I’ve heard it, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and I still think it’s crazy…
We all move in different circles, amongst different friends. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that if you are on this blog reading this and the SJ magazine, the surf fishing to you is much more than a casual day on the beach. It’s a way of life. Chasing after Moby stripers might consume your life at one point or another. Tides become more important than the office clock. You develop a unique ability to predict the weather better then meteorologist. Not only that, you anticipate the weather without ever hearing a report.
I get all that…I lived this life for many years. These days I am much more modest in my expectations and my desires are much more tame. I always thought that when my kids got bigger I will have more time to fish only to realize that I wasn’t such a great dad while they were growing up and I have a lot of catching up to do. I mean, being at Montauk for a weekend while your wife and kids are home alone is not exactly an entry for a dad of the year award, is it?
Ok, I am getting sidetracked here. I’ve seen guys pass away over the years. I’ve seen guys struggle because of age or medical concerns , struggling to get to the water. I rarely ever seen anyone just “walk away” from the sport. Steve Campo was one exception. There were few other, many of whom bought boats over the years and embarked on a new obsession. Few picked up fly rods because they liked to be challenged and you don’t see them on the beaches as much. But few walked away for good…on their own terms.
How difficult would this be for you to even consider ?
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WOW!!!!!!!!!Sick question!
↓Hope your not going to do something crazy?
For now I’m too nuts but I could see why someone would walk away from it. I question my own sanity latley but most of my fishing is done close to home, before my kids go to school or I go to work. No conflicts other than sleep.
Right now, no way I’m giving up.
Ever since I cast my first line I’ve been hooked, and it is very hard to balance the insanity of fishing with family and working and maybe some of us do to much of one and not the others but over time it can be done. I have seen my grandfather fish into his 70’s and I’m hoping that I will be able to do the same.
↓At one point in my life I was fanatical about skiing… magazines, all the newest equipment, reading various reviews and all night drives for weekends in Vt then the long, long summer of desire…. Same with my golf phase, windsurfing, running, and bike riding… all started from HS and college til about 30 or so, all burned brightly for a few years then for the most part grew onerous.. though I still bike a lot, the “crazy love” quotient is not as high as 20 years ago… perhaps biking was a more constant, steady buzz and not the sharp, intense high that was skiing and surfing… plus It was something that I did a lot as a kid fairly constantly through 40 so it is a decent parallel to fishing for me… I never was Wetzel and never will be and this attitude would have certainly bothered me when I was 20. Perhaps there is something to the competitive aspect that ultimately killed the fun, when it felt like work or an obligation I had a tough time getting psyched to go. I look forward to the long, tough rides now as well as time on a rock in a wetsuit because I tend to enjoy the experience and the environment and try to involve my kids when possible. For a many years I relished hitting the beach alone with my stick and casting into a cove on a brutal day. I still do because I appreciate the experience and not the outcome. I believe that is the key. When the desire stops then move on with no regrets, maybe play golf again but without throwing clubs after a bad shot.
↓Never its what i live for….
↓Dave, no, not that crazy yet
↓Jerry..you got a LOT of obssesions for a young dude…lol
i love this sport i try to get out as much as i can. i even fell in love with custom rod making. everything about this sport consumes me. but i have a 3 year old daughter and i am a union worker with crappy hours to see a family. i was supose to go with a buddy tonight but he had other plans to go a little earlier since he works in am. so i can still go tonight. but ididnt get the chance to c my child lastnight. so tonight is my time with for a half an hour before bed time. i am still thinknig aobut going tonight later on when she goes to bed. i am in the garage more making rods than i am in the house and if not in the garage i am out for a few hours somewhere getting a line wet with little producing at the moment lol. i can always be a better father than i am. i am sure we all think that. but thankfully i have a wife who understands my passion for this sport. heck thats why i findher attractive lol
↓i hear that about a wife..I am married to a saint
↓As I age, no longer gracefully, I have been forced to choose fewer and fewer activities to actively participate in. I came of age on the beaches of the North Fork ~ and although I don’t even live within 1000 miles of my home waters, my heart still yearns for those magical experiences (both the blitzes and the skunks) of my youth.
But yes I too sacrificed a family – but not to a fish, to a career that turned in the end to be nothing more then just a pay check. (Just say I gave at the office)
In spite of it all, my pulse still quickens at the thought of being on my home waters, as I will be for a few precious days in the middle of May.
