Fishing the old ways, techniques

[finchaser]

Fishing is returning to how it use to be less fish and real winters you newbies are spoiled, when the dogwoods bloom bass will be there can't go by dates. Temps that cause dogwoods to bloom are also the temps needed to warm the water. Been using this since it was given to me over 40 years ago I never go by dates I follow nature.

Mother Nature doesn't lie or depend on dates or cell phones, a few resident fish are always caught before but the major migrating fish are within days of the things listed below.

Tulips ? arrival of winter flounder
Dogwood ? arrival of striped bass
Lilac ? weakfish are in town
Forsythia ? bluefish and fluke are on the move

September?s full harvest moon has a tremendous effect on both weakfish and striped bass which take it as a sign to start their annual southern migration. During this lunar period juvenile species of both predator and prey are driven outward along the shoreline.

[rip316]

I saved this information and I will keep my eyes open to these kind of patterns.

[clamchucker]

Finchaser is on the mark. You will always have stragglers and early fish, be they resident or migrating. But the builk of the action happens every year with the above blooms.

The title of this thread reminds me of some things we used to do way back when I was younger.
We used to fish from the sedge banks for striped bass in the bays before we could afford boats. One of the tricks we used was to take hammers and bring them out to the sedges at low tide. We would smash mussels in several spots there, and then go home. Then, at high tide, we would come back, go to those spots, and catch bass after bass. They were attracted to the broken mussels. The guys in the boats would watch us, and wonder what we were using. "Secret bait" was what we would usually shout out to them. They would be there scratching their heads.

Fishing the old ways - who else has some stories?

[cowherder]

Very good advice guys, thanks for sharing!

[jigfreak]

How about drifting a worm on a float rig toward a bridge for weakies. Old school, anyone remember that?

[speedy]

yes it was the way the weakies loved the sand worms

[finchaser]

How about drifting a worm on a float rig toward a bridge for weakies. Old school, anyone remember that?

Yep even used battery lighted bobbers at night

[fishinmission78]

Back then there were no $40 wood plugs. It was all bucktails, tin squids, and some elementary cheap swimming plugs. And they caught fish.

[Masardinas]

Good to know

thanks Finchaser

[bababooey]

And they caught fish.

And I bet even finchaser caught some big ones after he left his cave and said goodbye to Wilma for the night.

[storminsteve]

And I bet even finchaser caught some big ones after he left his cave and said goodbye to Wilma for the night.

Did he say yabba dabba doo! as he went out into the darkness?
Did they have street lignts back then?

[speedy]

Back then there were no $40 wood plugs. It was all bucktails, tin squids, and some elementary cheap swimming plugs. And they caught fish.

when i fished at night out going tide i used a bullet jighead bucktail with fin-S on it
the weakies hit that like crazy... i had to stop fishing i had 2 fish that was good
did not take more than i needed not like some guys !!! back then the fish where there.

[DarkSkies]

Hey guys don't you think you are being a little too harsh on the OGB?
He's not that old.....

Cavemen, no, but I think he was around when they were whaling in the 1800's.
I think they might have used whale oil to light the street lamps then, storminsteve.

[finchaser]

Hey guys don't you think you are being a little too harsh on the OGB?
He's not that old.....

Cavemen, no, but I think he was around when they were whaling in the 1800's.
I think they might have used whale oil to light the street lamps then, storminsteve.

There she blows

[DarkSkies]

See. I told ya fin was related to Capt Ahab!


Getting back to the topic, some of you googans are getting a better education here than you could get at any seminar, ya just don't know it because you didn't pay $100 for the privelege. Why not take that $100 you saved and make a committment to take some kids fishing this year, not necessarily your own but maybe kids in your family or circle that don't get a chance to go that much?

That's how I learned, people took us fishing, and it ignited a spark that still burns years later.



***********
Old-school ways - walking eels at the Rips....
Some might be miffed at me for giving this one away, but with the selfishness of some modern anglers, and self-righteousness of not cooperating with your neighbor, y'all probably won't be able to try this technique anyway....Unless you're out in bad weather and everyone else is home.

What to do:
1. Get some fresh eels, not too big, maybe 8-10".
2. Go to the rips.
3. Set them up with an inline sinker (preferred) or if ya don't have one, a 3-way with some lead (in that case ya want to pay close attention so the eel doesn't ball up.)
4. Walk the eel down the beach with the tide after casting out about 70' at night. You want to do this from when the tide starts moving to mid-tide, after that the strong current will make it more difficult to reach the bass on bottom, or you'll need more lead.

5. Once you make the run, then walk back to where ya started, and do it again.


The reason I'm so sure people won't be able to do this is that 30-50 years ago, before people on the internet and cell phones, there was actually enough cooperation that ya could do this, and some nice bass were caught. Everyone waited their turn, and people didn't "mug" people who were already doing this by jumping in the line-up, in the middle of the roaring rips, with a clam rod with a 4 oz sinker on it.


So, aside from an adventuresome few who are insomniacs, this technique will not be able to be experienced by the general public.

Still, it's good for you young uns out there to learn that way back, before the internet, there was a level of cooperation and camraderie that just doesn't exist today.


Soak this stuff up, people, and let's hear some more, if ya got em.

[storminsteve]

Hey I was just busting finchasers chops, dark, I hope he knows that.
Thanks for the info about the eels, smashing mussels, float worming for weakfish and all the other techniques guys. You all have a wealth of knowledge, and I for one appreciate when you share it with us. And you're right dark, better than any seminar out there, I never heard of half this stuff till I came here.

[baitstealer]

Wow, some cool tips, thanks for sharing guys!

[ledhead36]

So kind of you guys to pass this info on instead of keeping it to yourselves. Thanks finchaser, clamchucker, speedy, and dark. My grandfather used to do the trick with the mussels at low tide. It really works.

What I can add is to use tapeworms or worms you find in the mud when it's colder water. Sometimes they will not work, as they did not work for me the other night. But when stipers won't hit anything else, they usually are more likely to hit worms.

[madcaster]

These are made of ¼ x 1”and smaller steel bar stock scraps Ihad laying around. The tape is from a auto parts store. It holds up pretty well. Just gives it a flash in the water. I’ve caught some big blues on them; I pull them out when the blues are in blitzing mode or in thick in the spring. It doesn’t take much to lure them in. I ever caught a 24”red drum on one in OBX last year.



Attachment 13933


My buddy was throwing a bunch of junk away and there was a old set of spoon and forks. I took all the spoons and made some nice “spoons “out of them. I add some lead for weight.My biggest blue was caught on one of these. 15lbs I lady took a pic of me holding it, but she never posted it were she told me to look for it.

Attachment 13934

[DarkSkies]

This was also mentioned by Fin and he deserves credit. Thanks, Fin.

The old time jetty jockeys knew that certain jetties would produce in rough weather. They would go to these jetties, Manasquan, Barnegat, Belmar, etc, and fish them with the big swells.

However, to prevent getting swept away, they would bring a grappling hook with them, 100' of sturdy rope, and a sturdy weight belt. Attaching the rope to the weight belt, they would then secure the grappling hook deep in the rocks. That way, if they got washed off by some rogue waves, they could pull themselves back up on the rocks without drowning.