Immediately upon entering the park, you'll observe the Area B parking area. I make it a habit of stopping there, as it offers an excellent vantage northward along the beach. While it may sound like an exaggeration, there have often been occasions when I went no farther, as I'd see patches of bait schooled along the beach, birds picking and diving, and occasionally the water boiling white with feeding bass and blues.

Moving northward, just north of South Beach, Area E, is the Fishing Beach, with a long stretch northward; this stretch of beach is open and easily accessible for those who like to walk and cast. If you want to get away from the occasional crowds that develop during the height of the fall run and don't mind walking, proceed north to North Beach, Lot K, at the old Nine Gun Battery Field. It's a 20-minute walk to the area where the famous "Sandy Hook Rip" forms near the tip, but it often provides exciting action.

This is surfcasting at its finest, as you have five miles of gorgeous beaches, the majority of which are angler accessible during the fall. Toward this end, there are very few restricted areas, but I alert you to heed them, as some are tied to homeland security and U.S. Coast Guard concerns. If you want to fish at night, it is necessary to obtain an annual permit, which may be purchased at the ranger station.

Most of the beaches are what I'd term gently sloping, just mile after mile, with limited jetties or rock. As a result, as baitfish vacate Sandy Hook and Raritan bays, they'll round the point of the Hook and usually hug tight to the beach, seeking what little protection the thin water near the sand provides. Unlike areas where there are sandbars paralleling the beach and where stripers, blues and bait are outside the bars, at Sandy Hook you'll usually find most game fish and bait within easy casting range.

An exception to the gently sloping beaches occurs near the point of Sandy Hook, at a spot that's a 20-minute walk from the northernmost parking area, which is North Beach. Here the strong currents have cut away the sand severely, and the dropoff is nearly vertical just a few feet from the beach. Here, too, the bait is often tight to the beach, providing great angling.

I prefer a medium-weight graphite rod in the 7- to 8-foot range, as it's more than adequate for the majority of the fishing at hand, with the possible exception of fishing in a roaring northeaster. There's no fatigue factor with a rod and matching reel of this size, as I'll often just walk the beach for hours, often covering a mile or two in the process, just walking and casting, and often all by myself, far from the parking lots, experiencing everything from picking single fish to torrid blitz fishing.

Might I suggest carrying just a limited selection of lures that have proven successful for you, and concentrating your efforts on using them correctly. A surface plug, deep-diving plug, popper and rattle plugs, along with a selection of plastic swim shads from 3 to 7 inches in length, plus some Hopkins and Kastmasters are all you'll need. By all means, in all of the types of boat and beach fishing discussed in this article, use a Clouser or Chris' Fly By Night teaser ahead of your primary lure. It'll get you plenty of stripers and blues, and will also reward you with little tunny, fluke, croaker and a variety of other species that frequent the Sandy Hook surf.