I have never fished in NJ. But I have been lucky enough to fish some great places. Grew up in CT and trout fished all over New England. And then my fishing obsession kicked in. I fished the Bahamas, United Kingdom, Florida Keys, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Belize, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah, California, and Japan in about a 10 year span. Almost all fly fishing but some spin rods. Alaska and New Zealand are the bucket list trips. With two teenagers (one in college) I do not get out as much these days. Retirement is coming!
Some great reads there. Some people chase the blitzes for years and never see them. I used to surf cast and fly fish Montauk from the north and south side rocks until it became a total shit show. Mid 90s until 2003 or so. One of my all time favorite fishing memories is fly casting to a blitz on the south side. The bass and bait were literally at my feet. And even though they are blitzing, they can be VERY picky. But landing a 25 pounder on fly rod, while standing on a rock with korkers duct taped to my boot waders is one of my greatest fishing memories.
So "blitzing". In Barbados they call it a "raffle". We were out 5 miles or so and trolling when we hit one rod, then another, then another. We were circling a piece of drift wood that fish were congregating under.
I reeled in 3 myself. 2 Kingfish and one Dorado. It was something to see the fish jumping out of the water like you see on the fishing shows. We ended up with 7 kingfish and 5 dorado. At the time I wasn't aware that this was a phenomenon. I thought this happened all the time.
Boat got a nice payday for those fish and we brought some home.
I have a pic somewhere. One day ill pick it up and post.
Great story. I think we used to call those situations boils rather than blitzes. But It's the same idea. A pod of fish on the feed. And you are there at the right time and place. It does not happen all the time, although good guides/captains know where to go when you are in a boat. Dorado are one of the best eating fish.
My Uncle used to work at Sandy Hook in New Jersey and they used to call that 'running'. As in, the Blues are running. You could basically cast out anything and they would bite it.
I have heard that saying before, more so to mean fish are in the area, as in they are running through now. Big bluefish are eating machines when they are in schools. If it had been big blues instead of stripers at my feet, the story could have turned out to be very different. They get a bad rap but are a ton of fun to fish. Just stay away from those teeth!
Yes! Same bud's boat on a different trip, we were trolling with a scallop boat in the distance stirring the ocean floor up hence turning on the bite. Nailed a couple nice blues. Kept one. Same day roasted with some white wine and a stick of butter. It was fantastic. Rarely eat what I catch. Don't enjoy the killing part of it. But am always respectful if I do. Love the stories. Fishing is a big part of my life. Catching is not!
Yes! Same bud's boat on a different trip, we were trolling with a scallop boat in the distance stirring the ocean floor up hence turning on the bite. Nailed a couple nice blues. Kept one. Same day roasted with some white wine and a stick of butter. It was fantastic. Rarely eat what I catch. Don't enjoy the killing part of it. But am always respectful if I do. Love the stories. Fishing is a big part of my life. Catching is not!
Ha! I always say I just need one fish. Does not need to be big, but just give me one bite. As I get older fishing has just become an activity to get me outside. Some people golf, ski, climb mountains, or play tennis. I prefer to be walking in the woods, on the water with a rod in hand. I am not as serious as I used to be and I do not travel for it like I used to. And I used to import lures and tying materials from Japan. I am lucky if I get out a few times a year and 98% catch and release. Children put a damper on fishing time!
I have been to a few private places where you to pay to fish trout. The fee is basically to ensure a sustainable population and eating part of what you catch is what you pay for. I have taken some native trout in Japan. That is a story unto itself, one I think I told here before. The only other exception might be yellowtail or mangrove snappers in the keys. Classic yellowtail sashimi, maybe grilled, and then fried snapper sandwiches. Also smallmouth bass/perch on the border lakes near the Maine/Canada border- a classic shore lunch on an island in the middle of nowhere. All cooked in a well used cast iron skillet with bacon fat. Over a fire. With beans and cornbread. I bet you can smell it. I will take that over 18 at Pinehurst a thousand times over.
