New Long Branch Fishing Pier

[Broad Bill]

I don't see a 500 ft pier any different than the fish magnet arguments people used about wind farms or oil rigs. Pilings will attract forage, forage will attract predators, night lights will attract baitfish and baitfish will attract predators. The question is how far out will the pier go into the ocean. Will it extend 100 ft or 450 ft. If it's out as far as the old pier, it'll be fine. The surrounding contour of the old pier was all sand, no structure and fishing was incredible.

[catsmeow]

Wow just turned 79 and remember the winter night trips for whiting. My memory of it bring cold and a tough place for a kid to fish. Used to retreat to the warm restaurant. Also remember some tough winter trips out to the scotland light trip. Still fishing around the hook in my boat for summer fluke. I think whats the one thing that never changes. The tide. Tight lines !

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Broad Bill

I don't see a 500 ft pier any different than the fish magnet arguments people used about wind farms or oil rigs. Pilings will attract forage, forage will attract predators, night lights will attract baitfish and baitfish will attract predators. The question is how far out will the pier go into the ocean. Will it extend 100 ft or 450 ft. If it's out as far as the old pier, it'll be fine. The surrounding contour of the old pier was all sand, no structure and fishing was incredible.

Outside of the Whiting/Ling, I'm not sure I would describe the fishing there as incredible... There were fluke/blues, other things like kingfish ,blowfish, a porgy once in a while, and believe it or not in those days no one really fished much for blackfish at the pier.. It was often picky during the warm months, with a lot of sea robins, dogs, skates etc, The winter Ling and Whiting made that pier famous,.. outside of that, I dunno, you could do as well or better at a good jetty.

Even when the ling/whiting were in solid you had to be out at the end of the pier preferably in a corner spot most nights... those fish were seldom along the sides in any great numbers..
Still, I think its a great thing that there will be a new a new pier to fish from in Long Branch.. hopefully, it will be a little more kid friendly and easier to fish from than the original was.. It certainly can't hurt the town thats for sure.. It will bring revenue to local business for certain.. I hope its reasonably priced , thats important these days. Working families not making big money can use a break from the crazy prices they have to pay for everything. bob

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Outside of the Whiting/Ling, I'm not sure I would describe the fishing there as incredible... There were fluke/blues, other things like kingfish ,blowfish, a porgy once in a while, and believe it or not in those days no one really fished much for blackfish at the pier.. It was often picky during the warm months, with a lot of sea robins, dogs, skates etc, The winter Ling and Whiting made that pier famous,.. outside of that, I dunno, you could do as well or better at a good jetty.

Even when the ling/whiting were in solid you had to be out at the end of the pier preferably in a corner spot most nights... those fish were seldom along the sides in any great numbers..
Still, I think its a great thing that there will be a new a new pier to fish from in Long Branch.. hopefully, it will be a little more kid friendly and easier to fish from than the original was.. It certainly can't hurt the town thats for sure.. It will bring revenue to local business for certain.. I hope its reasonably priced , thats important these days. Working families not making big money can use a break from the crazy prices they have to pay for everything. bob

Bob,

Going to disagree with you on this one. Fluke fishing was phenomenal off that pier. One day in the fall there were 15 fish landed over 8 lbs. with 6 of those over 10. I personally have caught 4 fish over 8lb, one over 9 and lost a fish in the mesh basket they used which easily went 12 plus. Someone had dead fishing line wrapped around the basket and after I got the fish in the basket, the guy helping me lift the basket didn't realize the line was on the basket, line caught onto one of the pilings, basket flipped and the biggest fluke I've ever seen up until that time was gone. Black fishing was limited to high tides but if you cast underneath the pier during the high tides around the pilings there were big blackfish to catch. Weak fishing when we had anchovy runs along the coast was sensational at night. Ling and whiting I agree were the headliner but there was great fishing for many species on the pier. The hot spot was the front but there were many caught on the sides especially next to the automatic chum grinder they had on the north side. And when fishing was slow, the bar / restaurant had the best clam chowder I think I've ever tasted. Would be good to see another ocean pier in that area and I think the fishing opportunities will be just as good as the original pier.

Bill

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Broad Bill

Bob,

Going to disagree with you on this one. Fluke fishing was phenomenal off that pier. One day in the fall there were 15 fish landed over 8 lbs. with 6 of those over 10. I personally have caught 4 fish over 8lb, one over 9 and lost a fish in the mesh basket they used which easily went 12 plus. Someone had dead fishing line wrapped around the basket and after I got the fish in the basket, the guy helping me lift the basket didn't realize the line was on the basket, line caught onto one of the pilings, basket flipped and the biggest fluke I've ever seen up until that time was gone. Black fishing was limited to high tides but if you cast underneath the pier during the high tides around the pilings there were big blackfish to catch. Weak fishing when we had anchovy runs along the coast was sensational at night. Ling and whiting I agree were the headliner but there was great fishing for many species on the pier. The hot spot was the front but there were many caught on the sides especially next to the automatic chum grinder they had on the north side. And when fishing was slow, the bar / restaurant had the best clam chowder I think I've ever tasted. Would be good to see another ocean pier in that area and I think the fishing opportunities will be just as good as the original pier.

Bill

I won't argue, never saw days as you describe, but of course that doesn't mean much.. I will say however, that a LOT of fishing on the NJ shore was as you described back in those days... The pier was good, but so were an awful lot of other places during those years..

[bulletbob]

Did some research- the new pier is going to be 172 feet shorter than the old one, which is pretty substantial.. I was hoping it would be as long or longer, but you know what they say about a gift horse........