EP 49: The Anatomy Of A Fall Run: Structure, Bait, And Smart Releases

The surf is alive, the foam lines are loud, and the biggest stripers of the season are sliding into casting range. We invited Bayside Dave to dig into a land-based masterclass: how to read Long Beach Island’s sandbars, troughs, and rip seams, and how to choose baits and lures that turn those spots into steady hookups. Whether you fish beaches, jetties, inlet edges, or bayside docks, this guide puts you exactly where the fish want to feed.

We start with structure: spotting the whitewater that marks a bar, identifying the darker “hole,” and finding the openings where current and food funnel together. Then we get surgical with timing and placement—why casting to the bar tip and trough mouth out-produces bombing the second bar, and how many big bass eat shockingly close, even in ankle-deep water. For bait, we break down bunker heads and chunks, salted clams, and mullet pieces, plus practical drag and sinker tips that stop your rig from skating and keep circle hooks pinning cleanly.

Artificial addicts get a full spread: half- to one-ounce bucktails with trailers for the lower column, SP minnows and Hydro minnows for midwater, and mag darters when you need that hunting wobble. On top, we swear by Tsunami Talking Poppers and bottle poppers for explosive eats after the pause. Metals have their moment when sand eels stack—diamond jigs with a sand eel teaser above, and Hopkins for speed and lift. We also cover metal lips in inlet current: cast across the flow, feed line, and let the plug swim itself tight to the rocks.

We finish with fish care that actually matters: surfing fish in with the wave, supporting big bass horizontally, and reviving forward—never backward—until they kick strong. If you’re eyeing the LBI Surf Fishing Classic, we hit rules, prizes, and land-based access points. Fall run surf fishing rewards anglers who read energy and fish the first ten yards with intent. Subscribe, share with a buddy who needs more tight lines this season, and drop your confidence lure in the comments—what gets you bit when the surf is churning?

Great Bay Outfitters - Gear Up!
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Chapters

• 0:00 Fall Run Kickoff & Big Fish In The Surf
• 0:16 Host Welcome And Show Setup
• 1:04 Trip Announcement: Osprey December 7
• 3:26 Sponsors And Gear Shoutouts
• 5:32 Guest Intro: Bayside Dave
• 6:12 LBI Surf Fishing Classic Overview
• 11:20 Prizes, Rules, And Overslot CPR
• 16:25 Timing The Run And Regional Reports
• 21:36 Where To Fish LBI From Land
• 26:08 Reading The Beach: Bars, Troughs, Rips
• 34:12 Bait Strategy: Bunker, Clams, Mullet
• 39:28 Rod Holders, Sinkers, And Drag Setup
• 45:06 Artificial Lineup: Bucktails And Minnows
• 52:10 Mag Darters, Colors, And Confidence
• 56:56 Topwater Choices And Retrieval Tips
• 1:02:06 Metals: Diamond Jigs, Teasers, Sand Eels
• 1:09:12 Metal Lips And Working Inlet Current

Transcript

Bayside Dave: 0:00

You'd be surprised how many of these big fish come into the surf looking for all those little pieces of food, all those little s calicos and and and and sand fleas and all that stuff.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 0:16

Hello and welcome back to the Fat Dad Fishing Show. My name is Rich Natoli, your regular host. Back again, talking as. So we're gonna be talking striped bas s. It is that time of year the full run speaking. And um, it's time to get out there on the water for this fish. So many people do. It is the big fish to go after right now, especially in advance of top season. Don't worry, we are going to have plenty of talk content coming up starting next week. Um we're going to wait to announce that again, but the weekend after that, then we're also gonna have Frank Hollock Monster. We're going to be talking to be rolling in strong. And uh with that said, I'm going to announce tonight the trip that we're going to have the Father Tom trip that we're trying to do every year. It's going to be on the Osprey out of New Jersey again. So if you're one of the Port Jefferson guys in New York, it is not going to be there. It's going to be down in Atlantic City. I believe it's at uh gotta double check. I believe it's at Camaran's uh in Atlantic City. And we're going to do it on December 7th. That is a Sunday. So I thought about doing a Saturday, but they don't sail on Saturday. So uh then I thought, well, let's do a Friday. And then I figured, you know what? Most people are not self-employed and may not want to take a vacation day that close to the uh the holiday season. So we're gonna go December 7th. It sails at 7 a.m., which means, you know, you know how it is. You got to be there early. So to get your spot on the boat. Uh, but you you can go on, and I'm gonna put it into the chat. Uh, I'm going to recommend that you go and and go to the website, even if you just go right now as we're talking, uh, ospreyfishingnew jersey.com. It's in the chat. And uh today is the first day that you can actually uh book a trip. So it's perfect timing. I'm I've been communicating with them. They said that they were going to get it up and ready soon. And luckily, it came out today. So uh I have my spot. And uh there are a couple other people I know that I talked to that I promise in advance, including my brother. Uh, they probably have their spots. Uh, but it would be great to get a lot of people out there on the boat this time. And we're going to try to get an improvement over the last time, which means more than just one lobster and a starfish, and I don't know, a couple of other small things. I think those may have been the only fish that were actually caught that day. I believe that's actually the case. But tough day then, but it's going to be a great season already kicking off. But again, Tog is not the topic today. We are going to be talking striped bass with Bayside Dave, and we're going to be focused on land-based, you know, that Bayside Dave is, despite his name Bayside, he is mostly surf, although he's got plenty of experience on the sod banks and and the shorelines, probably around docks and everything as well. That's kind of where my experience lies. And let's just roll into the sponsors real quick. So we have Great Bay Outfitters on Radio Road in Tuckerton. Anything kayak related that you need. If you're fishing saltwater kayak, it doesn't even have to be saltwater, but that's what I'm talking about right now. Old Town, native. He also has other used kayaks in great condition that he sells other brands. And he's got everything on there, including the Garmin Motors. He's got everything. And you know, it goes into the shop, and Paul just likes tricking them out and then selling them. So if you want a good setup or if you want a unique custom setup, talk to Paul, talk to Great Bay. You're gonna you're probably gonna be able to find what you want and what's gonna get you on the water and happy out there. Uh, then we have Quad State Tune with Kevin Driscoll. Number is in the, you know, I'm gonna add it to the descriptions here. It is on the descriptions in the podcast. I mentioned it right now, but I lost a monitor as this started up. So I do not have the number there, but it is in the intro for Toyota trucks. So if you have a Toyota truck, the Tacoma's, even some Lexus models, forerunners, these engine tunes are going to get you better gear, better mileage, better horsepower, better performance out of the engines. And if you have any of that gear hunting going on where it just doesn't seem to kind of slide and stay in the gear when you're on the highways, this will take care of it. So reach out to Kevin. He will set you up and he will let you know whether you should get it or you shouldn't. He's not going to just sell to everybody the calls, he's gonna talk to you about it and make sure it's the right thing for you. Then the last thing is me with real estate southeastern Pennsylvania. I am a realtor with Weikert Realtors Cornerstone, and I am out of the Bluebell office and the Collegeville office. So I cover quite a wide range. As a matter of fact, I had a closing today, all the way out in Lancaster. I have another property that I'm involved with closing down near Atlantic City next week on Monday. So all over the place. So if there's anything I can help you with, just reach out. Number is 267-270-1145. And as I say that, I'm going to hit silent on my phone because people tend to just mess with me when I give the number. So, with that said, I'm going to bring Bayside Dave on right now. Dave, good to see you. Let's jump right into this. What do you say? Hey, of course, man. That's what I'm here for, bro. Yeah great. So we're we're going to talk a lot of striped bass. One thing that I do want to hit first before we dive in, because we're going to be talking everything from bait fishing to artificial surf fishing, sod banks, docks, whatever, whatever people want to talk about. Before we get into that, let's talk about the look. We're all about local shops, local events. Let's talk about the annual local event that you're involved in right now that can get people on the water and having some fun.

