I just wanted to take this opportunity to give you guys a quick update. My son Jimmy has thankfully recovered just fine. In fact,  he’s been eating like he’s going to the electric chair – I wonder where he gets that from.


So, last night, I was talking to a buddy of mine, and I was explaining to him that a website, or blog, or whatever you want to call it, shouldn’t be a burden. These things are built and fueled from a passion, not from frustration and chore. I built this with one mission in mind: to build a website that has the information that I need to fish successfully: Tides, weather, depth charts, wave height information, etc.  I like to think I accomplished that. I think I’ve created a tool for both you and I to use once the season heats back up.


The ideas for continuing to build out the site haven’t stopped either. I’ve made progress in developing each one of those ambitions, and hope to be able to share more of those with you in the near future.


But free time, between home and work, has become ever so scare, and it’s been increasingly difficult to find the time to regularly contribute to this site. Many of you have reached out to me to see how I’ve been, so I wanted to check in to let you know that all has been well, to thank you for reaching out, and to let the few, but loyal readers I’ve had, know that for now, updates will be rare and infrequent.  Duh!


Over the past week or so, t’s been bugging me that this has been a loose end. I wanted to take the time to get both you and I some closure on this, and to let you all know that this isn’t over. This is just a temporary hiatus that I need right now. I will definitely share the more important news and interesting things I find, as I find them.


But I’ll be back. I promise.

I know there haven’t  been a lot of updates.  Thats because on Thursday my son had to be taken to the ER for emergency surgery on his 1 month birthday.  He was born with something called Pyloric Stenosis which it reared its ugly head and it needed to be operated on.  Basically, what happens with this condition is that the stomach closes shut at the bottom, and doesn’t allow anything to pass into his intestines.

His surgery went well,  hes recovering nicely,  and we hope to leave the hospital tomorrow.

In all honesty, and not because he’s my son,  he was a warrior and a pleasure. 

Talk to you guys soon.

Al Lemiere (@lemire) of Lemire Plugworks recently ran off a few batches of plugs with limited edition paint jobs. You can find these plugs  available for sale at FishHardLiveLong.com. These are some of the sickest paint jobs I think you’ll see on any plugs.


This one is my personal favorite:

Up until this past year when I met Al on Block Island and traded plugs with him, I had never actually seen one of his lures up close. I was immediately impressed with his attention to detail. You see, many times when a guy starts building plugs in larger runs for commercial sale, they often sacrifice quality. You might not notice it, and the fish might not notice it, but as a passionate lure builder, I notice everything.


I tell people all the time, there’s very little money in the lure building business (if any at all), and  ain’t nobody gettin’ rich doin’ it. It’s one of the many reasons I have NO intentions of ever selling my plugs – but we’ll get into that another day.


So where were we, oh yea, mass production. I find that builders tend to cut corners on some of the finer details that can be tedious and time consuming. Whether it’s skimping on the sanding, crappy hardware, fast paint jobs, shitty finishes – it’s what guys have to do to “turn” (woka woka!) a profit in the lure making business.  And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they’re trying to rip you off – they’re doing it to produce a plug that’s hopefully within your budget.  Wood, Paint, Hardware, and Time; none of this stuff comes cheap.


So, with that said, I don’t think you’re going to find a better plug for the price in both design and function.


One of these days, I’m gonna get into his shop.

Carolyn Hoffman was walking along the beach in Delray Beach on Jan. 5 with her husband when something odd caught her eye.

A long, ribbon-shaped fish with a large, bulging eye had washed up in the surf.

“It just rolled up on the beach in front of us,” Hoffman said. “I’ve never seen anything shaped like that.”
Her husband, Harry Furrevig, is a fisherman, so Hoffman decided to take his photo with this odd sea creature to add to his collection of fishing photos.

Before I even read this story, just judging by this dude’s pose, I knew that this gent Harry just had to be a fisherman. Why, do you ask? Because only a fisherman has any interest in holding up some friggin crazy ass giant sea horse on steroids that washed ashore, diseased with god knows what. No, that doesn’t hold him back from grabbing this…thing…for an angling photo. Harry, my good sir, you are my hero for the day.


This is actually a really interesting and light-hearted story posted to the Palm Beach Post; you should take a moment or two and give it a read. Oh, and as for the thing? They speculate it might be an Oarfish, but added this:

If the fish is an oarfish, it’s actually a small one, Waldner said. Oarfish are common to 26 feet long and have been found to grow as long as 56 feet.

