Memories of our changing times

[jakesdad]

Now that the snow is flying, I started to think about the different rigs I have seen over the past 60 years. In the 50's and 60's if someone had anything other than a 3 way and a 3 foot leader for fluke you would have thought he wouldn't catch anything, How times have changed
In the 70's and 80's beads showed up, and also skirts. Over the past 20 years, soft baits , stinger hooks, double hook rigs, power pro etc

Baits have also changed, from squid strips and spearing to an assortment, sand eels, whole squids, bunker strips, and many more.

Some have worked , some have not. What have you seen?

This is just to start the memories going, Bluefish, Tuna, Mackerel, Whiting , Ling, Flounder, Striped Bass, Blackfish, etc. all have stories to tell.

Let's hear some of the good ones, and also some of those that didn't. Captains & Mates current and former please chime in, with what you have witnessed.

Henry

[BCinerie]

Caught my first bluefish on a Bengal banana jig. In 1977! Then a a jigs came along with higher speed reels. 5 to 1 used to be fast!

[bulletbob]

I started using bucktails for fluke 40 years ago.. Really there's nothing new under the sun there.. Whole squid always worked for big fluke even decades ago.. We weren't worried about "catching keepers".. Everything was a keeper, and there were always way more than enough to go around.. However fishing pressure in NY/NJ has quadrupeled since then.
Back in the day, we used mackerel chunks/strips for whiting and ling.. Clams were never used... The Mackerel worked GREAT back then and I bet would work just as well today for ling, but few guys use it...

Weaks, was a sandworm on a 3x3 rig.. Drifted.. Deadly,, Later on we stretched the bait supply by using a sand worm with a big red plastic jelly worm.. That worked well.. If your sand worm was broken, or small and sickly, the weaks would smell it and still hit the jelly worm..

We would catch tons of cocktail size blues in the 80's using tea spoon handles, butter knife blades, pieces of car radio antennas filled with nails, and drilled for split rings and hooks.. That junk worked very well..

Flounder, we never bought bait when I lived in union beach.. We would walk the shore at low tide, dig clams, bloods, tapes, pick mussels, whatever.. Crack a few mussels. or clams, and 2 pounders started flying into the boat... year after year, anywhere in the bay. until they got decimated by draggers, IMHO...

We didn't fish much for stripers, there weren't any.. Well a few, but a 30 pounder made all the local papers...
We never missed them anyway.. Lots of other stuff to catch.
In May just around the Hook, you had a mixed bag of winter flounder and ling on the same rigs.. Imagine catching 1-2 pound flounder, and big fat ling, right near the beach, on a 1 handed rod with 1 0z of lead???
Or baseball bat whiting mixed with masses of ling, right between the channels off sandy hook.. Thats what we did in spring... Mackerel were everywhere as well.. As I said, we didn't fish for stripers much, but never missed them...
In those days, we didn't see that many porgies.. We caught them, but they were small.. Actually I think there are more and bigger porgies today... Didn't matter, the sea bass were everywhere, and easy to catch.. We didn't miss porgies really..

Triggers were few and far between.. I caught one on a wreck in Raritan Bay in the 80's a BIG one, maybe 18 inches or better.. Never saw one before that day.. All I remember is, it fought like hell, filleting it was akin to filleting a catchers mitt, and it was VERY good to eat...
Oh yeah eels.. eels by the hundreds, thousands, anywhere,, ANY salt or brackish creek, any salt or brackish river, any bay, anywhere all year except winter.. You COULD catch 100 on a good night, on ANY bait, just in Morgan Creek or someplace like that.. Big ones too... No more, at least from what I understand... No Croakers those days either.. We did have Spots some years, others not, Kings some years, others not, Blowfish some years, others not....
I dunno, times change, fisheries change.. I no longer live there, but when I did, I never noticed the intense every day pressure I see these days... I used to fish on week days mid summer, and any time before about 7 am, I was alone out there.. Today, there are armadas underway coming from every direction at 5 am.. No one to blame.. Just a LOT more people all after the same fish these days, and more commercial pressure as well..
We didn't need regulations 30-40 years ago, to be honest.. Sadly we do need them today... So many people out there..... bob

[bulletbob]

Sorry, forgot Tog... Easy to catch everywhere... I fished the old 40 foot Skipper out of Belmar, and we always caught dozens per man..
Really, you didn't need a boat however to catch some nice tog... A good fisherman could spend 10 minutes digging mole crabs in the surf at low tide, walk out on a jetty , and catch lots of decent tog from mid tide up, to mid tide down.. Spingtime, they loved sandworms on the jetties as well... I MISS that kind of fishing.. Boats were best of course, but you ALWAYS caught Fluke, flounder, blacks, blues, eels, blowfish , kings,and ling and whiting from shore, jetty, and pier IF you knew where and when... Today, its not as easy without a boat... bob

[hartattack]

Good topic Henry - nice to reminisce over these next coupla' snowy days. Great memories Bullet, I agree that shore fishing was much more prevalent and much more productive back then.

