Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast
Hunting,travel,outdoors,comedy
Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast
Episode 62: Jetty Jockies
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This episode we sit down with Jake who runs the Jetty jockies in NJ, we talk about how he got into Fishing and what made him get into spear fishing, we also talk about how his love for spear fishing has grown and how NJ is a slept on area when it comes to diving. We also talk about what future plans he has for jetty jockies
Welcome back to another episode of the Blue Hand Outdoors Podcast. I'm pleased to have with us tonight Mr. Jake from the Jedi Jockeys, just up north of me in New Jersey. How are you doing tonight, sir?
SPEAKER_01What's up, man? I'm I'm all fired up, man. All fired up. It's like the first day that it was what, like almost 70 degrees today, right? Oh, yeah. The great melt has started to commence.
SPEAKER_00So exactly, exactly. I was out, I I came outside from work today. I was like, holy shit, it's 75 degrees and sunny. I said, Oh, I'm missing is summertime. For real.
SPEAKER_01For I can't wait.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, it's right around the corner, man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. And like, I don't know, the spring is probably my favorite season of them all, just because that's when you know seasons start to change, the fists start to show up, and they just keep getting bigger as the season goes on, right? So that's what we're about.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Well, on that note, how did you guys get started in the outdoors before we get into how you guys started Jetty Jockeys?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it's it's been part of our lives since we're little kids, you know, growing up, um, whether it be at the beach or like playing in the woods, like we're all we were always outside. Um, we're on like the swim team, things like that at a young age, lifeguards. So um always around the water, always surfing, always, you know, like you said, like spear fishing, fishing, everything like that. Since I mean, as far as I can remember.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Where are you guys at located in Jersey? Are you guys by uh what beach?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we're we're based out of uh Long Beach Island, LBI. Okay, yeah, yeah. But I mean, we're we're fishing the whole Jersey coast. LBI is a great spot to kind of be located because there's fish, you know, right in your backyard, but also we're like an hour shot from the northern Jersey beaches or going down south to Atlantic City, things like that. So uh yeah, it's a good spot to be for sure.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, I never ever had to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, where where are you located?
SPEAKER_00Uh I'm in Delaware in Middletown.
SPEAKER_01Okay, no doubt. So I'm about to haven't done so much fishing in Delaware yet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm about an hour from our beaches here, and then I'm about an hour and a half to two hours from like where you're at. Cool. Yeah. So how'd you guys get started into spear fishing? Because that's kind of like not too hot around here, or as hot as I realized till I started looking into it within the past couple of years. If we talked about it, I started getting into it recently.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, shoot, man. Just you know, being frustrated fishermen that weren't catching enough, then just like you know, I think it's time to take matters into our old hands, our own hands, and jump in the water. Um, that's the short of it, but really just you know, um being a fisherman, standing on shore and just kind of trying to imagine like what it looks like down there or what the habitat you're actually fishing looks like. And then when we realized, you know, we could just jump in and see it for ourselves. I mean, that opened up a lot. But yeah, that's that's the gist of it. The the short story is I was actually just out fishing and divers were popping up left and right in my local area with big fish, and I I was getting skunked that day, so I I walked right off the jetty and bought a spear the next morning. So that's kind of how it started.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Did you did you start with a pole spear or a spear gun?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I actually my first ever dive was with a butter knife. I ordered the spear, the pole sphere, but it didn't come in yet. I was just itching to get in the water, so like yeah, no fins, just like we had some like Nike socks, throwing the wetsuit, just swam out there with the butter knife, see if we could poke something. But um, but yeah, I actually I I spear fish only with the pole spear. I'm open to using a gun. Um, but for at least this is gonna be my fourth summer doing it. So that past three years I've only used a pole spear, and I mean you can definitely be pretty pretty deadly with that thing.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Do you guys mainly do like uh jetties and uh like where there's uh structure, or do you guys kind of like do it all when you go dive?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, our like bread and butter, or what we're doing primarily is diving inlets and diving out the jetties, whether it's like a rock structure off the beach, you know, swimming out from the beach um to the rocks and and diving some submerged structure or just diving in inlets. But um, we've we've done it all. We've gone, we've taken the boat out, um, we've dove in the bay, did a lot of practice in the bay when I was first starting, which is like swimming in brown soup, you know. Um, but but yeah, we've we've I've you know really done it all at this point.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. I was gonna say I know Viz because I tried it a couple times. I mean, I just went diving just to like get the like dive experience. The viz wasn't too good when I went. Yeah, that's like a big thing up here. It's like you gotta plan it right or make sure the viz is just perfect when you go out.
