Slime Time - The Art of Catching Fish

Author Robert "Barnsey" Barnes - aka The Cave Man

SLIME TIME - THE ART OF CATCHING FISH - By ROBERT A. "BARNSEY" BARNS


Barnsey – the author of this work – “Slime Time – The Art of Catching Fish” (TAO-CF) was certainly a fascinating character, - the most interesting character I’ve ever known, and there is no second compared to him; Barnsey takes the cake.

I can’t remember when I first met him, as he just seemed to be there once in awhile, coming around 819 Wesley (Ocean City NJ) to see the next door neighbor - old salt Chris Montagne, who my brother Leo fell in with on daily early morning fishing trips. And then he was just like a fly on the wall, sitting back in the corner playing around with his fishing equipment, never bothering anybody.

From what I understand he had been married, and may have a son, used to be a drinker, but that was before I met him. He did smoke cigs and occasionally pot, drank coffee and while he didn’t mind being around drinkers, he never touched the stuff for as long as I knew him.

I guess I got to know him better when he moved into the top floor apartment at 819 for a winter, rent free, at my mother’s insistence. I didn’t know why, except that I knew she liked to eat the striper filets he would give her, as did everyone who he shared them with. Then one day my mother’s artificial hip slipped out and she couldn’t walk and was in a lot of pain and screamed for help and only Barnsey, who was upstairs could hear her, and came to her rescue.

That was the winter Barnsey carved the Osprey with Weakfish in its Talons. Did I mention that Barnsey was an artist? A self-taught artist who was very good at everything he did.

He did sketches of wildlife, historic buildings, he did an album cover for jazz organist Dan Fogel, and pen and ink sketches of the Anchorage, Corletto’s Marina and an Asbury Avenue coffee shop.

Ernie Corletto's Marina - 800 Bay Avenue, Somers Point, NJ

One color sketch of an owl was particularly striking. Barnsey said it was of a former next door neighbor of his when he lived in a tree house in Sculville. He later pointed out the location of the tree house to me, in a grove of trees off the marshes at Job’s Point, that Barnsey called Greenhead Point because of the greenhead flies that conjugate there in the summer.

Now if this seems farfetched, you should also know that Barnsey had a nickname – “Caveman,” that he picked up in Colorado, where he lived in a cave when he took months long sorjourns away from the Jersey Shore. In fact, Barnsey died in Colorado and is buried there.

While here though, when he wasn’t fishing, Barnsey was either sketching or carving something, including whittled arrow heads with wildlife – eagles and hawks on them.

In any case, when he lived on the fourth floor at 819 he carved a wooden life-sized Osprey with each feather individually crafted and painted and fit into place, flying off with a weakfish in each of its talons. Barnsey said he actually saw an Osprey hit the water and fly off with two weakfish and the image was burned in his brain.

It took him many months to finish the project, and I drove him to the crafts store for fresh supplies whenever he ran out, but by the time he was finished he had created a really remarkable piece of work.

We took it over to Gregory’s bar in Somers Point and he put it on the bar and people came over to Ooooh, and Aaaahhh over it. Barnsey got some work out of Gregory’s, carving an image of the front of the old hotel and the name and date the Gregorys took over 1946 on it, which is still hanging up on the wall of the bar.

Gregory’s is also home of the Tight End Fishing Club, which also sports a one-time world record striped bass, and most of the avid fishermen in the area, many of whom bring in their fresh stripers to show them off, and sometimes allow them to clean it and cook it and share with the crowd at the bar.

As to what to do with the Osprey, Barnsey said he wanted to sell it – for $10,000, as he had put so many hours into creating it he had to get what it was worth out of it, and that’s how much it was worth if he was paid less than minimum wage. So I arranged for a local fine art gallery on Asbury Avenue in Ocean City to take it on consignment and raise the price a little bit for their commission, while Barnsey took off for Key West.

Barnsey knew a guy who had a house on the beach in Key West and the guy let him camp out in his backyard, so Barnsey spent the rest of the winter fishing in Florida. While hitchhiking back in the spring he caught a ride with a guy in a Caddy who took him home, gave him a shower, a meal and a guest room and put him on a plane to AC the next day. It turns out the guy was an Amway millionaire who collects hand-carved wood figures and Barnsey had showed him a photo of the Osprey and the guy agreed to purchase it for $10,000, and would pick it up the following week.

It was a hard story to swallow when Barnsey first told me on the ride home from the airport, but I went over to the art gallery and they had a lot of gawkers but no buyers and so we took it out of the gallery and put it on the fireplace at 819. A week later the Amway guy drove up in his car, checked out the Osprey and took it home with him.

Barnsey was in-like-flint and started checking out the classified ads for used Bertram boats, but ended up spending the money on getting his teeth fixed, since he said he now had a romantic interest in a girl, who was also a striper fisherman.

When Barnsey lived with us at 819 Wesley his favorite fishing spot was at the 12st Pier on the Bay. People often told me that they saw Barnsey there, not just fishing, but catching fish, or riding his bicycle down West Avenue with a large striper spread out across his handlebars, still floppin around.

I guess I got to know Barnsey the best when he got cancer, and I drove him to the Veterans Hospital in Philadelphia twice a week to see the doctors. Did I mention Barnsey was an Air Force veteran? He quit school before graduating but did serve in the Air Force during the pre-Vietnam era, and may have been drafted.

Every once in awhile Barnsey just disappeared, and we figured he was in the Keys or Colorado, where his cave was in the Rocky Mountains just east of Glenwood Springs. He pointed out the location of the cave on a map for me once, and talked glowingly of how it was near a fresh, fast flowing stream – with fish in it, and overlooked the train tracks that ran into town. He told the story of how he once returned there to find a bear asleep in his cave. He said he woke it up and kicked him out, which I wouldn’t believe if anybody else told me.

Then, when the stripers weren’t running and things were slow at the Shore, Barnsey took off for Colorado, and he didn’t come back. He had checked in with the Vets Hospital in Colorado, and they were trying to take care of his cancer, but unfortunately he passed away and was buried in a Veterans Cemetery in the shadow of the Rockies.

Locally, we had a memorial service for him at the 12 Street Pier, where the fish were safer now. There were a few people who didn’t know him but hung out at the pier just to watch him catch fish. I didn’t know how wide a circle of friends Barnsey really had, and a couple dozen people showed up, including attorney Art Ford, who went to school with Barnsey and bartender Jimmy Smartly, who fished with him often and has a collection of his art work. Both Art and Jimmy have boats and if you had a boat and were friends with Barnsey you took him fishing with you because he could guarantee that you would be lucky. While Barnsey would say there’s no luck to catching fish, except bad luck, those of us who knew him know were were lucky to have known him.



GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. Robert A. "Barnesy" "Caveman" Barnes, 64, of this community and Ocean City (NJ) died Aug 7 in the veterans' home in Grand Junction, Colo. He was born in Somers Point, NJ.

Mr. Barnes attended Ocean City High School, served in the U.S. Air Force (1956-58) and worked as a carpenter, craftsman, boat builder and in other trades. He spent most of his time fishing, particularly in the Great Egg Harbor and in the Florida Keys and Colorado.

He wrote an, as yet unpublished manuscript "Into the Slime: The Art of Fishing."

Mr. Barnes was a member of the Praise Tabernacle Church in Egg Harbor Township and Sonlight Foursquare Gospel Church in Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Memorial services will be held at noon Sunday, Oct. 13 on the 12th Street pavilion on the bay in Ocean City and at 1 p.m. at the Tight End Fishing Club at Gregory's Restaurant in Somers Point.

Burrial was in Western Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Grand Junction, Colo. Arrangments by Rifle Funeral Home in Rifle, Colorado.

Well, while moving boxes of books and papers around, a folder fell out with an incomplete, early and unedited version of “Into the Slime: The Art of Fishing.”

When checking the tide and moon charts and the weather, Barnsey would often clap his hands and say, “It’s slime time!,” meaning it was time to go catch fish.

While Barnsey called it “The Art of Fishing,” he also said that it isn’t about what most people consider fishing – throwing a hook into the water and sitting back in the sun and enjoying being on the water – it was about The Art of Catching Fish, hence the title “Slime Time – The Art of Catching Fish.”