Yes! Same bud's boat on a different trip, we were trolling with a scallop boat in the distance stirring the ocean floor up hence turning on the bite. Nailed a couple nice blues. Kept one. Same day roasted with some white wine and a stick of butter. It was fantastic. Rarely eat what I catch. Don't enjoy the killing part of it. But am always respectful if I do. Love the stories. Fishing is a big part of my life. Catching is not!
U ate a bluefish? ewwwww!
I think i cut that strong dark oil line out. Oh man. I worked at a restaurant and they fried up a bunch of snappers i caught (baby blues ya know) and they were yum. Tastes like the ocean. Me and my me and my me and my friend. Went on an all night party boat fishing for blues with jigs. They warned us they were catching small ones. We said f..k it let's go. So they hooked us up with diamond jigs. 'Drop down and reel as fast as you can up" we knew it was gonna be a long night. Caught a bunch, saw some squid, lost something big. Always an adventure. Now I can sit in my warm house with mostly true fish stories to tell. Told les claypool I wanted to go fish with him...he said "Why would I want to go fishing with an a..hole!" That's another story told elsewhere. I left the good parts out F..k primus. They suck. Love you all
Yes! Same bud's boat on a different trip, we were trolling with a scallop boat in the distance stirring the ocean floor up hence turning on the bite. Nailed a couple nice blues. Kept one. Same day roasted with some white wine and a stick of butter. It was fantastic. Rarely eat what I catch. Don't enjoy the killing part of it. But am always respectful if I do. Love the stories. Fishing is a big part of my life. Catching is not!
U ate a bluefish? ewwwww!
I think i cut that strong dark oil line out. Oh man. I worked at a restaurant and they fried up a bunch of snappers i caught (baby blues ya know) and they were yum. Tastes like the ocean. Me and my me and my me and my friend. Went on an all night party boat fishing for blues with jigs. They warned us they were catching small ones. We said f..k it let's go. So they hooked us up with diamond jigs. 'Drop down and reel as fast as you can up" we knew it was gonna be a long night. Caught a bunch, saw some squid, lost something big. Always an adventure. Now I can sit in my warm house with mostly true fish stories to tell. Told les claypool I wanted to go fish with him...he said "Why would I want to go fishing with an a..hole!" That's another story told elsewhere. I left the good parts out F..k primus. They suck. Love you all
Ha! I always say I just need one fish. Does not need to be big, but just give me one bite. As I get older fishing has just become an activity to get me outside. Some people golf, ski, climb mountains, or play tennis. I prefer to be walking in the woods, on the water with a rod in hand. I am not as serious as I used to be and I do not travel for it like I used to. And I used to import lures and tying materials from Japan. I am lucky if I get out a few times a year and 98% catch and release. Children put a damper on fishing time!
I have been to a few private places where you to pay to fish trout. The fee is basically to ensure a sustainable population and eating part of what you catch is what you pay for. I have taken some native trout in Japan. That is a story unto itself, one I think I told here before. The only other exception might be yellowtail or mangrove snappers in the keys. Classic yellowtail sashimi, maybe grilled, and then fried snapper sandwiches. Also smallmouth bass/perch on the border lakes near the Maine/Canada border- a classic shore lunch on an island in the middle of nowhere. All cooked in a well used cast iron skillet with bacon fat. Over a fire. With beans and cornbread. I bet you can smell it. I will take that over 18 at Pinehurst a thousand times over.
Nice!. My old company let me go on a fishing retreat to Canada. Tetu Lake. Remote. Sea plane in and out. We brought beer in with us, lol. I made a rule that u must crack a beer after the first fish caught. One of the PM's I was with ran with that. He said "rules are rules. I need to abide by the rules."
We were catching Muskee/snot rockets, Walleye and Bass. What a fun trip. I wore shorts out w a raincoat and a huge storm came. I was feeling no pain and enjoyed the hell out of it. The guide said to me afterwards, "i didn't think you were gonna make it." I said, from that little storm? I worked in Alaska my man, this ain't shit. He laughed and said, now I know.
