.......So let me ask all of you surfcasters............How was your season in the suds? If you immediately began to Tally up your years catchs to define the quality of your season.........perhaps you didn't take enough from the sport of surfcasting...and simply took the fish.  You should be able to define your season by the wonderful sunset and sunrises.......by extra special cloud formations..........by a snowy egret that flew by when you were hooked up....by the uniqueness of people that crossed your path while you were vigilant with your fishing.  Surfcasting, is experiential...and should be thought of as that. and remembered as that......!  Yes great fish are the quest........but its the wonderful Bi-Catch we get, from hurling hope toward the horizon from terra firma.  Remember your season by how you FELT...not necessarily by what you CAUGHT.  All the boats I have fished in cannot match the total intake that comes from being  part of it all...........and nothing , makes you part of it all. like SURFCASTING.  and so...................

MITAKUYE OYASIN

     The Lakota Sioux are among the most spiritual of the great native Americans.  They holistically worship the entirety of what composes entire.  They are appreciative and humbled by the role of merely being a piece in the glory of life......a mere vein of all the relationships.
     I have never met Lily, but I have spoken with her.  I always sensed a naturalness about her.  An aura of peace that comes from humility and understanding.  I only sensed it, until Mitakuye oyasin,confirmed it!. 
      Amidst my struggles with personal character flaws, lily once told me of those two words that propelled my thoughts, towards life..., towards living,... and how do so respectfully!.  She told me of the prayer, Mitakuye oyasin......that's right, a prayer.........meaning so much....with only two words to remember.  It is the message from the prayer that needs remembering, not the convenience of its short recital.  It is with the message that I , and many of us , struggle with. In Lakota Sioux, mitakyasi means all my relations.  Fathom that.  All, all, of your relations., not just people but all the objects that compose your world...........and mine.  This One single word was an anglicized into Mitakuye Oyasin.  ..........All my relations.
     Lakota see the universe as a living, breathing entity in which we are all connected, not only flesh and blood creatures, but mountains.............and trees................and oceans..........and rivers...add to this .............all that IS! 
     The more I thought of this, and why lily applied it to a bullheaded Mick like me, was becoming clearer. That this is really a mantra...........a hope of harmony for all of creation to balance and bridge together. I saw that it represented everything I really wanted to say in two simple words.  It covered it all.  To simply wish peace and good fortune for all things. leaving none out.  it crossed all creeds but yet stood alone.  It is , or should be, everyone's prayer.  I knew, if I practiced it....  If it tried, I would be a better member of it ALL.....Membership assures never being alone!  I was moved.
     She hoped that my thoughts would preclude my sharp tongue.  That my wit be tempered by understanding.  That my abruptness be slowed by patience.  they are wonderful worldly words of wisdom.  One  which reminds me of the need to look at all my relations.....and to build new ones.  To leave memories with every moment in a day. To be sure to try to balance the passing of myself...... with all that passes with me.  I adore the word.... The prayer......the chant...the mantra...........and its insight
     Once I mentioned to lily that I "transplanted some wild sea plants to my yard.  She enjoyed the plant talk, having expertise in the area.  I mentioned that it  bothers me to take wild things, but there were many, so it was ecologically sound.  Lily said, .......that  a gesture of my gratitude for the relation of the plant , finding it, and re-worlding it to my house ,can be shown by scattering tobacco at the point where the relations occurred.  Tobacco is a very  very high gesture of generosity for the Lakota..  I am a naturalist.....that grabbed me by both ears.
     At 6 am the following morning I walked the mile to where I found the plant and scattered a Winston light 100 over the disturbed soil.  I felt...........united...with something. or alot of things....and repeating mitakuye oyasin ..........out loud.....was primal.
      It was exasperating to have surging surf on one of the last Oct surfcasting days.  I have always been convinced that the big ones come in then .....not cuz the water is oxygenated. but because they know in the rough surf, they can separate them selves from your fishing gear.....with ease!!!!!!  After doing this for so many years...I embrace the difficulty, that's why I surf cast!
     As soon as I cracked the door , the October roar signified this morning maelstrom from the North Atlantic.  The fury ingested me and I fought to balance as I walked down to the edge to test the tides footing.  I love this!!!!  A few walkers gave me the traditional  "good luck"....with their eyes rolling as they said it sarcastically.  I ve heard it before.  I can hear them wonder the thought, ..."why doesn't he just fish from a boat"?.  Its like owning a Harley Davidson....if I have to explain why I like them......you wont understand anyway.  Fishing from the shore is ......... ancient fishing !!  It releases my un-evolved being.  From the first men throwing weighted line with hooks to my van staal......We are not that far apart.
     When you fish the surf you are never, ever, more than simply part of it all.........neverrrrr.  That fact triggered the Lakota prayer. and mitakuye oyasin spilled from my lips.  I respected my relation with the sea and the sand and air and wind and waves and fish and birds ........and all of it.   I ran back to my neighbors house to borrow another cigarette! I needed Tobacco.!!!!!!!!!!!
     If nothing else. Im sure watching me run as fast as I can in full waders was comedic enough to make the people on the beach chuckle.  Running in waders can be really ugly!
     Returning renewed ritual. The undertow yanked at my boots, but I waded far enough out to where my gesture of appreciation for all my relations could be scattered on the foaming breakers.  It was then I let the tobacco filter through my fingers.
     Late season October striper fishing can be a long wait.  The great portion of bass have left for their trip south and the remaining linesiders are big, but infrequent cows.  I conversed with all that passed by..........but never put the rod down or let my mind wander far from my real intentions. Stripers this time of year can make are so big that they can turn a socializer into a sobber, with one enormous thrust.  My socializing was shallow......my brain focused on fishing.
      I love soft bites.  Its like drifting eels  or "lifting"salmon in the rivers of lake Ontario ....if you feel a tug.........tug!!  Many times you swing and miss, but I wasn't waiting long on this nibble.  Mere contact flexed my right arm into a solid hookup..
      All striped bass stories mention THE RUN..........and this one will be no different.

