we tried. The water was indeed perfect...but more perfect for clammin' than for pluggin'. I imagine anyone out last night or today with clams is gonna rack up, possibly some very nice fish as well, but pluggin' from the jetties at low tide was just casting practice. It was nice to get out, share some theories as to why the fish weren't around, and fish with Paul. He fishes hard when he's out, I can appreciate that, even when the fish are apparently absent, he'll keep on throwin' stuff till it's time to go home...I guess he realizes, like I do, that you're always only one cast away from "the one" you've been after!

  Back to the continuing saga at the Ditch! OK, so we watched the never ending Devils/Stars game until the beginning of the third period and decided it was now or never at 1am. We decided on the aquarium. I fished to the west of Charlie, he was in our preferred spot, but we have taken some decent ones where I was casting in the past. Nada...nothing on the bottom, a shock indeed after watching the fish breaking like they always do at the aquarium. I decided to give the 7" MegaBait a shot, the midnight one since it was clearly after that time anyway. First cast upcurrent and I was tight to a decent keeper, maybe 32". It was admired, greeted, and released. That was it, the little fish wouldn't bother this plug, I was a little surprised but made that mental note anyway for future reference. A change to a small ball jig, same upcurrent cast, and I was into 3 shorts from 22-25" in short order. Charlie, noting my bent rod, moseyed on over to inquire as to what magic I was throwing them. I showed him, he rigged one up, and was into his first short there. That was it, we decided against bothering these little fellas on top. It was 2:30am....the wind was howling from the SW over 20kts, we figured we head back to the motel for "just a little rest"....we never made it back outside till nearly 9:30am that morning! My only regret that evening, looking back, was not fishing the east side of the aquarium, I took Charlie's word for the fish not being there instead of giving it a few casts myself. The reason I regret this decision is that on the next shot here, we had considerable nice fish on the east side of this spot...you just never really know until you do it yourself. Not that I doubt Charlie's ability to "check" for fish, it's just sometimes you might be doing something a lil' different that makes a big difference to the fish! The next day we fished during broad daylight, from 11am-2pm, with MegaBait jigs....we clobbered them, but that's tomorrow's story! ;^)

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

OPF

June 15, 2000:

    Got a chance to throw stuff last night with Cowhunter...on some of his turf. Charlie and I took a ride, fished 1/2 a tide with CH, and took a ride home. It was nice to meet him, put all the stuff I never believed about him to rest, I'd fish with him again in a breath. Again, I admire anyone who will walk the walk, fish when the fishin's tough, and keep on casting whilst someone bends their ear. The fishing in said spot wasn't up to snuff, it was actually only one fish from "off", but I always like to explore and CH's got about a hundred spots up his sleeves that I've never been to....catching fish was secondary to checking out some new stuff. In the half tide we fished, I had the only fish, a 22# linebacker shaped striper, probably 38-39", but weighed on the digital scale at 22# and then released. I missed one other good shot. CH said he had dropped a few fish, Charlie I don't think had a shot. This is one time I wished I had dragged the big spinner along, it was a catch 22 scenario. The water wasn't awfully deep, but you needed good distance...a jig heavy enough to hit the zone on conventional stuff was dragging the bottom through a lot of the drift. A lighter jig would have been much better, but then you'd not reach the sweet spot. A stout spinning rod, such as the one I'm still taking notes on for Tres from Hatteras Outfitters, would have fit the bill nicely. Only problem, I'm thinking my thyroid gland is getting outta whack again, even short walks through the sand are leaving my legs cramped up and me sweating like a pig in fleece...a walk back to the truck to change rods was out! Another note, this linebacker was my first fish ever on a black Smilin' Bill. Granted, it's only the second time I've ever thrown them, but it was indeed a boost to the ole confidence catching a nice fish on a black jig. We just love to harass Other People's Fish!

   Back to the saga at the Ditch. So, here it is, 9am Friday, hotter than a blast furnace, sun shining like a billion Q-Beams trying to bubble our skin, and we're now thinkin' about chasing stripers! Must be the water up there, home I'd be hiding w/ the shades all drawn! A solid breakfast at Quintals and we figure the aquarium is a good place to start...not that we expected to catch much given the 85 degree morning and the 10 sun tan index. Right away, Charlie's plucking nice 15" fluke outta the Ditch on an Albino 5 3/4" Fin-S-Fish. I'm east of him, throwing a 2 1/2oz MegaBait green mackerel and pick up a "20 something" inch short. Next cast, another one follows it in. I move a lil more east, looking for a better angle, when I stumble upon an rip that obviously needs immediate attention. I'm jigging, so I only have 3 plugs with me, the 4 1/2" MegaBait Ghost Ayu gets the nod. First cast, just 5 feet away, crystal clear water, bright hot sunshine, a fish about 25 pounds visibly inhales the lure as it nears the inside edge of the rip...and I'm shocked! I stick said critter, the drag gives perfectly smoothly on the Penn 525 Mag reel, and I am in. Charlie notes the bent rod, figure whatever I'm catching beats the heck outta his fluke, and makes his way over. About 50 feet from me, the hooks just let go of the fish and all is quiet again. Rats, but that's fishing, sometimes the fish wins and sometimes we get lucky....chalk one up for the fish! Sure enough, Charlie come to visit my little rip, puts on a 3 1/2oz MegaBait black back jig, hooks up first cast, a nice fish of 30" or so. Me, being a fast learner, I grab one from my bag, fire it like a guided missile, and am also in...granted, it wasn't nearly as big as Charlie's, but we found stripers feeding in the hot sun in the middle of the day...and we found something they liked! It made the tormenting radiation just a little more tolerable :) We worked the shoreline near the aquarium for well over an hour, picking up fish from 24" to 32" on these pretty metal jigs, just hopping them along the bottom. At first, we were deathly afraid of the multitudinous snags at the bottom of the Ditch, but not one jig was lost in nearly 2 hours of bouncing them off the bottom...not one jig lost any paint, the epoxy finish was like armor, and the fish, well, they just kept eating them! I'll bet we missed or lost twice as many as were landed that steamy midday, and we had about 20 fish landed between us. This revelation, the fact that we could score 15# fish in the middle of the day suddenly became scary to us, the ramifications of cutting into our sleeping time becoming more apparent with each bent rod, we high tailed it for the Herring Run where we kicked on the air conditioner, pulled up the covers and took shelter in our dreams till the cover of darkness took all the sting out of the sun.......