Bayside Dave: 6:12

Yeah, the uh the this is the 71st annual uh running of the uh the LBI Surf Fishing Classic. It's it's it's generally has been known for many years as the full derby. The uh it started out as basically a striper derby. And uh over the years, we've added other fish. You know, I'm on the I'm on the uh committee. I've been on the committee for about five years now. I run all their social media and I do their advertising, and I'm on the um marketing subcommittee to get all the you know to help get the word out about this every year. And it's usually a nine-week tournament that starts usually the first week in October. But this year we started it in September and added it up, you know, beefed it up to 13 weeks. And we added fluke to the uh to the tournament, but you know, that's that's over and done with fluke's years. It's over and done. And we had a great turnout. But you know, now you know we we're running to November 30th. There's $25,000 in cash prizes. There's you know, multiple species that you can target. We have striped bass, bluefish, you know, kingfish, yeah, as long as they're around. Tog has had had been added a few years ago, and that's running real strong now. You know, with TOG, we have weekly prizes, and of course the grand prize. We have uh prizes for women, seniors, and juniors, as do all the other species of fish that we uh pay, you know, have you target. Striped bass and blue fish have day prizes as well as weekly prizes and the grand prize. And then there's there's bonus prizes of of different products that are awarded for what we have gift cards for the heaviest bass and the and caught on Saturdays, gift cards for heaviest bass caught on Sundays, you know, given by Fisherman's Headquarters and Jingles Bait and Tackle. There's a custom rod from a from a local gentleman who makes who makes rods, John Parzich. He's gonna give one rod to the angler who caught the largest striped bass or bluefish. It seems to me like it's gonna be a striped bass again this year, because the bluefish really aren't that big right now. No. Um so he's he's gonna make a custom rod for that person, which he does every year. We're very thankful for him to do that. And because of the because of the slot, you know, the three-inch slot that we have for striped bass, you know, it's really hard to compete with you know, the largest fish that you're allowed to weigh in is a 31-inch bass. So we opened up a a uh a section that we call the surfmaster award, and that's for overslot bass that are caught. And that's those are scored by a catch photo release uh situation that you can look up the rules on for on our website lbisfc.com. So with the surfmaster award, which with these overslot fish, we decided rather than have all the we we had a lot of turn-ins of fish, of course, over 31 inches and on up to to the largest fish last year, which was 42 inches. You know, you have 32, 33, 34, all those smaller fish being handled, miss, mishandled, you know, laid on rocks and sand, measured, sent in, even though there are larger fish already turned in. You know, we felt that that's kind of not really good for the striped bass to uh allow people to uh do that and just determine for the sake of oh boy, I got my picture. So now we've have it where it's only going to be the smallest fish that we're gonna allow turned in is 38 inches. So that that will help you know with the mishandling of some of the smaller size fish. As well, you know, this is mostly a kill tournament that people hate that word, but as far as the the catch photo release, we we do want to protect the species as much as we can. So uh yeah, anything 38 inches or bigger is gonna be uh for the surfmaster award, and uh the winner of that gets custom mount by Reinhardt Taxidermy. They they they provided it with the one last year for the guy who had a 42-inch pass, and this thing looked fantastic. They do so much beautiful detail on the on their mounts, and and we're so proud to have them as a sponsor. And John Parzic is also gonna make a uh a rod for the winner of the Surfmaster Award. And his rods run up to a thousand dollars. He does beautiful wraps. The guy does absolutely beautiful work. And we also have a local plug maker, I don't have a name in front of me, I'm sorry, who donated uh six really nice looking poppers and uh and uh swim swim baits that he custom made uh for the Derby. So that's going to be added to the Surfmaster Award and probably a few other bonus prize awards that we have available from now to the end. And we have a guy that that's making custom bucktails and custom teasers, you know, to your specs if if you catch the largest fish on a plug and all that. So yeah, there's a lot of good stuff that you can that you can win. And you know, even though this is, like I said, a 13-week uh tournament and we have about what six weeks left, you know, yeah, you're thinking, oh, I don't want to compete with all these people, I can't get down there too much. But oh, if you come down here for one day, one weekend, or a couple times, you know, you have a chance of catching a big fish, getting a good day prize, getting a good weekly prize, and you catch something big enough, you you might hold out to to the grand prize. So no, you don't have to be here every day in the in this entire tournament to uh really compete. You just got to get down here once or twice and and and do some hardcore fishing and pull in some nice fish and possibly win some win some cash, man, and maybe even a couple of these good prizes that we're offering. Yeah, you know, it it it's funny.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 11:48

So I think Paul, yeah, it was Paul, put out on Facebook a picture of himself holding a striped ass with all the scribbles around it, and he just you know how the people try to like black out the background to saying, if you're in New Jersey, just so you know, this is not necessary anymore, they're all over, and it's true. And and to that point, it may be a 13-week tournament, but the bigger fish are arriving now, yeah. So if you're if you want to get in, you haven't missed the biggest fish, they're still coming in.

Bayside Dave: 12:19

It's just starting, man. And and and this is the fall run. It's it's it's actually a couple weeks later than it normally runs. You know, we we'll we'll see bass, you know, the initial the initial uh size of the fish that first hit the run are usually the big ones. Big cows come down, the 40s and 50s. And uh that's that's your first wave of the run. And that usually starts around even like the first and second, could even be the third week in October. But usually I I I mean we've we've seen them, you know, October 8th, October 10th, where we had those big 40s and 50s, and uh they're they're starting right now. The reports are coming in that they're starting right now. We don't see them on the beach yet, but we are uh very encouraged that we are gonna see them soon because they're they're making their run and they they've they they've been out on the one to three mile line, and people are starting to see them come in near the inlets and stuff. So, yeah, like like Rich said, thanks, thanks for uh mention, you know, in reference to our derby here, you know, you still got a chance to win some good cash and prizes. Get down to LBI, register at Surf uh Surf City Bait and Tackle, Fisherman's Headquarters or Jingles Bait and Tackle. It's a $40 entrance fee, $20 for kids under 18. And you get one of these cool hats. This is this is an embroidered hat, sticker. There's there's some coupons that that are available from some of our sponsors that you get with your uh sign up. And yeah, come on down. We got some good fishing down here coming up pretty soon, man.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 13:51

Yeah, absolutely. And I'll say this for for our New York audience. I've been hearing left and right that the South Shore is on fire and and some complaints that they seem to have skipped the north shore of Long Island. I don't know if that's true or not. I I haven't gone, but I had a couple of guys that were pretty adamant that they're heading south because that's where the big ones are right now. You're still they're still catching them, right? Uh all up and down, but it it it didn't come in thick in the north, and it and they're saying, you know, it seems like the main larger fish in the biomass have moved south. So you're looking there, Long Island, Raritan Bay, Raritan River, you know, and spilling around Sandy Hook and coming down south. You're also seeing, I would say, down to about Ocean City, pretty consistent reports of larger over I shouldn't say larger, because everybody has their own definition of that, but overslot fish down through Ocean City, almost to Corsans in the backwaters. So if you're finding them back there, they are definitely going to be at least spaced out sporadically on the beaches. I have not heard anything great south of Corson Inlet. So Steven Duda is asking, anything in South Jersey yet? Depends on what you consider South Jersey. Some people think as soon as the New York accents stop, that's South Jersey. Some people say it's below AC, below Manisquan. I don't, I don't know, but I would say what I what I am hearing, and I am not tapped, look, I'm not tapped into you know a billion people, but what I am hearing is you're really good and the run has started. If you're especially Ocean City and North, so down to Corson and North, you're going to be able to go out, target striped bass right now from the from the beaches. It's a little spotty, as Dave just said, it's a little spotty, but you can catch them, you can find them. It's just not, you know, it's not what we think of when the bunker aren't aren't pushing the beaches right now, they're not pushing the surf line all over the place like they are. You know, you can just wait a half an hour and the next pod comes through. It's not happening. But large fish in the backwaters, definitely. James Flynn saying 38 inches from Sea Isle.

