In early November 2024, Frank Daignault handed away on the age of 87. Frank authored eight books on surfcasting for striped bass, and his articles appeared in a wide range of publications, together with On The Water, over a span of fifty years. His writing conjures up surfcasters to today, along with his tales of residing and fishing on the Cape Cod seashores displaying us simply how good the great ol’ days have been. This story initially appeared within the August 2001 Difficulty of On The Water, at a time when giant stripers and huge bunker have been returning to the surf in larger numbers. Whereas the lures and sort out have modified, the teachings nonetheless maintain true. – Jimmy Charge
Fishers of the striper surf date themselves by the scale of the plugs they’re probably to make use of. The continuum falls neatly into line with age and time; the additional again you go, the larger the plugs get. I’m satisfied that the alternatives are based mostly extra upon tools calls for and maybe fishing developments than efficient surf casting. At the moment’s younger Turks crack on the previous guard with their massive plugs and what they use to fish them, however behind their minds they both know or have a gnawing suspicion that there may very well be one thing to it.
All you must do is take a look at all of the 1-ounce or lighter Rebels or Yo-Zuris and the like of as we speak and rummage by way of my buggy, and also you’ll get a robust really feel for what’s now and what was then. Sure, within the minds of many, I and people with whom I as soon as fished, are anachronisms. Nonetheless, our previous picket plugs proceed to catch fish. Extra importantly, the large stuff is extra prone to catch the best ones. Massive plugs demand heavy sort out, and it’s fairly robust to fish the small stuff with our pool-cue surf rods.
What sort of plug sizes are we speaking about? Springing from the times when solely massive reels may very well be used to fish 50-pound-test strains, we threw picket swimmers and poppers weighing as much as 4 ounces with stout sticks able to delivering the plugs into the tooth of a gale. It was not merely that the stuff was that heavy, but it surely was usually additionally aerodynamically poor. We weren’t in casting contests; our lures have been chosen as a result of the stripers appreciated them, a incontrovertible fact that has not modified. Even as we speak, with a powerful onshore wind, facet by facet, your little 3/4-ounce floating swimmer goes 50 toes and my 3-ounce monster picket plug of yore will land beside it. These should not nice casts to make certain, however let’s take a look at the opposite numbers.
As a result of break-offs are a giant think about successful over dream stripers, massive sort out allays that concern. With line concerns out of the best way, every part else within the sort out and kit equation has to match the forces. What I imply by that’s, in case you have chosen one of many new, practically unbreakable strains, chances are high your reel won’t have an acceptable drag. It does no good to have a 50-pound line on a reel designed to be used with 20-pound sort out. Equally, you’ll be able to neither swing exhausting nor heavy with the rods that may stability with fashionable although insufficient reels. A lot of as we speak’s sort out is out of concord due to ongoing modifications.
Furthermore, as soon as a caster strikes into this degree of apparatus, every part is put to the take a look at. Snap-swivels and barrels start to fail, by way of wires can break, hooks open and in smaller plugs designed for a lot much less rigorous use even the plugs themselves will be damaged at instances. Every thing from the underside of the spool to the hook in a striper’s jaw needs to be of appropriate energy.
It usually is smart to make use of massive plugs. Linesides over 20 kilos feed on the identical dimension baits as these over 50 kilos do. Always remember that the size distinction between them is just 10 inches. Folks in boats generally live-line 3-pound pollock and mackerel. Thus an imitation of these dwell baits by artificials would comply with comfortably.
Some would argue that the large plugs are solely worthwhile when bass are on massive baits. I view it as simplistic to stick too intently to that. Too little is thought. You will be on a seashore that’s awash with sand eels and make the pure commentary that stripers are consuming them. The sense is in it, I admit, however I’ve seen them gorge themselves on sand eels and mackerel on the similar time. You’ll usually see mackerel and even dabs and immature weakfish entering into the act and falling prey to linesides within the course of. Even then, I don’t assume {that a} bass goes to go up your mackerel plug as a result of the ocean is stuffed with sperling or different small stuff. Bass may simply take it regardless of it being incorrect. They are often selective by intuition or behavior, however I’ve by no means seen any fish as clever. I cite sand eels in distinction with mackerel on this dialogue solely as a result of they conveniently illustrate range in dimension.
The combination of plug selection and efficiency, situations and caster idiosyncrasies, when mixed, spawn a myriad of variables that may affect outcomes. Rod motion within the final wave is very individualized, the place some anglers sprinkle in a patternless bunch of jumps and jiggles. As a result of they know that stripers typically comply with an extended distance with out hitting, some anglers pause within the strike zone, whereas others rush it out to impart the notion of an escaping bait. Many massive plugs show a extra frantic swim due to bigger swim plates, whereas jointed fashions exhibit exaggerated movement. A quick-receding wave or hard-flowing rip is finest handled by a slower retrieve or perhaps a change in plug selections to compensate for water motion. Nonetheless, in most respects the issues with massive wooden are the identical as these with smaller presents.
I’ve usually thought that getting the eye of stripers is extra probably with massive swimmers. When there’s motion–wild water from windswept waves, present, numerous bait and even shoulder-to-shoulder surfcasters–the bass are lunging and pumping throughout you, searching for one thing to take. Actually this isn’t a choosy scenario and it by no means hurts to make it simple for the moby linesides to see your providing. All fish are influenced by different elements in addition to what the angler may observe. When there are bass, and even a mixture of bass and blues, aggressive conduct hastens the take as a result of every appears to be attempting to get the prey first, a logical assumption that may very well be true. The frenzy or blitz the place the meals chain is stacking–squid consuming sand eels whereas bass eat the squid–will get frantic, and infrequently the fish get fairly careless because of this. When it’s like that, it issues little what’s chosen for a lure, as it would probably be taken anyway. The benefits of heavy gear within the massive stuff are energy, reliability and velocity.