Does anyone remember trolling/casting Smiling Bill bucktails with a fat juicy Sandworm or two attached for Stripers :confused: This was a great technique we used on Long Island but have never seen it used in Jersey.
Also our exclusive Blackfish bait was Fiddler Crabs, no such thing as Greenies or White Leggers. And if your equipment wasn't a Penn, it wasn't a real reel :cool:

[Taxman]

spreaders for flounder

[Dino]

I started using bucktails for fluke 40 years ago.. Really there's nothing new under the sun there.. Whole squid always worked for big fluke even decades ago.. We weren't worried about "catching keepers".. Everything was a keeper, and there were always way more than enough to go around.. However fishing pressure in NY/NJ has quadrupeled since then.
Back in the day, we used mackerel chunks/strips for whiting and ling.. Clams were never used... The Mackerel worked GREAT back then and I bet would work just as well today for ling, but few guys use it...

Weaks, was a sandworm on a 3x3 rig.. Drifted.. Deadly,, Later on we stretched the bait supply by using a sand worm with a big red plastic jelly worm.. That worked well.. If your sand worm was broken, or small and sickly, the weaks would smell it and still hit the jelly worm..

We would catch tons of cocktail size blues in the 80's using tea spoon handles, butter knife blades, pieces of car radio antennas filled with nails, and drilled for split rings and hooks.. That junk worked very well..

Flounder, we never bought bait when I lived in union beach.. We would walk the shore at low tide, dig clams, bloods, tapes, pick mussels, whatever.. Crack a few mussels. or clams, and 2 pounders started flying into the boat... year after year, anywhere in the bay. until they got decimated by draggers, IMHO...

We didn't fish much for stripers, there weren't any.. Well a few, but a 30 pounder made all the local papers...
We never missed them anyway.. Lots of other stuff to catch.
In May just around the Hook, you had a mixed bag of winter flounder and ling on the same rigs.. Imagine catching 1-2 pound flounder, and big fat ling, right near the beach, on a 1 handed rod with 1 0z of lead???
Or baseball bat whiting mixed with masses of ling, right between the channels off sandy hook.. Thats what we did in spring... Mackerel were everywhere as well.. As I said, we didn't fish for stripers much, but never missed them...
In those days, we didn't see that many porgies.. We caught them, but they were small.. Actually I think there are more and bigger porgies today... Didn't matter, the sea bass were everywhere, and easy to catch.. We didn't miss porgies really..

Triggers were few and far between.. I caught one on a wreck in Raritan Bay in the 80's a BIG one, maybe 18 inches or better.. Never saw one before that day.. All I remember is, it fought like hell, filleting it was akin to filleting a catchers mitt, and it was VERY good to eat...
Oh yeah eels.. eels by the hundreds, thousands, anywhere,, ANY salt or brackish creek, any salt or brackish river, any bay, anywhere all year except winter.. You COULD catch 100 on a good night, on ANY bait, just in Morgan Creek or someplace like that.. Big ones too... No more, at least from what I understand... No Croakers those days either.. We did have Spots some years, others not, Kings some years, others not, Blowfish some years, others not....
I dunno, times change, fisheries change.. I no longer live there, but when I did, I never noticed the intense every day pressure I see these days... I used to fish on week days mid summer, and any time before about 7 am, I was alone out there.. Today, there are armadas underway coming from every direction at 5 am.. No one to blame.. Just a LOT more people all after the same fish these days, and more commercial pressure as well..
We didn't need regulations 30-40 years ago, to be honest.. Sadly we do need them today... So many people out there..... bob

enjoyed reading this-- thanks Bob

[june181901]

There is at least one guy in Sea Bright still using tin squids when the blues come ashore. I caught my first bluefish on one of them back in the 50s. About 10 years ago he found a mould and made a bunch.

[tombanjo]

Bluefishing at 17 Fathoms with the old Bingle Bananas, not like the new ones that have a break in the shaft. Down to the bottom, ten slow cranks and back down. Bucktailing and spearing for albies & bones which would appear like clockwork every fall and no, not a surprise when a 20lb football would come up. Nor would a skippy be a rare event like it is today.