Bayside Dave: 16:08

So yeah, we're starting to see we're starting to see the same thing with those larger fish in the backwaters as well. Not not as not as heavy as as uh as you said, down by Ocean City and stuff, but the our inlets are really holding holding bass. They've been holding bass all summer, and that's typical down here. Uh the the Barnga Inlet and the Little Leg Inlet on the south end of the island. We we had a report last Wednesday or Tuesday, it was, we had a boat out at the tip of Holgate, which is the southern tip of Long Beach Island, in the uh uh Little Egg Inlet, where they had fished up to 40 40 inch, 42-inch fish that they were getting on topwater plugs in this rip that that occurs down there coming out of that inlet. So, you know, even though they might be on the not be on the beaches, if if you go up on the Barning Inlet along that jetty there, you know, wear your corkers, don't be an idiot, and watch watch as the water comes over the top, be safe out there on them rocks. But I heard early morning and late afternoon into the evenings bass are running along those rocks. So you you can come join the derby and uh go out there and and and catch catch catch, you know, you work the inlets because the derby it doesn't include any kind of boat fishing, it's all land-based. Right, right. You can't go over across off of Manahawk and off those sodbanks and expect you have to be land-based on Long Beach Island. I mean, we have plenty of we have plenty of land-based spots all along the bay. We had uh we had a way in today of a 30-inch bass that a guy was caught off of a dock on the bay side of LBI this morning using a plug. It was a nice uh near nearly 10-pound fish. So he he's in like third or fourth right now with that fish. But yeah, it's not just the beaches, you know, inlets, back back bays that you can get. Or I call it the back bay, it's just back side of the island in the bay. We have a lot of land-based spots here on LBI that you you can fish those bays. Yeah, some of the channels run right up right up along the uh the bulkheads. And there's there's some sodbanks that we have. You just got to look at the maps, and there's free parking on all the streets, just don't park anybody's driveway in, you know. All along the whole island, there's no paid parking, it's just all side streets that run right up to the beach on uh every block on the entire length of the island, and it's the same thing along the bay, you know. As long as you're you're parked legally on by a curb, or you know, just watch where the signs are at the end of the street. Don't do not park past this sign, you're right there. You just walk on, you know, or get your beach buggy passes and drive on. You know, there's five townships that sell beach buggy passes on the island, and uh, you know, look into that. And uh, if you want to drive on the beach here, you're more than welcome. It's it's all part of the game, man. As long as you're land-based, you know, the action's here.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 18:55

Yeah. So let's talk, let's talk right now. Let's start off with some spots and and where you would be expecting to find them right now. Let's let's start with the beaches. What are the what are the types of structure? And let's just make it clear. You're looking. There are some comments. By the way, I do want to mention there are some comments that I'm going to pull up on the screen in a little bit. They kind of are going to flow into what we're going over later. What are you looking for as far as the the types of structure right now when you're hitting the beaches? What are you looking for on the water?

Bayside Dave: 19:29

Well, you know, the structure here on LBI is very similar for the whole run of the island. So, whichever town or block that you fish that you are choosing to fish, as you walk up the entrance ramp, just stand on the top and observe the waves and observe the water. You know, we have basically sandbars that run about, you know, 10 to 20, even 30 yards off the beach that will run for a block or two sometimes and create a trough between the beach, between the actual beach that you're standing on and the sandbar that that forms out there. Sandbarns don't run solid. There's always openings that are created because the the water needs a place to get back out. So a rip current will will occur, even if it's not a strong rip current, but you know, uh they run out the troughs and then they create an opening. So you have the sandbar that runs, and then it'll drop down into a hole that we call it, and that's the opening that the water makes its way back out after it crashes over the sandbar and through the trough, and in so basically what you're looking for is where these sandbars are. You can find them by watching the waves crash. You know, of course, waves look all the same up and down as you as you're looking up and down, you know, the blocks of the of the beach line, but you know, the foam really gets created when it's crashing on the sandbars, you know, and the waves crash harder and and and create like that that foam that you see, that that white suds that just gets kids running. That's your sandbar. The waves will will be some of the bigger surf, the waves will be dropping in where those holes are, but they'll drop, be dropping in maybe a little closer, and they won't be creating all that white foam. And you can see that that that water stays dark, so that's deeper water, that that's the hole. I like to target right where the end of those sandbars are, right where that big heavy foam is is being created by the by by the uh by the shallowness of the sandbar. Uh you know, fish like to come into those areas of the beach, they like to run up those troughs because those waves are crashing hard, churning up the sand. There's all kinds of food that gets churned up out of the sand. You have the sand fleas, you have calico crabs. You'd be surprised how many of these big fish come into the surf looking for all those little pieces of food, all those little sit calicos and and and and sand fleas and all that stuff. Also, you'll have a lot of bait fish that are running in looking for cover. So they see those sandbars. Here, there's something I can hide behind. You know, they're not going to stay in those big deep holes between the sandbars, they're going to run into up to those troughs and try to protect themselves by hugging the sandbars. And that's where the big fish are are looking for food, you know. So that's what you're looking for in structure, especially on Long Beach Island. You're looking for those troughs, you're looking for the end of those sandbars where those fish come in by where those holes are formed. And that's where you want to throw your baits, that's where you want to throw your plugs. Bass love rough water, and the rougher the better. Um, because they love all that action that gets churned up.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 22:27

I'll also add in there, so not just for LBI, but anywhere that you're going. So the trough is important, and it you don't have to fish a trough, but it's important to know where it is. And this is this is a really rookie thing to say, but some people haven't fished the surf, right? Or the or they've just done it dumb luck, just kind of walking and tossing as as they're going. When you see the wave break, you get the foam and then it reforms and it breaks again. That's a trough. Now it the depth could be different, it can vary, but it's a variance in the depth when it reforms and then it breaks again. If it just kind of rolls in foam the entire way, it's a steady shallow until it reforms, if it ever does reform. So that's where you know you're going to have a trough. And on other beaches, LBI, I don't think you have this at all, but places where at this time of year you can wait out a bit. One of the biggest mistakes that I see is people will go out, they'll walk out, you know, waste, you know, depending on what waders they have, they probably have chest waiters. So they'll they'll walk out and then we'll just toss out towards the second sandbar because a lot of these have two sandbars. What Dave just said is really important. They like that hard crash of water, they like where it's all churned up, they love the current. So, what you will often find is some of the better fishermen are fishing behind the guys that have waited out 40 yards so that they can toss out further to the second bar because the fish are actually pushed in behind the first bar and the first trough. So if you have a trough and you walk out into it and it's waist deep and you know it gets up to be about knee deep, you're standing in the trough where the fish are. So you can actually often fish behind you and you can catch fish. So don't just think it's a distance game. You know, a lot of people, you know, the big thing like shark fishing. Oh, I'm gonna use a drone, I'm gonna use a potato gun setup, I'm gonna launch that bait 200 yards. That's great. You don't need to do that in most cases, in many, I shouldn't say most, in many places. If you can read that structure, and you you can catch a 40-inch bass or bigger in water that's ankle deep. Like you can you can see them sometimes breaking or slicing the water as they're coming through because they will literally come up and bump your feet. So want to just mention that for those that aren't as experienced, you don't want to ignore behind you. Lbi, you're not necessarily doing that. Asbury Park, you're probably up to your chin if you go out, you know, 20 feet, yeah. Depending on where you are.