By Robert A. Barnsey Barns, aka “Caveman.”

Once a rare and lost unpublished manuscript, it is now available for everyone to read and learn the art of catching fish from the grandmaster.

INTO THE SLIME - THE ART OF CATCHING FISH

I – FISHING IS FUN

There has been a rumor going around for as long as I can remember that fishing is fun. Frankly, I’ve never heard anything as stupid as that.

Fishing isn’t fun, catching fish is fun.

There's no art or science to fishing. The art is knowing how to catch fish.

To those who have convinced themselves that fish are smarter than them, those who enjoy spending a lot of time and money to sit on or around the water and watch in awe as other people catch fish, well excuse me folks, but I have a hell of a lot of more fun catching fish than watching others catch them.

I’ve never finished high school, so I’m not a rocket scientist. I figure my IQ is somewhere in between a sanitary engineer and a junk yard parts technician, but in all my years I’ve figured out how to do one thing right – and that’s catch fish.

The only difference between those of us who catch fish and those that don’t is one key word – OpenMindedness. I was born into a fishing environment, which would have meant nothing if I hadn’t kept an open mind to learn.

Hopefully, you will find that if you follow in my footsteps and learn from my mistakes, misfortunes and rewards, you will save time and money and experience the fun of catching fish yourself.

You will find that with a small investment – for about $150 you can have the basic necessities for hours of Quality Fishing with tangible results.

I’ve caught more fish than anybody else in these parts, not because I fish more. The reason I catch more fish is simple – I work at it.

My homeport is the Great Egg Harbor bay, river and the inlets around Ocean City and Somers Point, New Jersey, and most of my fishing is between Long Beach Island and Cape May – the South Jersey Shore.

There’s hardly a puddle of water around here without something scaley swimming around in it, and there isn’t a cubic foot of it within casting range that doesn’t have a fish in it at some time or another.

To catch them on a routine basis takes knowledge, preparation, good equipment, the right bait and proper timing. A fishing trip should be planned like a well rehearsed military operation, and in the end you’ll complete your mission and have fun, if catching fish is what you consider fun.

THE ELEMENT OF LUCK

When somebody sees me fishing and asks, “Have any luck?” – and it happens all the time, I either ignore them, or respond with a pat response like, “There’s no such thing as luck,” or “Not with you here.”

Luck is for people who don’t know how to fish.

You can go out fishing for the first time in your life with a piece of hot dog on the end of a hook and catch a keeper striper, and that would certainly be lucky, but I’ve never had any luck catching fish. I make it happen through diligence and hard working experience.

Catching fish is not a sport with me, it’s a job, and I’m the utmost professional.

Webster defines luck as “to prosper or succeed through chance or good fortune; to come to something desirable by chance.”

Bullshit. I make my luck happen through hard, self-disciplined work. No pain, no gain. Discipline is the number one factor in Quality Fishing. Learn by doing, making mistakes, and trying as hard as possible not to repeat them.

Quality fishing demands discipline, and without it there is chaos, and the fish wins when the forces of chaos reign.

Discipline is consistency, and in order to establish consistency everything must run like a precision instrument. What a pain in the ass it is to tie up all the rigs I need before hand, so that no extra effort is required at Prime Time. What a pain in the ass it is to disassemble my reels, inspect them for anything that might fail, lubricate them and reassemble them, and to prepare my baits in advance of a trip.

You must become like a soldier at this. Many mistakes have cost me countless numbers of fish and countless fishless hours, but they also taught me discipline. I may not look like I’m disciplined, and I still make mistakes, from forgetting to tighten the spool tension screw to leaving bait out a little too long, but in the end, you can bet your ass that the job is done when you have a Keeper Striper flapping around at your feet. And that’s what I make happen.

Having no more formal education than not finishing tenth grade, most of my knowledge did not come from school, but from personal experiences, mainly from being on the road or on the river most of my life.

BIO

Spider Boy years 1935-1950.

Allegedly born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, but more likely hatched from under some storm deposited pile of seaweed type debris, I moved to Ocean City as a kid. I remember the great storm of ’44, going to the movies to watch the nukes going off on the Japs signaling the end of World War II, but most of all, I remember sitting on the bay at the pier at Dan’s Seafood in Ocean City and catching sea bass and Cape May goodies by the bucket. I recall having the best-bribed baby sitters in the whole world at the time.

I was absolutely awed when the boats came back to the dock with their catches. My addition began its firm and undetachable grip on me at that time. Since then, I’ve been to many a scholared man, seeking help for this overwhelming affliction, but alas, to date, I have found no cure. Conversing with these scholars of wisdom, I found this disease had no name. How dreadful! I’ve got this damned affliction without a clinical name, looking ahead at my tombstone – R. Barnes – died of ? What a fate. Well folks, the disease has a name - Fishingitus sounds clinical to me.

We moved to Somers Point in 1948, once more too close to the bay for my own good. As I found myself at the docks once again, being a Spider Boy and a pain in the ass to all, it seemed to me that bribery is a very old way of getting people to do what you want. I was a very well-bribed Spider Boy at the docks. People would heap on me great treasures of hooks, lines and sinkers, cold cakes, candy, cookies and on occasion, a quarter or two, all just to stay off their boats and docks.

Somers Point had about 1500 residents at the time, and life was great for the Spider Boy of the docks. Small town politics favored me with a small portion at Stan Haines.

My uncle Russ Adams, worked there before he started building his famous gravies.

Somewhere around this period of time I caught my first striper with uncle Russ and his wife, my Aunt Janet. Alas it was only seventeen and half inches and he threw it back. Right then and there I decided to hate him until he died, and did. What a rotten thing to do to a Spider Boy at the docks at the age of ten. It was also at this time I decided to get even with him and the world. I would simply grow up and learn to catch more stripers than anyone else.

Little did I know then that another symptom of this affliction had raised its scally head. I found myself knocking on the neighbor’s doors with my rusted red wagon selling my day’s catch of flounder and sea bass, door to door. The trap had closed on me forever. I was actually making expense money, doing what I liked doing best – fishin’.

SPIDER BOYS OF THE DOCS

There isn’t a place on earth with docks that doesn’t have a special breed of kids that, like dock rats, just can’t seem to help themselves, and are drawn to the docks like barnacles and mussels, somehow magnetized by mother nature to be an intrical part of the dock structure.

Looking more like spiders than kids, skin and bones for the most part, with legs that can leap from boats to the dock or boat to boat, climb a rope and rigging, suntanned to the bone, with the only attire being a pair of shorts and a baseball hat. It would appear to the uninformed that these children are only allowed to eat during the squaws and Easter. But most, like me, are and will be well fed. The secret behind the spider-look of these kids is simple. The brain needs countless calories to burn off in order to be able to out wit the fish. Being such a strain on the brain the body stays skinny, starve off calories so to speak.

A few years of uncontrolled calories burning, a pattern of using what works for catching fish and not using what doesn’t work. The brain finally starts to get fed. You probably don’t believe this theory. Well, next time you go fishing, take the time to record the catches of the Spider Kids and the chunky kids, and the Spider Kids will almost always beat the chunky kids.

HAND LINES

“Well, you broke it, now you’re going to have to do without,” was a familiar cry from my mother during my pre-teen years. Here it was the middle of the summer and I had either broken another rod or reel, but I was a Spider Boy, and I would not be denied my sea bass and flounder.

I would wind off enough of the nylon or daron line from the spool and make my way to a dock somewhere on the bay in Somers Point. A quart milk bottle with a string attached to the top with a piece of bread inside was expertly thrown into a small ditch nearby. Soon the bottle was filled with minnows for flounder.

Tieing the loose end of my line to a piling nearby I would tie on the hook and sinker, slapping two clams together, I would cut a piece of clam off with a broken piece of shell. I would lower the offering into the water below. A couple hours later a peach basket would be full of sea bass and flounder. Looking back I could say that most of my fish in those days were caught on hand lines.

This nearly lost art was put aside for many years. When I put a few together for flounder some 30 years ago their efficiency far surpassed the spinning gear that was left at home, as when I returned from the trip I had over a hundred pounds of fluke.