[Billfish715]

It's great to reminisce. Techniques, tackle, electronics, etc have all changed. Linen, dacron, monofilament lines, solid glass rods made by Harlee, agate and plated guides, oversized Colorado style blades on all of the fluke rigs, tiger tails for weakfish, trolling with "nylons" for early season bluefish, hi-lo rigs for blowfish, glo tubing for ling and whiting, long shank fluke hooks, tin squids for the surf, the Klondike, the Annex, Barnegate Ridge have now been replaced or are just memories. And, oh yes, who can forget the Long Branch Pier? And how many Penn 500's, 155's and Squidders do you still have?

[Dollar Bill]

Still have my first Penn 65. Used that for everything on party boats before finally getting a JigMaster to reel the Bengal Bananas a little quicker. Think I still have one of those old lures somewhere with the dry rotted rubber.

[Capt. Lou]

The Bingle Banana was a great bluefish lure for years. I recently met Don's son who now lives ny me in PA.
Helped get him rigged up for Tuna this year , we had a blast discussing the lures his dad made.
He now does a lot of Striper fishing on a couple of local lakes I'll be going with him this season . Small world!!:cool:

[Capt. Lou]

Catching burlap sacks of whiting in sight of Ambrose Lightship
Ditto Progies buoy 16 POH
Tuna 17 & south footballs to Gts
Trolling Sea Girt range buoys for Albies tons of me'
BA Buy Gts
Belford channel load up on fluke
Shrewsbury / Navesink flounder galore
Ditto night runs for Stripers / Weaks
Ling every spring @ Cedars
Albies - Bonitio - Tuna Klondike & various inshore lumps
Mackerel fall , winrter , spring all u wanted at times
Kingfish off jetties LB area
LB Pier whiting - Weaks every fall
SH Rip nite Striper trolling
SR. blues / Stripers especially good in fall trolling U. Rigs
Nite whiting out of Belmar
MR big bluefin up to 200#'s
Canyon just stared trolling primarily load up BE's , YF , Tru Albies etc etc
Tile fishing on inshore canon edged 300' ft water
Cod SR. Farms, cholera , red square numerous wrecks inshore by today's standard
All Inshore lumps could give up Tuna in fall along with many species
Tog from jetties & all inshore rock piles
Shark wrecks to south & 30 Fathom line
BR tuna blues Albies bones Etc load up
Shallow water reduced lots of big fluke
I had the pleasure of enjoying all the above , never see much of this again !! I'm sure I missed some but u get the idea!:cool::)

[tombanjo]

The Bingle Banana was a great bluefish lure for years. I recently met Don's son who now lives ny me in PA.
Helped get him rigged up for Tuna this year , we had a blast discussing the lures his dad made.
He now does a lot of Striper fishing on a couple of local lakes I'll be going with him this season . Small world!!:cool:

Tell him to ramp production back up on those original solid bananas. The new knock offs suck. After a couple of blues they don't swim right.

[Grateful Dad]

I remember using Nordic Eels to catch monster weakfish in the early 80's on magic hour trips out of AH.
We would also use those wire spreader rigs for winter flounder in Barnegat Bay and the Shrewsbury river.

[Solemate]

Giant weakfish car topping at sundown in June by the Monmouth beach swim club in front of the towers. Used white buck tails with grape jelly worms. Long off the jettys after the pier went down in deal. Catch or die trying some nights

[Chris G]

Miss spring mackerel fishing. That was alot of fun..

[NJ Dave]

Catching a bushel of crabs all so big that measurments were not needed.
Blow fish off of the docks.
Flounder in good #s off of the docks.
Filling burlap sacks of keeper fluke and cleaning them on top of the washing machine in the basment with my father knowing that mom was going to flip the fu*k out.
Weakfish off the old IBSP wall

[Capt Sal]

I remember putting black shoe polish on our Ande mono to keep the shine down for tuna. No floro carbon in those days. Ocean City reels were the norm. Although there have been major improvements in the equipment we have now I still love to catch big bass on good old Ande mono! I still use reels older than most of the guys on this site lol Henry, you and I are the same age and were blessed to have enjoyed some of the best fishing in out own home state of New Jersey!:)

[jakesdad]

After reading the responses, I went out into the garage and pulled out my fathers old tackle box. It was old in the 50's. Found some handmade lures made from soul spoon handles, an old Penn with braid, homemade leadhead jigs, natural silver or tarnished, no idea to put color on them His old bamboo surf rod with eyes on both sides. I remember him telling me if it starts to take a bend reverse to the eyes on the other side.

Remembered working a 1/2 boat for Mackerel, fish were at the bell bouy in front of Shark River, those days we could do 4 trips. Fishing Augies for Bones, and going to the bottom and filling a cooler with 4-6 lb. fluke. Whatever happened to the Ammo grounds, the Acid Waters.

