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CLARK WENDLANDT is The Angler of The Year

CLARK WENDLANDT was just crowned the Land O Lakes Angler of The Year for the 3rd time. He's the 1st angler to ever win 3 times.

Good Morning New York

If you want The Fin sticker, email your address to jasonp@thefin.com (they're free!).

I'm always looking for signs

While at The Odeon in Tribeca late last night I noticed that one of the wireless networks available through my iPhone was "Montauk". I then had an email this morning saying that Montauk got good again yesterday (mostly keepers). Guess where I'll be tonight..,,,

Can your surf fishing gear take it?

For those of you who fish from the surf, especially if you are rock hopping in places like Montauk, you need gear that can take it.  Some can and some can't, here is a list of my current gear that can & can't:

Can:

• Lamiglas XS101MS
• Van Staal VS200
• Bronco Plug Bag (not the best bag but it will not die)
• Super Strike darters, needles, bottles

Can't

• Aquaskinz Raptor Dry Top ($279 neck gasket exploded after 20 uses)
• Korkers K5000 Wading Sandals (studs fall out WAY to fast)
• Simms G3 Guide Waders ($400 leak in less than one season)

Do you have surf fishing gear that has withstood the test of time? Please send me an email or comment here with your recommendations.

On the bite off the bite

Do you find it hard to stay on a good bite weekend after weekend?  I do.  For the type of fishing that I do (surf fishing for striped bass...mainly in Montauk) it can be a real challenge.  If you could fish everyday of the week you would have a better understanding of the patterns as well as the ability to stay in the local loop of fishing knowledge.  If you are like me and only get to fish on weekends (which is when most people fish) what do you do? 1. You really need to learn your spots so that no matter what mother nature throws your way you know where to go. 2. I've said it a million times, yet still find it hard to keep up, you have to keep a log book. You will start to see patterns. 3. build a fishing network.  If you have a circle of friends that fish a lot that can be a great source of info.  (and if you happen to know where I can ctach a 40 this weekend please send me an email ;)

The East Coast Angler Says... "Stars and Stripers Forever"

Do you get that jittery feeling in your stomach when someone tells you a heart warming tale of how they just landed their first striper of the season? Yeah?  Check out this great post from Paul Arbitman at East Coast Angler

PS: I get that feeling just thinking about going fishing..... :)

Deep On The South Side of Montauk This Morning

Not my cooler but I sure wish it was...

10 Things I Learned Fishing the Derby (Guest blogger: David Kinney author of The Big One)

In the fall of 2007, I fished all 35 days of the famous striped bass and bluefish derby on Martha's Vineyard, and I tell the story in my new book, "The Big One: An Island, An Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish." The contest runs 24 hours a day for five weeks every September and October, and about 3,000 people show up to chase striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and bonito. They fish from boat or shore, with spinning gear or flyrods, using squid or eels or plugs. Catch the biggest fish and you'll get a shot at a $30,000 truck or boat. But most people are after a bit of island immortality. For derby devotees, winning the derby feels like slipping into the green jacket at the Masters.

I tagged along with many of the tournament's best anglers, and at times I felt like I was a student getting a peek at the answer key: I've fished for two decades but these guys were masters. So what did I discover?

1. The best fishermen are addicts. They're junkies after that next hit. (A number of the anglers I met during the derby were actual recovering alcoholics. Two had turned the competition into a sober New Year's Eve celebration.) One angler put it this way: "The people who are really good fishermen have obsessive-compulsive behaviors right? It’s like we do something and we do it to death."

2. That said, the derby takes run-of-the-mill fishaholics and transforms them into fanatics. More than $250,000 in cash and prizes are at stake, and anybody can win. Anybody. A 12-year-old girl took first-place with a 49-pound striper one year. People have been known to forgo sleep for weeks on end, lie to their friends about where they were fishing, spy on the competition, go out in dangerous weather ... whatever it takes.