The idea was shelved again until a few years ago when I was taught the art of hand lining while spending a winter in the Florida Keys. The first trip I found me with a lot of cuts on my hands in spite of wearing wearing rings of rubber cut from an inner tube of a bike tire. A run to the store and I found a pair of leather gloves and I promptly cut off all the ends of the fingers and thumbs. I had an extended conversation with a tauhtog fisherman and tried to convince him of the advantages of hand lining over rods and reels.

First of all, they’re faster than any other method. Secondly, the amount of torque you can put on a fish is equal to your arm strength. Try to lift a ten pound block of whatever off the ground with your rod and reel. Next attach a hand line and do the test again. See what I mean?

Were I to get serious about catching fluke, the rods and reels would stay home. Hand lines for fluke would be 80 pound test with a tree foot leader to the terminal end. Hand lines for tauhtog would be 100 pound test with a two foot leader to the terminal end.

As good hand line is a serious piece of fishing equipment and a fair amount of preparation is needed to set them up. A large spool of 24 inch on the outside plates to a smaller spool on the inside is required for any length over 30 inch. The larger the coil, the easier the job. With no tangles. The lines, regardless of length, must be streteched in the sun and allowed enough time to accept the stretch. Next, the lines must be coiled in the large loops of at least 18 diameter.

Were I to go after fluke, I would have three lines, twenty-five feet each, which would be attached to three, eighteen inch bungie cords. Each line would be attached to one of these. I would cover a large area. Finding the lines is simple, but a lot of speed is needed if you want to sort out a limit of fluke fast. This is the way to go. The depth of the water will determine the length of the line.

I would only use a single line as setting the hook and turning the fish before he can wrap you up on the piling is critical. This is the reason for the hand line to begin with.

A small investment could lead to a lot more fish for time spent. Using hand lines I will out catch anybody using rod and reel. Upwards of three to five fish per their one, and I’m gone. A good rinse, a careful recoiling of the lines and cool storage space will ensure they’re ready for the next trip.

Don’t knock the hand lines before you’ve used and mastered them.

EQUIPMENT

In order to get stared catching fish you need some basic equipment – rod, reel, line and terminal tackle.

The basic equipment you need to catch fish coast about an average of $120 - $150 for a good starter set - $50 for a rod and $60 for a reel, $20 for tackle and $10 for line.

I wouldn’t buy a starter set at a garage sale unless you know exactly what you’re getting and where it’s been.

For a good cheep starter set try a big department store, which will be substantially less expensive than your retail and bait and tackle shops. If money isn’t an issue, it sometimes pays to put out the extra few dollars and get to know your local bait and tackle shop operators because they can give you some good advice down the line.

You want to start things off with a six foot six inch rod, a half ounce to quarter and quarter tip.

What I use is entirely different than what a beginner would take out on their first fishing trip. I use a different rod and reel for different fish, depending on the season and what I’m after, but for starters, that’s all you need to get going.

The line you use depends on the fishing conditions. Get extra spools ($5 each) to have on hand, from 6 to 17 pound test, depending on whether you are going off the jetty, off the flats or around bridges. It’s just nice to have a variety of lines. I carry 8, 12 and 17 pound test as a good range. I recommend Stren line by Dupont because its consistent, soft enough to tie knots easy, abrasive proof and it takes a lot of abuse. Most of all because it’s easy to tie knots.

The tackle you use will be different for each and every fish, which will be specified in detail when we get to them.

For a reel I recommend a Penn 5500 spinning reel - graphite light.

PENN REELS

I only use Penn reels. This may sound hard, cold and narrow minded, and I fully realize some of the Jap reels with their bait runners are a little more versatile, but they would never stand up to the abuse that my Penns take.

Furthermore, they’re made in Philadelphia, and spare parts are readily available should the need arise.

As I do all my maintenance on all my gear myself, I serve them with a little grease, and I’m set for worry free fishin’. I do carry an extra bail spring in my wallet just in case, which I can change in the dark in about one minute.

Probably the most neglected link between the fisherman and the fish is this most important link. There are three things that can cost you a fish – a broken rod, a broken reel or a faulty line. The line begins to break down the minute its exposed to sunlight and its UV rays. A combination of salt water and a day in the sun is hell on a the line. Don’t wash it off after a day’s fishing and you’re asking for trouble.

I’ve seen the sullen smirks and have heard the muffled snickers when I’ve encountered those who insist on supporting Japan and their line of complicated junk. I’ve seen them take a hard look at my old 712 covered with slime. This old piece of American fishing history has already caught over 3,000 stripers and is finely getting broken in.

While you’re getting your equipment together you should consider when you’re going to use it, which depends on the moon, tides and weather.

PRIME TIME – THE MOON

When you commit yourself to a task such as this you have to fish the moons and the tides as they come and go. Two days before, the day of and two days after the full and new moon is PRIME TIME, and I’ll be out there catching some really nice bass.

There is nothing that governs salt water fishing more than the phases of the moon.

No matter where you are fishing, the moon rules. Not only for stripers, but for all other species as well.

My theory as to why is that during a new and full moons the tides run much harder and faster, is starting at the beginning of the food chain, micro organisms feed on the grass shrimp, the shiners and so on down the line. They in turn feed the smaller blues, weakfish, bass and so on. They in turn feed the larger fish, allowing frequent frenzies around the bridges.

Eat, swim and make babies, that’s all fish do. Except for bluefish, fish will not expend more energy than it takes to survive.

Everything must spend much more energy to survive the hard currents, especially currents that occur around bridges in particular, where the tides run the hardest, but around any structures where the currents run strong, or are funneled through smaller places.

Therefore, I spend my time working the clocks when the tides are on the moons. However, I will still go hit the deep water at the stand.

The stand is the last stages of an in or out tide. It generally lasts about 15 minutes. This is the time of the Blitz.

No matter where the fish are hanging out during the full run of any tide, strong or weak, this is Prime Time – the time to catch as many fish as possible.

These days I am always as well prepared as possible for this special time.

SCOUTING THE BEACH

I do most of my overland travel by bicycle and frequently use the boardwalk, so I get to see a lot of stuff most people don’t see, or even have the foggiest idea of what’s going on around them.

I’ve seen acres of blue fish just off the beach, within casting range, without anyone on them. In the mean time, there are guys fishing the jetties and hopen’ and waiting not far away, sitting there basking in the sun instead of heading over and tracking them down, not far away.

Whatever piece of water that might have been hot for fishing the last set of tides may be barren 12 hours later and vise versa. An early morning tour of the boarwalk by bike could mean the difference between catching fish and just basking in the sun. From Corson’s Inlet to the Great Egg Inlet is about six miles or so. With a vehicle and a pair of binoculars you can cover the whole beach in about a half hour.

All I’m looking for is birds feeding.

Under those birds will be bluefish, weakies, stripers or a combination of all three.

I would be armed with a eight foot graphite rod with a ¾ -2 oz tip, a pen 5500 rell and 17 pound Stren line, a ¾ ounce white on black bucktail lure with a porkrind soaked in Shedder Scent. The only other lure I would use is a two to four ounce Hopkins.

Find the birds, cast and retrieve and catch some blues, weakies and stripoers.

PLAN B

Do yourself and others a favor by having a plan before you go. You have a primary spot where you like to fish and a couple of alternatives if the primary spot is busy.

If the primary spot is open, get in as quickly and quietly as possible. Shut off your engines as soon as the anchor catches and KEEP QUIET! SHUT UP and fish.

Suppose someone is in your primary spot, then go somewhere else or give them plenty of room. If you persist in crowding someone, they’re going to get pissed.

Should you hook a striper you will stand a good chance of losing the fish in their anchor line, their fishing line or even their boat. You want at least 200 feet from anybody.

Rather than crowd anyone, the secondary spot, if open, would be the better option. I have a few Honey Holes that are always open and an option, and although 80 pounders are rare, I can almost always catch a couple of keepers to eat.

BAD LUCK GAS BUNERS

The element of luck should never be underestimated, especially the element of bad luck. Were I going to a regular job, how many people would wish me good luck? My idea of luck has absolutely nothing to do with harvesting fish. Catching fish on a regular basis is a matter of learned skill, and the only luck involved is usually bad luck.