SPEAKER_01It's the most frustrating thing. The the one thing I will say about that is when the viz is bad, I call it like hunting visibility. When the vis is bad, but just good enough to see, you know, like three to five feet. That's like almost one of my favorite times to dive, just because it seems to be super fishy. Like the fish can see you in good viz just as well as you can see them, and same thing in bad viz. So if the viz is bad, I mean different fizz have ways to sense you, but a lot of fish will kind of catch them off guard if you're just coming out of puffing out of the smoke, you know, underwater and just coming out of the dirty viz. So yeah, it's it's scary though, and it's frustrating, right? Being in that dirty water. I don't know what your experience was with it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I wasn't too nervous with it. I mean, I like I said, I was just kind of like exploring and getting my feet wet and seeing what it's like, but to an extent, it can be a little scary in the uh low visibility of water, especially around some of the areas up here where there's sharks and whatnot, because you don't know where they're gonna be at. And we got like the bulls and the tigers, and I believe that so it could be a little sketchy, yeah.
SPEAKER_01For sure. I mean, probably the most dangerous thing down there before the sharks is probably getting tangled up on like some line or something like that, or other boaters in the era, but the bad visibility correlates to all that stuff, right? It makes it all more treacherous, more dangerous.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, gotta be on point. For sure. I also seen you guys do some shark fishing off the jetties. What's what's that kind of like up there? I mean, I've done some down here in Dabble, but I assume it's similar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that was actually a spur-of-the-moment thing. Um, like no one does that in New Jersey, but we we've been taking trips to Florida just because we can't stand the winter, you know. Every chance we get we're running down to Florida. We've fish learning to fish with guys down there and learning some tactics. And I was like, you know, we wanted to implement them in Jersey. We were able to do that this fall. Um, but that was a complete spur-of-the-moment thing. The main reason we were fishing the jetties was because all the fish we were hooking up with kept getting sharked. It was insane. Like, I know that's common in Florida, but up here you're not really getting your fish sharp too much. Uh yeah in Jersey. So when we realized there was so many sharks in the area, we came back the next day with the shark gear, uh, broke all broke off several times and then came back with the tuna gear the next day, and that's how we called them. Nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they were some pretty decent sized sharks too. You guys brought in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think we caught I think we landed six six or seven bull sharks within three-day period. Um it's pretty epic. Nice, yeah.
SPEAKER_00The um so you said you guys go down to Florida a lot. Just I mean, obviously, after the winner we just had, I don't blame you. Do you guys just do mainly line fishing when you guys go down there, or do you guys do both?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I mean, this past year for me personally was insane because I was traveling for for work for my real job, not like uh working on jetty jockeys. But every trip I went to, I would do a lot down south, and I would be able to bring kind of my I would bring my reel and I'd bring my lures in my in my travel bag. And then I'd get to Florida, I'd buy, go to Walmart, buy an ugly stick, like you know, nice little 7-6 um extra heavy ugly stick, and I'd fish for three days, go back to Walmart on uh Friday, return that ugly stick, uh pack up my bag and be back home. But like that was epic just because I was it I was weekly going to different spots and learning new waters. Um self-guiding yourself though in those situations can be tough when you when you have minimal time, right? So yeah, I've leaned on a lot of people that I met in Florida to kind of help me out, and people have people have been uh really really sweet to us. So I appreciate all the all the boys down south for sure.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, and that's kind of I noticed that from doing this, like doing the podcast and like me just meeting different people, especially uh I've met a lot of guys from down in Florida. A lot of the more southern people are kind of open to like helping you out, showing you or saying, Hey, maybe try this here, try throwing this there. Then up here, everybody fucking just nope, go figure it out. You'll fit you'll you'll find what you need to do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have a theory about that, actually. I think it's just because you know, down south there's so many more places to fish, right? Like, yeah, there's so many more, so people are almost more, you know, they're willing to share their knowledge a little bit more. Up here, you know, there's only so many places to fish. And don't get me wrong, you can go out and you can find a honey hole that's that's gonna be a killer producer for you fishing wise up here that no one knows about. Like that happens all the time. But um, people are a lot, you're definitely right, especially in the surf casting world up here in in the northeast. People are a lot less likely to share, uh you know, they work hard for the the things that they learn in the spots that they found, right? So I kind of I appreciate that almost.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it makes you that much more accomplished when you get it done up here, trying to figure it out yourself.
