Nummy Island Mummichogs

[Johnsfolly]

Travelled to the Jersey shore the week of the 12th for a reunion with my wife's family. The 20+ hour 2-day road trip out was unpleasant on my recovering body. When we got to the shore rental house, we were not real far from the boardwalk. The kids and my wife enjoyed the boardwalk very much. I had planned on trying for some of the minnow and inshore species around the shore. I wasn't sure when I would be able to get out to fish any of the inlets or the shore. On the day that the family was going to amusement park, I would not be able to go on any of the rides. So I got to go for my first fishing outing. I looked over maps of the area and found a couple of likely spots around some of the inlet bridges and seawalls. I fished a bridge between Nummy Island and Stone Harbor Island. The tide was coming in when I got to the bridge. I was fishing a small squid strip on a #12 hook with a couple of split shot about 9 and 18" above the hook. I first started fishing in between the rocks expecting quick fish action. There wasn't any response. I only started getting some strikes when I cast out beyond the rocks. After the third cast I was finally able to get a good hook set and reeled in my first marine fish of the trip. I was surprised that I held a juvenile black sea bass.

I caught my first sea bass when I was a boy fishing wrecks off of the coast of Cape cod and always thought of this species as a deep water species. Well they were quite common inshore species as it turns out. I caught a couple more at this location. Near the shore I noticed a school of minnows. I was hoping to catch a mummichog topminnow on this trip. This looked like my chance. I switched to a #20 long shank hook and a minute piece of squid. I snuck through the boulders to get close enough to fish this school of minnows. I was able to lie upon a large granite boulder and drop my line in front of these fish. The fish were not shy and soon I had my first mummichog in hand.

This was my eleventh new fish species that I have caught this year. I caught about half a dozen mummichogs before the sand gnats became unbearable. I left the fishing and the inlet and headed back to the rental house. I went out a couple of more times during this trip looking for new shore birds and caught more sea bass, but no new fish species.

I spent time with my family, got to watch the Penguins win the Stanley cup, and saw a new bird species to add to that life list. Also my family played enough games on the boardwalk to get me a Rob Scuderi signed hockey puck for Father's day. All in all a great trip.

[Ham]

Winning a Rob Scuderi puck on the Jersey shore just seems so random to me. As a fellow Pens fan, I appreciate it, but its odd.

The fish are super cool ;  20 hours driving really sucks.

I had another epiphany in the shower this morning, I'd love to catch more fish in a year than the number of miles I put on my vehicle. I probably won't ever be able to pull it off unless I live so long that they won't let me drive anymore BUT I can still get someone to take me fishing every so often.

[Johnsfolly]

The arcade on the boardwalk had to have over 5000+ redeemable prizes. They had a sports memorabilia kiosk with 50+ signed baseballs, 100+ baseball cards, and at least 30 signed pucks with most of them being Flyers and Rangers players.

I don't think that I am a good enough fisherman to catch 15-20K fish in a single year. I target certain fish and bodies of water, which doesn't often equate to large numbers of fish on any given trip. Still hard to think about catching more that 1K fish from the bank in a year.

[Ham]

4 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

 

I don't think that I am a good enough fisherman to catch 15-20K fish in a single year. 

The trick is to get your mileage down to 5000 and your fish numbers above 5000. This is doable once I'm retired. 

 

6 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Still hard to think about catching more that 1K fish from the bank in a year.

1000 off the bank is totally doable. 10 fish a trip on average and make 100 trips (many of them can be short trips). You won't always be bank bound. You could easily acquire a canoe or smallish boat. It would open up whole new worlds of fish to you. BUT right now you are focused on new life species and not numbers. I want BOTH.