Bayside Dave: 25:01

Yeah, I find the more northern beaches you have more of a deep drop-off right out off the beaches, and you might not have a trough with a sandbar. So you'll have you'll have big schools of fish running right up to the beach.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 25:12

Yes, and I actually I actually found myself face down in one of those in a fall before that that was terrible. I got my feet washed out from underneath me, but it was like it was like almost it was probably a 30 degree angle. So that's pretty pretty steep, right? I've been there, I've been there all the way up to my up to my shoulders. Yeah, and but my way out and move and you can't because you're backing uphill and the water is still washing the sand out from underneath you. The guy next to me is like, you're all right, I was like, Yeah, help me.

Bayside Dave: 25:43

Yeah, that's a live and learn thing right there for sure. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, the only time we'll we'll like walk out to a bar by LBI is is if there's a a general low water level and and the tide goes out and you have a lower tide. A lot of times the troughs are too deep for us to walk out to the bars. The bars really don't get exposed off LBI. Maybe maybe they'll they'll be shin deep, if anything, at a lower tide. But there are there are times here that it doesn't happen too much where we have super low levels, and you can walk out to that sandbar and and cast into that second trough or cast over over to where that hole is, and and that's pretty successful. That that could be pretty successful in targeting the bass when you when you don't have high water levels. But generally, you know, as long as you know our our our troughs are pretty deep, you know, six to eight feet minimum, and and the and and the holes can drop down to 12-15 feet right off the beach. And uh as long as there's water, as long as there's at least six, five, six feet of water, you're gonna have bass come in. I have caught so many fish basically 20 feet in front of me. And the largest fish I ever caught on LBI was basically 20 feet in front of me at low tide, middle of June, salted clam. You know, you you can't predict things like that. But like you said, they they run right up to your feet, man. You don't have to get out there.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 27:04

So let's let's take this, let's go to this this question here. So Jeff Jeff Dario is asking, so let's talk about these holes that you're finding at the mouth of the trough and the rip, where the rip's going out. What are you throwing in those? And let's let's start off let's start off with bait fishing. Uh let's talk about bait first. And look, it's it's October 20th when we're recording this. So let's talk about what you're throwing over the next you anticipate throwing to start off with over the next two to three weeks.

Bayside Dave: 27:40

Well, you know, if you can find bunker, please get some fresh bunker, cut it into chunks, you know, get get your uh six oh, eight oh circle hooks or e even smaller. It all de basically the size circle hook depends on the size bait you're using. And you don't necessarily have to have huge, large baits with big hooks to catch big fish. Like I said, these fish come into the surf and they will eat any little old thing. Almost every every fish that I've ever harvested off the beach. Back when you were able to keep fish up to 40 inches, I've had 36, 38 inch bass with their stomachs full of sand fleas. So by all means, try to get bunker. Fresh bunker is tough to find right now. There are a lot of there are a lot of bait and tackle shops who have frozen bunker. They usually freeze them, vacuum seal them fresh when they get get them in. So you're not doing too bad using the using the frozen bunker. I've caught plenty of bass using frozen bunker, just cut into chunks, put it on a circle hook, depending on the size bait that you've cut, as as far as what size circle hook you're gonna use. And I love using bunker heads. You know, you cut you cut behind the spot that's that's behind the eye by the gill there, leave a little meat on there, leave leave all the guts on there, just cut that off, use like an 8-0 or a 9-0 circle hook, cut it, hook it under the chin, come out through the top of the nose. That's gonna stay on there solid. Leave you can leave that out there for a half hour, 40 minutes. I change my other baits out, like my chunk baits. I'll change them out about every 20 minutes. You can also use clams, salted or fresh surf clams is a great bait to use. And all the all the fresh mullet that that have been brought into the shops over the last couple weeks uh with the mullet run. You know, they have put in packages of 12, they they froze them all. That's another good bait you can use. Uh you don't necessarily have to use a mullet rig. You really can't use a mullet rig for striped bass because it doesn't have circle hooks on it. But you can you can cut those pieces of mullet, those uh mullets up into pieces and throw them on circle hooks and throw them out there and use them as bait. They work fantastic. I know people who've been catching with them. Just drop them basically. You don't have to cast out, like I said, we don't have to cast over to England for for these fish. You have a good trough there, you have about 20 or 30 yards of of of good uh water that fish are gonna be swimming in. Just cast it out, try to get it out near the bar where the tip of the bar is is usually the is the highway that the fish come in, and they're gonna see your baits there. But anywhere where that bar is, away from this away from the last you know, break of the waves in into that deep water there. I wouldn't necessarily go out in the middle of the what we call the hole, which is the big deep hole of water that is formed between the tip of two sandbars, a southern run of sandbar, northern run of sandbar. You have that big hole that that is formed. Fish aren't really zooming around in there, that's pretty deep. There's there's no real big waves churning up that sand down there to attract them to look for baits. They're coming into where those edges of those sandbars are and turning their way up into the troughs. So as long as you're fishing near that hole in those troughs, that's where you want to drop your baits. And you know cast out, let it drop down in there. Make sure, you know, when a sinker drops down to the sand, it buries itself a little bit. That's gonna hold your bait in place. A lot of people that all right, they put it in the in the in the rod holder, and then they start to crank in to try to tighten up their line, which is the right thing to do, but don't over-tighten it and pull your sinker out of the sand because that's gonna start drifting around, you know. Just biggest mistake.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 31:18

It's the biggest mistake people make when they're fishing sinkers in the surf.

Bayside Dave: 31:22

Yeah, I mean, if you have a wind blowing and you got you know 30 yards of line out there before it hits the water, the wind is gonna make a curve in your line, regardless of how tight it is. You don't have to straighten out your line, you just have to make it tight. And you you do that by just pulling with your, you know, just grab it with your fingers and pull it down as you're cranking. You know, don't don't pull crank it down with your with your reel. Pull it with your fingers and you'll feel it get tight. As soon as it's tight, done. Set your drag and and wait for the hit. Even like I said, even though it still has a big, nice, big curve of it, because that's what the wind is gonna do to it, and and the water's doing that to to to the line as well. So, no, you don't have to straighten out your line, just make it tight. Yeah, or you're gonna pull your sinker out.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 32:08

Well, exactly. And and keep in mind you're fishing circle hooks when you're fishing these baits. So all you need is an indication that something has picked it up, you're gonna get that indication. And it's not that you have to set the hook instantly. No, no, no. Now, I do suggest I do suggest reeling down on it quickly and not waiting because you can still gut hook with circle hooks, and it happens all the time. But you it's not like you have to get a quick set on it. It's it's not gonna be there and gone. It's gonna pick it up, it's gonna eat it, and you're gonna you're gonna see that movement, you're gonna feel that movement if you're holding the rod. Good point. And and to your point about the trough, or not the trough, the hole, and fishing the middle of that. Just go back, everybody, and think about why you wouldn't want to fish necessarily the center there. And and it comes down to there could be fish there, there could be great large fish in there, but the reason that they're in there is they're not feeding as as actively because that's not where most of the food is coming through that's easy for them to grab. They're gonna want the easiest meals. So think about a rip current, they're gonna be, you know, most often sitting on the less strong current side of a rip, and they're going to be darting out into the rip and grabbing things as it's just kind of funneled to them. Now, they could do that out in the deep water, but it's it's not as you know, if they're out in the middle of the hole, well, the water's moving quicker and there's more of a rip when it's goes around a structure. Think about a bridge, right? So if you're fishing a bridge, and if you don't believe me, just just think about this. If you're fishing a bridge and you're on a boat and you go between the spans and you're right in the middle, you've got a decent, you could have a decent current. But as soon as you get right up close to that, the water actually accelerates as it goes around the around that structure, right? Because it's condensing all that water into that small space because the piling's taking it up. It's the same principle that makes an an airplane fly, right? So it's going to increase the velocity as it goes around the edges there, and that's going to make it a more predictable feed. So think about that when you're looking for this structure. That's one of the things that you want to look at. And not just that the structure holds bait, but it also funnels bait really well. You're going to have the the increased currents around there, you're going to have more turbulence around there, which is going to jostle the smaller things, make it an easier feed. So just keep that in mind. It's not that you can't catch big fish or or any fish in those holes. It's just probably not the first place that you would want to look. Or at least it's not the first place I would look.

