Mud hole fishing?

[cowherder]

Has anyone been out there or have any mackerel reports? thanks

[jigfreak]

Belmar boats are out there. Capn Jimmy Elliot's report from Ristori ---

Mackerel have finally shown up in force. Capt. Jimmy Elliott of Miss Belmar Princess got into good quantities about 18 miles east of the inlet on Wednesday and Thursday. That fishing should only get better over the weekend and into next week if there's fishable weather. Elliott noted that even brief periods of calmer weather produced much improved jigging results. The mackerel have been mediums so far, and there are some herring. There's a good chance mackerel will move closer to shore as the run builds up. Though some snow is predicted for this Friday, the wind forecast is fishable.

[wish4fish]

heard they r getting bigger

[storminsteve]

Miss Belmar Princess has been doing well.



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[fishinmission78]

Good for shark bait, catch em up.

[DarkSkies]

I was talking about this with Fin the other day......
The Mud Hole....... located relatively close to the Coasts of NJ and LI, has been a known place to score fish, at certain times in the season.

However, when I was a kid growing up, it was so much more.....

Giant tuna ran through there, and were caught regularly....
I remember being about 12-13 years old, and salivating with the regularly reported giant tuna caught there, savoring every word of Al Ristori's reports...dreaming and hoping one day, that I would have a chance to to out there, and see those tuna. If not catching one, at least seeing someone else into one..:drool:....those days are long gone.....now in many circles a tuna is considered "big" if it is 300# or more.....and the only place I know of to have a real shot at a "grander" bluefin is PEI....as tuna numbers are nowhere near what they used to be...

Read this for more info on where the tuna populations are at today...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?5663-Honey-I-shrunk-the-bluefins!



Now, it is still a hot spot for inshore tuna, but only certain weeks of the year, limited windows as they pass through on their yearly migration.....

[DarkSkies]

There were other species......in extreme abundance.......

There were whales, jumbo blues, striped bass (obviously not currently able to target because this is the EEZ)....there were giant schools of sardines, anchovies, sand eels, bunker, herring.....and mackerel.......

I remember some great mackerel trips in the Spring (and late fall as well, with the Fall run always being noticably shorter...but at least we had one)......
When was the last time that anyone can remember there being a NJ Fall run for mackerel?
Not lately, in my experience...not with any significance, or staying power....:(


The original idea behind this thread, was to talk about Mud Hole Fishing, and what it once was, compared to how it is now....to give some of the newer anglers out there, a chance to see how great fishing really was, at one time......and to give some of the rest of us a perspective...to see why it's important to fight for our fisheries........




Anything at all related to the Mud Hole would be a good post in this thread....feel free, and thanks in advance for sharing the memories......:HappyWave:

[finchaser]

We fished Bluefin in the mudhole for decades and still do but back in the day the giants were referred too as horse mackerel and had no value. After tournaments they were thrown in dumpsters if they fit or towed back out to sea and cut loose do to their red meat . The Japanese made them popular and now some fetch close to a 1/2 million dollars and up for a single fish. I got $1500 for a 300 pound fish which in this day and age would sell for mega bucks like they do on wicked Tuna.

[buckethead]

I remember some great mackerel trips in the Spring (and late fall as well, with the Fall run always being noticably shorter...but at least we had one)......
When was the last time that anyone can remember there being a NJ Fall run for mackerel?
Not lately, in my experience...not with any significance, or staying power....:(




You jogged my memory with that post ds. God how great things used to be. Fall mackerel run was anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Spring mackerel could last from 4-7 weeks. We would fill gunny sacks with the critters, and lots of jumbos as well. They were bad eating but as mentioned good sharkbait. There were a few outfits that smoked the mackerel. Those were ok. all long gone wiped out by the netters offshore. Makes me sad to think about it. That was one good fishery where if you took the kids fishing they were happy because it was so easy.

[buckethead]

We fished Bluefin in the mudhole for decades and still do but back in the day the giants were referred too as horse mackerel and had no value. After tournaments they were thrown in dumpsters if they fit or towed back out to sea and cut loose do to their red meat . The Japanese made them popular and now some fetch close to a 1/2 million dollars and up for a single fish. I got $1500 for a 300 pound fish which in this day and age would sell for mega bucks like they do on wicked Tuna.


Yessir I remember them catching the bigguns. Back then as you said no one really wanted them too much bloody meat. The Japanese ruined all that and I blame them for the great decline in numbers. Who wouldn't want to fish for tuna when the top pick can get you from $100k to over $500k?
finchaser that 300 lb tuna you got would probably bring 10 times as much today if it had good fat content. Enough for a vacation to Aruba or Hawaii.