I bcame a fisherman quite some time ago. I was 8 years old when I went fishing for the first time.
We were upstate in Loch Sheldrake and my father borrowed 2 fishing rods and we went out fishing.
We were using live minnows and had red and white floats or bobbers rigged up. With this setup we could have gotten perch, pickerel bass or blue gill sunnys. My float went down, I had a fish, I was so excited. My dad said " hook him" ,,,I'm like wtf does "hook him " mean. so I turn to my father and the fish pulls and swims fast and , well the rod and reel ended up at the bottom of the lake with the first fish I caught on the end of the line with a hook in his mouth. Ummm I was pretty embarrassed. My dad was too, he had to buy this guy Manny a new rod and reel.
I got better at fishing as the years went by. A fun thing to do was fish for minnows with the tiniest hook ever . A minnow is bait, they are like size of small sardine. So, to fish for them with a fishing rod is something no one does . However, it is quite a lot of fun. We take a tiny piece of bread and put it on the smallest #12 hook. We throw a handful of bread in the water to attract the minnows. You can actually feel the tiny fish nibble and then you hook it.. Yes I learned what "hook it" meant.
After we caught these we went fishing for bigger fish in Swan Lake. It was exciting watching bass jump out of the water , early in the morning. They usually hung out under the trees. '
When we weren't using live bait, we'd use spinners that shined to catch pickerel. Pickerel had weak jaws and we had a hand net to net the fish when it was close to the boat. If you didn't use the net, you could end up with just a fish mouth on your hook. We'd use the coolest lure, a hula popper, to catch bass. It kind of looked like a frog. It would float on top of the lake and you would jerk it, and it would make popping sound of a frog. Then a big bass would dive out of the water with the lure in his mouth and then dive deep. What a fight! then you'd land the fish and hope it was big enough to keep. I think at that time it had to be 12inches. Bass had no teeth. They would swallow a giant bull frog whole. They had a sharp needle-like top fin. Bass are cool fish.
Now back in the city, yep in East New York, me and the Napolitanos are getting ready to go fishing for snappers. I'm abut 12 years old now. We are going to the 1st bridge. Otherwise known as the Crossbay bridge. It's just past Howard Beach. I think the neighborhood was called Broad Channel. At the end of the bridge there were tons of tiny bait fish. These were called spearing. They actually taste good fried. But in those days we didn't eat spearing. We caught them in homemade nets.
We took window screen and using fishing line we made it into a basket. We then tied a rag to this basket and we had a long cord on it. We would buy Moosebec sardines for 9 cents a can , rub the sardines into the screen and pout the oil on the rag. we'd throw it in and watch the spearing swarm the net then we'd start pulling the net in fast. We'd end up with many beautifully shiny spearing and a few killies. The spearing had a silver horizontal line across their bodies. Most of the fishermen would spend 75 Cents on a box of frozen spearing. Every fisherman knows live bait is so much better than frozen. Even fresh dead bait is way better than frozen. We would fill small paper cups with the spearing and walk the bridge. Their had to be 50 guys fishing on the bridge. We'd sell a cup of spearing for 15 cents. we' d make between 10 and 20 bucks a day. We would take the spearing and put them on a long shafted hook and catch snappers. Tons of snappers. Snappers are baby blue fish. They are fast and fun to catch on a light weight fresh water pole. A few years earlier we would go way back in Jamaica Bay, on foot and fish for mostly snappers, but it turned out the water was polluted. Even the water by the 1st bridge was polluted for swimming , but we ate the fish anyway.
One year sharks chased in the mackerel. We would catch some snappers and cut them in chunks and then fish for mackerel. The mackerel put up a good fight and we would catch a bunch. Occasionally we would catch the fish that swim under sharks, called pilot fish. Those were fun to catch, but they weren't meant to eat. So we would throw them back. Other times of year when we were fishing on the 1st bridge, we would fish for porgies. Porgies were fished for on the higher part of the bridge. In the deeper water , and on the bottom. We usually used worms to catch porgies. Just a piece of a worm . Blood worms had 4 black teeth like claws in their head that would come out and grab you. Those little worms hurt. Ouch. Sand worms had 2 bigger black teeth-claws ,those would really hurt. Sometimes fishing for porgies we would catch a horseshoe crab. These were big black helmet like things with a long sword sticking out of them. They are kind of prehistoric. They war big too. We would then take a cherry bomb or M80 ashcan and put it inside these guys. They had waterproof fuses . We'd light it throw them over the bridge and watch them blow up . That explosion was accompanied by a loud boom. So much fun.
