The Changing Face Of Surf Fishing - The Fisherman

The Changing Face Of Surf Fishing

author
Modern rods and reels, braided lines, and various surf fishing accessories highlight the modern surf scene. A Neil Rothkopf Photo.

A comparison of surf fishing changes from then to now.

Any good surf angler will exalt the value of experience in the process of becoming a good angler. If that’s true, then I may lead the league in experience. My first surf trip was in the fall of 1950. I begged my dad to go to Jones Beach with him and my uncle. He said, “Take this ten-foot outfit (conventional rod and Penn Beachmaster reel) and cast this 2-ounce sinker from home to second base. When you can make three consecutive casts to second base and be within 2 feet of the bag without a backlash, then you can come with us.“ I practiced diligently and became good enough to trudge along the sand with them to the pocket at Jones Beach. We, of course, caught nothing, but I didn’t care, I loved it. I was hooked on surf fishing. 

Equipment Progression

The tackle we used that day is a good segue into the next segment of the article. Happily, almost none of you have been burdened with the gear we used, and most have never even heard about it. Here goes: A 10-foot stiff fiberglass conventional rod, a Penn Beachmaster, 30-pound-test linen line, a shock leader, and a 2-ounce metal lure made of lead and tin that I rubbed with sand to make it shiny.

Fishing with this tackle wasn’t easy, but the best was yet to come. When we arrived home my father said “Okay, wash down the reels and line with fresh water, then strip the line off the reels, and lay it out on the grass in the sun in a zig-zag pattern so you can fit all of it in the backyard, and make sure all the line is in the sun so it can dry completely. When it’s dry, spool it back on the reels.” I proceeded to follow the instructions, it took some time and wasn’t fun, but when you really love something, you’ll do almost anything to keep doing it. 

Yes, linen, a fabric used to make clothing. That was the line of the day. Since linen is organic, it will rot if it remains wet and since salt holds onto water, the rinse and dry approach was necessary. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was ecstatic when monofilament lines arrived on the scene, replaced linen and Dacron, and I lost my job. We threw away all the linen line we had and spooled up with mono; glorious! Eventually, almost all the good surf rats used pink Andy monofilament line.

Better line wasn’t the only leap forward in the 1950s, because spinning reels began to show up from Europe. My first spinning reel (Langley) was a birthday gift, and it came from France, and I matched it to an improved 7-foot fiberglass spinning rod. I was in heaven!

In the late 1950s I was old enough to drive, and spinning rods, reels, and accessories were in every bait and tackle shop. Unfortunately, I was in college in the 50s and 60s, then graduate school. I studied hard and didn’t fish the surf much then, although I kept up with surf fishing improvements. By the 1970s I was deep in the suds again, and my surf tackle was an 11-foot “honey” glass Lamiglas rod, a Penn 704, and 15-pound test pink Andy line. The rod was very whippy, hook setting required effort, the mono stretched and weakened, and after an hour or so of pencil popping your shoulders were ready for retirement.

Until braided lines came on the scene, a shock leader was the norm among regulars. I tried it, but came to prefer a leader with a clip on one end and a swivel on the other. The shock leader (usually 30-poundtest) ahead of the 15-pound test mono main line allowed anglers to apply maximum force on the cast without snapping the 15-pound test running line. The leader was long, and wrapped around the spool a number of times when casting.

As you can see, many things changed during my years of study, and there were many more changes on the horizon. S-glass rods were much more user friendly and displaced the honey glass. My reel was a Penn 706-Z (manual roller) spooled with 20-pound test Berkley Big Game line because it was more supple and easier to cast, yet just as strong as Andy line. I didn’t use the Crack reel as many regulars did because I found it a bit too heavy. However, both reels were similar in design, powerful, and engineered simply. They were easy to repair, even on the tail gate of a truck. Eventually, Van Staal reels replaced the Crack and the Penn 706-Z, and once that happened surf rats had a powerful and reliable reel to last a lifetime.

striper
Striped bass have been the main fall target of surf fisherman as blues have declined.

Etiquette & Decorum

Back then, decades ago, there were rules of behavior to follow on the beach; albeit unwritten rules. There was one set of rules and a rookie learned the rules through hard knocks and osmosis. Rookies watched, listened, and learned. When we screwed up a regular would immediately be in our face. It was a bit shocking, but effective. Today’s, learning is easier. There’s lots of media information, tapes, and books however, a uniform set of rules has not emerged with the new order. Maybe we don’t need the rigid rules once imprinted on me, and I’m not the keeper of Emily Post’s etiquette book, but a little more common courtesy and a little concern for the other guy would be welcomed.