Bayside Dave: 34:49

No, that you're exactly right. And that's what I was talking about with with those. They love the rough, they love, they love the uh the waves crashing because that's churning up. I mean, even the of course, like I said, there's churning up the Stanfleas and the calcos, but even if there's like schools of bait fish in there, that just just messes them all up. This that that just you know screws up their swimming and they become easy easily targeted because they're just a little, they just got pounded and they're they're a little you know out of sorts because of the pounded wave, and that makes it easy prey for them.

Speaker 2: 35:21

Yeah.

Bayside Dave: 35:21

But also just just make sure if if you are bait fishing and and you have your rod in a holder, loosen up your drag so it's easy to pull the line out without the current and and the wind continually pulling your line out. Because if a big fish grabs a bait and you have your rod your your drag tightened up tight, just say goodbye to your rod.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 35:46

Uh yeah, but that's entertaining for everybody else on the beach, David.

Bayside Dave: 35:50

Yeah, exactly. And don't worry about the fact that oh, it's too loose, it's not gonna set the hook. You're gonna set the hook when you tighten up your drag. And always keep in mind, you know, after you know, I always tighten up my drag completely almost completely locked when I cast, because I don't want to lose any of the power of the cast by a drag loosening up as I'm casting. So yeah, it's tight. All right. Bring it up to I I I leave the bale open as I'm walking up to the to the spike with my finger on the line so it doesn't get thousands of yards or it gets gets pulled out with the wind. Just let it guide out through your fingers so you can keep control of the line, put it up into the into the holder, drop it down, close your bale. Now you tighten up your your your your line, like I said, without pulling the sinker out of the bottom. And now do half turns with your with your drag setting. Half turn, pulling the line, it's still tight. Half a turn, all right. I'm pulling it out, but it's still pretty tight. Another half turn, all right. That's that's pretty decent now. It still has has some good tension to it. So I'll be able to fight the fish with this drag. That's your that's your fighting setting right there. That's still too tight to be sitting in the in the rod holder, in the spike, because like I said, if a big fish grabs it, say goodbye to your rod. Now turn it a couple more times until you can feel it come out nice and easy. Count how many times you turn it to make it that easy. So in a panic, oh my god, I got a fish, I got a how many turns the two turns. I did it, I did it twice over to the over to the uh fighting setting that I wanted. Always have to keep in mind about how many turns you have to turn where you can, you know, have that circle hook drag out and set into the corner of the fish's mouth, and you're still at a good setting where you can fight the fish without it being super tight that it's gonna snap snap the line. You always have to keep that in mind. The better way to do it is to get a bait runner reel.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 37:42

Uh you know, Steven Dudo just put that in there. He's like, That's why he uses bait runners. Yep.

Bayside Dave: 37:46

The bait runners are the best because after you cast out, set it in your holder, set the drag to to your fighting drag that you would like, and then you flick the bait holder, and that loosens up the drag. Yeah, and you don't have to worry about oh, well, how many turns to get it back to where I want it? That the bait holder does it, and the bait holder will cli will snap back off and go back to your fitting setting as soon as you turn your your reel, or you could just just snap it by yourself. When you turn the crank, that'll shut that right off. And yeah, I I I do use bait runner reels when I'm when I'm you know fishing with bait on the beach for sure. That's that's the best way to do it.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 38:26

Yeah, it's I mean, especially if you're putting the rod down. You know, when I don't have one, I hold the rod the entire time. But yeah, if I'm gonna put one down, I definitely want one. And you know, it's funny. I I initially started using the bait runners actually for live bait, but I found that you know on a boat, that's when I would use it, but I wanted it in the surf because of that that very reason. Because I I don't want to be that dude that's running down the sand as everyone's laughing, and my my rod skipping through the sand and getting all gummed up, you know.

Bayside Dave: 38:58

And then when you pick it up, it's so cakeless and you can't even crank it.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 39:01

So exactly. Yeah, you're you're you're done and you feel like an idiot. But it had look with that said, it happens, you know. It's happened to me a lot in the past. I chased the few. I I've actually done it, Dave, with bait runners. Yeah. So I mean, it can still happen, but but it's it's a very good tip for people if if you have one or if you've never used one, if you're gonna have a bait rod with you, specifically for surf fishing. Like I have specific stuff that I will just use for surf fishing bait, and it's actually there, all of those are bait runners. I have I have two all of them. I have two two setups that I use, and they're both bait runners. I would say to Jeff DiDario, it is I would say uh he's got a you know what we'll we'll get to this later. It's about red drum for the red drum coming through. I'll I'll I'll try to bring that back up later. Yeah, let's stick to the striped ass for right now. All right, so so we've got the bait kind of covered. What I think most people are gonna want to hear about and talk about are the artificials, because that's what you know, that's what a lot of people are using. So rather than getting into necessarily a lot of talk about the rods and the reels, where everybody has their own personal preferences. One of my favorite things is where you start pulling out lures. Scotty did this last week. I I have mine all set and ready to go. So why don't we just start going back and forth and let's talk about this time of year? And I'm gonna throw in some that I use not necessarily on the beach, because there are gonna be some people that are fishing in the backwaters and you know, the boats in the backwaters, and and just offshore. So I'll I'll throw in some other variations as well. So why don't you start off? What do you got that you would say is the first artificial that you're gonna bring?

Bayside Dave: 40:49

First thing I throw is a bucktail. Okay. You you know, bucktails really mimic small bait fish. You know, you you're you're gonna find your your bass or whatever you're targeting generally down deeper in the water right away, away from the foam, away from the crash. There's they're they're kind of nosing around the sand, looking for those sand fleas popping up and all that stuff. Throw on a bucktail, and it doesn't have to be heavy. Uh, honestly, half ounce, three-quarter ounce, up to an ounce is is a good is a good uh bucktail to start with. You know, the the problem with using heavy bucktails is you're just dragging in the sand, and then you keep having to pop up and get it out of the sand. You want that thing to swim like a fish. Yeah, it's it's got some weight to it, it casts out there, it starts sinking down, but as soon as you start cranking it, that movement kind of starts planing it up because it's it's a lighter bucktail. Put put some kind of uh you know uh enhancement on it. I like using these what do you call these twister tails? Twister tails, all right. I don't I I was trying to think of the brand, but yeah, you know, whites, greens, white, reds, it doesn't really matter. You know, the the brighter the color, the darker the water, the brighter the color, like like a green. Those chartreuse colors are great in the darker water. More more clear water, I use a white. I just threw the red on this one because this this is what I had on last time. I love using white. Most bait fish have white bellies. So a lot of times fish are below their bait fish and they're looking up at them and that and they come up from below and they attack them. So whatever color fish are, grays and silvers and all that stuff, their bellies are white. So when you see a lot of the baits that that people are throwing, they always say, you know, you throw any color, but as long as it's white, because like I said, bait fish have white bellies.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 42:42

So let me let me let me jump in here real quick. So I love this because you and I have a different perspective on this. So I will say this I typically start for striped bass, for fluke, for most species. I I start with a white. So this is a white with some metallic in there. So this is the smallest I'll go. It's a five and a half Z-Man, right? But you but you had mentioned the darker water, you're using the lighter colors, and that is the opposite of what I'm doing. So I'm using this. I don't know if my lighting is good or not, but you can see there's a lot of metal in there, there's a lot of silver and gold in this. This is also a Z-Man, five and a half diesel minnow. So, again, this is the smallest that I'm using for a striped bass run, but I found that it's it gives a as long as it's really dark compared to the water, it gives a really good sharp silhouette, I believe. And I do really well with this, but but I I mean I do start with the whites though.