3. Some fishermen might take a step past sanity in pursuit of a winning fish. One of the better derby stories I heard involved a guy fishing from a wharf in Edgartown. He hooked into a false albacore, then watched in horror as it wrapped around the propeller of a docked ferry boat. Undeterred, the man jumped aboard and tried in vain to free it. Then he had his buddy grab his snorkeling gear from the car, and he jumped overboard and tried to untangle the line by hand. The fish got away, but the angler left with a tremendous tale.

4. All fishermen are liars. But some fishermen are cheaters. Every fishing tournament deals with guys who stuffed their fish with weights, or caught them ahead of time and saved them for the contest weigh-in, or engaged in some other form of chicanery. These are the scoundrels who give fishing tournaments a bad name. The overwhelming majority of competitors aren't out to cheat, and the derby organizers do their best to crack down on those who do: A decade ago, they tossed out one of the Vineyard's true fishing legends after he was accused of poaching.

5. Truth is stranger than fiction. I actually already knew this, but if I had tried to script a better story for the derby I covered, it wouldn't have topped the tale of Lev Wlodyka. Lev had won the derby five times, but he found himself stuck behind another angler who caught a 56-pound striper in the first week of the derby. So he went out and improbably caught a giant fish of his own. When he brought it down to the weigh station it came in at 57 pounds. That set off a small celebration -- until the derby's filet master cut open its stomach and discovered a pound-and-a-half of lead. Did the champ cheat? Lev had a pretty solid explanation, but you'll have to get the book to find out what happened.

6. At the derby, people are watching. After I broke my old fishing rod and bought a new one, people noticed. "You look like a proper fisherman now," one told me. It's no wonder anglers get secretive to the point of paranoia during the contest: burying their fish, hiding in the dunes, going out in their boats at night with their running lights out.

7. If you're looking for a scene during the derby, check out Menemsha jetty. The guys working the infamous rocks up-island may not always be the friendliest on the island, but they're bound to do something entertaining. Like climb the navigational aid and cast for fish.

8. In September and October on the Vineyard, don't rely on stereotypes when you're trying to figure out who's a fisherman and who's a spectator. That septuagenarian woman? That venture capitalist with the pastel jacket? That little girl in pink? Yep, they're all trying to win the derby.

9. If I ever move to the Vineyard, I'd quickly become a manic fisherman every September. Even for the people who don't have the burning need to win (like me), even for guys who just want to hang out and drink beer and have a good time with their buddies for a couple of weeks, the derby is a grand excuse to fish every free hour of every day. Who knew that finding some camaraderie could be so exhausting?

10. There are plenty of great fishing spots around the Vineyard . But if I share them in any detail, the island fishing crowd will track me down and make me pay.

**Buy "The Big One: An Island, An Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish" at amazon.com today!

To learn more about David, you can visit his website at: www.davidkinney.net

Tough call to make tonight.

As some of you have already read on my fishing report on The Fin or on my Twitter account my striped bass fishing season began this morning.  Based on some local information and my log book I knew exactly where to start.  When I got to my spot I was astounded by the amount of adult bunker at my feet.  (pictured).  I have caught my first fish of the year at the same exact spot for the last two years so today's one and only fish was expected and very welcome.  Now comes my dilemma; While scouting out one of the local South shore beaches today I saw that one of my favorite cuts was open to the ocean.  I had heard that it was opened about 5 days ago and was producing a steady pick of fish.  Usually this cut only stays open for a few days before quickly closing.  I scouted the pond this afternoon to see if I could spot any bait but none was visible.  There were two guys fishing it while I was there and there were tons of tire tracks on the beach so I know either a lot of people have been looking and or fishing here.  The one guy I spoke to said that there have been some fish around and that yesterday he heard it was very steady.  That's the exact thing I heard about the spot I was at this morning too but as far as I could see, I was the only one who caught something.  So do I go to the spot I know is holding tons of bait or do I go to a spot that has produced very well in the past (although usually later in the year for me)?