September Fishing When

[Short Cast]

And don't forget the bamboo poles we used.

[dfish28]

What about using coat hangers for double or triple flounder rigs..

[gypsy]

You mean Penn makes reels other than the Squidder?? I have 2 from the early 60's that were my dad's in mint condition and still fish with them, liked the jig master for the faster reterive. Long Branch Pier, fond memories, out there freezing my butt off with my father and uncle fishing all night for whiting, ling?? They were thrown back, monk fish? Nobody wanted any anglerfish, I can still remember a stray dog running around on the pier and a guy tossing a monkfish on the deck for the seagulls to pick at and the dog ran up grabbed the fish and ran away with it. We would fish off the jetty's at Asbury Park, if you had a fishing pole you didn't need a beach pass, seemed we always caught fluke, big kingfish off those jetty's , then get some candy on the boardwalk before we left. You could always tell when the Stripers were running by all the bonfires on Morgan Beach behind Gerrity's Breeze Inn. It took me a long time to catch a striper from that beach, usually huge eels. Before Fred's Bait it was called Wet Ghost bait and tackle. Across the street was Guy's Barbeque, and Morgan Seafood, they had a big smoke house, and we could always tell when they were smoking fish, as I grew up 100yds west of them. There was a bait shop under the train bridge on Olde Spy Rd called Millies, we would sometimes buy candy from her if I was allowed to pedal that far, and catching killies in the parking lot of the Olde Spy Inn with a stirng , bent straight pin, and a piece of bread, the bartender would sometimes come out and give us some free soda. Come summer we'd jump off the Morgan Bridge, before the bridge attendant could get to us. Seining at South Amboy beach was a blast, always looked to see what bait we would catch, always big spearing and killies, sometimes baby flounder, weakfish, bunker. Yes today is so different, if there were as many bonfires on the beach today as back then I think they'd arrest you, oh yea who can forget the deep hole in Cliffwood Beach by the Cat and the Fiddle where my father said the stripers would hole up, again big eels there also. It's good to go back, the world was different

[Offshoreafflicted]

Originally Posted by AndyS

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

Loved those things for bluefish. We used to try and get the whole boat to drop down and reel up at the same time to see how many we could hook up at once!

There was nothing better than night bluefishing on the Barnegat Ridge!

[bunker dunker]

when the 505hs came out and we all thought we died and went to heaven.how
about surf fishing with beach masters.now everyone is up in arms over the braid and we thought mono was the cats meow.when the 6 mile lump had all the 80-100lb yellowfins and the 9 mile lump was were the giants lived.when
we would take one of franks boat and live line bunker for those big weakfish.
when just about every party boat basin had a dinner and tackle shop.when you used a sinker and string to mark your place at the rail and everyone put there fish in burlap.yes I miss those days.

[Billfish715]

Gypsy, Thanks for a little history of the Raritan Shore area. I didn't know any other name for Fred's than what it is. If you ever traveled toward South Amboy, maybe you can remember the name of a very small B&T store on Rt. 9 South just before the Andrejewski overpass. I remember buying some crabbing gear there. Back then, there were lots of mom and pop B&T stores everywhere. So many stores have closed and with them have gone the information, instruction and knowledge that the owners could and would pass along to fishermen. I can remember so many local stores that sold fishing tackle. So many of them are gone! Try to get information from an acne-faced kid at Dick's! Try talking to someone at Cabelas or Bass Pro about where to fish or how to fish! There's no more reporters with daily columns to keep everyone informed. Sure, Al Ristori has a report that he does online but it's still not as complete as when it was in print going way back to his predecessors when daily pool winners were listed and the crabbing updates from Bayville were posted frequently. Guys post their reports on this forum but it's taboo to list any "spots"! The reporters seemed to be more helpful and informative back then.

[bunker dunker]

we would buy the star ledger just to read bob duffy's colume.how every Friday they would list every party boat from sheepheads to cape may and what they were fishing for.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Got my first fishing pole when I was 7.... A push bottom caster from Montgomery Wards which was in Menlo Park when is was not yet a mall....

First trip I ever took in the salt was a night bluefish trip on the Cock Robin in my early teens. That trip did if for me.... Caught them until my arms were too tired.

When I got my drivers license, heading to Sandy Hook at night fishing and sleeping on the beach... Well sometimes it wasn't to fish or sleep

A friend of mine and I used to go with our girl friends. The night guard at the gate would ask to see your bait and if you didn't have pole or bait, he knew you weren't going to fish and would turn you away. This one time it was late and due to poor planning, we had no bait. Plan B I stopped at the grocery store on the way down and picked up some hot dogs.... When he asked to see the bait I showed him the hot dogs, he smiled knowingly and waived us through....Got attached by sand fleas that night... Needless to say the girls never wanted to go back

[BCinerie]

I still use my Penn 505hs loaded with 30 ande! Match up with my fenwick pacific stick. In the fall would
Put my 6/0 on it for tuna. 1985
Saved up 289 for a 50tw and 150 for a sabre stroker ! Still work great. Paid 150 to fish yellowfin at the Bacardi then sell them for 2 bucks a pound at co-op. Usually caught 10 plus 60 lbders Those are the good ole days!

[Capt Sal]

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.

Capt. Al Ristori landed the grander on Pisano's boat. I am the age bracket and have landed giants in the mud hole to 861lbs. Those were the days!!!!!!