Are you looking to find the best fishing locations along the East Coast? This blog is for all of you Anglers from the Southern shores of New Jersey to the rocky coasts of central Maine, and every fishing hole along the way. Whether you like to fly fish or surf cast, you will always find exactly what you need right here at East Coast Angler. FISH ON!
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Eascoast anglerSo we wonder, maybe this just isn't our day. We cast again, but our concentration has ebbed, so instead of watching the line and maintaining contact with the lure, we lose ourselves in the music of crashing waves--until the music is pierced by the sharp, shriek-like howls of seagulls.
Down the beach a flock circles and dives: a sure sign bait fish and probably stripers our moving towards us. Something goes off in us. An adrenaline rush? A predatory instinct?
We don't exactly what, or how to describe it, but it's changed us. Electricity seems to be surging through us. We're wired. Eagerly, we watch and wait.
The seagulls move close.
But darn! They're out of our casting reach.
Disappointed, we wonder, what will we tell our wives--that the stripers just weren't running, again? Maybe. But the sad thing is, it doesn't have to be that way. The seagulls, you see, aren't beyond out reach. They're beyond our skills.
Exactly what do I mean?
For years tournament fly casters have been refining their techniques, and as a result are now casting farther than before. Can their techniques can help us surfcasters reach that faraway fish? Yes, I believe so.
But on a crowded beach, will we have to risk hooking someone with our lure? Absolutely not.
To help me explain, let's begin by looking at some universal casting principals.
2. To effectively load the rod we must begin the cast slowly, then accelerate and reach maximum speed just before we stop the rod. (If we begin the cast too fast the lure will also move too fast and, therefore, not fully pull on the rod.)
3. To use all the power stored in a loaded rod, we must abruptly stop the rod without lowering the tip from the target line.
4. All things being equal, if we lengthen our casting stroke the more we will load the rod.
With these principals in mind let's now turn to the techniques of long-distance surf casting.
Any slack in the line will make it impossible to fully load the rod. Long-distance fly casters, therefore, make sure they begin the cast with their rod and line hands close together so slack can't come between them.
When casting a spinning rod we often add slack by not holding the line with enough tension. Even worse, just before we abruptly stop the rod, our index finger often prematurely releases the line and the lure sails high and off to the right. To avoid this, I place two fingers in front of the reel stem and two behind. I pickup the line with my right index finger, then I move my hand back so that only my index finger is in front of the stem. Next, I pull the line up and back and gently press my fingertip against the stem, but not the line. (I like to feel the weight of the lure to cast it accurately.)
When casting heavy lures, I recommend wearing a golf glove so the line doesn't cut your finger.
My left foot is forward--I'll assume you're right-handed--and points straight at the target. My right foot points about thirty degrees to the right of the target. My feet are shoulder-width apart. (If my right foot it too far back or too far outward I will not be able to fully rotate my hips during the cast.) My knees are slightly bent. With the lure hanging down about two feet from the rod tip, I keep my elbow in place and slightly rotate my hips and shoulders and move the rod tip straight back. I cock my wrist and stop the rod at about three-thirty to the horizon. My rod hand is about ear-level and not past my rear shoulder. My forearm points to about one o'clock.
Holding the rod in this position will make it easier for us to make our cast without lowering the rod tip from the target line and to move our right arm in-sync with our body rotation. More about that later.
Finally, I shift my weight to my back foot.
Leading with my elbow, I begin slowly, making sure I move my right arm in-sync with my weight shift and body rotation.
I do this for two reasons:
2. If my arm gets in front of my body I will prematurely lower the rod tip and therefore unload the rod.
Back to my cast. Pushing up with my right hand, and pulling down with my left, I accelerate the rod and move the butt perpendicular to the target line When my right arm is about three-quarters extended, I reach maximum speed by breaking both wrists halfway. Abruptly, I stop the rod at about eleven o'clock and release the line. All my weight is on the ball and toes of my front foot. My front leg is straight.
So, we practiced these techniques and we're casting farther than ever, but wouldn't you know it: we're back on the beach and the fish are ten feet beyond our reach.
What's a surfcaster to do?
We'll again borrow techniques from fly casters, and lengthen our casting stroke similar to the way spey (rhymes with say) casters lengthen theirs.
To do this I start out with a different stance. I hold the rod across my body, my right arm is about three-quarters extended, my right hand about shoulder level. The rod tip points forward, about forty-five degrees to the right of the target line and about thirty degrees above the horizon. My weight is on my front foot. I begin the cast keeping my right elbow pointing down, shifting my weight back, and moving the rod tip up and back in a oval circle until I'm back in my slingshot stance. Without stopping, I make my slingshot cast.