Some striper fishers are satisfied that the large plugs cull out the bigger linesides due to the assumption that the small bass gained’t take a giant plug. It’s true to some extent, however the notion stays unreliable as a result of you’ll be able to hook surprisingly small fish with big plugs. I as soon as fished with a surfcaster who thought that a big plug was perceived by quarry as a faculty of small baitfish swimming collectively. Many surfmen are a bit of dippy of their observations, however his logic may very well be used to clarify a 16-inch striper on a 9-inch plug. Who is aware of?
The swimmer plates of most massive plugs wreck their casting aerodynamics. Due to these poor casting qualities, individuals new to surf fishing are sometimes tempted to make the most of different selections. So usually fishers desire distance over effectiveness and throw the incorrect lure 300 toes somewhat than the best one 75.
Through the years we’ve got seen surfcasters annoyed by the selective conduct of stripers. Usually an answer to massive bass wallowing within the surf however not hitting has been to go ever smaller, to the purpose the place little balsa wooden swimmers used as a final resort have been too small to forged and too weak to be used on such cows. One time, and I doubt this is able to work that usually, we had such fish in entrance of us on the Cape; they have been so specific that the majority had given up fishing. Out of frustration I tossed the largest plug in my buggy into them and a 40-pounder ate it. The entice appears to be in being too positive one thing goes to occur.
Massive plugs have been disappearing from the surfcasting cabinets because the creation of striper surf spinning over 40 years in the past. Plug builders logically noticed an even bigger future in lures for spinning at about the identical time that injection molding’s manufacturing benefits grew to become evident in manufacturing. Except for the bigger Atom swimmers, which have been victims of the transition in manufacturing strategies and using spinning gear, the associated fee and low demand about killed the large picket plugs and by no means permitted their manufacture in plastic castings. Why would anybody spend cash tooling as much as construct plugs for such anachronistic purposes as heavy typical sort out? Who would purchase them?
A consequence of those two developments was that spinning bought the high-production molded-plastic plugs, whereas pool-cue typical fishing utilized the dearer handcrafted wooden. Except for a pleasant line of manufacturing Dannys, Trolling Swimmers and monster poppers by Gibbs Lures, as we speak’s previous guard will get their “Dannys” from small storage operations, crafted by romantics from New Jersey to Maine and even some in California.
Go looking for massive plugs within the catalogs and see if you will discover Big Pikie Minnows, Goo-Goo Eyes, Nils Masters or Atom 40s. (The dialogue makes me really feel previous.) A number of the old-timers, who I do know are going to get pleasure from studying this as a result of they might have written it themselves, are fanatics about massive plugs. Money and time have rendered the plugs irreplaceable. They thus face the enigma of selecting between their plugs and their fishing. You may’t substitute a few of these “massive mommas” they usually know they’re going to find yourself crying once they lose a collectable.
Till now, typical reels, lengthy considered the sort out of specialists, have been the primary selection in fishing these massive plugs. The nuances of typical sort out have been mired someplace between voodoo and witchcraft for any up to date angler painfully struggling to grasp their use, nonetheless. Revolving-spool reels backlash and the favored braids minimize grooves in retrieving thumbs. Every retrieve needs to be spooled evenly, usually with some salt-induced ache, for the subsequent forged. The “conventional” sort out is just not solely tough to study, it’s exhausting to make use of and exhausting to stick with, realizing there’s a neater different offered by spinning.
Nevertheless, the event and introduction of the brand new, fine-diameter, high-pound-test strains which can be beginning to seem available on the market may give rise to profound modifications in surf sort out. As soon as individuals start spinning with rods that match their 50-pound spinning strains, justification for typical sort out use will weaken, if not fade altogether. Extra individuals may very well be fishing heavier and a few of these little plugs won’t ever stand as much as the trials of really heavy surf sort out. Heavy strains, stiff rods and large, high-capacity reels with stout drags should be in concord with the plugs they throw and that would solely include greater plugs. In fact, if sort out goes that means, the market will reply.
As a result of our fishing options usually spring from what appears to be working, and that repeatedly modifications, those that use heavy sort out ought to be armed with the lighter plugs as certainly because the light-tackle customers ought to be prepared to maneuver up. Larger care and expertise are wanted, however gorilla revolving-spool tools casts lures as mild as 1 ounce and doubtless so far as that which is forged with spinning. A shocking mixture of previous requirements–poppers, darters, bottle plugs, needlefish and Junior Atoms–fall into the 2-ounce vary, which makes them appropriate to each medium spinning and heavy typical. Sharp producers appear to be after one of the best of each worlds.
Fish haven’t modified, we’ve got. But, a lot of what was once performed stays fashionable and viable. We admit that point has thinned the ranks of old-guard surfcasters, however lots of the new youngsters like the texture of heavy gear. And whereas light-tackle fishing has been touted as extra sporting and due to this fact harder, these of us who’ve fished the seashore for years by no means thought heavy sort out was simple. Most of all, it’s the allure and objective of the large picket plugs and the stuff we use to ship them that retains the previous guard coming again and the younger anticipating an element. Sound reasoning in sort out selections and the execution of efficient surfcasting must embrace your father’s sort out. When has having extra selections ever been unhealthy for us?
