Is there any way to reprogram "The Sustinance PB angler?? What you are about to read is much akin to the book "Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson.
Once considered one of the largest user groups in the PB industry is the now nearly extinct "Sustinence" fisherman. This was the user group that fished for Seafood. They measured success by how their freezer looked at the end of the trip. They fished for what was in season, or what they felt like eating.
Most were not suffisticated anglers. They held there own at the rail, they were not clowns, but, not considered sharpies. At the end of the day they had their fish processed into seafood... skinned , filleted, gutted, scaled ect and in the days when it was allowed they often were were lined up at the fish cleaning boards boats used to provide to clean your own catch.
Many dragged home drippy bags of fish on the D Train, or NYC buses. When they reached there destination, the neighbors came out with pots n pans to share the wealth. Often "milk runs" were made so that you made sure your "paisans" or aunts and uncles got fresh fish to eat.
Everyone got fish...after all even if you loved to fish the sustinence fisherman respected the resource and wouldn't go again until the freezer looked a little lean, so this helped you get out fishing more often!
This is what I remember PB fishing was about when I was a young boy, and I ached for the day I could join "The Men of the Family" in this primitive hunter/gatherer ritual.
Eventually I did and from my first trip aboard "The Whitby" in June of 1972 where Barry netted the first fish I ever caught all by myself (a fluke) I was hooked!
As a fisherman I grew up...eventually partaking in every form of SW angling there was...Inshore, offshore, Surf,Pier,Bridge, Fly, Skiff, Charter and PB angling. I started Building Rods and servicing reels at the age of 15 thanks to some coaching from Mike Maffai from the famed Mikes Tackle Shop on Emmons Ave. In my 20's I pulled on boats in the bay, finally graduating to fishing with Donald and Red in the back of Stella Maris for over a decade. I was no longer a sustinence angler, I rarely kept fish in my freezer eating an occasional fresh caught fish. I now measured my catches in boxes or barrels. Good days of fishing were called "Slaughters" or "Massacrations".
My Brother on the other hand stuck to his guns. To this day, he still fishes "For Seafood". I am saddened that every time we fish together now he is greatly dissapointed! I have tried to get him interested in other types of fishing, like surf or freshwater, but it just doesn't float his boat. Nothing makes him happier than catching enough of targeted species to be able to make "Milk Runs" again to my relatives, who probably think the fare is still 8 bucks! If they ever knew what it now costs to go offshore Seabass or Cod Fishing they would have us comitted to a mental institution!
I tried to explain that todays local PB fisheries are nothing more than 50-60 bucks worth of "fishing entertainment"....its a day out in fresh air n' sunshine and you get to yank on a few fish you have to predominately throw back some where in between if you hit the right day. Long Range, limited load trips are todays "Freezer Fillers" except on average it costs more to catch your own, than to buy fish outright from the market due to fishery regulations.
How do you reprogram and angler that grew up in an era that a 15 cent subway fare, a pitch fork (Used to gather your own bait, now illegal!), a shoe box(to hold said bait/contraband) and a drop line made from the cheapest blue mono you can find (Sea Hawk I belive was the brand) was all you needed to catch a pail of white chinned blackfish from the cement pilings of the City Island Bridge or the rockpiles in Pelham Bay Park? After all...Fish were a natural resource meant to be harvested. They were put on this earth as part of the food chain to nourish us!
Like one of the mice in "Who Moved My Cheese" he is awaiting the day when Cod and Whiting can be caught locally in catchable numbers or that the NMFS will realize the "Error of their Ways" and bring back the unlimited fisherys of yester year. Yes... the Cheese will one day return! For those who have read this book we know how it all ends.
This post edited by Prefessa 03:45 AM 06/17/2008
Once considered one of the largest user groups in the PB industry is the now nearly extinct "Sustinence" fisherman. This was the user group that fished for Seafood. They measured success by how their freezer looked at the end of the trip. They fished for what was in season, or what they felt like eating.
Most were not suffisticated anglers. They held there own at the rail, they were not clowns, but, not considered sharpies. At the end of the day they had their fish processed into seafood... skinned , filleted, gutted, scaled ect and in the days when it was allowed they often were were lined up at the fish cleaning boards boats used to provide to clean your own catch.
Many dragged home drippy bags of fish on the D Train, or NYC buses. When they reached there destination, the neighbors came out with pots n pans to share the wealth. Often "milk runs" were made so that you made sure your "paisans" or aunts and uncles got fresh fish to eat.
Everyone got fish...after all even if you loved to fish the sustinence fisherman respected the resource and wouldn't go again until the freezer looked a little lean, so this helped you get out fishing more often!
This is what I remember PB fishing was about when I was a young boy, and I ached for the day I could join "The Men of the Family" in this primitive hunter/gatherer ritual.
Eventually I did and from my first trip aboard "The Whitby" in June of 1972 where Barry netted the first fish I ever caught all by myself (a fluke) I was hooked!
As a fisherman I grew up...eventually partaking in every form of SW angling there was...Inshore, offshore, Surf,Pier,Bridge, Fly, Skiff, Charter and PB angling. I started Building Rods and servicing reels at the age of 15 thanks to some coaching from Mike Maffai from the famed Mikes Tackle Shop on Emmons Ave. In my 20's I pulled on boats in the bay, finally graduating to fishing with Donald and Red in the back of Stella Maris for over a decade. I was no longer a sustinence angler, I rarely kept fish in my freezer eating an occasional fresh caught fish. I now measured my catches in boxes or barrels. Good days of fishing were called "Slaughters" or "Massacrations".
My Brother on the other hand stuck to his guns. To this day, he still fishes "For Seafood". I am saddened that every time we fish together now he is greatly dissapointed! I have tried to get him interested in other types of fishing, like surf or freshwater, but it just doesn't float his boat. Nothing makes him happier than catching enough of targeted species to be able to make "Milk Runs" again to my relatives, who probably think the fare is still 8 bucks! If they ever knew what it now costs to go offshore Seabass or Cod Fishing they would have us comitted to a mental institution!
I tried to explain that todays local PB fisheries are nothing more than 50-60 bucks worth of "fishing entertainment"....its a day out in fresh air n' sunshine and you get to yank on a few fish you have to predominately throw back some where in between if you hit the right day. Long Range, limited load trips are todays "Freezer Fillers" except on average it costs more to catch your own, than to buy fish outright from the market due to fishery regulations.
How do you reprogram and angler that grew up in an era that a 15 cent subway fare, a pitch fork (Used to gather your own bait, now illegal!), a shoe box(to hold said bait/contraband) and a drop line made from the cheapest blue mono you can find (Sea Hawk I belive was the brand) was all you needed to catch a pail of white chinned blackfish from the cement pilings of the City Island Bridge or the rockpiles in Pelham Bay Park? After all...Fish were a natural resource meant to be harvested. They were put on this earth as part of the food chain to nourish us!
Like one of the mice in "Who Moved My Cheese" he is awaiting the day when Cod and Whiting can be caught locally in catchable numbers or that the NMFS will realize the "Error of their Ways" and bring back the unlimited fisherys of yester year. Yes... the Cheese will one day return! For those who have read this book we know how it all ends.
This post edited by Prefessa 03:45 AM 06/17/2008