SPEAKER_01The tug is the drug, man. That's what they say. When you do go through the trials and the tribulations, and then you know you hook up to a monster, you land it, and you have your moment, like yeah, that's the best feeling in the world.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure, dude. Do you guys have any um well start with this? What's your plans as far as jetty jockeys for the future? Like, are you guys gonna keep doing what you're doing up here and trying to grow it, or are you guys gonna try to do trips with it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, starting to work with some brands is definitely in the future for us. Um, just want to pick them, you know, pick them closely just to make sure that we keep our message like the same that it's always been. Um, but then also just kind of pushing the boundaries of like how people are fishing up here. Um we we updated the bios on some of our pages that say uh like where where fish tales become facts, right? And and the the kind of meaning behind that saying is just the fact that like you might have heard something and not believed it, but like we're out there kind of trying to make it happen, and and if we can get it on video and prove it to the world, you know. So we got I got and I'll tell you this too. Like, I got a note in my phone that I've been working on for three years, and it probably has like almost 400 to 500 ideas for videos and different things in it now that like I've only scratched the surface of it's just a matter of like setting it up and making it happen. So, like, yeah, we got we got big plans for sure.
SPEAKER_00Awesome, man. Do you have any um are any of those plans like bucket list things you want to do or like just bucket list trips you guys want to do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, shoot, like I want to catch a tarpon. That's like the next thing on the list. I still never caught a tarpon. So, like, we actually have a trip planned at the end of March to go down to Florida. We're gonna not leave Florida until we catch some tarpon. So that would be sick. Um, but but yeah, the plans are mostly like there's a lot of different like ideas for content and things like that, which um it's kind of hard to pull off just because like it's hard to catch a fish, one, but then to catch a fish and get it on video and get it in frame and not burn your spot that you're fishing, like that those that's a lot of factors against you. So um we plan on basically doing all those without burning our own spots, you know, and and getting some of that these ideas and I could share a few with you if you want to. Uh goofy stuff, but also serious stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we can maybe talk about that more afterwards a little bit. But I don't want to let you burn too much or that people wanting to go see more, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. But um, well, I guess we could just end it on like on that that end that note on just like you know, just get it get ready and keep an eye on the page because we got some good, we got some big plans, you know.
SPEAKER_00So oh, yeah, that's awesome. What are you guys looking forward to most about this upcoming season up here?
SPEAKER_01Just the first time that we get to catch giant striped bass. I mean, like that's that's the epitome of most of this. Just like catching big bass, that's like the best thing that can happen, you know. Um that and just spear fishing in some good visibility. Like two years ago in 2020 uh four, 2024 June in like our area was we had some crystal clear days. Um last year was all stoked for June, and it never really panned out. The water, there's it was stormy, the water never cleaned up. So I'm hoping we got some clear water and you know, just just diving and trying to catch big fish, man. That's really it.
SPEAKER_00Sorry about that.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, dude. I was gonna say, I know straight bass is the bread and butter up there, and uh down here and like in into Maryland, we're kind of more my way because I'm right by the Chesapeake Bay, but I noticed your uh flounder behind you. That's that's kind of what I'm getting stoked for is to go see if I can go spear some flounder or go get some door mass on a spear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I mean that's that's thrilling, right? Like it's it's crazy because my buddy, um my buddy he's been diving with me real closely for two years, and he hadn't seen a big flounder yet on the bottom. Like it's just like something that it will grace you with its presence if you're worthy, I guess, or if you're lucky. Um but catching those big fluke on the pole spear on a spear gun, that's that's so fun, right? That's so and just seeing them down there, how that how they stage up, it's incredible. Oh yeah, yeah. That one's uh that one's a 29-inch uh nine-pound fluke that I got last summer. Like that's that's oh damn, yeah. That's my PV on the wall. So I'm proud of that one for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was gonna say that's a nice size one there. Was it a summer or a winter flounder?
SPEAKER_01It was a summer flounder, it was a fluke. Um, it was just sitting under a rock, just in the sand, burrowed, just ready to ambush, and just swam basically almost on top of it without even realizing it was there and didn't even flinch. So lucky because a lot a lot of them will shoot off, you know, when you're diving, you won't even notice that they're there, they're so well camouflaged, you'll be swimming over them, and you'll just see them skirt off up from under you. You won't even get a shot. So when you can see one before it sees you, like that's that's the best.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Do you um do you guys do your own uh with the ink in the paper? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Uh the I don't even know how to pronounce it, bro. I think it's like gaku print. Um, that one was done by tiger shrimp tim. Shout out tiger shrimp tim. Okay, but um, no, we don't do it, we don't do it, and like I didn't want to get any fish done until it was like really special fish, you know. So that's actually that's one of my first ones I've ever got.