Bayside Dave: 43:46

Yeah, I just want to jump in by saying you are totally right because when I said dark water, I just meant like during the day, like the cloudier water, so the water that's not as clear, easily to see through.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 43:57

Yeah, see, I'm doing the same thing in that water that I'm doing at night. I'm going dark.

Bayside Dave: 44:02

Oh, okay. Yeah, well, yeah, maybe maybe I misspoke because uh I'm I'm looking at chartreuse, I'm looking at you know, some of the purples and some of the darker stuff. To me, I was like, that's that's brighter. I I misspoke with that.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 44:16

Well, either way, though, I mean, even if we're the opposite, I mean, it's there are things that you're gonna use that I never catch fish on, and I would say they suck. Like, you know, the the famous thing from this show is Ed hates dart spins, right? So this right here, which I'm gonna this this is great. Ed swears these suck, you can never catch anything on it. He'll he would sit next to me and I would be bailing striped bass, and he would not get a touch. And he's like, Yeah, they don't work, knowing that they work because he's watching me reel them in. He would then take the same exact lure, put it on his line, and not catch anything. But then he'd be on something, and I couldn't get it to work too. So, you know, it it's very personal as to you know, your fishing style, what works, and also I think confidence. Yeah, the confidence goes right down the line to your to your oh, it absolutely does. So I I don't doubt that we're going to have some differences on this, but you know, back to the beginning, I do start with a white, even if that in that dirty water, but I'm very quick to go to that really dark silhouette with the metallic in there because it especially during the day, it'll pick up that sunlight that's in there and give little glints, but it has that really sharp, I believe, a sharp profile.

Bayside Dave: 45:34

I see what you're saying. Definitely with the metallic for sure. But like I like I was saying, that the chartreuse is also easily for some reason fish can see the chartreuse through that cloudy water. You know, nighttime is all is always dark because of the contrast to the lighter sky. Is that the sky is always lighter than the water, no matter how dark it is at night. Yeah, the dark, the dark baits at night. But during the day, for some reason, I like this bright chartreuse in cloudy water. I always get hits really well with these. And uh yeah, so what we were saying is what I was saying was the first thing I start out with is like I said, the bucktails, the NLBNs, the uh the leadheads that have like paddle tails on them. Anything that just gets down into the column of water, down, down low into the column of water, a couple feet off the bottom, and swim. That that's gonna attract those fish that are uh that are swimming down there. My next thing that I'll I'll trans I'll I'll transfer over to is just your basic SP minnows. Uh these are like a mid, kind of an upper water column, a swimming bait. You know, they're thin. Here we are at a fully white uh swim bait, but like I said, the bellies are white, so they're gonna see this. There are skinny fish like this swimming around. No, but from from underneath, even even a football-shaped fish is is is only this thin. So when they look up, they just see this silhouette. So this silhouette really attracts fish. This this this particular lure, this isn't a uh this isn't a uh SP minnow, this is a Yozuri Hydro minnow. This is a long casting uh lure. And uh, this is my second go-to. This you know, from the bucktails and and and the N Lbns and all that. This this is my next uh lure that I grab is is this baby right here.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 47:19

So I'm I'm throwing out there, like I said, the you know, the bucktail with those those diesel minnows on the small one, like I'll I'll use bigger ones, like for example, the you know Z-Man, these are these are what seven inch? Seven inch. So this is the Pearl scented jerk sheds, and I'll put those on. They don't have to be scented, I just got those because of the size. But if I'm gonna go to a hard bait, I'm actually going to the uh the mag darters. Magos, yep. I love mag darters. I've got a couple of them here in different colors. You know, I I get the metallic ones again for what I said for when it's dirty water, but I I really do prefer I prefer the white. These these things are great, and this is one of the only ones that I'm gonna show today out of my lures that is still in service. Some of a lot of these are retired, yeah. They've been through a few seasons, but yeah, I tend to I like the mags as well, you know.

Bayside Dave: 48:18

The the SPs and and these type of of lures that have these little spoons on the front of them. These there's these give a tight little little swim action to them. Yeah, the mags give a little bit more of a back and forth movement with the mags. I love I love my mags too. I I have one of these old ones that I just put new hooks on. I use this a lot in in the surf. You know, I I like the yellow ones, I'm a yellow boy with the mags, and that those are in my bags as well for sure. Those those were apparently made for strong current, but you don't need strong current to use them. I I I think it's it's it's it's it's another lure that you you know as long as long as you work it properly and present it properly, it's gonna swim, swim the way you want it in calmer water. You're right. I do love the mags. I love I love the bigger uh movement that the mags make for sure.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 49:13

Yeah. What are you using up for top water?

Bayside Dave: 49:17

Tops, my favorite is the tsunami talking popper. This is my go-to right here. I love this. This is the smaller one. They they do make big, bigger size. You don't necessarily need the the back hook on here. Sometimes I'll just I'll just put a dress tail on it, but I do have the hook in the back every every once in a while. They'll grab the back of the this is my go-to top water popper. This thing casts like a football, and it it works really well. You don't have to shake your rod too hard, just just just a little quick shake with your wrist as you reel it in. You're not you're not killing your arm, trying to get that thing moving. You know, I I also love the uh these are the uh panic poppers. What who what is this again? I can't think of the name of it now. My uh it might be written on here. Let me see. Savage gear. Here it is, savage gear. Okay. I love these savage gear poppers. These you need a little bit more work with your rod to get it moving, but these come with some really good heavy, heavy hooks on there. Any any pencil I love, but yeah, the uh the talking popper is is my go-to. I love the way it casts, I love the way it works in the in the water, it switches back and forth real nice. Definitely definitely my go-to is the uh it's got a nice rattle to it. It has the nice, yeah. And any any noise that's made, you know, those fish that those fish hear that, that that's that helps, you know. They they do sense it, you know, ears, noses, fish don't have ears and noses, they have senses. Yeah, they'll they'll sense vibration, they'll sense sound. So let me let me show you this one.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 50:45

Yeah, we'll show you this one. So this one is retired. Well, it doesn't need to be, but the the uh the the super spook, the junior, this is great for backwaters, and you can catch big fish on this. So here it is. Uh, for those that haven't seen it, but look at those front hooks. Can you see those?

Bayside Dave: 51:02

Yeah, you got that extra uh look at it, look at those things bent out.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 51:05

So so two of the hooks are bent out on a 40 plus inch. Actually, that it that one wasn't caught in the backwater, that was caught in the rare tin in the river. So I backwater technically, but yeah, I it it was over 40 inches on this little spook junior. So I I really do like these. The bigger ones are awesome, but you don't necessarily need them. So if you're if you're in the a more confined area, I would go with the junior. If you're going to be out front, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't use the full size, something larger, because you're still going to be able to catch those 20-inch ones on on those larger lures. They're still gonna go after it because they're stupid. When they're when they're feeding, they're they're stupid, they're like bluefish, they'll they'll go after anything regardless of size. So definitely you have to mention the spook in there. And I'm gonna throw this out there and just ask you if you even use them because this is the this is the single lure that is the most made fun of in surf fishing for striped bass, and it's going to be you know, it's a meme every year. And here you go. Diamond jig, baby. Yeah, the diamond jigs.

Bayside Dave: 52:17

I know someone who only fishes with diamond jigs for striped bass.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 52:21

Yeah, so here's the A27. I I'll tell you what, they work really well at the right time.

