Thread: Welcome Chip Rock

Welcome from Mississippi

Thank you all and greetings from NJ. I've been around here for quite a while just browsing and reading and decided I was past due for signing up. My father took me fishing at a very young age, some 40+ years ago, and I was hooked. No pun intended. Can't say exactly when it was but I know I was fishing not long after I was walking and before I was on a tricycle. Thankfully we lived a few hundred yards from the lake and that's where I always was. He would fish for bass and I was always after panfish. I never was fond of bass fishing. When I was a young kid I remember watching him leave a lot on his saltwater trips with his buddies. He always came back with different fish large and small, some full of teeth but all to eat. It taught me to fish (and crab for that matter) for food. He took me and my brother out saltwater fishing on a rented boat when we were probably 8-10 years old and I never looked back. I fished from docks on the bays before that, and it was always a lot of fun, but it wasn't the same as being on the water. I still hit the local lakes all the time after that but never stopped thinking about the bays. The waves, the smell, all day in what seems like the middle of nowhere...I was a young kid, everything was huge. I grew up in the suburbs, there are no huge wide open flat spaces. You can see at most a quarter mile down the middle of the street to the next hill, tree or house at the end of the road. Sure I had hit the beach and it was wide open in front of me but behind were dunes and houses. Being out on the bay felt like freedom from everything - and still does. When I got a little older he took me out far, we rode for a couple hours, the land was barely visible I couldn't believe it. He would continue to take us down every couple of weeks during the summer for years to come until his health prevented him from continuing. After that I started surf fishing because I didn't want to go out without him. It didn't feel right. It wasn't until about 30 years later until I finally said I'm going to do it and I bought a kayak. Might as well get some exercise at the same time! My main haunts are Absecon Bay, Absecon Creek, Atlantic City and Brigantine area.

Most of my freshwater time is spent fishing for Crappies and Bluegills...mostly Crappie. Something about them that I love, not just the taste but they are both lovely looking fish. Always get a smile when I pull up a Crappie. I still don't enjoy bass fishing that much. I'm always looking for good Crappie spots. I prefer spending most of my time fishing for food and not for sport. Most of my fishing now is from a kayak but I'll bank fish if I don't have time to get the kayak in. I wouldn't say there is a freshwater lake that I fish more than the others these days. But if I had to pick one that I just prefer then I would say DOD Ponds. I fish all the south Jersey creeks, rivers and puddles I can get to from Rancocas Creek on down to the south. I still fish the banks of local lakes for fun with my father, when he is up to it. I've passed on our passion to my 2 kids. One loves to fish saltwater and freshwater, the other loves to crab. I too take them as often as I can.

I have taught my kids that taking fish and crabs to eat is a good thing and fulfilling. But - I tell them the stories from when I was a kid seeing people taking panfish from my local lake left and right. Buckets full of them. It made me so sad and angry. Once in a while wildlife officials would show up to bust them but most got away. Long story short they decimated the panfish population. They took everything down to the size of a chicken wing. I remind my kids that the lake still hasn't recovered to this day from the damage they caused. They learned that with harvesting fish and crabs comes the responsibility of conservation beyond what the government tells you. It is ok to take the daily limit on something if it is plentiful in the area. But just because it is the limit doesn't mean you should. Don't take more then you are going to eat. Just because something meets the size limit doesn't necessarily mean it is ok. Is there really any meat on it at that size? How many have you been catching that are well over the size limit? Same goes for crabs - and if they are female let them go. You want to catch more next year, right? They're good kids. There's plenty more to consider of course but this isn't meant to be a lesson plan here. Be fair and treat the fish and crabs with respect. I hope my kids pass on the love of this and the conservation teachings to their kids one day.