ll of us who fish Long Island's south shore or anywhere on New Jersey's coastline dream of casting a lure out over the waves, hooking up with a 50, or 60 pound striped bass and fighting both the surf and the fish until you slide it into the wash. This would naturally be followed by an imitation of Tim Allen's famous grunts and our proclamation "I am a Master Surfcaster."

The truth is that the odds of successfully connecting with such a fish are not too good but at least better than hitting the Mega Millions Lottery. Frank Daignault, the best known surfcaster on the East coast and the premier writer and author of six books on surf fishing has caught seven 50 pound plus stripers in 40 years of surf fishing! Your best shot fishing on any beach on the Atlantic coast for a lot of "keeper" sized bass and perhaps a "Trophy" is by baitfishing.

Clams are the bait of choice, from the south shore of Long Island, the New York Bight, Sandy Hook and south to Cape May. We are blessed with an abundance clam beds. You don't have to use clams, cut baits ("chunks") such as mackerel, mullet and bunker as well as sand and bloodworms will also work. BUT the inshore bass are actively feeding on clams in the surf until the mullet run in the the Fall so why not use the food they are looking for?

The time to "hit the beach" with clams is any time but the best is right after a storm with it's big surf conditions and strong currents. The best storms are Nor'easters. The stormy water will churn and scour the beach, breaking up clams in the surf. It's meal time for stripers. I learned a good lesson, years ago from a guy at Island Beach State Park one late summer day. I had spent most of the morning out on the North Jetty trying to cast plugs but most of my effort was spent in avoiding getting swept off by a rogue wave. My efforts and possible injury or loss of life had yielded four short bass after several hours of hard work. Defeated by the green water and wind I finally retreated off the jetty, stripped off the foul weather gear and climbed into my Jeep for warmth, hot coffee and some food. Along comes this guy, who sets up two sand spikes near the jetty and casts out bait rigs.

The next hour was amazing, he was pulling bass out one after another, in fact on more than one occasion he would be working a fish on one rod while the other rod was bucking away in the spike with a bass on the line. Between fish I approached him and he explained that the storm and the north east wind that I had been fighting all morning had filled the hole next to the jetty with smashed and broken clams. The stripers were in the hole gorging themselves on a free, no effort meal. He gave me some clams, I set up my bait rod and started hauling in fish.

"DEAD OR ALIVE"The best clams are Live Whole Skimmer Clams, they measure about 4 to 5 inches long in the shell. They can be either purchased from a bait and tackle shop or scavenged off the beach as the high tide ebbs (Note: It is illegal to do this since clams must be harvested from sites approved by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and you must have a permit however no one is going to throw you in jail over a couple of clams).

A partially open clam doesn't mean it's dead, knock on the shell or insert a bait knife and it will close up fast! And to be perfectly clear about fresh live clams, a lot of tackle shops claim their clams are "fresh live clams" but if they've got them in a cooler packed with ice, they are dead or nearly gone. Why? Because fresh water kills clams! Look for a tackle shop that keeps their clams in refrigerated storage units and/or in a cooler with those re-freezable ice blocks such as "blue ice."

If you can't buy whole live clams buy, in order, (1) "fresh, shelled" clams, (2) "fresh, frozen" or (3) salted. Salted clams hold well on the hook but are the last resort for me. If you open up a package of "fresh, shelled" or "fresh, frozen" clams and the odor is very strong, i.e. they stink, they are not "fresh" they are rotten. Bring them back to the bait and tackle shop and complain, the only thing they will catch are sea robins, skates and dogfish.

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN: How many clams do you need? For a full day, sun up to sun down you'll need at least two dozen clams, if the water is full of skates, sea robins or schools of aggressive short bass get three dozen. Trust me on this, there have been times in the Spring and Fall when we've been catching dozens of short bass, run out of clams and either begged a few from other fishermen or had to make a run back to the bait and tackle shop.

PURGE YOUR CLAMS: Back in the 1940's when $100 a was a terrific weekly wage you could buy a dozen clams for two bits. Today $4.00 is the going rate for a dozen clams, not a lot of money, but you can stretch your money if you purge your clams as soon as you hit the beach. This will keep them alive all day or over the weekend. Just put them in a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with saltwater and let them set there for 15 to 20 minutes to expunge the old water they are holding. Next take them out of the water and put them in a cooler. If you don't have "blue ice" you can use block ice or cubes as long as:

• the ice is on the bottom
• the drain plug is open
• there is a layer of newspaper in between the ice and the clams. You DON'T want the clams to have contact with the melting freshwater.