  The big cow peeled of line at breakneck speed.  A few times each year, your gear seems small and inadequate with massive stripers.  I was confident in my gear, but still winced at the rate of line dispersal.  When a fish puts a lot of distance between you.........she has the upper hand... A bow in the line.......the weight of the line..........sinker movement up and down the line...and on and on.  Its part of the fight with a big striped bass.  If you prevent that run or resist it ever so slightly,I can assure you ,you will be retying your 20 lb test.  You almost always fight big stripers, from afar, once they are done with their flight toward freedom.  The trick is to not let up with slow steady pressure.....let the lactic acid begin to build up and it will slow the fish....like it was slowing my right arm during this stand off.
     My neighbor and my wife were down by the waters edge now as the fight turned in my favor.

 I timed her last lunge and rode her in softly on the next wave.  What a fish!!!.  Over 40 " and a good 30 lbs.  I went to carry it all the way back to the point of origin for this battle, but realized the Relationship of it all.......and my assurance of respect for that.  I never bothered to weigh her.  Instead, just as promised, I rushed her back to the surf.  The width of her tail was such that it resisted my grip as I held her and watched her beet red gills pant.  Mitakuye oyasin..........and I let her go.
     Whenever Mitakuye oyasin, comes into my mind.........it triggers my sense of being that tells me to consider my relationships not only with friends etc but all of the outside world and my impression of it.  As a person who tends to cut myself out of social events and live as a loner .......... appreciation for all relations may help me alter that.
     Humility awaits you at your next surfcasting adventure  be sure to recognize its spiritual presence.  Sometimes you bring home more than just fish...............Mitakuye oyasin............Striper Mike

I wonder how she likes the warmer water down south right about now???




 

This edition....needs a chef to do it correctly...at least so it seems!

I cheated!!.Its from Gourmet Magazine. but fancy ones are good every now and then        

Hey Mike, I caught your new article on "Strolling" today-sheer poetry!!
> "Land trolling"-I loved that! Since I'm a longtime inland freshwater
> guy(altho the shores of lake Erie sure are like surf at times!), the
> concept of walking and casting is something I'm very familiar with
> ,and enjoy. But when I started going to the Outer Banks several years
> ago, others discouraged me from the walking/casting I was doing-or, at
> least, tried to talk me out of it. They insisted that sitting with cut
> bait was the only way only one guy had me attentive to cut bait when
> he showed me a huge "secret", and PROVED that we could practically
> catch stripers at will with a chunk of tuna bloodline on our
> hooks!). But now you've put a name to strolling and given me a purpose
> in pursuing stripers next time I hit the Banks! I'm a walker anyway
> and Nags head has about 100 miles each way to walk! I should have
> followed my instincts to this several weeks ago when I was down-coulda
> given me the final recovery from my knee surgery last winter (lifting
> competition!)!Anyway,your story was on screen today when a new rod
> arrived UPS,so I couldn't sit here with that combined excitement-went
> strolling at a local trout lake despite the chill outside(wasn't
> actually fishing,just distance casting with the stingsilvers and
> bucktails I like to toss in the surf!). So,again,thanks for the thrill
> of reading,and today's exercise! Keep writing!! John McKean