But no, I can never just walk away (cold turkey) from the beach. There is still salt water flowing in my veins, and there will be until the day I die.
↓I have a bad feeling with such poor fishing last year, the amount of fish left may force some of us to walk away…..it just may not be worth it. It was that bad last year and I hit it real hard almost every night. I couldn’t take that again.
↓I say that, but ill be hitting it again hard this year.
we shall see
May depend on why someone came into the sport. Something to prove to self or others? Bucket List? Situation or friends? I never lived very far from the ocean and I think I would die an early death if I ever moved away from the water. When there are no fish (like last weekend) I try to surf, and when there are no waves I’ll try for something else. Last week something else meant crusing around on a stand up paddle. But I kept looking for signs of fish or potential places to fish. Very happy camper, lots of variety, but somehow all linked. harder to walk away too i guess.
↓I stop after my son was two years old . when for 16 years with picking the sport back up . I miss it every year of that 16 years my son is not into fishing as much as I would like him to be . I now fish almost everyday when the season starts spent tons of money and time on the sport and never bitch about a dime I spend
↓I’ve been doing this most of my life. As i feel right now? I will always do this thing we do. But who knows what tomorrow will bring. Because of all the memories associated with this, how could i ever walk away from it. I might have to stop at one point in time, but to walk away? How can one?
↓Learn it, Love it, Live it.
↓I’m 63 ,have had both knees replaced and no longer even think about Jetty’s or rocks. definately have slowed way down in the last 5-6 years. two trips local yesterday wading out 50-75yds in mild surf and I can feel it today. So I can see it down the Road, NOT soon but there all the same
↓I have always said that I live 3 hours from the ocean so I can stay employed and married. And it is not far from the truth. I have done a lot of things in a serious way, fly fishing, rock climbing, golf, but surf fishing is my niche. I am completely passionate about it. I feel so lucky to have something that can consume me mind and body. My wife keep me balanced, and that is very important. She has me doing different things. We try to do something each month that neither of us has done before. Left to my own means I would just chase the fish. I spent many years fishing alone or with just a few partners. Now with the plug making it has become much more social. I am enjoying more people, but I can always go off alone when I need to. At one point I was using fishing to escape life. All of a sudden I stopped catching fish, I kept fishing, but I stopped catching. That was a wake up call and I got my priorities back on track. You never know, but at this point I am in it for the full ride!! Gary
↓I have too many fishing shirts & hats to stop now, LOL
↓With an 11 month old at home and a struggling business. I am learning to pick my spots. Essentially fishing tides and weather/wind patterns I know should produce. I also made a promise to my wife and daughter that this thing I do will not affect family time. If I go out all night fishing they will still get all of me the following day. I will not give up on either of my loves.
↓Priorities… you have to be there for your family so you can adapt to make it work. I rarely fish dusk into evening, but will start out trips @ 2am. I also get rewarded when I teach my children to fish and I smile more than they do when the catch….
↓I use to think I would be surf fishing for years, but now I know otherwise that age will take all that was given in youth. I retired last season from one aspect of surf fishing, that was fishing jetties and rocky shorelines. Some forty plus years later I have lost the desire to put in my time. The body is worn and my health is not what it use to be the year before. Nowadays I just like staying close to home and on occasion fish a beach along the south shore.
I have two other fishing buddies that I surf fish over the years that walked away for health reasons.
↓Unless there is a medical problem I don’t see how you can walk away from a sport that is relatively inexpensive with equipment and access that’s easy to find. A sport where you can track, hunt and catch this big wild beautiful beast. Hold it maybe photograph it, admire it, and release it back to the wild. I can’t think of too many……….
↓good food for thought but would never happen so i cant waste time thinkin of this what if…. plus i cant stop i havent caught my 40 50 or 60 yet, love surfcasters keep up good work
↓Funny I got more into surf casting because I backed off another obsession- I used to be crazy into golf. Played every saturday and Sunday, during the week for work and practiced virtually every day. I had a low single digit handicap. After my wife and I had kids I cut back drastically- I now play a little for work but dedicate virtually no personal time to it. Would have been unthinkable when I was younger.