The bad luck comes in a number of varieties. Those who fish have enemies – Gas Burners, water skiers, jet skiers, Cigarette boats and anyone else who makes life miserable while they’re fishing. Gas Burners are those who just ride around in a big boat, creating wakes, running over lines, looking stupid – well they’re just Gas Burners, and the fact of having to deal with them at all is my idea of bad luck.

If I am well informed, well prepared and fish hard when I’m supposed to, I will almost always catch fish. The “almost” would only come in to effect for instance, if someone would be occupying a pre-designated spot where I had intended to fish. But I just don’t surrender. Were I to surrender to the elements of luck it would open the door to an abyss that would throw me completely off course.

In order to reclaim invaded territory my tactics include a variety of guerrilla maneuvers, one of which will usually do the trick. If there be a girl aboard the attack vessel right the biggest live eel you’ve got to a light, seaweed encrusted lure and aim for the neck, with a wrap around idea. If it’s a hot-dog Guido try a heavy lead weight and aim higher. They should have to take a safety course to get a license, instead we should make our own wake and have a limited hunting season on them.

PREPERATION & ATTITUDE

Before you begin to embark on a fishing expedition you have to get things together, make plans and time yourself, but most of all you have to prepare your most important tool – your brain.

Human beings are the most unpredictable animals on the face of the earth. Born with the ability to learn right from wrong, it’s absolutely amazing to watch people try to catch fish doing everything wrong. Why, I ask, to these animals do this?

Boy, that those fish are smart is a lot of crap! Fish are stupid fish, and that’s that. The only problem here is that ninety percent of the people who pursue fish chose either to be stupid or lazy or cheap.

A fish’s rain, for a fish weighing about fifteen pounds, is about three percent of a normal man’s brain in size, and that brain barely governs three main senses – sight, smell and sound. There three things cause the fish to react to danger if threatened, or in pursuit of food, its main preoccupation.

Hanging around bait and tackle shops al my life I’ve seen them all. Here comes a couple of guys all rigged and ready to go. They’ve got their equipment and they’re ready to get slimed.

We have some conversations and I tell them I came in last night with 18 weaks. They asked what I used and I tell them I was using shedders, what size hooks and where to go.

They pick up an extra pack of the wrong hooks, some squid and minnows and they’re gone.

The next time I see them they tell me they didn’t do too good, and off they go again with the wrong hooks and bad bait to God only knows where.

Fortunately for me, their persistence has given me more room to fish, has kept the price of the bait I use down and left me with more fish to fish for. And I get to buy their old Penn reels at a garage sale. And I would like to thank those of you who keep the trash fish busy while I’m catching the good stuff.

There is one basic requirement to catching large numbers of big fish – the right attitude.

As long as you are intimidated by the fish you’ll never catch them. Any man, women or child who assumes the right attitude can catch as many fish as they want.

Getting the right attitude is fairly easy. First of all you have to realize that you are, like me, a human being of sorts, which makes us smarter than fish. You have to understand that you are smarter than any fish.

The bottom line is simple: I am a so-called human being that has a very large brain compared to a striper bass. I am smart and getting smarter. Fish are dumb and stay sumb.

You don’t have to go to school to learn how to catch fish. You don’t have to be a local to know where to go, you don’t have to own a boat to get where the fish are, all you have to do is listen to experience and put in the time.

My knowledge is strictly based on personal experience. I’ve logged some 50,000 hors of fishing so far, and I’m still learning. The result of our knowledge and measure of success is the final test – catching fish.

Keep an open mind and take the time to learn. Read books, watch the weather closely, hang around bait & tackle shops, watch and listen to those who catch fish, and keep track of the tide and moon phases. Keeping your eyes and ears open and mouth shut when its time to learn what you need to know.

Now you’ve got the right attitude, go out and get-em’ and I’ll see you on the water.

PRPARING BAITS

I’ve found that only three kinds of baits need to be prepared.

BIG MACS – MACKEREL

My favorite is mackerel, and when prepared properly, will catch about anything that swims, with the exception of perch, king fish and weakies in some locations.

Very rarely have I ever had my hands on fresh Mac, except in prime season, so I used the frozen stuff nearly all the time. I don’t like what Kosher Salt does to these baits, so I don’t use it at al. This means that whenever I “prep” for the day usually gets used that day. Unless I have a cooler with ice. Even then, two days is the life of these baits.

When there were a lot of bass around, I would usually do five mac’s at a time. This gave me 15 baits’ including the heads. Due to the decline in numbers and sizes, the last year I fished for bass I dropped down to three mac’s, as I was splitting the filets in half. This gave me 12 baits’ excluding the heads, when I’m using chucks of clam on the first hook.

After listening to all the whining about catching a lot of small fluke, I suggested to many of those whiners to use a large strip of mackerel rigged on a single 6/0 hook.

All of them chose to ignore my advice, but these baits accounted for three fish one afternoon off the 12th Street Pier, from eighteen inches to twenty-four inches, and a dozen other, all over eighteen here and there.

Here’s my recipe for Mac strips. Take two zip lock plastic bags, put one inside the other. Thaw the Mac’s to the point where you can removed the filets from the carcass without losing any juice. Split the filets length wise and put the baits inside the double bags, using a 50/50 ratio. Combine the clear Sheddar Scent. I would use about two ounces of this mix per bag. Zip up the bags and lay flat in fridge. About ever half hour give the bags a good massage. Return to fridge. Repeat the massage every half hour for four hours. The baits are now ready.

CLAMS

I was using the semi-frozen half-pints, about three whole clams in each container. Their salting methods were less than I wanted, so I took the salting process a step further. Again, the doubled zip-locks, two tubs of clams, six heaping tablespoons of kosher salk, two ounces of the shedder scent mix, and use the same massaging process as the mackerel.

EELS – NOT JUST BAIT – CATCHING COOKING AND EATING

This misallighted fish has been sought after as a delicacy for years. Some time ago I used to have a couple of customers that paid me fair wages for a bucket of slimes to eat.

Having too many alternatives to please my palate, I haven’t cooked up a bunch in years, but the thought of a heaping pile of them cooking before me makes my mouth water.

During the depression in the 1930s people ate a lot of things that didn’t cost too much to get, including surf turkeys washed up on the beach, sea robbins, the lowly dogfish, turtles and eels.

Who but myself would take a few hours of the mayhem to go catch a bucket full of eels is unknown, but come next summer I’m going to take the time to both catch and enjoy the mess of slimes.

Two hand lines will be used instead of rod and reels. A few dozen number one short shank hooks will be died on twenty-inch leaders. A half-ounce barrel sinker will be the sinker sliding on the line, a large swivel, easy to handle, will complete the tackle. A pound of squid, precut into two inch strips will be the baits. A chum pot with a quart of bunker will be the attractant.

The mouths of such creeks such as Lakes Creek, English Creek and Patcong Creek would be a good choice spost to go for these suckers, but I’ll probably wind up somewhere up the Tuckahoe river. Eels, like catfish, don’t feed according to the tides.

But were I to fish into a large creek, it would be on the incoming. The reason for the three dozen hooks is to save time by snapping the eels that have taken the hook deep. The hooks can be recovered later. A five gallon bucket of eels would be quite a chore to clean, but my experience has taught me a few secrets that will save time and trouble. Two clean, five gallon buckets are required for a big mess of eels. Half gallon of vinegar and one gallon of water is put into the two clean buckets.

Dump the eels into the mix, add more water if necessary to cover. A half hour is usually enough time to kill the eels. The slime is loosed by the vinegar and can easily be removed by circling the thumb and forefinger and running them down the length of the eel. A little practice and the next thing you know the eels are de-slimed.

A cut through the skin behind the head and the skin is ready to be removed. A large pair of slip joint pliers is used to hold the head, a smaller pair is used to pull the skin off. Remove the guts with a stiff brush. Cut the eels into two-four inch pieces and put into a large pot of salted, boiling water. It doesn’t take long to par boil these morsels. Remove a piece and stick a fork into it. The fork should not stick going in or out. Dump into a large container to cool.

Use your favorite recipe for browning the pieces. The small rib bones dissolve almost completely while parboiling, leaving only the back and rib bones, easy to eat.

The white meat is scrumptious. An old friend of mine used to smoke a batch of eels each year with the results coming in nothing short of excellent. Other old timers used to pickle eels, but it seems as this is a lost art these days. Scoofers beware, you are missing out on a cheap way to enjoy some of the best eating from these waters.