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent

Ah, the weekend!

June 16, 2000:

UPDATE: Plug just sent me an "Urgent" email. It seems that in light of the recent drowning at Indian River Inlet, there is now talk of possibly closing the place to all fishing! Imagine that, government regulation to again protect ourselves from ourselves! Enough, we can fend for ourselves, if you don't take precautions while doing something obviously dangerous, bad things will happen to you. Closing the jetty would just make these careless folks fish somewhere else...and they'll likely get hurt there as well. Sad as the drowning was, it turns out this young man was fishing one of the most dangerous jetties on the coast and didn't know how to swim at all. That's bad planning. Here's a link to the article concerning this possible tragic closure...and it's on this page that you can be heard in the fight against this closure. Save IRI! <---click here

    Some Sales we're having! 6" and 7" MegaBait plugs, reduced $1.50 each, so we can get the babies in more folks hands! Also, 20# and 30# Whiplash, 2000yd bulk spools, reduced $5 each! Lex A-40 3oz Swimmers, $3.00 off for each one! 

    Happy Friday to all of you...it's time to plan out your weekends! My only wish was some of the great, cool, cloudy, rainy weather we had this week would follow us into the weekend for a change, but we'll have to make due with what we're given...I just hate the hot, sticky weather! It does get my rigged eel personality all excited, a couple more weeks and it will begin an exiting time of year, hot muggy nights, waves rolling over the fronts, shorts, T-shirts, korkers, and a pocket full of the rigged wonders. Other than the sweaty walks, I really dig that kinda fishing and plan to do much more of this year than last, God willing! Much as promised, I said I'd make available all the things we rely on each season as they are needed, we are busy rigging rubber eels for all of you that would like them. They aren't done yet, these fishing trips to bother OPF have really been cutting into the time we'd normally use to put these time consuming little fellers together. Soon...as soon as the beginning of next week, you will be able to purchase properly rigged Ultimus rigged eels, with either Ultimus heads or our own custom heads...your choice. Our heads are modified copies of some of the most popular classic eel squids from this are. My favorite, a modified J-35 (a J&J squid that we fell in love with), will be available in good supply and in two different weights. Told you they were modified ;^) Other than that, I really miss fishing locally, having only spent 2 hours one night last week with Paul locally, we will get out this evening and compete with our club. the tournament started last night at midnight and will run through Sunday at noon. A 32" minimum tournament, the kind we'd prefer. So far this year, our club has two first place wins and two second place wins...last I heard, this put us first over all for this season! Yes, it's early, there are still around 7 more tournaments, but you couldn't be in a better place than 1st after 4 tournaments! So, if you're in the club, make sure you get a line wet this weekend, the 32" plus fish will fall all over clams, live eels, rigged eels, and jigs placed in the proper places. Best of luck, let's chalk up another win!

  I'm going to hold off on the next Ditch episode, the "log" we keep is not at my disposal at the moment...let's just say we paid (still paying!) for the sun burn we got...mine's just peeling on my arms now. Note to self: Try sun block, I hear it's miraculous!  The fishing this weekend could very well be quite good. The moon's full at 6:28pm this evening, but the water's properly stirred up, and there might just be proper cloud cover. Don't bother with clear, shallow water this weekend unless you're tossing bait. Anything over 20 feet should provide good action...or in the suds or on jetties, the water's off colored enough to provide the fish some cover and with the waves properly rolling, things could very well be interesting..some big fish are around in all places! This full moon marks the anniversary of Charlie's 30 pounder, on a size 1/0 teaser....in the Fling zone, full moon night...w/ clouds and some waves. There have been many notable fish from 20-30#'s being taken locally on clams...and I suspect rigged eels and jigs might just move some nice fish. It's gonna be hot, even at night it'll be uncomfortably hot. Hang tough, drink lots of water, dress appropriately, and take every opportunity to let the waves splash you a little. Best of luck, be safe, enjoy your weekend. I'm thinking a page is in order for tomorrow to keep you up to date with some stuff. 

Sincerely,

Tim Surgent