[fishingmortgageman]

This is a story told from only one side. I am sure that many of you have your own history and stories to add to this and they are most welcome. I first became aware of jigging for blackfish when I watched Capt Rich Tenreiro on a fishing show from Long Island sound. They were fishing with the creator of tidal tale jigs and having great success. I have always enjoyed fishing with light tackle so this was of immediate interest to me. Soon after that Lou Castellano had a charter with Capt Rich and I went to give it a try. The first trip had very poor conditions and we were only able to catch a few fish. I liked what I saw but I was not convinced yet. Next I went on another trip with Lou and we had similar condition and again limited success. It was around 4 years ago that I fished with Henry Kong, or uncle Henry as he is known, on the fish monger and that day we were fluking. Henry and I hit it off pretty well and we started fishing more together. We had discussed jigging for tog and Henry explained that he had been doing it for around 10 years with good success. I was anxious to see him in action and I finally had the chance on a early season Rhode Island trip. This trip again had pretty poor conditions but Henry stuck with his jigs and put on a show. He was outcatching everyone. Henry gave me some of his jigs and I went for it. There was a learning curve, but I soon I was pulling in blackfish and I have not looked back since. We started jigging on other boats and people were becoming intrigued. Henry, in my opinion, was the person to most contribute to the current popularity of blackfish jigging in NJ.

He was not alone, however. Henry fishes often on the Fish Monger, which is one of the best blackfishing boats in NJ. Capt Jerry is well known for his love of blackfishing and his ability to put his customers on the fish. Capt Jerry prides himself on getting his customers the most and biggest fish possible. As other fishermen were watching uncle Henry, they wanted to try jigging to. As I mentioned there is a learning curve for jigging and fishermen that are not used to light tackle spinning rods would not put their usual catch in the boat. Jerry also often fishes wrecks and very rough bottom where a large fish would most likely break off if hooked on light line and a jig. Capt Jerry always wants his customers to do their best so he discouraged them from jigging. A debate was created, that still goes on today, about whether to jig or not. This debate, I think, was the second most influential cause of the growth of jigging. So many people read Capt Jerry's fishing reports, they stared to wonder what all this talk about jigging was.
Last year I had an early season charter in Rhode Island again. Henry was along as well as Capt Chad Hacker and Capt Derek Bielitz. Derek had jigged for blackfish before but this was Chad's first try. It was a tough day until the last two hours, when they started to chew. Henry was doing very well as usual, but Chad started to get the hang. He and Derek were giving the capt fits as they were swinging 8# fish over the rail with these light poles. Unfortunately Chad swung one to many on a pole that he borrowed from Derek. Chad and Derek were hooked after that and they mostly jig for tog now. The many customers that fish on their boats, have seen their success and I have been on trips where all ten fishermen are now jigging.
Henry, Bill Pissara, and I fish quite a bit with the legend Tommy Joseph. Henry has fished for years with Tommy and has always jigged. Tommy was not to interested until the day that Henry, Bill, and I were absolutely destroying the blackfish. He asked Henry for a jig and was soon catching fish. Capt Ed did not want to be left behind and was soon jigging too. Who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Capt Tommy asked me to get him 100 jigs and now he is telling his customers that there is a time and place for the jig.
I am not sure of Joe Zagorski's motivation for starting Blackfish Jiggers Anonymus, but he has certainly stirred up attention. I don't think that he originally was a jigger but his recent 13+ # fish on a jig show that he is now on the darkside.
I don't say that jigging always produces more fish, but it is the way that I most enjoy to catch them. It appears that more and more people are feeling the same way, because I read more and more reports about the fish caught on the jig. So share some stories and enjoy blackfishing anyway that you want to.