.......Can you stand it?.. Can you even wait another minute?  Lets go get some stripers.  Yee Haw..The surf cowboys are anxious.  I receive enormous....at least by my stands, amounts of letters in the striper mike mail box.  It is my favorite reward of this whole endeavor.  I enjoy helping and listening to their world and feelings about stripers ,...............and maybe just life in general.  All of my stories are real moments.  Real spans of time in my life when really cool stuff happened.  So cool, I actually wanna and deserve to write about it.  So I do.  But you know what?..Others have sagas, and dam good ones at that!!........and for some reason they pick me to tell it to. They must think that I will enjoy reading  it as much as they did doing it!.  They are right!...I love the stories of others and the passion with which they relive it in a tale.  This month...............you guys tell the tales!!!!..........and so............

DEAR STRIPER MIKE

......Hello there Striper Mike,

    My name is tom and by now you know who I am ..........I came over and introduced myself to you   I rent over on Oliver Street.  I am dying to tell you this story I had happen when I went surfcasting on Humarock .  I think it may have been my first time.  A couple days before my fishing story I saw you catch some beautiful stripers.  I watched your routine and it seemed simple enough for me to try it. I got some equipment and decided to give it a try. I went down to the same area you went to.  I put the sand spike in like you did.  I cast the bait and weight about as far as you did.  I put the rod in the sand spike, just like you did.  and then I went to cut some old bait for chum,  just like you did.  I think I heard the rod before I saw it.  It made a swooshing sound as it bent back and forth , two very extreme times.  On the second bend it snapped out of the sand spike and shot into the ocean like a javelin.  I stared at this in disbelief, but sure enough , my rod was gone.  I ran into the water. and believe it or not I felt around and found it.  I reeled in, the best I could with all the sand, and caught  a huge bluefish  But at that time I thought it was a striper.  I grabbed the fish by the gill and ran to the house to show my catch.  God was with me, I still have all my fingers.  The rod and reel were a total mess.  Since that time, we have fished together, but I thought I would save this beauty as a letter to Striper Mike. 

see you soon..........Tommy

Hey how r u Striper Mike?

My name is matt I am a 16 year old Chicago native bass fisherman (largemouth that is). However once or twice a year I get to visit my relatives on Barnegat Light and fish the plentiful water around there. I am very excited to tell you I have caught a striper this past year and have plenty of reason to come back for more. (that story is coming up) I have found ways to catch many weakfish, and small snapper blues out in a bay/ inlet area across the inlet from the lighthouse but after a week of  catching small weakfish blues and the occasional fluke I decided to try for stripers. Now you see the reason I was reluctant was because in the past I have tried to fish off the beach near jetties and such. The problem was I never had a big enough rod to fish with 3 or 4 ounces of lead before and I would use like 1 or at the max 2 and the current would just drag my line into the shore every time. This was very frustrating while many guys were catching schoolies and other fish I couldn't. Well after giving that up I found ways to catch the wekies and blues for a couple years and last year I read many articles on the rockfish and decided to try it on the best tides do the month. The tide would be high at about 9 o'clock and it would be a full moon on a warm mid July day. I started fishing off the south jetty behind the light house w/ eels w/ no luck so I switched to a Fin S fish jigs in gold and thought I had hooked a weakie or blue it hit near the surface and was coming in fairly easily. Sorry to say, I was expecting small fish and I was outfitted w/ a weakfish type rod of 6 and a half feet of medium freshwater action and a reel w/ 230 yards off 8 lb test. When this "small" fish I had hooked came to the surface suddenly I saw something that shocked me a long striped white fish rolled and kicked its tail on the top and started running out towards deep water. I mean it ran off nearly all the 230 yards of line I had on this reel. I also gained about 5 lbs of seaweed making it even more difficult to keep pressure on the fish. I walked down the jetty towards the light house scared off being spooled and continued walking for about 400 yards going over and under about 20 fisherman. After getting to the area where the jetty turns to rocks and a concrete walking path and nearly twenty minutes (it was about 7 45 now) I got the fish within 30 feet off the rocks it came up and sent the small crowd that began gathering to watch me in awe. Its head must have been more than 40 inches and a local told me he hadn't seen a striper that big since the fall run of 30 years ago. When I saw the size of the fish I nearly wet my pants but kept fighting this brute. it again went out towards deep water and heavy current and took about 150 yards of line w/ her. For the next 40 minutes I played tug of war on thread w/ this  monster never getting it closer than 50 yards. at about 8 30 or so it  started to get dark and the tide was coming in. My arms were tired and them crowd that had gathered numbered over 100 people mostly tourists. A kind man w/ a net had promised to help me if I got it close enough. I started gaining line and had the monster near to us in less than 5 minutes it seemed to tire out and I was ready for the 20 cameras surrounding me. It came to within 10 feet off the rocks and w/ a longer net the fish would have been mine. But however this monster was not done and it dove down to about 20 feet rubbing its face in the rocks I used side pressure and tried to pump up this giant. I was unsuccessful and it went to the bottom and something strange happened. It sat on the bottom for about 2 minutes and finally it gave way to my pressure coming up while shaking its head. It started taking out a lil line and tried to back down but I somehow muscled it w/ the rod bent over and the line stretching to its extreme. I got the fish to very near  me about 5 feet under and all of the sudden it swam at me and dove to the bottom rubbing against the rocks. I tried as hard as I could on 8lb line but the fish was too strong and somehow it got off and I came up w/ an empty jig head and body. The sigh I heard from the crowd disappointed me but a joyous applause made the effort all seem worth it. I had fought a mighty striper and sadly undermanned w/ tackle lost. However this memory will live w/ me until I die I don't have a founder fishing story I can remember. I still see that fish break the surface with its giant head and mighty tail slap the water when I lay in bed at night. This year I am going back there in early July. I have done my homework: read every article I could get my hands on, bought a new bait caster w/ a Dacron type line with 20 lb strength and nearly 300 yards of line, a new spinning rod w/ major backbone and a reel with a smooth drag and 15 pound spider wire braid to ensure I land the big one next time.

 thank you for reading this I know its long but I have dying to share this with someone.