SMELL

You’d better take a coffee break before you get into this.

Catfish, suckers, carp, sturgeons, eels, crabs, snails, turtles – the list of those who make a living through their noses is long and goes on – but you get the idea.

There is no better bait for snapping turtle than big pieces of rotten eels. You go with a six penny finish nail and a hundred and fifty pound stainless steel leader with at least three swivels on twenty-five of the wire, which is anchored to a large stake in the ground.

Let’s face it, humans have the same trait. Should a pizza arrive somewhere nearby you, you will smell it out. The smells of the boardwalk – pizza, popcorn, hot dots, burgers – who could walk more than a block or two without sampling something along the way, even though you might not be hungry.

This is a weakness that can’t be over exaggerated and can be greatly exploited by the serious angler. Some fish, such as sharks, can be lured into a range from extremely long distances, even miles away, but nearly all inshore fish rely heavily on their sense of smell to find food.

SHEDDER SCENT

Fishing at night I discovered that the main sense in finding food in these conditions is the sense of smell. They say ninety percent of sex is smell, and that’s certainly true when it comes to eatin’ and fish are no different. Which brings me to Shedder Scent.

Used wisely and liberally, Shedder Scent will bring in fish from hundreds of yards away, and once drawn to the bait, the rest is up to you.

My favorite method of use is to find an old heavy coffee cup, find a spot where the container won’t be kicked around, fill it with about two ounces of Shedder Scent and dip the bait in it each time you let out a cast. I find the spray bottles too slow and sloppy, although they are fine for ells and other live bait – mullet or bunker.

You don’t put it on like perfume, the more of this stuff you put on the bait the more fish you’re going to catch. I used to take a bath in it until the supply almost ran out last summer. A quiet panic spread quickly as the supply of this magical fluid disappeared from the shelves of the bait & tackle shops. Rumors were rife, bottles of this blood of fishing life were rationed and the smiles of hope were replaced by looks of gloom until the distributor was located to be sure the stock of Shedder Scent would continue to flow.

I know I offend those unknowing class of public society with my appearance and smell, which of course a couple days of sweat and essence of Shedder Scent as a cologne will do. I am very liberal with the stuff, and after a hard night fishin’ I’m literally covered with it. But this is hard core fishing at its best, and the only thing I would change is I would like to buy it by the 50 gallon drum.

Shedder Scent. Don’t leave home without it.

CHUM

What to use? Fresh chum is always best for bluefish, kingfish, weakfish, flounders, stripers and sea bass, but damned hard to get without going to extremes.

Frozen chum is good, but should be enhanced with the addition of bunker oil or Shedder Scent or both.

Presentation of the chum can be achieved using several methods, first of all is the old standby – the chum pat. Perfect for kingfish and flounder, both summer and winter, each pot holds a quart of chum. In soft currents, the quart will last about thirty minutes.

Note – just because there maybe quite a lot of meat left in the pot, most of the scent will wash out pretty quickly and there won’t be any scent left. A simple way to check it, when in doubt, pull the pot in, check it, smell it. The odor of which ever chum used should be strong. If it doesn’t small good, that is if it doesn’t smell strong, dump it and insert a new container.

CHUMBAGS

An onion sack, as well as a commercial bag will work. If needed, add a sash weight or two to get it down to the bottom. Anything from a single container to a large block of chum, shake periodically when submerged. Works great, but beware of using this method as some years ago while sitting at Anchorage Point I had a large shark eat the whole bag, sash weight and all.

A helpful addition to the above is to use an absorbent rag such as a towel or heavy sock. Let the rag absorb as much bunker oil by filling it directly from the container, insert it into the bag, wringing out frequently, about ever fifteen minutes, and saturating it again

CHUM BALLS

I learned the Chum Ball system in the Keys one winter from one of the best hand liners down there. I have made some improvements on this system since then.

If you’re fishing for blues, striper bass, weakfish or kingfish, start with four quarts of chum, bunker or mackerel. For flounder, grind up four quarts minnows, add half cup of bunker oil, one ounce shedder scent, two cups oatmeal and two cups of bread crumbs. Go to the beach and get a five gallon bucket of dry beach sand. Damp or wet sand won’t work.

Put all the ingredients except the sand, which needs to be free of shells by shaking them through a window screen. Use a clean, five gallon bucket for the mix. A painter’s mixer attached to a drill makes the job easier. Slowly add the sand until it reaches the consistency of stiff dough. You should be able to make a baseball size lump and be able to throw it like a ball. Too little sand and the ball won’t fly. Too much sand, and the same result.

The oatmeal and breadcrumbs act as stiffeners, absorbing the oil scents and allowing it to float and drift. What you are doing is creating an artificial feeding ground for little shit, who attract the bigger fish, with the intention of creating a feeding frenzy beside your boat.

After the desired consistency is reached, shape the balls to the desired size, slightly smaller than a baseball for throwing, slightly larger than a baseball for dropping from the boat. Freeze the balls in one gallon zip lock plastic bags, about four to eight per bag, and use a small cooler specifically for storage and transportation of the balls. The cooler the balls the better they work.

Anchor your boat where ever – throw a ball to each side of your boat and drop one behind. A large ball dropped directly behind the boat about ever fifteen minutes should be adequate. In addition, a chum bag with a chum ball and a rag soaked in bunker oil tied directly behind the boat in the water will bring in a lot of fish and give you an estimation of the disintegration of the chum balls.

It’s a hell of a lot of work, but the rewards are awesome. This should cut the luck factor in half.

DAYTIME CHUMMING

Daytime chumming is especially good for kingfish and weakfish, but works on white perch and stripers as well. Instead of scent, viewing is the main attraction during the day, although scent is an added attraction.

A bait net is required, and commercial nets come in various lengths, with a depth of four feet. A commercial license is required for nets over fifty feet.

Two stout poles are attached to each end of the net with the leadline about three inches from the bottom. Stretch the net tight and tie the tops. ON each pole, fasten two inch screw eyes. These are to hold the removable four feet lengths of rebar – half inch diameter.

Insert one length of rebar through the eyes of the poll, jam the rebar into the bottom edge of the water, stretch the net along the edge of the water toward the direction of the current, sweep the net through the area, keeping the bottom of the pole in hands on the bottom at all times, and the lead line in the front at about twenty-thirty degrees. Once the net is landed, remove anything that is illegal to possess, small crabs, small fish with restrictions on them.

What you are going to have after the cull is a lot of shiners, minnows and grass shrimp. It’s not necessary to keep them alive and almost impossible without a large live well. The shiners will die anyway, but the chum must be kept cool. Water is the enemy here, and so an onion sack or a five gallon bucket full of small holes seems to be the answer.

Transport the chum to a table where any unwanted stuff is removed – snails, bits of seaweed, etc..

If the chum is going to be stored, pack in one gallon, sip locks and freeze as soon as possible. If the chum is going to be used within a couple of hours, pack in an onion sack and place in a cooker, on TOP of the ice.

Once you’ve reached your favorite spot for kingfish, perch or weakfish, put about a half gallon of chum in a small bucket, add a tablespoon of shedder scent and mix well. A scoop that’s used for flower or sugar is the best dispenser. A small amount every ten to fifteen minutes should get you good and slimed with fish in a couple of hours.

TIP: The best nets for this are hung in – that is assembled by persons such as myself, and although more expensive, will do a much better job, especially in the longer lengths and as these nets are nylon instead of cotton, will last a long time with proper care.

LEAD – USE AND MISUSE

In all my years of hanging around places to fish, I think the Number One misuse of anything must be lead. I can’t imagine the time when a few people are fishing the same area and it looks like some kind of contest to see who can pull in the most seaweed.

There are two reasons for seeing this much weed. First of all, they’re there at the wrong time, and the weed is unavoidable. The second reason is that they are using too much lead and the fishing area is wrong.

There is a vast difference between fishing the surf, where I want my rig to stay where I put it, but I’m talking mostly of fishing in the bay. The deepest water is only forty feet at the bridge, where a few ounces of lead is sometimes necessary. But most of the fishing is close in, about eight to fifteen feet deep. Even with a big chunk of clams or a lot of mackerel you can reach and hold bottom without any lead.

