A Season on the Edge (Stories From a Surfcaster's Year) [Paperback]

John Skinner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2008

From the first signs of life in the backwaters of the South Shore on an April night, to the year's last push of big stripers along the ocean beaches in early December, A Season on the Edge chronicles a season of surfcasting from the shores of Long Island. The season is woven together from a collection of stories culled from the author's logs and told in the order of a seasonal progression. These stories draw the reader into the experiences and the atmosphere of each trip, and are told with a level of detail that presents useful techniques and strategies that can be applied anywhere along the striper coast. ---------------------------------------"Just when you thought you have read all of the books there are to read about surf fishing, John Skinner introduces this captivating book. Unquestionably, Skinner is one of the astute trophy hunters of our times, and this book is inspirational and insightful. His writing style takes you there as he reveals the subtleties of a masterful cow hunter. This is definitely a must read book!"--"Crazy" Alberto Knie------------------------- ------"Expert anglers understand and appreciate the rythm of the fishing seasons. John Skinner takes you along on a journey through the days and nights of a season in the surf with lyrical style and a deep understanding of stripers, and the obsessed fishermen who pursue them."--Gene Bourque Editor, On the Water Magazine-------------------------------------------------"Skinner's stories keep you glued to the pages. You feel like you are standing next to him and casting. If you ever wanted to know what makes one of the best surfcasters on East Coast tick, how he makes decisions of where to go, and how he evaluates current, winds, and baitfish patterns, you have to read this book. Great read, entertaining, educating and inspiring."--Zeno Hromin Author, The Art of Surfcasting with Lures

Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: Nor'east Media; 1ST edition (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615177409
• ISBN-13: 978-0615177403
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Surfcaster Book, November 7, 2011

By 

Billy & Val (Bellerose, New York USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Season on the Edge (Stories From a Surfcaster's Year) (Paperback)

Great read - lots of information. Glad I bought this book. Real life stories make you feel like you are experiencing the moment.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Surf Angler's Must Read!, September 16, 2008

By 

Robert Banfelder "Award-winning Author Robert... (Riverhead, NY: Spearhead of the North and South Forks of Long Island) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Season on the Edge (Stories From a Surfcaster's Year) (Paperback)

No Stranger Than I The Author The Teacher

When a young surf fisherman teaches an old dog a new trick--such as John Skinner once taught consummate angler and outdoors writer, William (Doc) Muller, as the latter unselfishly acknowledged in his book on bucktailing--you know that you have a true mentor in the making. As New York Surf /Field Editor for NOR'EAST SALTWATER, John has woven methods and means into prose that could take a Pulitzer Prize. An example:

". . . I realized I was staring at a cove full of peanut bunker. It didn't matter that nothing was on them. It was slack high tide, and once the current started pushing them down the shoreline, the place would have the volatility of a stream of gasoline running downhill to a line of red flares."

Want to know what plugs, plastics, jigs, tins and bait to use on what species, and where and why? Want to attain the arcane knowledge of reading the water, assessing tides, currents, and weather? Want to learn what equipment and accessories tackle the job? Then read this work of art, which imparts the necessary business of the brine if you wish to be successful.
Combining invaluable information with mighty narration, John has written a serious source book for the newcomer to the shoreline as well as the maven of the suds. Yes, even you old salts can learn a trick or two. If hunting for bucket-mouth bass, tenacious togs, chopper blues, doormat fluke, elusive weakfish, or line-stripping albies along the shores of Long Island is a turn-on, simply turn these pages and learn the how-to. And then there's an offshore battle with a 600 plus-pound Mako that is sure to pump your adrenaline as it did the author's. Presented as a nine-month (April into December), often daily adventure--garnered from a well-detailed log kept over a period of years--John Skinner is a man for all seasons.
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Robert Banfelder is an award-winning novelist whose psychological thrillers include NO STRANGER THAN I, THE TEACHER, and THE AUTHOR. NO STRANGER THAN I is hailed as "Brilliant." THE TEACHER won Best Fiction Suspense Book for 2006 from NewBookReviews.org. Bob's newest release is THE AUTHOR, of which Mark Reid says, "Banfelder has written another winner for 2007." Bob weaves his love of the great outdoors through his fiction and, of course, his nonfiction.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read for anyone who surf fishes, August 27, 2008

By 

J. Altobelli (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Season on the Edge (Stories From a Surfcaster's Year) (Paperback)

This is a very interesting book---I enjoyed all of the stories of fish caught and lessons learned. It's not really a "teaching book", but as the title says, it's stories from fishing for a year, and I did learn more about fishing in reading it. I don't fish Long Island, so I didn't know all of the areas the author was referring to, but I think it's interesting to anyone who has surf or jetty fished for stripers. I even went back and bought another book to give to my dad, who has been fishing for 60 years and is a tough critic. With the fall fishing season approaching, this book will get you in the mood to be out on a beach or jetty chasing after striped bass.