A Fish to Remember - The Fisherman

A Fish to Remember

2019 1 A Fish To Remember
Ziggy Sokolowski holds his tournament winning 41.04-pound striper.

It was the weekend of October 13-14 and the South Shore Surf Fishing Classic, one of the more popular surf fishing tournaments on the Striper Coast. Hosted by Long Island State Parks and The Fisherman Magazine, the event draws several hundred participants each year to the beaches between Jones and Moriches inlets. Big stripers were a rare commodity in the Long Island surf this fall, and it was no different during the Classic, which ran from noon on Friday through noon on Sunday. This despite many of the region’s best surfcasters, including a handful from Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware, fishing virtually non-stop throughout the long weekend.

Ziggy Sokolowski is a hard fishing Long Islander who logs many hours chasing stripers from one end of the Island to the other. His name has appeared in the final standings of numerous surf fishing tournaments over the years, but placing in this one would prove to be his biggest challenge yet. The first 24 hours were relatively uneventful but that would change dramatically on Saturday night as he soaked a bunker chunk along a popular stretch of beach in Smith Point County Park on the west side of Moriches Inlet. He had been clued in on the spot by Rubin Fournier, who beached a 37-1/2-inch striper there on Friday night, and which became the winning fish in the Release Division.

Ziggy, who prefers throwing plugs over soaking a chunk of bait, but will turn to bait when the situation warrants, had been doing little other than a few small fish on artificials before deciding to make the switch. When he does fish bait, he prefers holding his rod so that he is able to feel the slightest pickup, rather than dead sticking it in a sand spike. He had been manning his rod that night when he decided to check on his friend John Riewerts resting in his truck a short distance away. He spiked the rod and when he got to John’s truck, the first words out of his mouth were “I hope you loosened your drag.” Ziggy explained he preferred leaving the drag set so that if a fish did pick up his bait, it would hook itself. No sooner did he finish his explanation, then he glanced back to where now only a sand spike marked where his rod once stood. He raced back to the spot but it was too late. The rod was gone, leaving little in the way of drag marks as the impact of the strike had launched the rod out of the holder, through the air, and into the surf.

Determined to retrieve his rod, he dug a large bunker snagger out of his truck and began probing the immediate area, fanning casts to his left, right and straight out to no avail. He did the same as walked the beach a quarter of a mile to the left and right from where the rod disappeared, and still there was no contact with his rod or line. Eventually he concluded that when a big bass is hooked, it is most likely to run straight out and head for the nearest deep water. Returning to the scene of the crime, he went to work again with his snagger. This time his efforts paid off. Snagging his line, he and John were able to work the rod back to the beach and come tight on the fish. With his reel completely clogged with sand, it took a few minutes for the two to wash out enough sand so that he could turn the handle and gain some line on the fish.

After much effort, what turned out to be the winning striper was finally secure on the beach. Later that night, it registered 41.04 pounds on the scale at Captree Bait & Tackle, the official weigh station for the tournament, and earned him a check for $750 at Sunday’s awards ceremony. It easily outplaced the second and third place fish of 32.66 and 31.26 pounds. What could have been the worst night of Ziggy’s lengthy surf fishing career, turned out to be the highlight of his season, thanks to a heavy dose of unbelievably good luck.

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