northern puffers

[the hitcher]

I read in "the fisherman" a couple of weeks ago about people catching blowfish toward the end of the summer. Has anyone been targeting/catching them in recent years? I haven't seen one since I was 10 years old.

[ReelQuick]

Caught 1 at the Maul last year.One.

[Joseph Lamberty]

I think in the last 10 yrs I may have caught,,,,5 They are good eatingf and used to be very plentiful ...but not recently..I remember when I was a kid Me and a friend of mine took my 15 starcraft,,,out in the bay behind seaside park and caught 40 or 50 blowfish in about 3 hours...we ran out of worms and started using bubblegum....and they still were biting..Till we ran out of bubblegum..True story...


Liv 2 Fish.
Forced 2 Work..

[BIGGESTJACK]

Anyone Know If They Are Being Caught Anywhere From Maine To Florida??
Croakers Were Missing For About 30 Some Years. From The Middle 50's Till Early 90's I Never Saw One Out Front,were A Lot Of Cape May Goodies. I Didn't Bottom Fish The Bay Except A Few Times On My Fathers Boat At Night Pre~radar For Drum In Lousy Weather No Fun.
Fred Has Had A Few Babies In His Tank Each Summer. Weather This Is A Long Term Cycle Some Talk About I Don't Know But There Was Talk About The Croakers Being In A Cycle Also---i Think It Is Abuse,polution And Warmer Waters. Blowfish Were Excellent To Eat.

THE NJ STATE RECORD FOR BLOWFISH(NOTHERN PUFFER) IS 1LB-14oz--IN 1987 IN THE DELAWARE BAY.
THE SOUTHERN PUFFER (RABBIT FISH) IS OVER 9LBS ALSO CAUGHT IN THE DELAWARE BAY.

[Candy Man]

Years ago we also had a spring puffer run. We still catch them in Barnegat Bay during the late summer / early fall but not as many as the good ole days. Anchor a chum with clams. Fish small strips of clam or squid. We get a few to a dozen or so. Along with the puffers we get about another half dozen species of fish in the slick so you rods are usually bending. Lots of fun for the kids.

[RyanF]

I have never fished for them, but the past two summers I would get them in crab traps pretty consistently. Little guys, but I dont know their max sizes. The little kids loved them.

RyanF

[JerseyZuks]

THE NJ STATE RECORD FOR BLOWFISH(NOTHERN PUFFER) IS 1LB-14oz--IN 1987 IN THE DELAWARE BAY.

I kick myself every time I read this.

A few years ago I was surf fishing, and pulled in the biggest blowfish I have ever seen. Fully inflated, he looked like a beach ball. My guess is he had to be over 3lbs

Never even thought to have him weighed in :(

[phish4fun]

Great Bay Has Them .

[TurboDan]

I have never fished for them, but the past two summers I would get them in crab traps pretty consistently. Little guys, but I dont know their max sizes. The little kids loved them.

RyanF

Same here. I caught a couple in crab traps last summer off the bulkhead at the end of my street in LBI. Last time I caught one on a hook and line was while fishing in my old boat near the Barnegat Inlet.

Funny thing with the crab traps, though, is that when crabbing off the boat in Manasquan River I've never caught one. Perhaps they're only in the lower part of Barnegat Bay and south.

[RebelMusicNP]

i remember them swarming around the barnegat lighthouse when i was a kid. they were a lot of fun. it was around the same time when sea urchins covered every rock too. times have changed.

[TurboDan]

i remember them swarming around the barnegat lighthouse when i was a kid. they were a lot of fun. it was around the same time when sea urchins covered every rock too. times have changed.

Wow, sea urchins? When was this (if you don't mind)?

[Steve Wdz]

I got this last year on the beach I think this was a puffer:confused:

http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/DSCN1018.JPG

[RyanF]

I got this last year on he beach I think this was a puffer:confused:

http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/DSCN1018.JPG

Yea it is. The ones Ive seen from my traps have been a little smaller from what I can tell from the photo.

RyanF

[JerseyZuks]

Wow, sea urchins? When was this (if you don't mind)?


