A real winter?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Pennsy Guy

I always thought a Boston Mack was a larger mackerel, at least that's what we called them, not the smaller ones--they were just mackerel (to be scorned when catching them). Always wanting the Bostons. Damn, I miss those runs of yesteryear.

Thats actually correct.. I still think they were plain old Atlantics, not a separate species, but on occasion, head boats would get into schools of big fat Mackerel, and call them Bostons. Other times we would get tons of small skinny macks that everyone called "tinkers" but true tinkers are actually just another name for chub mackerel, which are NOT what we caught in early spring.. I believe they were all the same fish just different names based on size...

[Dclark2]

How about whiting fishing off the ling branch pier ?? When I was young that was the coldest place on earth.....

[dales529]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Thats actually correct.. I still think they were plain old Atlantics, not a separate species, but on occasion, head boats would get into schools of big fat Mackerel, and call them Bostons. Other times we would get tons of small skinny macks that everyone called "tinkers" but true tinkers are actually just another name for chub mackerel, which are NOT what we caught in early spring.. I believe they were all the same fish just different names based on size...

I think the difference is we have been having runs of "chub mackeral" lately and the hope is that the "Atlantic / Boston Macks may return

[Gerry Zagorski]

Man, we'er old but old guys rule!!

[NJ219bands]

Back in the olden days, I caught 55 Boston mackerel on the Manasquan Inlet north jetty in one afternoon. Also caught a 4.5 lb hake, pollack, whiting, ling, hickory shad and sundials in cold water. I agree that most fish 🐟 were caught, killed and eaten. The past few years I saw sea robins on stringers on the jetty. Fishing 🎣 on the jetty is going to get worse each year. I only caught 4 striped bass in 59 trips to the inlet last year.

[bulletbob]

55 macks off the inlet rocks??.. yikes, quite an accomplishment. I don't imagine we'll see that sort of thing again in our lifetime, but who knows?.. we can hope. I can see this thread is inhabited mostly by the geezer brigade so I feel right at home! Lots of younger guys don't realize that in "our day" fishing never ended. There were lots of fish to be caught all year round, even for those that were shore bound.. I can recall years when Raritan bay froze all the way across, and the head boats sometimes couldn't even sail.. I also seem to remember when one of the bigger more powerful metal hull boats broke ice out into the bay and other boats followed it out... So cold water/weather didn't put a halt to fishing... No fish available is what hinders winter fishing inshore these days!

I recall years in mid winter, when the sun would shine and temps warm up for a few days, and guys could cast from shore with sea worms or clams and catch a bunch of flounder... they could actually feel the water temps rise , would respond to the sunshine it seemed, and start to hit. Then, temps would drop again, clouds and snow returned, and the flounder would go back in the mud until spring... I can still see those early spring flounder, still with the mud that covered them all winter visible on their tails and bellies ..... Maybe we'll see those days again.... but i won't hold my breath while we wait...bob

[Tackle guy]

Plenty of places to buy that small white box of worms.flounder were plentiful.

[Jigman13]

Some of those worms boxes are $25+ and Raritan Bay is basically empty of flounder. It really wasn't that long ago when the shoals in the back were stacked with them.

Sandy changed a lot. Chemical run offs too. Who knows. Maybe the complete lack of pressure in the Raritan will spark some sort of rebound. There's no shortage of mussels and worms back there---sand, blood and tape. Not to mention prolific grass shrimp in some areas.

[Detour66]

It will never be like it was years ago but hopefully we might catch "some" . It does happen every year if you know where to go or just get lucky! And the colder the winter the better chance of them moving south if it stays cold for any decent amount of time. Many of the species I mentioned are not all that far away from us in the east end of L.I! Wishful thinking..yes! We can only try! Tight lines all!

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

Some of those worms boxes are $25+ and Raritan Bay is basically empty of flounder. It really wasn't that long ago when the shoals in the back were stacked with them.

Sandy changed a lot. Chemical run offs too. Who knows. Maybe the complete lack of pressure in the Raritan will spark some sort of rebound. There's no shortage of mussels and worms back there---sand, blood and tape. Not to mention prolific grass shrimp in some areas.

Been over 15 years since the drop to 2 fish .
Was plenty of flounder there the seasons before .

IMO could actually be good and no one will know .
Not many guys buying a hundred bucks worth of worms , and 50 bucks worth of chum to catch 2 fish .
Crazy how expensive the bait now is to fish for them .

Amount of pressure on them from recreational fisherman is probably 2% of what it used to be .

.