My first giant working for Bob Pisano, the days of fun fishing with Bob, Al Ristori, Tommy Bryant, Roy Parsons, Phil Delaney, those still alive I am still on speaking terms with. Phil still calls me "Half Moon" the name of my first boat.
Those that meet Bob Pisano at the NJ Fishing party a few years ago had pictures of what he caught in the past. Many of those old Striper pictures were from my Half Moon. We never stayed in, if we weren't chartered we went fun fishing with the gang of friends.

I tend to believe there is less pressure from boaters now, in the early 60's there where more than 15 party boats from Belmar, and a full dock of charter boats, plus the private boaters. More in the Point than now. We all carried well every day. Weekends most boats left early as we hit our Coast Guard licensed number. I also remember the day I went inside and got more tickets and by the time the captain arrived we had more than we should have had.
I still hear about that one.

I still remain friends with the fellows that I either worked with or alongside, some continue to fish with me, others like Tommy Buban, I still hop one once in a while just to bring back memories.

More to come as others jostle my memory, THANKS, Henry

[Fin Reaper]

Thanks for sharing Henry!
An absolute pleasure reading this thread

[Billfish715]

Speaking of bluefish tubes......don't forget Vic Galgano and his line of Spider products.

[bunker dunker]

diamond jigs,when I first started bluefishing in the late 60's the only jigs were the Bridgeport and they were to expensive to use for blues.the captains would by the all lead jigs and we would have to scratch them up before every trip to get them to shine.

[Pennsy Guy]

Spring mackerel was always a blast...A spreader fluke bar using two store bought hook/leader....Hi-lo rig with metal stand-offs...Bill Upperman's bucktails...being talked into buying spinning gear instead of Penn conventionals...one rod a boat rod, the other a surf rod, both were split bamboo; surf reel was a "Beachcomber" made by the Lionel train Corp...that was in the very early 50's...Before that, Dad's rod was a "broom stick" with a Penn something...also had a 3 piece metal rod, very light and painted green...Also used a hand line from the back bay shore..remember it was wound on a red wood frame...fond memories...many thanks.

[Capt. Debbie]

Yeah the coat hanger ones. LOved them. Idiot proof. I proved that. LOL


spreaders for flounder

[cukes]

My first spinning reel was an AIREX made by lionel. First Penn reel was direct with no drag at all. Hate to tell you what the line was but with all this so-called antiquated stuff, all we did was catch fish. These are the same fish today albeit not as plentiful, I am old school and I do not use any of this fancy stuff that everyone says we can't fish without and I still catch the same fish. Made a lot of my own tube lures painted on the inside different colors and bent long shank hooks inside and they wobbled like crazy.

[flyersnfluke]

What a pleasure it's been reading through these posts. Most of early days of saltwater fishing was with my dad off of the party boats out of shoals dock on staten island, and then on the sea pigeon in perth amboy. I was around 11 when we started going out, I was a menace to all. My dad wasn't quite the fisherman yet, most of his outings were off the beach or spent crabbing, but our first day out on the miss moore he bagged the pool with a 7-8 pounder on a freshwater pole and an old zebco reel. Right off the docks or off the sandbar near shoals we would catch tons of spot (we called them lafayette's back then), we'd also get them off the storm sewers down near south/midland beach, as well as a few pilot fish. I honestly didn't have many fond memories with my dad, except when it came to fishing, and when he became sick in his older years, I'd take him on the boats, where he took my place as the menace.

Also as a kid and into my early teenage years my friends and I would walk down richmond terrace (about 5 blocks south-sw of the bayonne bridge) with a killi-pot, bread, fresh water poles and long shanked snapper hooks. We'd get a pot full of killies (stuffed full, never happens anymore) and cast our lines out into a cove (van pelt ave) where there were a bunch of old derelict barges, we would catch eel after eel, big muthers too, and it would make our day. I remember going back there once with my nephews, I was now in my mid-20's(I'm pushing 50 now) and the killies were still plentiful, but there wasn't an eel to be had, somewhere between the age of 14/15 and my early 20's all the eels were gone, I had hoped for my nephews to experience the same fun I had as a kid. My nephews are now in their late 30's and they're still my fishing partners...and sometimes my drinking partners after a day on the boats, and it's about the only time I get to see them when they come to stay with me and my wife in middletown, if it wasn't for fishing I don't know if I'd ever see them. Fishing and family seem to go hand in hand.
cheers to all

[dales529]

Lets not forget the "Gulp" of the 70's and 80's. PORK RINDS! I am sure its still used effectively today but back then it was like fish Hot Sauce (We put that S__T on everything). Either trolling nylons and spoons or bucktailing, the Pork Rinds in the jar were tipped on the lure and candy for Blues, Fluke and Weakfish.
They came with a hole in the top for the hook, a split tail and lasted all day.
I know many that used them offshore as well for Tuna and Makos

As many have stated the boat was never without a roll of surgical tubing in assorted colors for the tiger tails and banana Jigs (when it was cool to have a banana on the boat).