After my kids came along being cooped up in the house was making me a little nuts. So I went fishing at night when everyone was sleeping. It was fun so I went more. Now I’m still only fishing once or twice a week and usually only a few hours per go so it’s not like I’m the old salt.
I guess what I’ve learned from it is balance.
↓I don’t get a lot of time to fish. I’m an hour from the salt. But when I do, there is nothing that can compare to it. The sound of waves, smell of the water,the calming darkness. Ive only been surf fishing the last 8-10yrs,but there’s just something about it. I will always throw a line. Just gonna need help with the walker on the sand!!
↓Giving up Surfcasting is like giving up breathing. It is fitness, excitement, strategy, skill and anticipation.
Given the economy I carefully ballance between my kids/wife, fishing, mountain biking and when I can afford it…cheapo golf rounds.
↓I am a young man and have alot more fish to battle. Like the shirt says”SLEEP WHEN YOUR DEAD”I understand what’s right is right and eventhough I live to be in the surf I love my family aswell. I try to keep it fair to everyone and still get out to beach atlest 4 to 5 nights a week. As far as walking away, there’s only one way that would ever happen, and when that day comes I hope to be buried with my rod,reel,and the rest of my gear just in case my heaven turns out to be the surf
↓It’s about balance. For me there is something special about the night, the tides and moon and the hunt. I cant get that itch scratched doing anything else. The Family tradeoff is rough. My wife too, is a Saint. Now that my kids are 13 & 14 they are a bit more self sufficient.
↓This year my big strategy is few trips – more nites. We’ll see. I totally get what one guy above said about the lack of fish last year. I can hunt all night if i’m at least getting hits — but i start second guessing myself after a few hitless hours…
Not walk away but keep the balance, that’s the key.
I couldn’t even think of not fishing. Campo was totally unexplainable. The only reason I wouldn’t be on the beach is a serious medical problem.
↓Great question Z! I would hate to walk away! I’d like to say that I would love to fish forever but in reality it doesn’t work out that way. It would be a sad day when I’d have to face the fact that I couldn’t rock hop anymore(which has almost happened,due to a fractured ankle and torn ligaments). I can relate to feeling as though if I fished the way I actually wanted how many memories,time spent with the children would I miss. How many bedtime stories do I have till they ate no longer needed or wanted anymore.I am lucky and blessed to have a family who also share in my crazy fish chasing ways.a family who would spend a weekend sleeping in the car and camp out on the beach. Even though my obsession is to a more serious degree, I’m glad to have the chance to share it with them.
↓I retired 3 years ago and began taking up fishing again especially surf fishing. I’ll restate what some have already said. Maintain a sense of balance in your life and you’ll be fine. To just drop something just like that does not help your mental strength. If you can’t physically do something any longer than take up being, for example, an advocate for the environment (including fishing).
↓I think SurfCasting needs a line change. A knotless line!! They call it “The Hollow Connection.”
The only change I can think of would be the knotless line. Go’s easy through the guides, no stretch or a little with fluorocarbon leader.
I have a lot more info if this is the “Big Change”.
↓I think SurfCasting needs a line change. A knotless line!! They call it “The Hollow Connection.”
The only change I can think of would be the knotless line. Go’s easy through the guides, no stretch or a little with fluorocarbon leader.
I have a lot more info if this is the “Big Change”.
↓For me it is not just surf fishing, but fishing in general. For me it is a chance to get out in nature. At five my mother took me to the local lake as this was a break for her. My fther continued it and for close to 50 years it has been scouting. The idea of giving up being outdoors it what scares me. I used to love camping, sleeping on the ground, getting up in the morning to listen to the world as it woke up. Fishing has always been a part of that. Growing up I was introduced to so many special moments that kids today do not evenhave the chance to experience. Ihave just taken this too much for granted. Through Scouting I have been able to pass some of it on. But the peace and tranquility, the comradery, these are the treasures that I hope to enjoy and pass on. Wit each of my kids when they graduated from high school. just the two of us took a weekend to do what they wanted. One was the hiking of part of the Applacia trail, another was riding of amusement rides, another was a horseback riding trip and the final was a canoing trip. Each special aas we took the time to see what was arund us. So to me never give up the little pleasures as they always teach you something new. Hopefully I have been able to pass on the memories of how to enjoy ourselves to the people that I have had contact with. The little things count and for me fishing has been the venue to all of them.
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