Anywho. It was a huge drought around that time so the water levels were 10 feet lower. All their old fishing spots were now above water and the fish found new spots to hide in. I have pics of that somewhere too, lol.
We cooked what we caught for lunch w cast iron skillets they brought. What a fun bunch of guys. 2days of fishing. No internet.
+400lbs Jewfish/Goliath Grouper. Somewhere there is a pic of this too, lol. This was back when you could still take them out of the water. The captain was impressed w the fish and wanted a pic bad of it. Huge fish. 8' long, took a shit on the boat. Stunk real bad... Had one hell of a time getting it in and out of the boat...
Woah. Great stories. Snot rocket=pickerel? Or small muskie? My bud calls them a s r. Fist and only time I heard that til now.
Hell I have an old iron skillet passed down to me from father in law. He fried many trout in it. I use that bitch all the time. Will take it streamside someday soon. Thinking I want to fry up some catfish.
I caught a catfish camping and threw it in a cooler with ice all day with intent to eat it for dinner. Ice melted. That fish was alive and well in that icy water. I put her back. Swam off with a story to tell its fish friends
Brought my eleven year old son fishing a few times over the past few weeks. He's been having the time of his life catching bluegills and sunnies. After the last trip he told me he wants to target bigger fish! Let's go! Funny story from a few weeks ago, I'm fishing with a bobber and bread, line goes straight down. Set the hook, I turn to my son and say this thing is freaking huge. I drag in what seems to be dead weight with the occasional right and left action. Approaches the surface and it's a freaking snapping turtle the size of a pizza box. I yanked that hook hard as hell out of his mouth. Those things scare the crap out of me.
If you zoom in pretty much in the middle of the photo on top of four leaves close together you can see a small snapping turtle just checking us out. Grab the tail?!?! Hell no lol
If you zoom in pretty much in the middle of the photo on top of four leaves close together you can see a small snapping turtle just checking us out. Grab the tail?!?! Hell no lol
Hahaha. Yeah, im not grabbing any fucking snapping turtle either. Fuck him!! Hahaha
Take me piece by piece..... Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
this girl comes up every year and lays eggs in our yard. I just hope I'm home to walk her back to the pond. Don't pick it up unless i have to.. Just watch that cars don't run her over. Follows the same path every year.
No idea there was a fishing thread… Waiting for the lakes to freeze here in Minnesota to hit the hard water.
Anyways, here’s a picture of a 53” Muskie my brother tied into a few years back. Was close to the MN state record at the time. He’s good buddies with the folks at Linder’s Angling Edge. They were filming when he caught this. The footage was used in commercials for Rappala and St Croix Rods.
Great stories. Those big old snapping turtles are nasty! I have hooked a couple of them over the years. I tried Muskie fishing once up near the 1,000 islands region. 0 fish,10,000 casts LOL.
Ha! I always say I just need one fish. Does not need to be big, but just give me one bite. As I get older fishing has just become an activity to get me outside. Some people golf, ski, climb mountains, or play tennis. I prefer to be walking in the woods, on the water with a rod in hand. I am not as serious as I used to be and I do not travel for it like I used to. And I used to import lures and tying materials from Japan. I am lucky if I get out a few times a year and 98% catch and release. Children put a damper on fishing time!
I have been to a few private places where you to pay to fish trout. The fee is basically to ensure a sustainable population and eating part of what you catch is what you pay for. I have taken some native trout in Japan. That is a story unto itself, one I think I told here before. The only other exception might be yellowtail or mangrove snappers in the keys. Classic yellowtail sashimi, maybe grilled, and then fried snapper sandwiches. Also smallmouth bass/perch on the border lakes near the Maine/Canada border- a classic shore lunch on an island in the middle of nowhere. All cooked in a well used cast iron skillet with bacon fat. Over a fire. With beans and cornbread. I bet you can smell it. I will take that over 18 at Pinehurst a thousand times over.
