07.02.22 Great Wildwood Crest beach read.....

     I'm not really a beach person so planting myself under a large umbrella with a beer and book does it for me. Theresa had her childhood friends from Long Island down and it was a nice day to take them to the beach. Stiff SE made for a nice breeze and bug free day. So I picked up this book, "Successful Striped Bass Fishing" written by Frank Moss and published in 1974. It was cool from the start of the book, with the first line reading, "The first time stripers really got under my skin was on an October afternoon back in 1938". 1938? That's almost 100 years ago. Imagine how many people have got bit by the striped bass fishing bug over those 84 years. 

     It was allow interesting to read selections written by pioneers in fishing at that time including Mark Sosin, who passed away a few days ago. He was a legend in the fishing and fly fishing industry 

since the 1960's. He was one of the founding members of the Salt Water Fly Rodder's of America and used to be a regular in print and on early Saturday morning fishing shows like The Saltwater Jounral which he started. RIP Mark. 

     So after reading about striped bass and catching them with bait, plugs, trolling, netting, harpooning, ect, the final Chapter 25 was a surprise. "Fly Rod Stripers are the Greatest" and as I read the author stated his favorite rod was a Orvis Battenkill impregnated bamboo eight-footer designed with slow action to handle weight-8 line". It was funny how he described in detail how smaller

schoolie striped bass can be taken on the fly, while you would need conventional gear to catch bigger bass. Can you imagine breaking out, and breaking, the above mentioned fly rod targeting striped bass in the spring in the Delaware River? These old books are a hoot, and full of cool information and tips on how to catch bass, and where your best chances to catch them are. In this book Sandy Hook is the only New Jersey mention, I wonder if we would get more play if this book were written today, since we have the best striped bass fishery on the East Coast.