Spent many a day off Bay Head nailing big weaks slooow trolling.

[Pennsy Guy]

Damn--thanks Cukes & Dale; forgot about the pork rinds and that smaller spinner was an AIREX. I remember using a leather strip about 2" long with a hole in each end-one end went through the pre-tied leader & main line knot tied through the folded end-no weight, that was it and it worked, was good for weakies in back of Ventnor...

[NJ219bands]

In 1970 I used a double tandem bucktail teaser rig with smelt baits from the super market during the early part of the fluke season, then switched to a double tandem whole squid rig for the late season doormats and won the pool on party boats 26 times. After that, the Point Pleasant fluke boats started carrying smelts for bait. I also caught a 12.5 lb fluke on a platinum blonde fly on the Manasquan Inlet north jetty during that era.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Great post.... Cut my salt water teeth on a night Bluefish trip on the Cock Robin in the late 80s in my early teens.

On the bait side, we used to fish for Stripers in the spring pretty much using Sandworms exclusively.

[Chris G]

Trying to get the pork rind off the bucktail was about as easy as getting a dried up Gulp off the hook.:mad:

Lets not forget the "Gulp" of the 70's and 80's. PORK RINDS! I am sure its still used effectively today but back then it was like fish Hot Sauce (We put that S__T on everything). Either trolling nylons and spoons or bucktailing, the Pork Rinds in the jar were tipped on the lure and candy for Blues, Fluke and Weakfish.
They came with a hole in the top for the hook, a split tail and lasted all day.
I know many that used them offshore as well for Tuna and Makos

As many have stated the boat was never without a roll of surgical tubing in assorted colors for the tiger tails and banana Jigs (when it was cool to have a banana on the boat).

Spent many a day off Bay Head nailing big weaks slooow trolling.

[tunajoe]

Let's make this a simple one....back in the 80's and 90's & early 2000's when you were practically guaranteed to catch a yellowfin or longfin if you went out on a PB. Those days are sorely gone. For every great trip of tuna fishing this year on a PB, there were about 4-5 stinkers!!!

[bunker dunker]

talk about tuna.in the late 60's & 70's we could catch tuna at the Klondike.we used to catch yellowfin at the 6 mile lump.

[fish643]

Been fishing Salt Water more than 60 years and seldom reflected on it much till I saw this thread. As a boy I primarily used a Luxor Spinning Reel in the Surf (forerunner to Crack - later Van Staal); and for the most part Ocean City conventionals, then later a Penn 9M small conventional in the back bays.
Many great memories including fishing for Fluke with spreader bars in the back bays. Bait was primarily cut squid and killies. Like many of us, my father and grandfather taught me how to fish. At the time I was to young to appreciate what enjoyment this passion would lead to for the rest of my life; and would love an opportunity to relive one of my trips with them now that I am older and would appreciate it more.
Focusing on Fluke, my fondest fluke fishing memory happened many years later with my son when he was about 5 years old. I had a small aluminum boat and took him out on his first fluke trip to Paddy's Hole, behind Avalon. Long story short, I was drifting and had 2 rods out each side of the boat. I was looking down and cutting flounder belly strips, when I heard someone in a boat near me yell "look at your rod". When I did, the rod was doubled over with the tip in the water when I set the hook. I handed the rod to my son and after quite a battle for a 5 year old, he eventually got it to the boat and I netted a fluke near 7lbs. We got organized and did the drift again, sure enough the same "fire drill" with a fluke over 6lbs. Got back to Avalon Point Marina where pictures were taken ,by the Marina owner, that later wound up in the local paper.
My son could not wait to go the next day. When we got to the dock the owner asked my son if he was going to get "another big one today" ... With the enthusiasm of a young boy my son said yep, and sure enough he did....spoiled him for Fluke fishing to this day and he is now 36.
Fast forward to current times. I still love Fluke fishing the back bays, but now I jig Soft Plastics and enjoy enticing them into hitting. I have caught many bigger Fluke in the back bays since those two days over 30 years ago, but none as memorable.
Sorry for being long winded, this thread just took back to another place and time.

[NoWorries]

I started using bucktails for fluke 40 years ago.. Really there's nothing new under the sun there.. Whole squid always worked for big fluke even decades ago.. We weren't worried about "catching keepers".. Everything was a keeper, and there were always way more than enough to go around.. However fishing pressure in NY/NJ has quadrupeled since then.
Back in the day, we used mackerel chunks/strips for whiting and ling.. Clams were never used... The Mackerel worked GREAT back then and I bet would work just as well today for ling, but few guys use it...

