Fishing

[Tony Page]

Blowfish where the easiest fish to catch you didn't even need bait just a hook when they were at that Peak for a while way back. You have to know how to clean them because I am told they are poisonous. There's only one area of good meat I believe it's by the tail. I also have been told they are delicious but I've never tried them.

 

[Tony Page]

There was a fishing spot on one of the side streets in Rockaway that my father found. The road ended into a small parking lot. Straight ahead was a pier where we fished and crabs from. On the left was a bar with a wooden walkway on the right that went to the back of the building where it turned into a deck where they sold bait. In the floor of the deck was a giant killifish trap, where you could buy a quart of killifish. We would use killifish, and pieces of chicken to bait our crab traps. We never called them killifish we always shortened to Killies. We would also purchase a pack of blood worms or shinners for fishing.

We throw out 2 sometimes 3 crab traps depends on how many people were fishing from that pier. it was my job as the older brother to cast the traps as far as I could and we let them sit for 15-20 minutes and then yank them in. While waiting we fished. there was a hole about 70 ft from the pier where if you hit it with your bait you will guaranteed to catch a sandporgy.

I was always trying to cast the crab trap the furthest I could from the pier. Thinking it would be a more productive area because it wasn't crabbed out like the closer locations. one time I decided to give it my best heave. I flung it over my head with all my strength, and the damn thing went straight up I yelled "heads up" as it headed straight down, everyone on that pier scattered as it crashed into the pier. We laugh about it today but at the time it was embarrassing.

 

[John Brunner]

Blowfish where the easiest fish to catch you didn't even need bait just a hook when they were at that Peak for a while way back. You have to know how to clean them because I am told they are poisonous. There's only one area of good meat I believe it's by the tail. I also have been told they are delicious but I've never tried them.

I just read that they are safe to eat but you gotta avoid the liver, which contains toxins. I don't know if that means to be careful while cleaning the fish, or just to avoid eating the liver. If I recall correctly, we cut off the head, peeled the skin back and lifted a large boneless piece of meat off of the top of the spine.

I also just read that people use sand fleas as bait for porgys (a fish I have never heard of.)