September Fishing When

[Billfish715]

What a difference there is in the fishing now compared to "back in the day"! Who remembers?????............football Bluefins on the Klondike ( Who remembers the Klondike?), false albacore and skipjack tuna at the range buoys ( The what buoys?), Spanish Mackerel at the MI bell buoy, bonito and bluefish on Manasquan and Barnegate Ridges, at the Annex and Ole's, night blue fishing within sight of land. That's just the close in September fishing. We'll reminisce about the inshore ling and whiting and mackerel later. Did I mention the MudHole giant fishing?

[Joey Dah Fish]

It's those damn cormorants lol

[NoLimit]

In the 70's, we actually went from the Long Branch pier down to the surf one night and picked up "Frost Fish" right off the beach.

[Gerry Zagorski]

I've heard many stories from many different people on the Giants that were caught in the late 70s and early 80s in the Mudhole. Had the good fortune of talking to and fishing with Bob Pisano a few years back on a friends boat. Bob was one of the legends in this fishery and quite a character too. It's been said that he and his crew caught over 800 of them, one of which was over 1000 pounds.

[Billfish715]

Originally Posted by NoLimit

In the 70's, we actually went from the Long Branch pier down to the surf one night and picked up "Frost Fish" right off the beach.

"Frostfish" AKA whiting were all over the inshore waters for a long time. Depression Era kids and adults would look forward to free food wherever and whenever possible since buying food was not often practical. Even during the rationing during WWII, people would go to the beach on freezing cold days and nights to gather whiting that became stranded on the sand as they chased sand eels into the wash. The cold temperatures out of the water stunned or froze them where they were collected for dinner. Hence the name "frostfish".

[Billfish715]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

I've heard many stories from many different people on the Giants that were caught in the late 70s and early 80s in the Mudhole. Had the good fortune of talking to and fishing with Bob Pisano a few years back on a friends boat. Bob was one of the legends in this fishery and quite a character too. It's been said that he and his crew caught over 800 of them, one of which was over 1000 pounds.

800 is a stretch. The 1,000 pounder is for real. We fished for and caught a couple of 100+ pounders in our 19' Mako near the Oil Wreck in one short season. The giants would often feed on the whiting and ling out there. If you followed a trawler, the giants would come up to feed on the floaters that fell out of the nets much like the yellowfins do to the squid farther offshore. Drop a bait back and it was "fish on".

[AndyS]

.......and the Bingle Banana was the hot lure for Bluefish

[bunker dunker]

from august right thru October we would jig footballs at the Klondike on 6 oz
Bridgeport diamond jigs.i worked weekends on a pb out of pp.we would fish bluefish and would see those Bluefin just about every day.how about the "magic' hours trip between the channels when all you needed was a hand full of different colored Nordic eels and would come home with 10lb weaks,stripers,blues,fluke and sea bass.ling fish on the Mantoloking pipe. going striper fishing when it was 18" min and 10 fish per person and being back to the dock by 11:30am.

[Billfish715]

The millennials have no idea about what we are saying. Schupp's rowboats/skiffs tied up to the old RR.pilings fishing for 18" stripers next to the Highlands Bridge. Who remembers "jelly worms" for weakfish? How about " tiger tails" for them too? Did anyone ever fish for winter flounder in the Shrewsbury by the Quay or off the bulkheads by the SR marina? The Manasquan used to be lined with party boats in the spring fishing for flounder from just west of Bogan's to the Mantoloking Bridge. Who uses " nylons" or Pet Spoons to troll for bluefish anymore? Did anyone ever buy bunkers from the pound net fishermen in Raritan or Sandy Hook Bays? Shall I start on the MudHole/ Little Italy yellowfin tuna run?

[Billfish715]

Sorry for stirring up memories but there are some of us old guys on here who might appreciate looking back. Who would have ever thought there could be any other reels than those made by Penn? 155's, Squidders, 500 jigmasters, non skirted spinning spools........