Weaks, was a sandworm on a 3x3 rig.. Drifted.. Deadly,, Later on we stretched the bait supply by using a sand worm with a big red plastic jelly worm.. That worked well.. If your sand worm was broken, or small and sickly, the weaks would smell it and still hit the jelly worm..

We would catch tons of cocktail size blues in the 80's using tea spoon handles, butter knife blades, pieces of car radio antennas filled with nails, and drilled for split rings and hooks.. That junk worked very well..

Flounder, we never bought bait when I lived in union beach.. We would walk the shore at low tide, dig clams, bloods, tapes, pick mussels, whatever.. Crack a few mussels. or clams, and 2 pounders started flying into the boat... year after year, anywhere in the bay. until they got decimated by draggers, IMHO...

We didn't fish much for stripers, there weren't any.. Well a few, but a 30 pounder made all the local papers...
We never missed them anyway.. Lots of other stuff to catch.
In May just around the Hook, you had a mixed bag of winter flounder and ling on the same rigs.. Imagine catching 1-2 pound flounder, and big fat ling, right near the beach, on a 1 handed rod with 1 0z of lead???
Or baseball bat whiting mixed with masses of ling, right between the channels off sandy hook.. Thats what we did in spring... Mackerel were everywhere as well.. As I said, we didn't fish for stripers much, but never missed them...
In those days, we didn't see that many porgies.. We caught them, but they were small.. Actually I think there are more and bigger porgies today... Didn't matter, the sea bass were everywhere, and easy to catch.. We didn't miss porgies really..

Triggers were few and far between.. I caught one on a wreck in Raritan Bay in the 80's a BIG one, maybe 18 inches or better.. Never saw one before that day.. All I remember is, it fought like hell, filleting it was akin to filleting a catchers mitt, and it was VERY good to eat...
Oh yeah eels.. eels by the hundreds, thousands, anywhere,, ANY salt or brackish creek, any salt or brackish river, any bay, anywhere all year except winter.. You COULD catch 100 on a good night, on ANY bait, just in Morgan Creek or someplace like that.. Big ones too... No more, at least from what I understand... No Croakers those days either.. We did have Spots some years, others not, Kings some years, others not, Blowfish some years, others not....
I dunno, times change, fisheries change.. I no longer live there, but when I did, I never noticed the intense every day pressure I see these days... I used to fish on week days mid summer, and any time before about 7 am, I was alone out there.. Today, there are armadas underway coming from every direction at 5 am.. No one to blame.. Just a LOT more people all after the same fish these days, and more commercial pressure as well..
We didn't need regulations 30-40 years ago, to be honest.. Sadly we do need them today... So many people out there..... bob
Yes times have changed but I disagree . Because of our changing culture less people are fishing during the year. When we had fish to catch and I mean tuna,whiting ,flounder,bluefish,sea bass, cod and others fishing was a year round thing. Now with seasons for everything catch limits and the dwindling economic times I think there are less fishermen. Boat registrations are way down since Sandy in NJ. I fish out of Manasquan inlet and have for over 30 years and Sandy Hook area before that since the 50's. Today fishing business is very different. Boats are bigger and coolers are generally NOT full of fish. And Marinas are NOT full of boat owners that fish !

[tombanjo]

Reading post after post about how much better the fishing was years ago gives me an even greater appreciation of that epic month long run of monster bluefish to 25lbs we had last year. That was a true blast from the past back to the future moment. The first day we found them (on the Golden Eagle) my jig was biten off. Grabbed another rod, same thing. Didn't want to waste time putting another jig on so I grabbed my noodle rod with 12lb test and a bait hook. Boom! OMG, what a battle! 30 mins later up comes the biggest blue I ever saw, 24lbs!

[Bison81]

Great post.... Cut my salt water teeth on a night Bluefish trip on the Cock Robin in the late 80s in my early teens.

On the bait side, we used to fish for Stripers in the spring pretty much using Sandworms exclusively.

Me too! How about Hippy lures for snappers.

[bunker dunker]

hippies!!! what a lure.my dad would have us throwing the hippy for snappers and he would put them on live for fluke.i think it was like 73 or 74 at the pp inlet.if you used a live snapper you got a fluke.nice ones too 3-5 lbs.