Matt

Hi Striper Mike.

     You seem like a rough and tumble kind of guy so I thought I would tell you a saga that some Rhode island boys had, while surfcasting the mighty Atlantic.  I am sure you wont mind if I don't tell you exactly where this happened , Cuz regardless of how this seems I  still like the spot.  Norm and I only had a few hours to fish the whole weekend and this was June so we were sadly disappointed.  To make matter worse the only time we had was in  day light and at the time when the tide was heading towards low.  As you know, any fishing is better than no fishing so we wadered up and headed down.  Our spot is rocks.  I know your a sand bar man, at least it seems so, but we are rock guys herein Rhode island.  Stripers like rocks, so we fish them. When we got to our surf spot, the tide was as low as I have ever fished it...we saw some birds working and decided to plug for a bit.  The rocks were very slick at this low tide period and we were slow moving within them.  we each got a good foot hold and started to sail our Gibbs.  Right when my shoulder was getting weary, I hooked up to a decent fish.  When I set the hook I slipped on the rock and fell on my back , while whip lashing my head on the rock.  I slid like an eel into the water.............out cold!  I came to very quickly and still had my hand on the rod.  I was in about 6 ft of water and was getting pounded on the rocks and barnacles with each wave.  I hope you suggest wearing a belt when wading, cuz my waders were full in a second.  By now norm was on the rock above me handing the butt of his rod down for me to grab.  I unsnapped the waders , grabbed the rock., and pulled myself out of them and onto the rock.  It was very difficult getting myself out of the full waders. I was ok.  My hands and arms were a bloody mess from the slide down the barnacles.  I had a gash in the back of my head.  and below me were the waders, on the bottom of that hole and my Loomis pinned against the boulders. You are right Mike.......we are cowboys of the surf, I gathered myself..............jumped into the hole again and got the waders and the rod and reel.................and a 29" striper.  Tight lines cowboy

Darren

ROCKS AT NIGHT...............GOOD FISH, BUT BE CAREFUL....NOTE HOW WET I AM...WE ALL SLIP SOMETIMES!!

..............I find it very complimentary that these fellas chose me to tell their saga to..........so now I am telling the world for them.  Go surfcasting ........smell, taste, hear, and touch excitement............Striper Mike

.............GOD BLESS AMERICA
 

I just visited your site and wanted to tell you, keep up the good work.  My name is Mike Laptew and I've produced a number of videos on striper fishing, "Striper Magic," "Stripers in Paradise," "Secrets of the Striper Pros" and "Surf Fishing and Distance Casting with Ron Arra". I've been chasing  linesiders for over 45 years and a lot of that time has been spent underwater.  You might enjoy visiting this site http://www.striped-bass.com and hop on the forum Striper Talk. Lots of obsessive striper anglers, myself included (my handle is Fish_Eye). I don't know if you routinely go to the Suffern, NY show www.sportshows.com but I'll be putting on seminars (Understanding Fish & How to Catch Them...Mike Laptew and Lefty Kreh) this Saturday and Sunday. If you make the show, drop by and say hello. If you join the forum, also say hi. Another Striper Mike,

 

Voo's Seafood Chowder

clams, oysters, shrimp, scallops, cod or haddock, mussels, crab, lobster, salt pork, onion, potato, corn, garlic,
      2 cups milk, 2 cups cream, broth from seafood,
2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon tarragon, 1 heaping teaspoon dill, 2 sprigs parsley

      fry diced salt pork til crisp, sauté onions and garlic, drain grease; stir in flour and seasonings; add diced potato, corn, and white fish; simmer in broth 1 hour; add precooked seafood, milk, and cream;  simmer til ready to serve   DO NOT BOIL..

Luv Ya....Voo

GREAT COLORS............released

                        

PLEASE NOTE THE AGE OF THE BIG ONES, THEY ARE THE PROVEN BREEDERS, LET THEM GO.

.......that if you land and release a nice striper as soon as possible and return your chosen lure or bait to the water....chances are that you will repeat your catch with a similar size line sider....many are still frenzying for the substance you just used to land your last one.  Feeding is very competitive and they wont hesitate to strike again if the bite is on....remember long pauses in between casts............................send them on their way!

< they were a dime a dozen that size that day...as long as I kept putting them back...

 .....There is no question that certain lures and plugs are best suited for stripers at varied points and conditions in the season.  But there is also belief I have that I hope you consider!  I believe it is not necessarily the plug you use......it is the persistence and variations you have with it  that lead to success.  The plug that finally works is really the plug of the day isn't it??????  Make your call...........and stay with your choice..........vary its speed and action...........persistence will turn you into a "guy that always picks the right one"

I worked that Hopkins to death.......and finally...........!

................

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NOT ALONE

...Animated, nature scatters the shore.

...Waves glittering in formal attire.

...Shells, showcasing their purple hearts.

...Unpadded soles gloved in beach sand reveal morning company.

Humarock at sunrise.....6/3