Bayside Dave: 52:25

I tell you, bro. Uh like, yeah, but uh a buddy of mine is a he's an older gentleman, and that's all he brings to the beach is diamond jigs. He won't bring anything else. Now, do you do you bring them? Yes, I do. I always have them with me. Now I I even like green. What's that? What color? I like the green. I like the green tails, yeah. Okay, yep, yeah. And the white tails, I'll I'll use even the red tail. But Hopkins is another great lure. These are this is an ancient, I mean, not this one, but these have been around forever. Yeah, they mimic fish very well. They plane up nice, they don't necessarily drag on the bottom as as easily as a uh as a diamond jig does. Uh you know, I generally would use these for bluefish, but I was trying, I was targeting bluefish in the spring, and I was catching more striped bass than I was bluefish because they were in the trough. Yeah, but Hopkins is definitely one of the things that are in my in my plug bag for sure. Hopkins lures, they're fantastic. Right. Bottles, you like the bottles? Calmer water, deep calm water. Give these things a chug, they slam these things. These this is the larger size, got a rattle to it. I do so well with these for striped bass in the deep, calm waters in the northern beaches of us from LBI. In uh in the inlet this fall so far, I've been using the smaller one. We've had peanut bunker, and I've been using this smaller one, and I've caught a lot of bass this this you know in September and August, uh, using this smaller bottle. It's uh it's all scraped up as you can see, hitting the rocks as I as I reel it in. I love these bottles, they just give a chug and then they're kind of hanging out, and they give a chug and they splash and they hang out. And as soon as right after that splash is done, when that thing is paused, that's when they get slammed. And I I love the bottles.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 54:21

Yeah, and those I'm gonna mention the smaller one that you just held up there. Yeah, so those are great. So I would put those as my number two for the backwaters alongside banks after the talking popper. Hell yeah. Uh the the talking popper is it's amazing. As as Paul points out, it's also inexpensive compared to the others. So, but I actually rate it for performance at the at the top. You know, I just I'm just able to work it really well. So that's my top one, but followed by those those bottles, those are those are definitely definitely up on the list. Let me let me just throw a couple things out there for you. So Steven is saying he's never caught a striper on a diamond jig. Lots of blues, seabass cod, you know, it's one of those things, it's kind of similar to the Hopkins jig. You can catch a ton of stuff on a diamond jig, but keep in mind what it's mimicking. And this was actually brought up right before he posted this by James Flynn. Those in my mind perform best during the sand eels, the sandel run. So if if you don't have a lot of sand eels, you'll still be able to catch them, but that's not that's not necessarily what they're keyed in on. And you know, if you look at the profile of it, it it's really, I mean, it really lends itself to the sand eel above and beyond all else, and everything, and anything else that it would mimic, it's really small because of the profile being so thin. There are some other ones that you can get that are bigger, you know, but you're gonna be tossing a lot more weight. So that might be it, Steven. You might want to just kind of consider when you're throwing it. If you have a sand eel bite, definitely I would go for it. People can make fun of me for it if they want, but it does work during a sand eel bite a hundred percent. So I I would I would certainly go to that.

Bayside Dave: 56:15

Yeah, and if you're if I'm sorry, go ahead, Rick. No, go ahead. No, if if you're using if if if you have the sandals coming into the surf and uh you decide I'm gonna use you know the diamond jig, put a teaser on about 18 inches or two feet above it, put a sandal teaser on it too. Yeah, because you know you'll have this working off the sand, popping up out of the sand, because that's what say that's what sand deals do. They'll they'll come up, they'll come down, and and they'll be targeting this. But a lot of times when you have that sand deal teaser above it, you know, now you have two profiles in the water, and sometimes they don't want to go down to the sand, they'll hit that teaser. And I I find they hit that teaser about 60 or 70 percent more than they'll they'll hit the diamond. I'm not saying the diamond jing alone, if you're just gonna throw it without a teaser, that you're not gonna catch fish with it because you will, but I always like to throw a teaser on with it if if they're in the surf. Last fall we were out front a few times. Buddies of mine take me out on their boats. Thank you very much, buddies. And last fall, if you guys remember, if you were fishing out front, there wasn't many big bait fish out there, it was all big clouds of sand eels, and bass weren't hitting anything but these. Yeah, and that's we were doing, we were going out there about a half mile out, three quarters, even a mile and a half out, where we were marking fish, and we would just cast out behind the boat, let it drop to the bottom, and just start jigging them up, and they were slamming these things. And this is about the only thing that would work last year was the diamond jigs. So, yeah, that that's definitely something that you want to put in your in your uh in your bag when you go out because you never know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 57:47

Yeah, now and there's one more comment from Joseph. What about metal lip swimmers?

Bayside Dave: 57:52

Do you use any? Yes, I do. I love them in the inlets, I love I love them in in strong currents. Metal lips, what I like to do, especially off the jetty and in the inlets, I like to use them when the current is running. You don't have to toss them out too far, just let the current take it down and let it swim. You're not you're not you're not retrieving it, you're just letting the water current let it swim. And I just bring it the closer to the rocks I get, the more hits I get. I like the Danny, the larger size Danny right here. This is all banged up from using it. Yeah, uh current, it it dips down off the surface a little bit, a little bit more, so you're down probably about a foot or so. It it really presents well when it's not up on the when when when uh you know if it was up on the surface, it doesn't present as well as it is when it's down a little bit because I find in those inlets, you know, you have strike bass and they're working the rocks, but they're down deep and they need something to attract them up. So I like I like the metal lip where it's down into the water column just a little bit, and and when the current hits these metal lips here, these these things swim real nice and hard. And uh you don't have to do a lot of retrieving with them. I I let the current work them. And uh, like I said, closer to the rocks, the more they get slammed. That this is a big one. I was using smaller ones a few weeks ago, a little shorty, a little skinnier one, and they were getting hit pretty well because there's been smaller baits in the water, you know, a lot of peanut bunker and stuff. And then we had the mullet run. I was using like a more of a silver and a gray color, smaller, skinnier one, and uh they work really well. I love them in the currents for sure.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 59:30

Yeah, yeah. I I'm out of the metal lips. I I lost my last ones, and when I went to replace them, the shop, the the two shops that I went to, they were like $40 each because they were customs. I was like, I'm not doing that because I'm gonna lose them.

Bayside Dave: 59:46

I just lost like three in like two trips, which's a heartbreaker, especially when you spend someone when you have some expensive ones.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 59:53

Yeah, I was like, you know, I'm not gonna drop a hundred bucks on three of them, and I'd never even heard of them. They were custom, they looked great, but I I didn't know I didn't know anything about them.

Bayside Dave: 1:00:02

So I was like, I'll wait, but yeah, I tell you guys, you know, you have a lot of custom plug makers out there, and they make some really pretty plugs, and you you you can spend 60, 80 on plugs, but honestly, fish don't see those little in they don't see every little scale and all that all that beautiful artwork that those guys do. And I don't want to you know go against any of these guys that make those beautiful lures, but you you know, uh as long as you're presenting it well, uh you know, it doesn't have to be all fancy colored, we're all you know, paint jobs on it and stuff like that. It has it has a good color to it and it has a good structure, you know, it's made well and it swims well, you know, that's gonna attract the fish. That that's gonna trigger their instinct to hit that lure. So you don't have to spend all that money on those expensive lures.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:00:47

You don't have to, but I will say that there are some custom, it's just truly gifted custom plug makers that yeah, it it's it's I mean I couldn't resist this one.

Bayside Dave: 1:01:00

This one looks exactly like a bunker. Yeah, I I had to buy it. Uh and I am using it and I love it.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:01:06

But but the to your point though, the flip side of that is you know, look at two of my top five favorite just white with a spoon on the back. That's all you need, you know, and and like and like you said, oh white mag darter, you know, and you snap off a sixty dollar lure. Yeah, ouch. Yeah, but if they're you know, if they're reputable and they and they work and they work well, I would I would absolutely go for them. I I do have a difficult time spending what some of those cost though. I mean, I'll just be honest with you. You know, it's not that I don't have the money, it's just that I don't I don't know, I don't trust myself to not lose stuff, and on top of that, here's probably the bigger thing. I don't trust myself to take care of it after, yeah. Right? So I so here here's an example. This one here, it's retired, and it's just retired because it's just so banged up and everything, like yeah, but half of that is from throwing it in a tackle box and not taking care of it.

