Membership

If you like what you see and you want to meet the club show up to a monthly meeting noted below. If you’re already ready to join, head over the the online store.

Monthly Meetings

The club meets the second Tuesday of every month except July. Please email floridasurfcasters@gmail.com if you are interested in attending

Board of Direction

Mark Burford : Noel Kuhn : Carter Melvin : Steve Austin : Michael Hughes

For information about this website, technical issues, advertising, and to give us feedback or suggestions please contact: floridasurfcasters@gmail.com

Purpose of the Club

We exist to build fellowship and knowledge for those interested in surf fishing.

History

In the spring of 2004, on several surf fishing internet boards, there was much discussion about surf fishing along the northeast coast of Florida. The interest was heightened on the “Florida Surf Fishing” board as there was an individual, George Pope (Gowge), who was extremely knowledgeable and delighted in sharing his considerable knowledge with the rest of us. He had started that board a couple of years earlier, and at some point turned it over to Mike Foster who continued to run the board. One day in the May 2004 time frame Mike made a post on his board that he had received communication from Steve Austin and others stating they would like to form a surf fishing club. From that posting, interest grew into the forming of this club. A preliminary meeting was held with a number of the eventual charter members in attendance.

The initial meeting of the “Florida Surf Casters” was held at a little barbeque restaurant in Saint John’s County on state road 210. The club was formed that evening and the twelve charter members were: Mike Foster, Steve Austin, Lyndon Godwin, Noel Kuhn, Anthony Edmonston, Brian Booker, Robb Clark, Phil Chrisman, Don Calhoun, Bill Pollacov, Kylan Fitzpatrick and Jeff Rafter.  Each of us had our individual reasons for joining and had an idea what we wanted from our affiliation with the others. The theme, that was uniformly expressed, was the company of others who enjoyed fishing the surf; people with whom we could share the experience and trust to be law abiding sportsmen.

For the first nine years we had a slate of officers providing leadership for the club. The club presidents during that time presided in the following order: Mike Foster, Steve Austin, Brian Booker (2 yrs running), Steve Austin, Noel Kuhn, Steve Austin, Sue Ellen Clark and Jeff Rafter. In 2009 the club established its own website which is currently in effect.  

Florida Surf Casters is a social fishing club. The club is a non profit organization operating for the benefit of membership and the public. The club meets monthly; the second Tuesday evening at a Copeland’s in Jacksonville. Meetings start at 7:00 PM. Socializing and dining begin at 6:00 PM. The public is invited to attend meetings allowing guests to assess our organization to determine whether or not they may wish to join. Entrance requirements include payment of a modest amount of money for annual dues and a love of the sport of surf fishing. You don’t have to be an accomplished angler to join, but you should have the desire to learn about fishing from the beach. The basics of good sportsmanship, on-the-beach trust in fellow club members, responsible stewardship of the resources and the sharing of knowledge remains the foundation of membership.

In addition to the monthly social / business meetings we have other club sanctioned events such as: members fishing tournaments, teaching workshops for membership, teaching activities for groups such as the Boy Scouts, beach clean up days, designated fishing outings on beaches from Little Talbot Island State Park to the north to an annual trip south each February to the Vero Beach area. Occasionally, members have joined together to rent large beach front homes for a week on Saint George Island in the panhandle to enjoy the bounty of the Gulf. The Surfcasters contingent grows each year, spurred on by the good fishing, fun dining and family encouragement. A social highlight each year is the club banquet held on a Saturday afternoon at a fine dining location somewhere around the Duval / Saint Johns County.

Also, in each year of its existence, the Florida Surfcasters Club has sponsored a surf fishing tournament for the public. Look for the tournament announcements on our website starting in January. The objective of our surf fishing open tournament is to promote the sport and to give everyone an opportunity to participate in a fishing tournament; complete with good competition and significant prizes.

Two of our most valued members, George Pope and Earl Brinn have passed away. To many of us those men were the “bedrock” of information for Florida Surf Fishing. Fortunately for us all they freely shared their knowledge and each of us have benefited from their experiences. We are dedicated to their legacy as a club by passing this knowledge along.

  • Jeff Rafter, charter member with edits from Carter Melvin