[O'Connor]

Runs to trenton where we would fill our bait tanks in our trucks with herring. I kept my pen behind the Fishermans Den in Belmar. Early morning runs to the pen to "swim" a few baits off the jetty tips before work. (one time at the end of the season i bought a tank full of herring to shrewsbury rocks and caught a fluke over 5 lbs on every singe one 0f them)

surf fishing with Shedder crabs in the summer for bass. High noon in july off the beach and one bite after another when everyone though they were gone until fall.

live eels off the jetties @ night during the summer when everyone thought they were gone until fall.

I learned from some of the best striped bass fisherman the world has ever seen. I wish I paid attention more, but I was also young and single at that time and fishing took a back seat to chasing women...:D

can't forget ling and whiting on the along branch pier...and the overnight summertime cod trips they used to run out of belmar.

all great memories.

[Capt. Debbie]

It's funny. 20 years from now our kids will call this 2015 stuff the good old days just like out dads' told us in the 1970's and 80's.





Reading post after post about how much better the fishing was years ago gives me an even greater appreciation of that epic month long run of monster bluefish to 25lbs we had last year. That was a true blast from the past back to the future moment. The first day we found them (on the Golden Eagle) my jig was biten off. Grabbed another rod, same thing. Didn't want to waste time putting another jig on so I grabbed my noodle rod with 12lb test and a bait hook. Boom! OMG, what a battle! 30 mins later up comes the biggest blue I ever saw, 24lbs!

[NJ219bands]

Before the Barnegat Inlet north jetty was rebuilt in the early 1970s, I caught many stripers, weakfish and blues while plugging the end of the jetty on the low tide and never saw another fisherman on the rocks. Now all of the local surf fishermen are jetty fishermen. Every time that I catch a fish, even on the darkest night, before I tag and release it, fishermen appear on both sides of me and spook the fish. On calm, sunny days, spear fishermen swim under my line now. Boats also anchor in casting range. The modern fisherman has no respect for other fishermen.

[NJ219bands]

Back in the olden days, I caught bonito, whiting, ling, pollack and mackerel on the Manasquan Inlet north jetty. I don't see them there anymore. Now its hickory shad or sundials.

[Karlo]

I remember when my Dad ran the party boat Man O War out of Brielle we used to chum for Boston Mackerel. My brother and I would fill up two garbage cans full of them.

[bulletbob]

Yes times have changed but I disagree . Because of our changing culture less people are fishing during the year. When we had fish to catch and I mean tuna,whiting ,flounder,bluefish,sea bass, cod and others fishing was a year round thing. Now with seasons for everything catch limits and the dwindling economic times I think there are less fishermen. Boat registrations are way down since Sandy in NJ. I fish out of Manasquan inlet and have for over 30 years and Sandy Hook area before that since the 50's. Today fishing business is very different. Boats are bigger and coolers are generally NOT full of fish. And Marinas are NOT full of boat owners that fish !

No Worries.. I dunno, we'll have to agree to disagree.. I used to fish alone all the time out of Sandy Hook in the area we called "between the channels.. I would be ALONE there any morning I fished until around 9 am, and then a few boats would start coming around as the morning wore on.. In those days, there was plenty of room.....

Years ago, when "working the birds" a boat or two could follw them and be hooked up staedily, sometimes all day.. These days you find a pod, start working it, and within minutes there are 20 other boats there, half of which just ran right through the fish, and they are GONE...


I did nothing but bottom fish every fall for many years... We would consider 25 guys a packed boat.. Today, I regularly see 45-50 guys even on weedays..
The blackfish would sail even on saturdays and sundays with 15 guys.. Now during peak season most boats have double the crowds, and only a fraction of the fish..
I was out last year in Dec and on a freezing cold day all I coud see were hundreds and hundreds of party, charter and private boats, some just a yard or two apart all trying to fish the "prime" rockpiles... There were thousands of fishermen out there.. Years ago, there would be one or two head boats and MAYBE 10 or a dozen private boats in that same area.. The areas that hold blackfish haven't changed much, but the pressure they get sure has..
Jetties are packed with fishermen these days.. Years back we often fished them alone all day, or perhaps with one or two others...

I always drove up to Highland or Leonardo ramps, unloaded my boat and was gone and minutes. These days I wait in line.. Long lines during fluke season.. Returning to the ramp is even worse with an hour or more wait out in the water if you dare go on a weekend...
These things just didn't happen years ago..
NJ population has increased by about 3 million people since the early 60's.. thats a lot of increase each year for such a small land area.. Its population has increased 2% just since the last census in 2010... You say we have less recreational pressure today than we did decades ago, and I feel the pressure has increased a huge amount.. As I said, we will just have to agree to disagree... bob

[NoWorries]

No Worries.. I dunno, we'll have to agree to disagree.. I used to fish alone all the time out of Sandy Hook in the area we called "between the channels.. I would be ALONE there any morning I fished until around 9 am, and then a few boats would start coming around as the morning wore on.. In those days, there was plenty of room.....