Since you're lure is now really out there, you'll need a longer, more powerful hook set. Therefore, as I retrieve the lure I hold the rod across my body. To fight fatigue, I balance the rod in my right hand. The rod butt is under my left armpit. My weight is on my left foot. My right foot is back. When I feel a strike I point the rod towards the lure, quickly take up slack, then rip the rod tip up and back as far as I can.
So now if you don't catch a fish what will you tell your wife? Luckily, we anglers are blessed with a treasure of excuses!
Photos and article by Paul Arbitman 
keeping the head and discarding the tail fin. Cut the piece directly in front of the tail fin into an inch or 2 inch chunk. This piece will stay on the line the longest. The presentation of the cut chunks in moving water will be extremely enticing to your prey. The head is my favorite piece for stripers and the tail is a delicacy for the bluefish. 
This technique can be used from a beach, a boat or a river shoreline. Just get yourself a sand spike, set your drag and let ‘er rip. Please remember - keep your lines tight and always keep bringing in your slack. Set your drag lose enough for the fish to pull but hard enough so that they can hook themselves. Good Luck email me and let me know how this set-up worked for you.
"From top to bottom: 1)15-inch Ultimus Eel 2)14-inch Surf Asylum Real Eel 3)14-inch Hogy Lure 4) 9-inch Slug-go 5) 9-inch Surf Hog
Thanks go out to our avid reader, Alec, for bringing us the newest edition to the Eastcoast Angler’s Artist Spotlight series. Good looking out and nice find.
catch. Here are the basics: you contact him and let him know what you want. Pretty simple, really. Jim also works with oils and watercolors. When we browsed around his site, we knew this artwork would be a great addition to any fishing fanatic’s home gallery. James Roszel’s art work is attainable at any price point. As of now, he offers commissioned artwork, fish portraits, watercolors, prints and note cards. He is, in our opinion, an artist with an uncanny ability to paint some realistic fish.
Roszel is an energetic example of art we’d love to have framed on our beach house walls. (Note to my wife – see Mr. Roszel’s contact. Hint – hint.)
I spy with my little eye something wooden. Something that is beautifully hand-crafted. I spy with my little eye something that snags those trophy fish. Why, yes, it is an R.M. Smith Wooden Lure. Where did I spy these creations in all their glory? Fisherman's World.
Does your wife or girlfriend hate the fact that you fish? Does she get on your case about the amount of time you spend out on the water and with your friends? I bet you wish you knew how to get her to stop complaining, or even better, how to get her to go on the occasional trip with you. Look no further- you’re about to get some really great advice from someone (a woman no less!) who went from an anti-fishermen to being a passionate fisher(wo)man within a couple of months.
MOST OF the guides and professional fly tiers I know would likely make good soldiers. They are always prepared. And they seem continuously able to adapt to changing conditions when others cannot. Granted, these guys fish for a living, but they can do that because they pay close attention to even the subtlest changes out on the water. A professional guide’s or tier’s success rate is directly linked to his or her ability to pick up on shifting patterns — both short and long term.
Pound for pound, few fish are as voracious as a hungry, slammer-sized bluefish...
R.M. Smith- Plug Builder Hand Made Wooden Lures
Buy the now here
Pick your poison, partner. Not only are these pieces works of art; they are also a great way to land some pretty gnarly fish. Whether you're fishing for stripers in the North East, reds in the Gulf of Mexico or salmon on the Pacific Coast - you won't find a better assortment of quality hand made wooden or acrylic lures than at Atlantic Offshore Lures and Rhode Island Poppers. These beauties are some of the finest specimens in hand crafted lures. The lures blend old-school handy work with the finest of new the new school: high tech and top of the line components. Their Offshore Lures claim to be proven fish finders for species such as: bluefin, yellowfin, striped white and black marlins, wahoo and dorado.The Inshore Casting Lures have caught everything from redfish, black drum, striped-bass, bluefish, even tuna. They will stand up to anything you can put in front of them. Here are a few of my favorites:
Acrylic Flaptail Darter: 
The Jointed Swimmer:
just under the surface or run as deep as 8'. They are extreme looking swimmers in classic body design. They come in a great assortment of colors. To check these lures out and others from Atlantic Offshore Lures and Rhode Island Poppers click here. 
The Japanese craftsmen recombine and reconfigure foreign elements, to a western angler, and make some show stopping lures. They create hybrids that are the angling equivalent to a space age concept car. Many lures are limited edition. This Eastcoast angler may need to put an addition on his domicile to welcome the newest branch of my fishing gear collection. Japan has, in my opinion, some of the best fishing tackle known to man. It is renowned for its customization, durability, quality and design. In true Japanese style; a haiku for my dear readers:
unique custom lures
How To Retrieve Fishing Lures
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