The famous lighthouse at Montauk Point stands tall over hundreds of anglers braving the rocks below in search of striped bass.

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Stripers on the Edge of Insanity by Rick Bach

At first glance Montauk, a fishing town on the tip of Long Island in New York, seems like a quaint village ideal for a weekend getaway. There's a plethora of charming restaurants, a handful of motels, and beautiful ocean views. But to anglers, Montauk is a Mecca. So of course, as an intern at Field & Stream, I volunteered to cover the town's annual Surf Classic, a weekend tournament that awards cash and prizes for the largest striped bass and bluefish landed.

But visiting Montauk I learned something about surf fishermen that live there and flock to its shores: They're completely insane. This realization hit me like a 50-pound striper slamming a bucktail jig. I remember the exact moment it sank in. Montauk fisherman Gary "The Toad" Stevens had just left Paulie's tackle shop on his way to the beach and I was going to join him to experience surf fishing first hand. He mentioned on his way out the door that where we were going, "we might not come back." A Paulie's regular covered in tattoos and wearing a T-shirt older than me grabbed my sleeve and whispered, "Gary's one of the best fisherman out here...but he's *&@#%^* nuts."