Years ago, when "working the birds" a boat or two could follw them and be hooked up staedily, sometimes all day.. These days you find a pod, start working it, and within minutes there are 20 other boats there, half of which just ran right through the fish, and they are GONE...


I did nothing but bottom fish every fall for many years... We would consider 25 guys a packed boat.. Today, I regularly see 45-50 guys even on weedays..
The blackfish would sail even on saturdays and sundays with 15 guys.. Now during peak season most boats have double the crowds, and only a fraction of the fish..
I was out last year in Dec and on a freezing cold day all I coud see were hundreds and hundreds of party, charter and private boats, some just a yard or two apart all trying to fish the "prime" rockpiles... There were thousands of fishermen out there.. Years ago, there would be one or two head boats and MAYBE 10 or a dozen private boats in that same area.. The areas that hold blackfish haven't changed much, but the pressure they get sure has..
Jetties are packed with fishermen these days.. Years back we often fished them alone all day, or perhaps with one or two others...

I always drove up to Highland or Leonardo ramps, unloaded my boat and was gone and minutes. These days I wait in line.. Long lines during fluke season.. Returning to the ramp is even worse with an hour or more wait out in the water if you dare go on a weekend...
These things just didn't happen years ago..
NJ population has increased by about 3 million people since the early 60's.. thats a lot of increase each year for such a small land area.. Its population has increased 2% just since the last census in 2010... You say we have less recreational pressure today than we did decades ago, and I feel the pressure has increased a huge amount.. As I said, we will just have to agree to disagree... bob
Just a few observations looking back. Our winters were all about whiting and many party boats that targeted them. Even in the dead of winter they would sail and most trips we caught em till the 90's when there were only a few. Then the spring mackeral runs when the party boats would sail loaded thru April. Also the spring winter flounder in all the rivers. Shark river, Navesink ,Shrewsbury, Barnegat Bay and Raritan Bay would be loaded with small boats ,rentals and later the party boats too. The fish were there and plentiful . Many times we caught em by the bucket full and there were dozens of boats doing it. We'd follow em out into the bay out to the cedars off Sandy Hook well into May. Stripers were around but I rarely targeted them in the spring. June ,July and August fluke was my main target species.We fished in fleets of small boats,rentals and the party boats off the Navy pier. Literally hundreds of boats and everybody caught fluke. The late summer was about the tide runners ,weakfish. Every afternoon or magic hours you'd find dozens of boats at Chapel Hill Channel drifting worms. I moved to Brick in 1984 with my family and the fishing was different locally but still very good and there were plenty of private boats and party boats fishing. The rental boat fleets that were numerous started to disapear as MOST fishermen could afford a boat of their own and gas was cheap. I use to talk to some the old timers that talked about the bluefins of the 60'& 70"s when entire marinas would empty out on weekends and go out for them and catch em too ! I'm talking inshore fishing not canyons. Fall fishing for me was time for tog and stripers . My Dad and I would fish as much as possible when the weather would let us go in our boat. I'd stay in the slip till at least Thanksgiving maybe later if weather allowed. Fishermen would start disappearing when the the fishing dwindled as the cold set on us. Then I'd surf fish till the last stripers and blues could be caught. The beaches were usually somewhat crowded when the fish were there. The last 2 years with very poor fall striper and bluefish runs the beaches were empty most days in late November/December.Today I see less party boats fishing especially after fluke season. More offshore canyons,and off shore for the charters and more cancelled trips due to the unpredictable offshore weather. Rental fleets have dwindled and many private boaters locally that don't fish or go only a few times. Blackfishing is very popular but mostly because there's little else to catch . With the fate of seabass fishing and poor ling fishing the last 2 years how long can the party boats hold out. Yes fishing as I know it has changed but I still LOVE it and just got back into boating again with another boat. So it goes on . Last fall I fished around 25 boat trips from mid October till after Jan 1 . About half those were charter or open boat trips. Adding another 10 trips to the surf to fish. On most days my boat was the only boat out fishing from my marina .Only 1 or 2 other boaters got out the entire fall run.

[tombanjo]

These days you find a pod, start working it, and within minutes there are 20 other boats there, half of which just ran right through the fish, and they are GONE...


You'd think in this day and age of hyper regulations....where you can fish, how many fish you can have, when the season ends....that the powers that be would throw us one positive reg like make blatant running through fish a crime punishable by a fine and/or up to 10 days in jail. That'll make 'em think twice. More then ever this year I saw boats do it on purpose, maliciously veer out of their way to run through and then leave the area at speed.