I am fishing without lead for two reasons. Number one, I want a fish to feel as little resistance as possible when it takes the bait. Number two, as the most grass will be rolling along the bottom, a lot of time the grass will roll right under my bait, pushing them up and out of the way.

Sticking a bait to the bottom is not a good idea anywhere inside the inlets. The grass factor done, sticking a bait on the bottom also invites the whole lower echelon of lower life forms such a crabs, eels, oyster crackers and sakes to a free meal.

The whole object of running a good con on a worthwhile fish is to make it think its getting a natural, quality meal for nothing. A bait drifting through an area is more visual than one that is anchored there.

SPINNER BAIT

I was doing a lot of Big Mouth bass fishing all over South Jersey and one of my best bass catchers was a spinner bait. Available in all shapes and sizes it became a killer for bass and pickerel.

I found some in a catalog, I was using black blades with a black skirt. I had three different sizes. Well, the stuff was still in the box next spring where I was poppin a lot of South river and Gravelly Run. Gibsons Creek along with Stevens Creek and the whole area in Mays Landing. And as I had the eight foot six inch pram sitting in the back of my 51 Ford pickup, I was killing the perch and catching a lot of stripers on bloodworms.

My motor was being worked on so I decided to row up o the dam by Wheaton Plastics where I worked at the time. I pushed myself under the bridge and dropped anchor right under the falls. Drifting back I proceeded to put my plan into action.

The fish of choice was pickerel, which showed no mercy when they encountered one of the black spinner baits. My first few casts were fruitless, but somewhere between the fifth and tenth cast the lure stopped cold. A big swirl appeared in the proximity of the lure and the line screamed off the reel. The fish ran straight through the bridge and I wondered if my 17 pound Stren would withstand the abuse. The fish finally turned. My mind was racing. As I was about to land the world record pickerel, I led the fish into the net as my dream was smashed. A fifteen pound striper. Two more bass were in the bottom of the pram. As I had used and lost all three lures, I gave up fresh water fishing that year.

So I tried again about 15 years ago, caught a striper immediately while fishing Gibsons Creek, two bass on the bank about 24 inches. A big fish hits and breaks me off. I tried on the last spinner bait, made a lousy cast, got hooked on a stump and broke it off. If I had just wanted to have some fun, I’d like to build a couple more of these, who knows?

One thing those spinner blades do is create a lot of noise and send out shock waves, put a rattle on a swivel a couple of feet in front of the lure, and this could be a real killer around the bridges. Fish are stupid, use their sense to trick them.

RIGGING A BOAT

There you are – it’s Prime Time at a bridge somewhere. You’ve done everything right so far. A slight breeze is gently moving your boat a few feet, side to side. The tide slacks off and the next thing you know you’re a hundred feet away from the bridge, just out of casting range and you go home chucked again.

One more time, you’ve screwed yourself out of catching stripers when the use of a few techniques could have put fish in the box.

Putting a boat in an exact position at a bridge is important. Should the boat start to swing away from the bridge will keep you from catching fish.

Having a sea anchor on board is not an option, it is a necessity. Used properly they will keep the stern of the boat towards the bridge where it belongs for a longer period of time. But they are not the complete answer to this problem.

There is an equation that comes into play in this situation. The larger the boat the bigger the anchor, and the more line that is necessary to hold bottom. The more line out, the more the boat will swing when the tide slackens.

Add a hard top or a cabin to the boat and the problem gets severe. But all hope is not lost. The use of another anchor is required and can be used in the rear of the boat. But as this could interfere with the landing of a fish, the second anchor is used off the bow. So a pair of anchors should be ready. A third, smaller anchor or drift sock should also be ready.

Clean, knot free lines is an absolute necessity.

An assessment of the wind and just how hard the tide will be running will dictate what type of anchor system will be used, and these preparations should be made at the dock before leaving.

If the tide and the wind are from the same direction, anchoring a boat is easy. Usually a single anchor off the bow will do.

Should the wind come from the stern, it’s a whole different story. Any boat, large or small, is subject to the same dynamics, but if a boat is well equipped, keeping said boat into the bridge is possible.

One more option is a trolling motor could be used for maximum results. The worse case scenario would be a boat over 18 feet with a super structure such as a cabin or hardtop. The tide would be slow against the wind. Ranging in price from $150 to $600, trolling motors are a versatile tool. They can be bow or transom mounted on small boats or transom mounted with a bracket on a large boat.

TRIM TABS – In addition to a drift sock or sea anchor to use the current to keep the boat trim tabs to the full down position traps more water.

OUTRIGGERS – Completely overlooked as an excellent option for many fishing areas. I am weird, and many of my fishing methods may appear weird, but I catch fish, and don’t give a damn about what people think of my operations. A pair of outriggers will allow me to cover a large area of water, keeping the lines separated at the same time. For instance, I’m anchored up at the Parkway bridge with a couple of lines directly behind the boat. I’m covering an area five to seven feet wide. Put a pair of OR’s into the act and that five to seven feet becomes twenty to thirty feet. In the inlet, a pair of outriggers could be used during the slow times, which would let you fish four rods instead of two, while keeping the bait separated. Around bridges in some cases, where you can set up in areas without any pilings directly behind the boat an outrigger or two will help you cover more areas.

THE DERELICT ZONE

Some years ago an insurance salesman, a factory worker and myself left the river with two small stripers, about twenty inches legal back then, and a couple of big perch.

It was just another trip for Rick the factory guy, but the very first for Bill the insurance salesman. Little did he know that the series of events that were to change his life began to happen.

He was about to be cast into the Derelict Zone.

Bill and Rick didn’t catch anything that trip as it was near a full moon and the tide was ripping and high. I worked like hell to produce those four fish.

During the ride back to town Bill asked to borrow a rod and reel as he intended to try on his own the first thing the next morning. I obliged his request and we parted.

I didn’t know exactly where I heard the news first, but Bill went out that morning with a half dozen bloodworms, baited up that borrowed rig and made the cast. Sometime later he landed his first striper, 36 pounds of her.

Within a week Bill had a boat and motor, fully equipped. I don’t have any idea what kind of plans were interrupted for Bill’s family, but they were sure as hell changed that fateful morning.

An obsession, an addiction, a dereliction of sorts had instantly taken over Bill. I didn’t stay around the river too long, but whenever I was out, so was Bill. I lost touch with that gang, but I can’t help wonder how many stripers Bill has caught since then. The bottom line of this part of the story is short. Bill went to place inhabited by stripers large and small, put on a favorite food of the striper, and using good equipment he landed the big fish on the right tide and moon phase. The size of the fish is not a rarity up there, but catching one the first time out was.

SPY VS. FISH

I’m going to pretend that I’m a stranger to this area, and I’m fishing unknown territory so I’m going in like it’s a military operation.

The very first thing I’m going to find is a chart and find a quiet place to scrutinize it. The chart will give me the general layout of the area.

If I have a boat, the ramps would be the first thing I would look for.

Second, I would already have determined exactly what I would be fishing for and exactly what type of structures they inhabit. With the exception of flounder and kingfish, I would target the bridges. Weakfish, sea bass, stripers and perch all hang around bridges. And if they’re moving, they got to funnel through the bridges to get in or out of the channel.

The chart will show me where the ramps are, where the bridges are, the water depths, including the channels, bars and flats and access bridges to piers, beaches and bulkheads. You can usually get a good chart at any marina or bait and tackle shop, and its at the bait and tackle shop where you get more than bait and tackle, you get information.

Realizing that while most bait shop owners just don’t have a lot of time to fish, their customers do. Don’t be in a hurry, brouse, look around and most importantly listen. Keep your mouth shut and act stupid. I’ve learned that the dumber I act the more information I get.

Sometimes I hit a number of bait shops, and watch for what the regulars buy for bait, rather than what they pawn off to the shoobs. My stops would be brief, just long enough t to find out what kind of bait they’re selling to whom. Sometimes I buy a few bobbers to show my stupidity to those who might feel threatened by my stupid questions.

Six AM in the morning is a good time to find the nearest café to the bait shop and have a cup of coffee. Just sit quietly, drink your coffee, keep your mouth shut and listen to the local chatter. You’ll pick up a pretty good fishing report from the locals themselves without even asking. But whatever you do, don’t ask the stupidest question.

