Quote:
Originally Posted by Denlon
When you say "sand fleas" I believe your are talking about what we always called "sand bugs" which we used for Blackfish (NOT TOG!) on the jetties back in the 1940's-1970's. They look like little gray army helmets about an inch long.
As you say they also work great for Porgies, but other fish as well. I've also caught, fluke, sea bass, stripers, weakfish, kingfish, skates, sea robins, sand sharks, bergalls,and eels on them while fishing for blackfish off the central jersey jetties.
However, here's a QUESTION for you guys out there....
On several occasions, I've had "Bugs" left over alive from a day's fishing. The next day I tried using them in the Raritan bay, or brackish water of the Navesink or Shrewsbury rivers, around the bridges where I could usually pick up some blackfish or sea bass. The experiment was a total failure. No hits whatsoever. I finally came to the conclusion that the BUGs did not occur naturally in these areas. The fish were not used to seeing them in these mud-bottomed areas.
Did anyone else ever have this experience?
Denny
|
Never heard anyone call them sand bugs but you can call them whatever you like. The proper, most general term for them are "mole crabs". Blackfish, Tog, Tautog, same thing! They are great fighting and eating fish and you can call them what you like.
Anyway as mentioned before they work great for CROAKERS (not porgies) and they ARE native to this area as well. If you go down to sandy hook or any NJ sandy beach you can dig them up very easily either by hand or with a MOLE CRAB rake. I have caught blackfish and croakers on them in NJ waters from shore. You will only see success with them if you fish them near sandy or rocky shore areas where they live. I have also tried to use them in the middle of the bay with very little success because like you said, this is not a natural location for them.