Bayside Dave: 1:02:06

So yeah, you know, we we rinse our rods and our reels off when we come home and our and our in our boots and all that stuff. You really should rinse your lures, and I do the same thing, you know. I I bring them home, I I rinse off all my stuff, and I take all the lures out of my bag, I lay them out on the table outside, and I and I spray them all down, get all the salt over. Because because your hooks and your snap rings are gonna are are gonna are gonna rust if you leave the salt water on them.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:02:30

Well that that's well, they'll rust anyway, even if it's not salt, like this one. Yeah, you can curtail that. Yeah, you can't. I throw it in the bottom of a bucket, Dave. And if there's a little if there's a little fresh water stuck in that bucket, it'll sit in that, it'll sit in there for two weeks. It's you know, and it look, I'm gonna use it as an excuse, but there's there's no excuse for it. It's when you're driving two hours to get home after a long day, you just don't care. Oh you just you just leave it in the bucket, and then when you get it the next day, you know, like uh oftentimes if I keep a fish, I throw it on ice in a cooler and leave it overnight and clean it the next day because I'm so tired when I get home. So my fresh fish ain't as fresh as as they could be.

Bayside Dave: 1:03:13

I see Joe just said something about there's a difference between uh uh diamond jig and an Ava.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:03:18

Well there are there are, and actually Yeah.

Bayside Dave: 1:03:25

And and by the way, that's that's Joe Kylie. That that's that's my bucktail man that I was talking to you about.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:03:30

Okay, and actually, I was gonna bring one of his comments up. He has some stuff that he can donate. So he's I think he's talking about the straight shank talks versus the twister like you have. So this one's a straight, and yours yours has the twist.

Bayside Dave: 1:03:44

It has a twist to it, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:03:45

Yeah, so yeah, so this is an A27 with the it's got the it's got the straight shank on it. Yeah, I think that's what he's referring to there. Yeah. So okay, so I think we've covered a good amount. We are over our hour. Is there anything that we missed that you want to put out there before we start doing the the housekeeping at the end of the show?

Bayside Dave: 1:04:09

Anything that we missed. I mean, as far as handling fish are concerned, that that you know, when you're on the beach and you and you get a fish in, of course, use the wave to help you re reel it in and all that stuff to get it in. And and don't muscle your fish in against a wave because that that that can cause a snap off. Allow it to allow the drag to pull the fish back out, allow the wave to bring it back in. But when you get it in the sand, don't drag it up, you know. You get the smaller fish, you just oh, just drag it up the sand to where I'm standing. That's gonna wipe off all their all the slime layer that protects them. Especially if it's a fish that you're gonna release, uh, you do you just expose the skin and all that stuff to you know any kind of uh stuff that that that could infect them. And when you pick up a fish, especially the real big ones, uh try to get them horizontal as much as as quickly as you can. Support the stomach, you know, thumb, thumb in the jaw, or if you have a jaw clamp on, get the fish level, you know, don't hang it up by its by its jaw. That's not healthy for the fish, especially the big ones. The bigger the fish, the quicker you have to put it back in the water. Yeah, the little guys take them out, take a picture, here you go, dump them in, goodbye. The bigger fish, you know, they produce a lot more chemical when they're in a panic. Now you're catching a fish, you're reeling it in, it's in a panic for its life. There's a lot of adrenaline and whatever chemicals that are that are flowing in their body, they're they're they're they're in a they're shocked by the time you pull them out of the water. When you pull them out of the water, that's even more of a shock to their system. Bigger fish, for some reason, don't revive as quickly as the smaller fish do. So when you get a big fish, you don't have to pass it around to all your friends and take a million pictures of it. Get that thing back in the water, revive it if you can, hold it by its lip, or or if you have the jaw clamp on it, you know, not by its tail, shooting it back and forth. That's not going to get the mouth open and and the water flowing through its gills. Have the fish by its jaw, bring it through the water, make sure that thing gets gets gets revived, and and then it'll kick off and and hopefully continue to uh survive. But yeah, please keep in mind those big fish they uh don't get revived as quickly as the small fish.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:06:26

Yeah, I just want to bring up one point when you're releasing a fish, regardless of size. One thing that people do is they want you know you want to get the water flowing over the gills, and the proper way to do it is to bring them forward. You could do a figure eight, something like that. Exactly. But what too many people do is they push it forward and they pull it backwards.

Bayside Dave: 1:06:45

Not good.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:06:46

And you the gills don't work in reverse. So when you're dragging it backwards, you're killing the fish. So bring it forward if you're in a kayak, hold it by the lip in your hand and just start pedaling or paddling and just get some water flowing over it. If you're in a boat, you typically the boats, the boats are the best for letting them go because you just pop it into gear, exactly lean over and hold. You just hold it, and it's gonna bite your hand and then it's gonna kick off strong. That's when you know. So in a kayak or in a boat, that's when you know it's a little bit more difficult, especially for all of us overweight guys who are leaning down into the surf trying to release something, you know. But you got to do it. You you decided to catch it. If you're gonna release it, do your best.

Bayside Dave: 1:07:29

I think the way the way the wave will do it too. You hold the fish as the wave comes in. That's just like dragging it through. You know, you got that wave coming over the fish, you got the mouth open, it's gonna shoot through the gills, right? You know, in the in the rougher surf. That's why you want to wear waders, chest waders, because you're gonna get yourself wet, man.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:07:45

You don't want to just be leaning down, you're gonna be leaning down, but yeah, it's just take a minute and do it, do it properly if you're gonna do it, is what I say. With that said, somebody, somebody right now listening to this is probably pissed that we're pontificating about it. But if you're gonna release a fish, release it alive. That's what I say. Yeah, um, and and it's not that hard. Just don't drag them backwards. It's it's it's gonna kill them.

Bayside Dave: 1:08:10

Don't drag them up your truck through the sand. Uh pick the thing up as soon as you can, get down in the water when when the wave retreats, get get pick the fish up, hold it horizontal, support the whole fish, especially the big ones. Um pull out your hooks, take your picture, get that thing back in water as quick as you can. And you don't have to take a picture of every fish. You know, people know what fish look like.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 1:08:36

Yes, yes, I agree. I agree. All right, so let's uh thank you for coming on. I appreciate it. Let me let me do some housekeeping before we wrap this up. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, I appreciate you coming on every time. Um want to just remind everybody. Well, first, before I remind everybody about this, uh, next week we are going to have um I will spell it out for you. Scotty's coming back on as a co-host. It's gonna be Ms. Bebe is coming on. We're gonna talk some Tog. Uh so we're going to be uh we're going to be making a hard shift and pivot over toward Tog. We will revisit Striped Ass, but we're not doing three weeks in a row on the Striped Carp. Uh so she will be on, Mahalik will be on after that. Uh we've got some really cool things planned coming up. Um, so tune in. Make sure you share this out to anybody, if you would, that you think might be interested. And again, for those that missed it at the beginning or forgot, we have the top trip on the Osprey out of New Jersey December 7th, Sunday. Uh it's gonna be a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun when uh when we went out, even though we didn't catch really anything on the whole boat that time. That doesn't happen very often. Um so looking forward to seeing as many people as possible on that. Uh but yeah, yeah, we're we're getting into it. Um we're we're getting into the the fun season. Everyone thinks it's the it's the summer, but the uh the hardcore fishermen are just gearing up right now, and this is the season that I love to talk about. Um and we're we're gonna be talking year-round. So everyone, thanks again for tuning in. We'll be back next week. So until next week, until next episode, get out there, get on the water, and get some pipelines.