Now the big fish. I went out at night with my father and this mechanic friend of his, into Jamaica Bay. It was somewhere between the 1 st bridge and JFK airport. It was called Idlewild Airport back then. It's real dark out there, and tons of sandbars. The boat was lit up like a Christmas tree. The guy had tail lights from cars all over the boat. This guy was drinking a lot of beer. He kept swerving all over the place. My father asked him why he is swerving . He said he was avoiding sandbars. I don't think we were near any of the sandbars he was avoiding. The guy was seeing sand bars. When he stopped swerving , Crash, he hit a sandbar.. He couldn't start the engine now. We started driving , he said it was a Cotter pin or Carter pin that broke. Now this is my first time going for Stripers. That is Striped Bass. The prized salt water fish to catch. At that time it had to be 16 inches to keep it. Nowadays , it has to be 28 inches to keep and was as high as 36 inches to keep.. So we are drifting and drifting. My line is in the water floating a big 'ol sand worm on top. My father and Sal, look scared. We go past the Marine Park bridge. That means we are approaching the Atlantic Ocean. I am not frightened at all. i want to catch my first striper. There weren't cell phones back then to call for help with. The 2 grownups are waving lights , as we drift out . Then POW,,,,i get a hit. I hook it hard, but pulling my rod straight back... I let it run....it breaks water and runs . I can hear my drag buzzing,as th fish runs out and I reel in every chance I get. My pop and his friend are busy looking for help. And i'm fishing with this big striped bass on my line. Finally I get the fish in... I am so happy . I am so proud . I finally get the attention of my father and Sal and show off my fish. They say "we are halfway to France and you were still fishing?" I say "yep, and here is my first striper". We measured it and it was a keeper. It was about 18 inches.. It was such a good fight. The U.S.Coast Guard showed up and towed us in. I was so happy, they were so thankful the Coast Guard showed up. They cracked open a couple of beers and we were on our way back to dock. What a great night.
After catching my first bass, I was psyched to catch more in my life. Me and some neighbors, Mickey Napolitano and his dad Fast Eddie, My dad, a friend named Barry and Wobby Boy would get ready at night and go to the 2nd bridge, aka Broad Channel Bridge. We'd stop on the way at Pizza City or Big Bow Wow for some Food. The Aliens Motorcycle gang hung out at the Bow Wow, and people drag raced between the two bridges. Anyway, we get to the bridge, find our spots . We'd put nice juicy big sand worms on the gold striper hooks. We'd use long long leaders, they were monofilament leaves about 3 feet long. We would float the word on top. The best Striper fisherman on the bridge were Striper Stanley , who was my friend Hoss's father. and Striper Bob. Bob would yell "Over the Bridge" every time he landed a striper. The 2nd Bridge was much higher than the 1st Bridge and it was long way up if you got a striper. If you got a huge one you had to walk it all the way to the end and bring it in on the shore. Anything under 20 inches you could bring up on the bridge. We all started using the same Striper cry " over the bridge"... We would fish until late and get back to the projects at like 3 AM. We did this in the hot summer. It helped us get away from the heat and mosquitoes. I think it did. Striper fishing was mucho fun.
We then got into Striper fishing at Lido Beach. Also shark fishing, as sharks would come in close to shore , as well as Sting rays. We bought Harnell Rods and Del Fino reels. These were the state of the art fishing equipment for surf fishing at the time. Mitchell 302's were also used or I'm pretty shire Penn made an open faced reel. We liked spinner reels and would use the Penn reels , like a Penn Senator on the Party boats. I remember Richie Napolitano or his brother Sonny catching a big sting ray. It weighted about 40 lbs and they thought they had a giant shark on. Those days were exciting.
That was many years ago ,,i mean many. The last 20 years I've been surfcasting on the East End of Long Island. We take our 4x4's on the beach and cruise from East Hampton to Montauk. It changed out there in the last 15 years, You used to be able to ride the beach anytime. Now it's limited times and limited areas. When blue fish were in , it was a lot of fun. There would be 1000's of them feeding frantically on bait and even biting each other. Just as frantic were the fisherman driving fast ,jumping out of their jeeps and throwing in their lines. Usually using Hopkins lures or Ava lures. We were very particular as to what color rubber tube was on the end of the lure. Or we had feathers on a Hopkins. Sometimes it was darters or swimming lures. We were experts. We wore our waders when the weather got cold. We would be in the water with the fish. A big bass was quite a fight. Catching big bass and fighting it , watching it run out , reeling it in. Watching it break water. Your arms tiring , hoping you would win out over the tenacious bass. You would get it all the way in and then it would make a big surge outward, swimming for its life. Finally you would haul it in and if you were lucky it would be a huge fish. 28 to 36 inches was the minimal size you were legally allowed to keep. The biggest Striper caught by someone that we were present for was a 100lb bass at Montauk Point, by a novice fisherman , that didn't even know what they caught. Sickening.
Anyway, fishing can be a lot of fun. An old fisherman, named Francis, told me, that the "Stripers arrive when the Lilacs Bloom and then they go with the first snow". I can't wait to get out on the beach this year and catch a few bass. And of course cook it up and eat a most delicious meal. You are only allowed to keep one fish. That is for conservation purposes. If we think there will be many fish, we will catch and release the fish , and wait for the big one to take home. We surfcasters would always bid each other farewell by saying "tight lines' to each other.
I think there will be more fishing stories on this blog. Like the times I almost drown. Well that's a whole nuther story.
