[Billfish715]

Gerry, You must really have the fishing "Jones". Don't worry. It happens to all of us at this time of the year. We go to bed every night with dreams of the fishing that many of our kids and grandkids might never see. Even when we share stories of the good old days with some of the younger members on this board, they won't quite understand. The young guys today will certainly talk about their good old days later in their lives but they need to hear about what they missed. What was different then compared to now, is the abundance and varieties of fish that were so close and so accessible.

Flounder........they could be caught in Raritan, Sandy Hook and Barnegate Bays as well as the Shrewsbury, Navesink, Manasquan and Shark Rivers. Add to that, in the ocean off the Cedars of Sandy Hook. Party boats would line the rivers and bays in places that they are never seen anymore.

Fluke........from the jetties, rowboats, docks, along the sandy beaches, from the surf.......everywhere.

Weakfish........jelly worms, tiger tails, nordic eels.........in the bay, bridge abutments and mixed in with the fall run of bluefish and stripers

Bluefish........Bingle Bananas, trolling with pony tails/nylons, the Klondike, Augies, Annex, Acid Grounds, Barnegate and Manasquan Ridges, chumming.........all summer long

Mackerel........full coolers, stripers mixed in, three miles off the beach

Whiting.........from the Long Branch Pier, twilight fishing, fleets of boats on the hills at night looked like floating cities, ling mixed in

Blowfish.......Barnegate Bay, small pieces of squid on high-lo rigs with freshwater gear. Off the jetties in Long Branch........almost everywhere.

Tuna.......footballs on cedar plugs and feathers on the Klondike with skipjacks mixed in.

Bonito.......chumming on the inshore hills with spearing with bluefish, bluefins, false albacore mixed in

Seabass.......there were too many fluke to bother fishing for them

Blackfish...... party boats and guys with secret spots caught them.........no state of the art fishfinders back then

Loran Numbers.........got you close but not like GPS and sonar units of today

No Loran Numbers........compass headings and dead reckoning.......Along the beach, you had to line up a flag pole or a house on the beach or a jetty to find your spot.

Stripers........tie up to the old railroad tressel abutments by the Highlands Bridge and drift worms. Troll umbrellas or bunker spoons up against the Sea Bright wall. The water came right to the wall back then.

Giant Tuna.........in the Mud Hole in the fall

Yellowfins........in the Mud Hole at Little Italy

Outdoor Fishing Editors.........Ristori, Brandt, Duffy.......to name a few


There is so much technology today to help even a novice fisherman do well, but the numbers of fish and varieties of fish have dwindled substantially. Still, younger fishermen today will be telling stories of the good old days to their wide-eyed kids and grandkids in the future. And that is how the tradition lives and thrives. Stories of fishing and fishermen from now and long ago are what keeps our sport alive.

Someone will no doubt start a thread about the old fishing/charter boats and bait and tackle stores which were so much of the history of fishing in New Jersey.

Thanks, Gerry for the starting the thread.