Nice!. My old company let me go on a fishing retreat to Canada. Tetu Lake. Remote. Sea plane in and out. We brought beer in with us, lol. I made a rule that u must crack a beer after the first fish caught. One of the PM's I was with ran with that. He said "rules are rules. I need to abide by the rules."
We were catching Muskee/snot rockets, Walleye and Bass. What a fun trip. I wore shorts out w a raincoat and a huge storm came. I was feeling no pain and enjoyed the hell out of it. The guide said to me afterwards, "i didn't think you were gonna make it." I said, from that little storm? I worked in Alaska my man, this ain't shit. He laughed and said, now I know.
Anywho. It was a huge drought around that time so the water levels were 10 feet lower. All their old fishing spots were now above water and the fish found new spots to hide in. I have pics of that somewhere too, lol.
We cooked what we caught for lunch w cast iron skillets they brought. What a fun bunch of guys. 2days of fishing. No internet.
Nice! I loved my trips to the Maine border lakes and yes, we carried in everything, there was no Walmart, cell service or internet! They had outhouses. Suck it up city boy. I love going "up north" with one exception that has kept me from going back. Black flies. Meaner than those snapping turtles and I cannot say I am a fan of wearing a hairnet over my face. They still find a way in.
Snapping turtles I have a story about them too, lol. While in Hartsville Tenn building a prison we were on federal land so everything was protected. The deer and turkey roamed freely and not hunted. There was water everywhere so catfish and turtles in abundance too. One day I was riding around and saw a snapping turtle that looked like a large rock. I second guessed it but stopped my car and shonuff, it was a HUGE snapping turtle. 12" shell i'd say. Anywho i went up to it cause that's what i do. I pat the thing on its shell w my arm above it as I know these things can chomp.
It LUNGED at me and you heard its mouth snap. I laughed at it. I have video of that somewhere too... I really need to go through the archives and pull some stuff out.
Wow^ we used to go carp fishing all the time as kids off a bridge. Catch huge turtles. We'd beach them. Grab em. Bring them up to the bridge and they would hiss and snap at sticks we shoved in their faces. Throw them off the bridge back into the water. Heck they would come right back and We'd catch them again. Had a bio teacher in high school that would offer 10 bucks for a turtle. He ate them. I never gave him one. They are magnificent creatures. Also had a Russian immigrant that came to the bridge when we caught carp. He brought a shopping cart and we filled it with carp. He couldn't believe we threw them back. End of flashback
Comments
I reeled in 3 myself. 2 Kingfish and one Dorado. It was something to see the fish jumping out of the water like you see on the fishing shows. We ended up with 7 kingfish and 5 dorado. At the time I wasn't aware that this was a phenomenon. I thought this happened all the time.
Boat got a nice payday for those fish and we brought some home.
I have a pic somewhere. One day ill pick it up and post.
Love the stories. Fishing is a big part of my life. Catching is not!
I have been to a few private places where you to pay to fish trout. The fee is basically to ensure a sustainable population and eating part of what you catch is what you pay for. I have taken some native trout in Japan. That is a story unto itself, one I think I told here before. The only other exception might be yellowtail or mangrove snappers in the keys. Classic yellowtail sashimi, maybe grilled, and then fried snapper sandwiches. Also smallmouth bass/perch on the border lakes near the Maine/Canada border- a classic shore lunch on an island in the middle of nowhere. All cooked in a well used cast iron skillet with bacon fat. Over a fire. With beans and cornbread. I bet you can smell it. I will take that over 18 at Pinehurst a thousand times over.
Me and my me and my me and my friend. Went on an all night party boat fishing for blues with jigs. They warned us they were catching small ones. We said f..k it let's go. So they hooked us up with diamond jigs. 'Drop down and reel as fast as you can up" we knew it was gonna be a long night. Caught a bunch, saw some squid, lost something big. Always an adventure. Now I can sit in my warm house with mostly true fish stories to tell.
