Where are the Croakers and Porgies

[alfish]

Anyone provide where them Croakers and Porgys are hiding
Alfish

[MrAC1980]

I just got back from Delaware and the bay was loaded with croakers. I think everyone went home with 20-30. All caught on small pieces of fish-bites.

[PeteyHD]

I just got back from Delaware and the bay was loaded with croakers. I think everything went home with 20-30. All caught on small pieces of fish-bites.

Sand Fleas work great too!

[Fishski]

BB and BI in Barny. Lots of chum. Big blowfish also.

[MrAC1980]

BB and BI in Barny. Lots of chum. Big blowfish also.

Is this from previous experience or are you currently catching them? So far this year the bay has been a wasteland. Last year we were filling buckets with big blowfish, this year zilch!

[Denlon]

Sand Fleas work great too!

When you say "sand fleas" I believe your are talking about what we always called "sand bugs" which we used for Blackfish (NOT TOG!) on the jetties back in the 1940's-1970's. They look like little gray army helmets about an inch long.

As you say they also work great for Porgies, but other fish as well. I've also caught, fluke, sea bass, stripers, weakfish, kingfish, skates, sea robins, sand sharks, bergalls,and eels on them while fishing for blackfish off the central jersey jetties.

However, here's a QUESTION for you guys out there....
On several occasions, I've had "Bugs" left over alive from a day's fishing. The next day I tried using them in the Raritan bay, or brackish water of the Navesink or Shrewsbury rivers, around the bridges where I could usually pick up some blackfish or sea bass. The experiment was a total failure. No hits whatsoever. I finally came to the conclusion that the BUGs did not occur naturally in these areas. The fish were not used to seeing them in these mud-bottomed areas.

Did anyone else ever have this experience?

Denny

[PeteyHD]

When you say "sand fleas" I believe your are talking about what we always called "sand bugs" which we used for Blackfish (NOT TOG!) on the jetties back in the 1940's-1970's. They look like little gray army helmets about an inch long.

As you say they also work great for Porgies, but other fish as well. I've also caught, fluke, sea bass, stripers, weakfish, kingfish, skates, sea robins, sand sharks, bergalls,and eels on them while fishing for blackfish off the central jersey jetties.

However, here's a QUESTION for you guys out there....
On several occasions, I've had "Bugs" left over alive from a day's fishing. The next day I tried using them in the Raritan bay, or brackish water of the Navesink or Shrewsbury rivers, around the bridges where I could usually pick up some blackfish or sea bass. The experiment was a total failure. No hits whatsoever. I finally came to the conclusion that the BUGs did not occur naturally in these areas. The fish were not used to seeing them in these mud-bottomed areas.

Did anyone else ever have this experience?

Denny

Never heard anyone call them sand bugs but you can call them whatever you like. The proper, most general term for them are "mole crabs". Blackfish, Tog, Tautog, same thing! They are great fighting and eating fish and you can call them what you like.

Anyway as mentioned before they work great for CROAKERS (not porgies) and they ARE native to this area as well. If you go down to sandy hook or any NJ sandy beach you can dig them up very easily either by hand or with a MOLE CRAB rake. I have caught blackfish and croakers on them in NJ waters from shore. You will only see success with them if you fish them near sandy or rocky shore areas where they live. I have also tried to use them in the middle of the bay with very little success because like you said, this is not a natural location for them.

[Denlon]

Never heard anyone call them sand bugs but you can call them whatever you like. The proper, most general term for them are "mole crabs".

If you go down to sandy hook or any NJ sandy beach you can dig them up very easily either by hand or with a MOLE CRAB rake. You will only see success with them if you fish them near sandy or rocky shore areas where they live. I have also tried to use them in the middle of the bay with very little success because like you said, this is not a natural location for them.

PeteyHD--
I didn't mean to appear as such a novice...
I'm 72 years old and I grew up in Little Silver. I was a real river rat between the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers, fishing, duck hunting, crabbing, clamming, seining for spearing, etc. I have been fishing the north jersey coast beaches, Jetties, inlets and piers (primarily Sandy Hook to Manasquan) all my life.

I know that they are actually Mole Crabs, and I have been digging them with a pitchfork all my life since I was about 5 years old. However, they were always called sand bugs by everyone until about the early 1970's. Then I noticed that some people started calling them sand fleas. About that time, I noticed that a lot of the names I had commonly used all my life also had dual designations dependent upon whether you were from North or South Jersey, or somewhere else in the country.I still always use the names I grew up with.

For Instance:
Blackfish to Tog or Tautog
Fluke to Flounder (With no differientiation between Summer and Winter Flounder)
Porgies to Scup
Kingfish to Southern Whiting
Weakfish to Sea Trout, Spotted Sea Trout or Squeteague
Bergalls to Cunners
Stripers to Rockfish
Calico Bass to Croppies
Piss Clams to Steamers

As far as Mole Crabs are concerned:
I agree.with you. I find them successful off the sandy beaches as well as the rocky areas in the ocean. But my point was, that even in rocky areas in the bay, such as along the barrier jetty in the Highlands harbor, they don't work. But I can catch Blackfish and Sea Bass along this jetty using blood worms or clams.

Similarly, I can catch Blackfish and sea bass along the Bridge abutments of the Oceanic Bridge in the Navesink using blood Worms or Clams, but not using Mole crabs.

As you say they don't naturally occur in these areas.

(I never tried them in the bay head canal, nor along the Shark River/Manasquan inlet jetties, but I suspect they would work)


Denny