Rule #1. Never ask a local exactly where to fish. That is a direct threat. Act stupid, keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open. Get an updated and accurate chart, develop a good idea of what’s going on and where, find out what kind of bait to use and study the target area near the bridges. Pick a set of moon phases, check the tides, grab your gear and Go! Go! Go!

FISHING FLASHBACK #106

Frank and his cousin and myself had successfully completed a couple of runs in my little 8 foot six inch pram to put us at the mouth of the lower Gibsons Creek on the Egg Harbor River.

We scattered ourselves and our gear around and it was a banner day for fishing. But we would not run out of bait, beer or cigs. A couple of hours passed and I was picking up a big perch about every five minutes.

The whining started from the cousin. First of all he hadn’t caught a fish yet. The second complaint was that we should have brought some food. It told him to drink more beer so that it would fill him up, sit down, shut up and fish.

I caught a couple of keeper stripers and at the last of the outgoing tide the big perch blitzed, so I got way too busy to hear the whining. The tide began to flood as the cousin started pacing the bank, almost in tears, crying about his hunger, and lack of fish.

I got up and told him we had plenty of food stashed. Frank was scratching his head as I led the cousin over to the big bag containing our back up bait. I reached inside of the brown bag to a second bag of bloodworms and pulled a ten incher out by the head so it couldn’t bite, opened my mouth so the tail touched my tongue, and slowly slipped the worm through my lips and swallowed it.

I backed up as the cousin started turning funny shades of green. I put him in the boat and dropped him off at Betsy’s Lading and told him to hitch hike back if he was still hungry, because Frank and I were going to stay and fish until the beer and bait were gone.

DOC’S REMEDY – TIGER & THE CURSE

And so I gave Doc the whole story of what happened over the last nine months – the whole spiel – the plan to make money to buy a boat to catch big stripers, the death of Artie, Barnacle Annie, and since Annie gave me the triple bad eye, I’ve lost the desire to fish and all want to do is chase bimbos and dance. I gave him the whole spiel.

When I finished I looked at Doc as he sat back in the deck chair, lit up a fresh Havana and said, “I can help you catch the big fish, and I can enlighten you to the facts about the relativity of men, women and fishin’ as it applies to life on earth, but you’re goinna have to take are of the triple whammy your own self.”

After blowing a few perfect smoke donuts, he squinted one eye and said, “Three are only two kinds of people roaming this planet – the Dreamers and the Dreamless. The Dreamers are able to envision a goal, and then do what it takes to achieve that goal. They don’t give up no matter what, and so they get to live the dream.”

“The Dreamless just go around screwing up everybody else’s dreams, so as I see it, you’ve got a dream, and you got a lady friend who wants to stop you from living your dream. She needs a very powerful dream. One that she can achieve and be happy. So if you want that hundred pound bass on the wall, you have to help her create that dream. Because if she decides to live that dream, she’ll be too damned busy to mess with yours.”

Then he introduced me to Tiger, Bubbles’ twin sister, who sports her own 31 Bertram, Man Eater.

STRIPERS AT THE BRIDGE

A perfect night, I thought, as I double anchored the little boat near the bridge, but it was a little early. I had mis-estimated the tide and had about fifteen minutes to wait. I had shedders prepared and sitting in a tub with Shedder Scenet, another six crabs were live in the cooler, just in case. The first two casts on the last of the ebb produced two 15 inch weakfish. I envisioned a night of being harassed by weakies instead of stripers.

The tide turned and I made my first cast into the bridge. I was baiting a second rod when I heard a familiar snap. Line was flying through the guides of the first rod as I picked it the line came taut and set the hook. Weakfish my ass, I thought as I unhooked the boat from the anchor line and let the fish pull me through the bridge. A few minutes later a thirty four inch bass lay on the bottom of the boat. I had four rods with me that night, from the little Fenwick that I had just caught this 15 pound fish on to my big ugly stick. I figured this fish must have been lost, as the larger fish like this never showed up until at least half tide.

The bait was still intact on the Fenwick, but I added another piece, and cast again. I was still fumbling around with the second rod as I heard the snap again. Thirty seconds later I was going through the bridge again, another thirty four inch bass. I released it and paddled back to the anchor line.

Two more runs through the bridge and fifteen more stripers later I blew a muscle out in my arms and headed home. I still had six live shedders left. Two fish for the table, five fish over the twenty eight inch limit that night and another fishing lesson. Just when I think I’ve got those stripers figured out, they give me another lesson.

THE HOOK & THE FIGHT

On arriving at any spot, before I make my first cast, I recheck my drags. There is nothing worse than a drag too tight. Once the hook is set, if a drag is too tight, something will break, including rods, lines and fish mouths.

On my conventionals my drags are set about two and a half to three and a half pounds at the swivel. I can always add a couple more pounds by shoving my thumb down on the spool.

I heard a rumor about fifty years ago that if you hooked a large fish you should let them make their first run with about half the drag tension that it would take to stop a bigger fish on a dead run.

I tried it and its been working ever since. When you hook a big fish, just let it run.

If there’s anybody else around you, they should take their lines in, and take in any other lines you might have out there as well so when you get the fish in closer it doesn’t get all tangled up in the other lines.

Once a fish takes a bait on a substantial run of twenty to thirty feet I point the rod straight at it, winding in any slack until the lines comes tight and slam the hook in. My right hand is on the star drag. I add a little tension, feel the weight of the fish, and if it’s of the smaller variety, a few minutes and its over.

If it feels like a heavyweight, I back off the drag and let it run some more. It usually will. The trick here is more line out, more line to stretch. I’m not in any hurry. I tighten the drag a little, I stop the fish. Slowly I pump the fish towards me. When I figure the fish is about forty or fifty yards away I back off the drag again. To encourage another run I’ll stop it again. By this time said fish is pretty well exausted. I loosen the drag again using only a bare minimum to lead the fish back. If the fish comes up and stays us, the fight is almost over.

If it goes down again, I’ll give it another run.

I don’t bring any fish into gaffing range unless its on its side. If I’m going to release the fish I rarely touch it. If the hook is deep, I’ll cut the leader at the mouth. If the hook is easy to remove, I’ll do it quickly with a hook remover.

I hate landing nets, I love gaffs, espcailly since I prefer to fish by myself. The waving of a landing net is a sign to everybody in sight that I’ve just caught something and I hate crowds.

Many a big weakfish fall prey to this practice. That the fish were hooked in the front of the mouth, and many of those hooks fell out of the fish as soon as the fish hit the bottom of the boat.


STEALTH

A sound as loud as a clap of thunder, a rumbling barrage of noise and wave vibrations – that is what a striper hears when an anchor chain is dropped onto the floor of a boat.

Sound carries under water and stripers hate noise, especially the sound of motors, large or small.

Slam a couple of ice locker lids, kick an empty bucket out of the way, drop a couple of lead sinkers on the floor, and the chances of your catching anything decent is history.

Stealth is not a theory – it’s an absolute requirement for quality fishing. Countless times I’ve been sitting around a bridge somewhere and the sound of a motor approaches, back and forth, round and round, finally the anchor is thrown and the line catches something and it sounds like a bucket full of large nuts and bolts hitting the floor. The motor is finally shut off and I am pissed off again. The chances of catching a striper has been shut off as well.

I pull my anchor and go home or go somewhere else. That boat and it’s unthinkable crew have just ruined a day or night of fishing for themselves and everybody around them. If you want to catch bass around bridges at night especially, either quiet proof your boat and attitude or go do something else, like disco dancing.

Absolutely nothing can ruin everybody’s day more than some moron, uneducated, nothing more than a complete jerk with some bizarre desire to catch a striper. It’s no wonder that ten percent of the angling public catches 90% of the fish.

Stripers hate noise. This includes boat motors (though excluding trolling motors).

Wanna do a test?

Put your ear to the floor of the boat while the engine’s running. A striper can hear the same noise through a couple hundred feet of water.

Drop a penny on the floor, same result.

Stripes have excellent hearing, at least a hundred times better than ours. If you’re as serious about catching bass as I am, you have no choice other than to sound proof your whole act.

Start with your brain. Tell your brain to think ahead. Tell your brain to keep your Whole Act Quiet.