The old rules also emphasized a quieter decorum on the beach, so I find today’s whooping and hollering a little off-putting, as do most old-guard surf rats. I enjoyed only one short-lived fall blitz in 2024. There were lots of anglers catching stripers and a cacophony of excited noises flushed up and down the beach like the “wave” at a baseball game. If that blitz occurred in the 70s or 80s, the scene would have been more sedate.

At one point, I hooked a fish and the guy next to me began shouting – not speaking – “nice going, way to go, go get that cow.” Well, it was a schoolie, not a cow, I didn’t know the guy, and the screaming in my ear was not appreciated. All I kept thinking about were the times in high school when groups of teenage girls would huddle in the hallway and scream, giggle, and coo about this or that – often the captain of the team or a rock star.  I get excited too, but I enjoy it better when it’s more personal.

Species Abundance

Another constant change in the landscape of surf fishing has been shifts in bait and fish abundance from decade to decade. Cycles of bait and gamefish are normal and are a constant reminder that natural reproduction is fickle and at the mercy of the weather as well as the success of their food critters. Let’s take a look at those changes.

Surf rats almost never saw a bluefish larger than 10 pounds in the 50s, but stripers of mixed sizes were in good supply. The 70s witnessed great spawns of weakfish and the beginning of several decades of incredibly abundant big blues. In the 80s striped bass crashed, but blues were at peak abundance and there were still enough weakfish around to make fishing for them worthwhile. In the 1990s the striper population exploded after the harvest moratorium, blues were still solid, and weakfish very spotty. Since then, all three species have been available.

past
Many things have changed in the past 50 to 60 years. Note the surf bag, rod reel and even hairstyle. Striper regulations were also different at the time.

 

Bait Factors

Bait abundance also has its ups and downs. In the 1950s, 60s, and into the 70s there were big runs of mullet, huge schools would leave the bays after the first September storm, and continue migrating through most of October. In recent decades there’s been very little mullet. Until recently, sand eels were abundant including insane amounts in the 1970s and 90s, but have recently declined. Scientists have been unable to explain the sand eel decline. The last half of the 20th Century also witnessed lots of anchovies, but it’s been years since I’ve seen big schools along the beaches.

Big schools of herring were everywhere in the autumns of the 80s, and that stimulated some amazing late fall blitzes of huge blues. Blowfish were abundant in the 1950s and 60s, and millions of baby blowfish, called “golf balls,” migrated each fall with stripers and blues on their heels. Yellow and white baby blowfish caused anglers to use lots of yellow plugs and bucktails. There were also tons of snappers in those decades that maintained the on-going glut of big blues, and these, along with baby weakfish, were sometimes the dominant bait.

Modern Technology

There is a saying that “progress is inevitable.”  Certainly, technological progress and the resultant improvements in gear and accessories has been a huge positive. However, I can’t deny that in my lifetime, progress has been a double-edged sword. True, in the 1960s tackle was crude, but there were fewer surf anglers, more access, and more space between anglers. Then, reliable, efficient, and comfortable four-wheel-drive vehicles came on the scene, as did graphite rods, powerful reels that stood up to the briny, braided lines, plastic plugs replaced unreliable wood ones, and more and more information was available to anglers that shortened their learning curves.

In the 21st Century we have E-bikes, which for some have replaced feet as travel tools and provided faster access to far off structure. Today, we have cell phones and social media that provides real-time information to anglers at work, home, or on vacation for that matter. In the 1960s it might take days before news of hot fishing reached surf anglers, but today, knowledge travels so fast that people appear within minutes of a cell phone call.

lures
More fish were kept decades ago and winter wool coats were worn in the surf because neoprene waders and tops were not available yet.

Lures Then and Now

AUTHOR’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT
Many times, in recent years, alone on the beach, and into fish, an angler stepped onto the sand, caught a fish, and was on his cell phone while the released fish was still struggling in the wash. Within a half-hour there were several dozen anglers jockeying for position in front of blitzing fish.

In the early days of modern surf fishing there were very few lures made solely for surf fishing. Perhaps, although I can’t be certain, “tins” and feather lures were all there was. “Tins” were called tins because they were a mixture of lead and tin and had to be polished with sand. A feather lure, as the name implies, was a lead head with bird feathers (usually chicken) tied on the head. Anglers also used plugs from the freshwater scene, especially those originally intended for muskies and northern pike. Gradually, wooden plugs were manufactured in a greater variety of styles by more and more tackle companies as the popularity of casting lures in saltwater grew. In the past, most wood plugs featured inconsistent swimming properties and were replaced by plastic ones that boasted more consistent action, were less expensive to produce, and could be painted in a plethora of more durable colors.

Today, a variety of lures ranging from chrome plated metal lures to cottage industry exotic wooden models are readily available. As the old Virginia Slims cigarette commercial once proclaimed, “we’ve come a long way baby,” from crude to sophisticated.

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