Told les claypool I wanted to go fish with him...he said "Why would I want to go fishing with an a..hole!" That's another story told elsewhere. I left the good parts out F..k primus. They suck.
Love you all
Ok. I'm going nuts to fish now.
Caught a hundred pound sturgeon
On 20 pound test
Primus sucks
❤️
We were catching Muskee/snot rockets, Walleye and Bass. What a fun trip. I wore shorts out w a raincoat and a huge storm came. I was feeling no pain and enjoyed the hell out of it. The guide said to me afterwards, "i didn't think you were gonna make it." I said, from that little storm? I worked in Alaska my man, this ain't shit.
He laughed and said, now I know.
Anywho. It was a huge drought around that time so the water levels were 10 feet lower. All their old fishing spots were now above water and the fish found new spots to hide in. I have pics of that somewhere too, lol.
We cooked what we caught for lunch w cast iron skillets they brought. What a fun bunch of guys. 2days of fishing. No internet.
+400lbs Jewfish/Goliath Grouper. Somewhere there is a pic of this too, lol. This was back when you could still take them out of the water. The captain was impressed w the fish and wanted a pic bad of it. Huge fish. 8' long, took a shit on the boat. Stunk real bad... Had one hell of a time getting it in and out of the boat...
Snot rocket=pickerel? Or small muskie?
My bud calls them a s r. Fist and only time I heard that til now.
Hell I have an old iron skillet passed down to me from father in law. He fried many trout in it. I use that bitch all the time.
Will take it streamside someday soon. Thinking I want to fry up some catfish.
I caught a catfish camping and threw it in a cooler with ice all day with intent to eat it for dinner. Ice melted. That fish was alive and well in that icy water. I put her back. Swam off with a story to tell its fish friends
U let dinner go? Man u are a somewhat good guy, lol. Maybe Les should change his opinion of you.
Fish on
Funny story from a few weeks ago, I'm fishing with a bobber and bread, line goes straight down. Set the hook, I turn to my son and say this thing is freaking huge. I drag in what seems to be dead weight with the occasional right and left action. Approaches the surface and it's a freaking snapping turtle the size of a pizza box. I yanked that hook hard as hell out of his mouth. Those things scare the crap out of me.
I was fishing with my son years ago and a big fish snapped my line.
He simply said "Why don't you just catch the small ones?"
Makes sense.
Snapping turtles won't hurt you if you stay away from the front of them. Grab tem by the tail, or call me.
Yeah, im not grabbing any fucking snapping turtle either. Fuck him!! Hahaha
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
Anyways, here’s a picture of a 53” Muskie my brother tied into a few years back. Was close to the MN state record at the time. He’s good buddies with the folks at Linder’s Angling Edge. They were filming when he caught this. The footage was used in commercials for Rappala and St Croix Rods.
Don't fish the pond. Tiny.
Nice! I loved my trips to the Maine border lakes and yes, we carried in everything, there was no Walmart, cell service or internet! They had outhouses. Suck it up city boy. I love going "up north" with one exception that has kept me from going back. Black flies. Meaner than those snapping turtles and I cannot say I am a fan of wearing a hairnet over my face. They still find a way in.
While in Hartsville Tenn building a prison we were on federal land so everything was protected. The deer and turkey roamed freely and not hunted. There was water everywhere so catfish and turtles in abundance too. One day I was riding around and saw a snapping turtle that looked like a large rock. I second guessed it but stopped my car and shonuff, it was a HUGE snapping turtle. 12" shell i'd say. Anywho i went up to it cause that's what i do. I pat the thing on its shell w my arm above it as I know these things can chomp.
It LUNGED at me and you heard its mouth snap. I laughed at it. I have video of that somewhere too... I really need to go through the archives and pull some stuff out.
Had a bio teacher in high school that would offer 10 bucks for a turtle. He ate them. I never gave him one. They are magnificent creatures.
Also had a Russian immigrant that came to the bridge when we caught carp. He brought a shopping cart and we filled it with carp. He couldn't believe we threw them back.
End of flashback