So, I checked out Wikipedia, and they seem to be rather elusive fish that frequent depths of 3,000 feet of water, feeding on plankton, shrimp, jellyfish, and small fish.


Here’s a video of one of these things in action. Watching this video is like watching a space shuttle launch:

Just a friendly heads up, Surfcasters Journal is giving away a few Guppy Lures via the tried and true “I’m in” method.  So if you’re interested, mosey on over to their site, login, and leave your comment.


I’ve never had the opportunity to try one of these, but they’re free if you win, and free is good, except when it’s an STD. Then free isn’t so good.

Uploaded to YouTube by HDSharkman

Straight from the slums of Shaolin (“Shaolin” is slang for Staten Island, for those of you not versed in the hip-hop linguistics of the Wu-Tang Clan), Zeno Hromin, author of “The Art of Surfcasting with Lures” and the creative force behind Surfcasters Journal, will be holding a seminar entitled “Secrets of a Surf Pro” at the FCA National Headquarters.


For those of you interested in attending the event, here’s the address and here’s the promotional flyer.  Advanced Registration is required, so if you’re interested in attending, call the FCAT at (718) 948-5104, or email them at Scottm@joinfca.org.


Details for this event and pretty much every major event on the east coast can be found on the Events / Shows page, accessible from the menu at the top of this page, or by clicking here. And if I’m missing any events, please, don’t be shy, drop me an email and let me know: webmaster@fromthesurf.com.


I’m hoping to attend, we’ll see what the newborn baby Jimmy permits. 

Here’s another breathtaking shot taken by  Brian O’Connor.  That almost looks like it’s a photo taken from another planet.


As always, thank you @brianmoc for allowing me to share your work.

Adjust your wallpapers accordingly. To check out the rest of his work, visit his Flick page.

Found something worth mentioning? Drop me a line: webmaster@fromthesurf.com

Uploaded by Brianmoc to YouTube

If you had any intentions of being productive today, it is with great sadness and regret that I must to inform you that the latest issue of Surfcasters Journal was released.


Head over and check it out now. The kids can be a little late to school.

Hey guys – Sorry for the lack of updates. Today was a busy one. The good news is that there’s some really cool stuff coming over the next few weeks. Once things start really solidifying, I’ll give you more details. But, for now, this little teaser is all you’ll get.


Anyway, without further ado, her’s your Video of the Day. This is footage of Tarpon, Redfish, Shark, and Snook slammin‘ pinfish. Panfish are like saltwater version of a bluegill, and I’m guessing fish find them deeeeelicious. 


I hope everybody had a great weekend and that some of you got to watch a great day of football.


Goodnight everybody!

Uploaded by BlacktipH on Youtube.

Uploaded by whatsinthesurf to Youtube

If you enjoy surf and fly fishing, a great blog, or just about anything that has anything to do with fishing, I bet you’ll enjoy “The Average Angler“, a personal blog created by diehard fisherman from New Jersey named Colin.


Oh, and remember weeks ago when I told you the striper run would last well into January? Well, if you don’t know, it has, and Colin is taking full advantage of it – Good job!


If you aren’t from New Jersey, but always wondered what it’s like to fish the dirty Jerz, just spend a few minutes looking through Colin’s photo’s and posts…you’ll have a good idea. 

John Oswald of the Asbury Park Press gives us a heads up on some forthcoming changes to the blackfish fishery.


The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council approved new size, bag, and season limits for blackfish, in accordance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) mandate to reduce blackfish mortality by 56 percent. While this article focuses specifically on New Jersey, each state has been instructed  to come up with their own revisions to their respective blackfish harvest regulations, and I suspect you’ll see other coastal atlantic states announcing their own changes over the coming weeks.


As far as New Jersey goes, these changes should be introduced in the coming weeks:

The new rules increase the size of legal blackfish to 15 inches and set the following seasons and bag limits: Four fish from Jan. 1 to Feb 28; Four fish from April 1 to April 30; One fish from July 27 to Aug. 31; One fish from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15; Four fish from Nov. 16 to Dec. 31.

Capt. Adam Nowalsky, chairman of the New Jersey Chapter of the Recreational Fishing, raises a really good point:

Nowalsky was dissapointed by the fact that no action was taken on what is seen as the real problem in the blackfish fishery — illegal harvest.


“The original intent of the Commission’s blackfish addendum was to address illegal harvest of blackfish and yet that turned into no action being taken on illegal harvest,” Nowalsky said. He also questioned the science.