SPEAKER_00Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I plan on getting more though.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. I was just wondering because I know a lot of guys that do spear diving and spear fishing, they do it theirselves. So I was wondering if you guys did it or you guys had somebody else do it for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I guess I guess there's just this thing with spear fishing, right? Where it's like I don't know, people people uh they'll say it's the most sustainable type of fishing, but like that's really you're really in touch with nature when you're down there swimming beside the fish, and when you're selecting a you know, one particular fish that you're gonna take home as opposed to just hooking a bunch and kind of weeding through fish. Um, I guess it's just there's something a little special about it, right? So um people they want to print their fish, they want to cook it a million different ways. Like, yeah, people really appreciate these fish, you know, the spear fishermen.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. Do you think that spear fishing has grown in popularity over the past couple years? I mean, at least for me, I think it has.
SPEAKER_01I think it has, and I'm surprised like how little people do it up here still, um, just because it's definitely like a a doable thing. Um, but it it definitely, I think it definitely has, and especially just because, you know, like some of the some of the OGs or the old guys, older older men that were in the game far before me, like when I got in the game, you know, they're like, kind of who's this, who's this new guy on the block? And now I'm saying that for some of these uh some of these young grinders coming up. So I'm starting to notice a lot more people get into it, which I think's great. Just hope everyone stays safe, you know, because it is super dangerous, and oh yeah, you gotta be prepared, you know.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. What would you say is some of your main tips or advice for people that are starting out for safety and stuff like that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have a bunch. I mean, um, I would like my basics are do a free diving course, you know, prior to starting spear fishing. You can learn how to hold your breath safely because shallow water blackouts are real. Um, another thing I would say is always have a wetsuit with a hood. A lot of people, you know, a lot of people want to get into spearfishing and want to try it out. They'll use their old surf suit. I did it myself. Um, you can buy like a detachable cheap hood to put in there, but having your head protected is super uh important, you know, especially in the dirty water that we're diving in. You could you know turn your head and hit a rock. And then I'd say um for diving itself, I'd say my main tip would just be to just stay as calm as possible and move as slow as possible. Like it's not a race, you know. And uh the slower you move, the less less oxygen you'll burn, the longer your dives will be.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. I was you can definitely say I was definitely when I was trying, I definitely was like practicing my holding my breath, doing things slow because it's easy to get caught up in like wanting to move around and yeah, trying things fast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a lot of the instructors they they almost teach it like that you almost want to be as close to falling asleep as possible when you're on the surface doing your breathe up, getting ready to dive down because you want to get into that like super calm state, you know. Um, but yeah, that's that's what it's all about being as calm as possible. Your dives will be so much longer. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00You mentioned you guys got boats. Do you guys go offshore much? Or do you guys stay in short?
SPEAKER_01I don't, but um, some of the there's a there's like five or six guys kind of in our crew that we're always fishing with, and um some of them are boaters, but uh I don't know. I kind I kind of get seasick, man. Like that I don't know, maybe that's why we're the jetty jockeys, but um, there's something about just hooking up to a beast to a giant fish with two toes down with or with ten toes down, you know, with your feet on the rocks or on the shore um and having to fight the fish and battle it, you know, from a stationary position as opposed to chasing in the boat. Like that is for me, like that's the pinnacle. So yeah. So yeah, but we we have a ton of fun like going out to the wrecks, doing uh like fluking, fluking from the boat. Um, some of the guys are pretty into tuna fishing right now. I still haven't been tuna fishing. Um one thing for the boat we are planning this year is there is a bunch of cobia in our area last year, which are kind of I mean, not uncommon, but you know, they're a little rare, especially off the beach in Jersey. Um, if if the conditions line up again, like we're gonna go out on the boat and we're gonna get a cobia inshore next year, that's gonna be that's gonna be sick.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, that would be sick because I know well, A, they're they're big for down south.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And B, even us here in Delaware, it's kind of not rare, but they'll come from the bottom of the bay and go up.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I believe it.