Hi john.......your compliments made my day.....that's the whole reason why I write about my moments .in hopes of other anglers being able to relate to the time......to the point where they can smell it.  Surfcasting .is the avenue to catch more than fish...it gives the angler the freedom of the shore and a chance to witness every second of the tides ebb and flow.  it offers you the simplicity of fishing instead of trying to keep up with the tech advances that will help the BOAT men ......more fish......gps....depth finder....etc.  I like the shore...........obviously!!...Happy Holidays..striper mike





On 27 Dec 2003 at 15:15, Hunter Higdon wrote:

>
> Hey,I was wondering if you could tell me how to rig a balloon rig from
> the end of a pier. I love to go shark fishing and I have heard this is
> a good way to fish for them. I have tried to think of something but I
> cant. I don't want to use an ancor rod and I think this is the next
> best thing. Thanks for your time.
>
>

Hey hunter.......I have no idea where you can get sharks close enough to catch from shore consistently and/the depth of water to use a balloon rig.  a balloon rig is predetermined from the boat......60 ft lets say..........then lowered that distance and the balloon is then tied off and allowed to drift quite a distance away from the boat.  Its unlikely this could occur from a pier.........but who knows.......??........striper mike

 

                        

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

 

On 26 Dec 2003 at 19:30, Dr Rick wrote:

>
> Hi Mike, nice web site!
>
> I am a fellow fisherman and live in Manhattan, I fish from shore in
> the Hudson and would like your professional opinion<if possible> from
> your experience, what would you guesstimate the weight of the 34 inch
> fish in the picture, I caught on Dec 21st. I know what all the charts
> say but I figure this one could be full of eggs and roe I assume and
> was also a female because of the heaviness and the fact that no sperm
> came out. I have a friend that insists it is 14 to 16 lbs, I
> personally think much more maybe 18 to 20? so I am seeking a
> professional outside opinion from someone who has caught alot of
> fish. Girth would be around 20" from what I can deduce from the
> picture. Seems unlike summer bass December females are fat and heavy?

> I only expect a guesstimate based on like ones you have caught, if
> possible! Thanks Again, and Happy Holidays Dr Rick
>
>
> here is what I do....I feel the great striper is best described in a picture or  story............BY ITS LENGTH!!.  What sounds better......a 15 lb striper .....or a 34" striper??......and if you hopefully released it....the length can be documented quickly and the weight can be left to the PROFESSIONAL approximation of the angler.  Stripers don't REALLY fill out until they get over 36 "...but yours did appear fat and being the way I am.........I would say it weighed 18-20 lbs, if you released it.......if you kept it and ate it..which is fine.....id say 14 lbs.  Thanks so much for the letter.......Striper Mike.

.

.....Light , or lack of it, can determine our moods ..but in sharks it helps schedule their yr and all of it happens through the passing of light from their pineal gland. to their brain.....Pretty Neat HuH??

.....that when the light lessens around winter time.....that many people are prone to SAD....seasonal affective disorder.  The therapy is encouraging the addition of alot more artificial lighting to subdue the serotonin in our brain.  Well sharks have a thingy. called a pineal gland.  This is a very thin membrane on the top of their skulls .that actually allows light to filter directly into the sharks brain and increases the flow of melatonin and serotonin, not much different than what occurs to our brain from light fluctuations. However. I don't think sharks get depressed, they do however use the pineal gland. and the amount of light there is available to tell it about certain events in the course of the yr.  As winter and light reduction approach.....this tells the shark to seek warmer waters etc....It also shows the shark when the light level is at a certain intake that it is time to mate

 Striper Mike....when should I fish?......whats the best time?....for how long?.....these questions are so predictable.  If i were to give one tip on the whens of fishing.......I would not include tides.or weather....or barometric pressure ..or time in the season.  If i could say one time to fish....every time you surf cast......i would say..FISH DAYBREAK.  No other time erupts with action like daybreak.......the bluefish go nuts before running out to sea and the stripers get desperate for that last meal before sunlight chases them to the depths.  Wanna have a good year with nice photos and big catches...with more beauty than you can imagine......FISH DAYBREAK...please practice catch and release...Striper Mike

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        a time for reflection
gazing out toward the vast water.

the ocean is endless and so are dreams....
the more you stare the surer you become aware
..life is beautiful         
 

Susan .....dec 2003