The three big noises are: motor’s running, anchor’s clinging and dropping junk on the floor of the boat.

Here are some others: beer cans rolling around the boat and slapping eels on the boat.

One solution is to place a half inch foam rubber pad on the floor of your boat that will absorb a lot of the extra noise and they are washable.

Extra caution is needed in handling anchors and chairs. Before you leave the dock, pull out your anchor, chain and line. The line goes on the bottom and the anchor goes on top. No slamming of lids, no slamming of hatches, and nothing clanking if you use this procedure.

Stealth yourself a favor and others by having a plan before you go. Pick a primary spot, with a couple of alternatives if the primary spot is busy. If the primary spot is open, get in as quickly and QUIETLY as possible. Shut your engine off as soon as the anchor catches and KEEP QUIET!

Shut up and fish.

STRIPED BASS - Another Realm

Striped bass, striper, rock fish, whatever it is you want to call it, is by fart he most elusive fish to inhabit these waters. But it’s still just another stupid fish.

Walk into any local bait shop and look at the photos on the fridge and be intimidated by rumors and bullcrap. Stripers are easy to catch if the right procedures are followed, and many are caught by accident.

But if you really want to catch striper you have to fish for them as an isolated type of fish. It’s not like you go fishing and get whatever you can.

When I’m striper fishing I’m into another realm.

Everything I do is exclusively to catch stripers. From my disposition to the rods and reels, hooks, baits and lures. I’m Bassin!

Without a good rod and line the battle has ended before it begins: the bass has won again.

The ability to cast a big hunk of shedder or eel accurately depends on two things – the rod itself and your physical strength and stamina.

Should I ever find a lighter graphite rod to do the job of my old ugly stick I would own it and use it. The casting ability of this rod is near perfect on a normal night. Throwing a hundred casts a night with eels is not unusual and fifty to a hundred casts a night using shedder is the norm.

My reel is an old workhorse – a green Penn 712 spooled up with 17 lb string. I also have a line release attached to the rod and 31” of the tip section is painted white for easier vision, day or night.

As for lead, I hate using sinkers about as much as a striper does chasing them around, so when I do use lead, I keep it as light as possible.

I would rather back off another 20 – 30 yards to use a lighter rig to get into a target area. Using shedder I snap on a 1/8 – ¾ bass casting sinkers.

Using eels I run the line through a barrel sinker and then to the swivel. This way a bass can take the eel without feeling the resistance of the lead.

The heavy sinkers are only good for hitting waverunniing jet ski scum.

WHITE PERCH

Wrongly named, as this is not a perch at all, but a member of the bass family, and a close cousin of the striper. Once plentiful, the number of these tasty fighters has been drastically reduced to about ten percent of their population of 20 years ago. A dozen explanations could be afforded for this, but I believe the over protection of the striped bass is the whole reason for this.

Our estuary system is in trouble as it only produces enough food to sustain a certain amount of fish. As the striper is more prolific than the perch, the striper consume huge amounts of food which the perch also needs to prosper. As a result, the striper has become the dominant fish and not only eats the food that the perch eats, they also eat the perch themselves. So unless the limits on stripers is amended the perch is all but doomed.

The perch that are left can be caught on a large variety of baits. These include shedders, minnows, grass shrimp and blood worms. They can also be caught 12 months a year, even through the ice in certain area.

For a lot of action, I would be using a 1/0 hook on a 20 pound leader, a large swivel, 20 pound test would normally supply enough weight to cast. The bait would be bloodworms or shedder. For minnows a #2 shot shank on 20 pound, with the same swivel. If the crabs are thick, a bobber may be necessary. For grass shrimp, a #4 long shank on 20 lb. The reason for the long shank is so I cold put at least four to six shrimp on the hook. Also, if I were to use the grass shrimp, which I net myself, I would be sure to chum the hell out of the place with additional grass shrimp.

Two good variations for using any bait excluding minnow are 1/8 ounce bucktails in white, however the hair is too long, and about a half to an inch should be trimmed off. The other is a 1/0 teaser. Without the lead head, trim as above. One other thing I had lots of success with is to use a small ball of Styrofoam in place of the lead head on the teaser. The teasers would be prewar, and the ball slid down to cover the eye of the hook. I painted the balls with white acrylic and then used epoxy to cover the whole head and front of the leader. These worked great and some spring I’m going to used these as my main perch getter, only in two sizes 2/0 and 3/0 sizes.

TACKLE POCKETS

I don’t own or intend to own any more tackle boxes. As I only fish for a particular species at a time, I go out pre-rigged for that species. And having done this a zillion times before, I don’t carry around a lot of junk that I don’t need.

A small knapsack pack does the job much better than fumbling around in the dark trying to find a swivel or hunk of lead. One roll of the box and nothing is where it’s supposed to be anyway.

The swivels and any lead I might need go into an outside pocket. The rigs go into the pack. My clippers go into a pocket along with a pair of needle nose pliers and a penlight.

As I usually fish with two rods, I don’t need to take a step in any direction. I don’t need to take my eyes off the second rod. Excluding the rigs, an arm’s length away, uncoiled and ready, my whole night of rigging is in my pockets.

SHEDDER CRABS

The all-around bait, properly used, can catch anything that swims – Shedder Crab.

Before the introduction of bait enhancers, the shedder crab was excellent. With the use of Shedder Scent, it’s awesome bait.

Let’s just say I’m going perch fishing. The first thing I’m going to do it to plan the trip according to the moon and the tides.

With this done, I’m going to prepare the shedders. Nine to twelve shedders, dependent on size, and the times I’ll actually be fishing.

Zip locks are out, as the sharp edges of the crab claws will quickly penetrate through two bags, so I’m using butter or margarine containers of the ½ quart size. Timing is everything as the life of a piece of dead shedder is only about four to six hours, so I don’t kill the crabs any sooner than necessary.

Once again, the size of the bait and the hook dictates the size of the fish. A 1/0 hook has been my standard for many years, but I’m kicking it up to a 2/0 or 3/0 for any future trips. For a previous trip I would have 15 pieces of bait per crab, including the claws.

Remove the claws from the crab by grasping both the claws at once in your left hand. Hold the claw and crab, break off the right claw, grasp the left claw and remove. Both claws are best removed by pushing straight down at the body. Next, using a regular pair of slip join pliers, crack the shell of the claw gently and remove the entire shell. Cut in half at the center, put in container. Next, remove the back by grasping under the point at either end and lift up removing the top shell. Remove the soft back, cut the back into three equal pieces and put into container.

Remove the triangle shell under the crab. Remove the piece under the shell and place in container. Remove the legs, cut into small pieces for chum, place in container. Cut the crag in half from back to front, cutting in between each joint and put in container.

I would only use 4 crabs per container, as I would only want enough bait out of the ice for about 15 to 20 minutes fishing. Ice down the container in a small cooler. The cooler the better. Anything left after a trip can be frozen for later use in chum or chum balls.

I’ve had little success with frozen crabs. A freezing makes them almost impossible to keep on the hook for casting. However, if they could be wrapped in materials such as hair nets, cheese cloth soaked in Shedder Scent, they might be better than nothing. But I would pass if I had the real thing.

BLUEFISH TALE

Jimmie Smartly, Dave and myself made our way up to Rock Point at the mouth of the River.

The weather was perfect – cloudy, light rain and windless.

I had promised them stripers and stripers we had as the first Rebel was stopped in a swirl. I’m guessing that we had over 50 bass between us that day. We did them all with plugs.

The scourge of the day were the bluefish we encountered. A dozen or so blues, from three to six pounds were in a cooler. Jimmie took all the blues to eat.

A couple of days later I ran into Jim again. He offered me a container that held the bluefish salad. Not quite what I expected. I exclaimed to Jim as I handed him the empty container back. Not quite what I expected I’m thinking now, as the blue in the box is going to be used for that salad.

The tricks here are to remove the darkest meat and discard it. Cut the filets into large pieces. A large pot of boiling water, along with a cup of vinegar and some salt. The chunks cook in three to five minutes. To check, remove a large piece, stick a fork in it. Remove the fork, If blood shows in the punctures, give it more time. A cold wash in a colander and the meat is ready for the salad.

Hell, maybe I’ll make some striper salad!