SPEAKER_00And some guys will catch them off the beach, and it's like, oh, I caught a cobia. I didn't have to go on a boat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think a keeper cobia off the jetty, like in an inlet, would be like that's like an all-time like lifetime catch right there. Like that would be epic. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's kind of crazy too, because people think of them as more like deeper kind of outskirts of inshore, uh, inner outer shore or offshore, excuse me. Kind of fish instead of how close they actually do get sometimes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that would make it even more epic, right?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, that'd be like once in a lifetime right there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's the goal for sure. The Jetty Kobe is definitely on the list. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Do you have any like dream destinations or dream fish you want to get on a spear or rod and reel?
SPEAKER_01For sure. Uh Kubera Snapper on the pole spear, that's that's a lifetime goal. I mean, that would be the pinnacle. Um fishing wise, um I don't know. I'm just obsessed with these tarpon. It probably sounds goofy to the Florida boys, but like I'd love to catch big tarpon, man. Oh yeah. Doing a trip though to catch like I don't know. I've been I've been obsessed lately with seeing these guys. I don't know where they're at, but they're throwing like these crazy topwater lures and flipping them on under banks and catching these giant, like cat. I don't know if they're in Europe or in Asia, but these giant things that would be sick. I've been like obsessed with those videos lately. They keep popping up in my feed. I don't even know what that fish is called. Um, but that's that just ran like into mind too.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, then like little like uh uh paddle frogs or whatever, and they're kicking and also you see the big catfishes come out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that's that would be sick. Oh yeah. Yeah, we um another thing that we do, just like speaking of catfishes, we got pretty good at catching uh flatheads on jigs, which is like not too common. Um but that that's coming around like early April is when we can start doing that, and that should be real fun. We have that coming up too, just to mention.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you guys get flatheads up that far north?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we'll cruise, we'll cruise back uh more towards PA and we'll fish them um kind of on like the New Jersey PA border. But yeah, that there's some spots where like they're stacked up, and you can jig them, you can use the eight-inch uh paddle tail, jig them up off the bottom. It's super fun. They slam it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I bet. I know it's big. My uncle, he goes all the time in the summer for uh flatheads when they're running in the in uh conwingo.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, I I always I always look up Conowingo. I never made it down there. It looks like a cool spot.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, it's a really cool spot because you'll have guys like him trying to go get the big flatheads, and then right at the top of the dam, you'll have guys trying to go catch big striper that come down from the river.
SPEAKER_01That's what's insane about the um the estuary, the zone that we fish for the flatheads is like you can catch a flathead, a striper, and a walleye all on the same bait, like all in the same hour. Like it's insane. I've had it, I've had it like back to back cast, three different species, same lure. Um damn. Which is like that's an insane eco ecosystem, right?
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say that's kind of like some of them Florida guys that just see like a redfish, a snook, and a tarpon. Yeah, all sitting in a canal or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Speaking of like the you asked about the goals and also the plans, like another goal for this year is to try to get a jetty slam, which would be striper, a bluefish, a flounder, and a weak fish, kind of all in one session. Um, if we could pull that one off, I think it'd be pretty. That would be a good start to the season, right? Oh, yeah, that'd be a great start. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Are you guys gonna try to do it with uh spear or with a line?
SPEAKER_01We'll try to do that one, rod and reel. Um we're primarily targeting flounder and like black fish, sometimes trigger fish, sometimes stripers, but not not too much anymore uh when we're spearing. But but yeah, that one that one would be epic to get on rod and reel for sure. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00What's the um what's your guys' opinions of the striper and weak fish uh fishery in general up there? Because I know that's kind of like a hot topic. Being I'm on the bottom of it, you guys are kind of in the more middle of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean that's a tough question to answer just because like the weak fish were showing in my area uh like two years ago, three years ago, really heavy. Last year I did not, I think I caught maybe like two. It's insane. Um, the bass, everyone has their own opinion on it. I don't like to get into the weeds on the stripers, but I mean the slot is okay. Um the past few falls have been incredible on the Jersey beaches, so it seems like they're doing okay to me, but I I mean I don't know. I think I think my main opinion on all that whole entire topic is that they just have to stop netting so much bunker and limit bunker in Men Hayden. Um, if people stop netting so much bunker and the commercial fishermen or the the bait and the people going after the bunker stop fishing for so much bunker, I think everything will be better.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, especially that's like a big hot thing around here with the Chesapeake Bay. People are like, they get you gotta stop the nets, dude. Like if if they took out the nets and made it kind of more fair to catch bait and catch fish, especially commercially, because like that's kind of big down here, is like the commercial striper fishery. It it would you would see a lot better bounce back than what we've been trying to see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, and I mean like I feel for all the all the charter captains and some of the commercial guys in Jersey, like when they keep lessening the regulations, it's definitely making an impact on their business, which I feel bad for, especially like the the small local charter guys, you know.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, me and my uncle, we went on a local charter ride in Chestertown in Maryland last year. And he was talking to me on the ride out. He was like, dude, I think they changed the limit from one to two or from two to one for striper. I'm like, what? No. I mean, I know Delaware, I think they did. I don't know about Maryland, and I think Jersey's still too. And then sure enough, we get there, he's like, Nope, it's only one. I'm like, what? And I was asking questions, and he's like, dude, it it's hurting us, but it's not because we're trying to just make do with what we can. It's like, okay, we'll catch our limited stripers real quick, and then we'll go, okay, we'll go catch blue cats, we'll go catch perch, we'll go catch togg, or we'll go catch something else that they can go get into like blues or weak fish if they're running up that far.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I gotcha. Yeah, I mean, yeah, in Jersey, it's you can keep one slot fish and then you get a bonus tag fish as well. But um, but yeah, it's definitely times are changing for sure.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, it's not as good as it used to be.
