A movement caught my eye and I focused on the egrets. What had captured my attention was one bird, in particular, he'd broken away from the main group and was walking rapidly along the edge, peering intently into the water. The egret made no move to stab at bait, as I'd seen his kind do countless times before, still he acted excited. I placed my next cast a couple feet off my feathered friends beak and popped the plug once. The take wasn't violent, the fish barely disturbed the waters surface. Six pound line peeled off my spool as a fat striper headed downstream.

Landing the fish a few minutes later, I quickly released it. During the next hour I only casted when an egret repeated the first bird's performance. Each time I was rewarded with a "trout-like" take and the run of a good fish. All the fish I took measured between twenty-four and thirty inches long. These birds had been accustomed to having stripers trap bait along the water's edge, pushing it right up on the mud for easy pickings. The egrets were now excitedly stalking individual fish, hoping again for the easy feeding that had, most likely, occurred in the dark, before my approach.

My thoughts were then disturbed by the sound of the another angler's approach. He had a puzzled expression on his face and a plug identical to the one I had fished hanging loosely from his rod. I recognized him vaguely from a seminar I'd given the following year before but couldn't remember his name. Steve, he said, I've been watching you from down river and, quite frankly, I'm stumped. You've caught no less than twenty fish while I have caught none. We are both using the same plug, what gives? Watch the birds, I said, they're looking for the same thing you are." ?"

The other fisherman looked but he just didn't see...finally, I directed him where to cast and he was fast to a good fish. I left as he bent to land his fish not knowing whether he fully understood the concept of what he'd just done or not.

Try and think of the art of surf casting as a big puzzle. Everyone starts with the same box with ten thousand oddly shaped pieces in it only there is no picture to go by on the cover. Sure the border pieces are easy, anyone can fill them in, they stand out from the others. It's the inner pieces that are much harder to come by. They must be gained by your experiences and insights. Every time you have a banner day fishing, or for that matter a bad one, you have a chance to gain a piece, a chance to see where it fits. Nature must be your ultimate teacher. Learn all you can from her. The more pieces you manage to put together the clearer the total picture will become. Some pieces possess such subtle shadings that the real art comes in recognizing you've found a piece at all. Use all of your senses when you fish. Study the "whys" and "how comes." Nothing is more enjoyable in this sport than having your theories proven right. Expect pieces to come from the most unexpected places.

I left that day with another piece of the puzzle in my pocket. Here I'd like to thank Bernard Nowe and James White, two veterans, who taught me to look for the pieces when I was just a kid.