"JUST THE MEAT or a BIG GLOB" I prefer to use only the meat (muscle) of the clam and get rid of the offal and stringy parts (the clam's lips). The "presentation" should not be a huge glob of clam guts on a hook. The meat of one average clam is sufficient for two or three hooks. Thread the meat onto the hook, turn it and do it a 2nd and 3rd time making sure it's over the baitholder barbs and bury the hook point in the clam. If small bass are present, i.e. less than 18 inches, reduce the amount of clam meat on the hook and the size of the hook(s), 4/0 hooks are good for "schoolie bass" but if they are prevalent in the surf, I just stop fishing until they go away.

There is another school of thought, the "Big Glob" theory which you can use when you are using large hooks, such as 6/0 baitholders or 8/0 circle hooks. In fact with circle hooks you basically need the whole clam to cover the hook completely. Whatever way you go, don't become obsessive/compulsive, its just a clam and a hook. But I need to remind everyone that hooks must be sharp, I have OCD where that is concerned, so I only use Gamakatsu hooks. Refer to High-Low Striped Bass Bait Rig for more information on hooks. It's okay to use smalll rubber bands or elastic thread to hold your clams in place and the color doesn't matter.

SURF FISHING CHUM: After removing the meat toss the opened clam shells with the parts you don't need into the surf, chum does work, especially during the summer months.

"CHECK YOUR BAIT!" The purpose of fishing is to catch fish, not to sleep on the beach in a lawn chair or tell stories about how great the fishing "usta be, back in the good ole days". Most guys bait their hook(s), cast, set their rod in a sand spike and don't check their bait until they "missed a hit." In truth, while they are kibitzing or sleeping the crabs and other life forms may be eating the clam right off the hook. Stay awake, hold your rod or stand alongside of it and keep your eye on the tip, Check your bait every ten (10) to fifteen (15) minutes.

BAIT FISHING TACKLE: That "cow" bass I mentioned earlier and most of the keepers are usually lurking out there, in or beyond the 3rd wave. A few keepers are over the 2nd wave and all the shorts are playing on the far side of the 1st wave. And you've got an 8 foot long medium action surf rod with an all plastic spinning reel you bought at XXXMart for $39.95, Good Luck!

You need a 10 to 12 foot long medium heavy action spinning or conventional baitcasting rod capable of throwing 6, 8 or even 10 oz of lead. Just a regular old fiberglass rod will do the trick, one of the those classic Lamiglas® "Honey" glass rods with a big 70 mm stripper (1st) guide are perfect and many rod builders today offer light weight graphite rods built as stiff as a broom handle. Okay, you might grunt casting a 12 footer and it's not a lot of fun to catch a short bass with a rod and reel like this but we are looking for keepers and a trophy bass. You should learn to use the Off The Beach Cast (OTBC) to improve your distance, accuracy and eliminate the "sound effects." If you can't handle 11 to 12 feet then a 10 foot graphite rod will get you almost as far out. I have a 10-˝ foot Loomis® that I use for plugging and for bait fishing in the 2nd wave but it can't handle more than 4 ounces of lead.

THE LINE: The following information is applicable to both spinning reels and conventional (revolving spool) reels.

Monofilament line should be at least 20 pound test but 40 or 50 pound test is not extraordinary. Attach a shock leader spooled onto a quality spinning reel such as a Shimano® Baitrunner, Penn® 650, 750, 850 SS or Slammer® series reel. A clear shock leader of monofilament, at least 50% stronger than your main line is always a good idea (ex. 25 lb main line with 50 lb shock leader). The best knots for joining the two lines is an Albright or a Surgeon's knot, it's smaller and stronger than a Blood knot (drawing and instructions on this page: Knots to Join Leaders). If your finished Albright or Surgeon's knot don't look exactly like these images, nice, tight and flat, cut it off and start again. Pull the knot together slowly and tightly and be sure to trim the tag ends, (the excess lines) extremely close to the knot.

This may sound like blasphemy to some, but I keep a Penn spinning reel spool with 30 pound Stren IGFA Hi Impact Tournament Hi-Vis Gold monofilament. It's actually a florescent orange color and with the obvious exception of the night time I can see what is happening to my line out there in the 3rd wave all the time. In fact there have been times when I've seen a fish "take" before I've felt the hit on the rod. Of course stripers aren't stupid, orange line in the water isn't 'au natural' so I tie on a good 20 feet of 60 pound test monofilament as a shock leader. Hey, heaving a 8 or 10 ounces of lead is a shock!

Braided "Hi-Tech" Line: I tried braided line a few years ago, Berkeley and Power Pro are probably the two most well known lines on the market. They have their good and bad points but they are ideal for bait fishing since you can "feel" whatever is happening instantly. I recommend 80 pound test for bait fishing, WITH a shock leader. Don't use braid without one! More information at Baitfishing, Let's Get Serious! "The Fine Line Between Fish and Man" Also refer to the High Low Bait Rig for more information.

FINAL THOUGHTS, Every once in awhile I get an email message from Massachusetts, Rhode Island or other northern areas. Seems that even up there guys are switching to "Jersey Clams" and catching bass.