SPEAKER_01No, taking a slob, dragging a slob off the beach, like a half mile walk, like I don't know, but probably probably we didn't need to be doing that anyway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it was cool for back then, and everybody got their cool pictures, and it's like you've seen oh back in my day, but it's like okay, well, was it really that beneficial there, or should you guys really have been doing that? It's like yeah, yeah, for sure. But that's just how it goes, man. It's always up and down, especially with the fishing. Yeah, that I mean that's that's fishing for you, man. I was gonna say that, and also it depends on how bad or how little of a winter we get up here, too, kind of affects them.
SPEAKER_01Oh, for sure. And I mean, like the weather is like I have such a love-hate relationship with the weather. Like I check it constantly. I'm checking the wind like every single day, all day. I don't know, I need to stop, honestly. But um, but yeah, the weather, I mean, the weather dictates like almost everything that we're doing throughout the throughout the warmer months for sure.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, especially around here. I mean, it's not like down south, but like we can get a storm quick and it'll just blow through or it won't, or yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what that's what's that's what's really insane and like pretty sick about LBI. They call it like the beachhaven bubble, but there's been countless times where we're out fishing or we're you know on Long Beach Island and there's a storm on the mainland and it just never crosses the bridge. It's like oh wow, it's like a safe haven, yeah. And those are that's some of my favorite times of fish, you know, when there's like a gnarly nor'easter or there's a storm, you know, um on the mainland, and and we've got weirdly calm conditions at the beach, like that's those are always great days to fish.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, because then it pushes everything back out or turns it up, and then everything's like more active.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Well, I got one final question for you. We've been kind of whipping through them tonight, but this is my favorite question I ask all my guests as we like to wrap it up.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00What do you got? What is your why that keeps bringing you back for more?
SPEAKER_01Hmm, it's the thrill of the pursuit, man. It's the thrill of the pursuit. If it if it was easy, it wouldn't feel as good, you know. Um yeah, but my why is big fish. Like, I don't care the species, like, let me tangle with some big fish, I'll be happy forever. Oh yeah, always chasing the bigger one, yeah, yeah, and that's getting tougher and tougher, man. But that's all the fun. Oh yeah, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00And like we were just talking about, it's tougher and tougher, but that's what makes it worth it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's like I don't know. I thought I love fishing because it really relates to life a lot, you know. Like, and um, like if it yeah, if it was easy, everyone would do it. And um when you put the time in, you see the results, you know. So those two things, like I think that just is a great message that fishing brings, you know, to people for sure.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Well, do you have any last-minute thoughts, shout out you'd like to give before we head out of here?
SPEAKER_01Sure, man. If we're in mid-season, we we have to do this again, you know, after we uh oh yeah, for sure. Under our belts, you know, um, with the maybe in the middle of summer or something like that. But um, I just said I just want to say, you know, I'd say just keep your eyes on the Jetty Jockeys Instagram page because we're about to, you know, do some serious stuff this year. It's gonna be probably every year's been bigger. Last year was was was big for us, so like just wait and see. I don't know. Watch that, watch out for the Jetty Jockeys. That's what I'll say.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure, man. Well, thank you again for coming on, and thank you all for another episode of the Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast.
SPEAKER_01You then you gotta