I found a hand full of sea urchins on the rocks this year, my girlfriend brought one (dead) home

Also caught a few blowfish off the rocks this year

[JerseyZuks]

Just dug up one of my old posts... looks like it was early October this year when dad and I caught all of those blowfish

http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114595&highlight=barnagate

[Team Mayhem]

I found a hand full of sea urchins on the rocks this year, my girlfriend brought one (dead) home

Also caught a few blowfish off the rocks this year

I saw a whole bunch of urchins this year too at low tide...and the starfish were EVERYWHERE, couldnt get away from them, only saw one blowfish caught this year, big one too

[Oyster Dog]

Steve Wdz, I believe that is a striped burrfish.

[JerseyZuks]

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/funny-pictures-unhappy-puffer-fish.jpg

[The Hard Way]

This is the best picture I could find of the puffer.

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/bfg_northern_puffer.aspx?menuitem=14403 (http://www.chesapeakebay.net/bfg_northern_puffer.aspx?menuitem=14403)

I know that this web site does not let me give a specific location of where I caught these fish.
But for the last 3 years I caught them on the dock at “THE DOCK OUTFITTERS” I think Seaside Hights.
Last year I also caught them from the “PIER or DOCK” at BARNAGAT where the boat ramp is.
I used winter flounder rigs with small split shot sinkers squeezed near the hooks.
Tinny bits of clam use the lips and the parts of the stomach. The tongs you could throw away, no smell and too hard or use them in a crab trap.

[JoeyZac]

Great Bay Has Them .

Very true. What Great Bay lacks in Winter it makes for in Blowfish.

The blowfish are quite tasty, but I'd rather have the flounder.

[FLUKADUKE]

I think you might have caught a Stargazer [spelling?] i caught several of those last year n i think it looks pret
ty close

[JoeyZac]

http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/DSCN1018.JPG

I second the "Stragazer" opinion.

[drifter3]

When I was clamming behind Avalon I would see seas urchins all over the muddy bottom. I was Happy to be wearing old sneakers. Would sometimes reach in the rakes basket and get stuck be them.

[RebelMusicNP]

Wow, sea urchins? When was this (if you don't mind)?

i would say late 80's to early 90's. people realized you could boil them and put bleach in the water to make colorful shells. the spines fall off and you are left with a thin shell with a star design. people would leave the inlet with buckets of them. and that is not a stargazer.

[The Hard Way]

Striped Burrfish - Chilomycterus schoepfi

http://www.thejump.net/id/more-fish/burrfish.jpg

[JoeyZac]

i would say late 80's to early 90's. people realized you could boil them and put bleach in the water to make colorful shells. the spines fall off and you are left with a thin shell with a star design. people would leave the inlet with buckets of them. and that is not a stargazer.

If not a Stargazer, then what is it?

[mericanwit]

anyone remember how to clean them...?

[BIGGESTJACK]

Striped Burrfish - Chilomycterus schoepfi

http://www.thejump.net/id/more-fish/burrfish.jpg

I AGREE--FRED HAD THESE FOR TWO YEARS IN HIS TANK AT NO~BONES.

[JerseyZuks]

anyone remember how to clean them...?

From what one of my neighbors told me, you need a lot of them for a decent meal. There is one thin strip of meat on the back (think chicken finger), and they are a PITA to clean.

Even back in the 80's when we used to catch them by the hundreds in the barnagate bay, we just tossed them back

[JoeyZac]

anyone remember how to clean them...?

Not bad if you do it right, nightmare if you dont.

Take knife, thin screw driver or scissor tip in make a hole anywhere in the neck area.

Take the scissor and cut the skin all the way around the head. Kind of like slitting it's throat from ear to ear just don't stop at the ears and go all the way around.

Grab the skin with one set of pliers and the head with another and pull the skin all the way down to the tail "skinning" the fish.

There are then 2 strips of meat about a finger long each that you can cut out easy enough.

A lot of effort, but very tasty.

[bald eagel]

anyone remember how to clean them...?put a large nail on the back of fish table cut the fish halhway down behind the gills put the fish head on the nail and turn the meat inside out. there where nails all across the back of the fish table at the comador marine in brigantine.used to get buckets of them they are good.

[FastFred]

The meat of a blowfish is good, just don't eat the row or any internal organs. They are highly toxic to humans.

[THe Dude]

Blowfish are easy to clean. Just hammer a 16 penny nail about half way into a heavy board, Then cut the blowfish behind the head and hook the head onto the nail. Then grab the meat with a pair of fish tongs and pull it straight out. We used to catch them by the hundreds in Barnegat bay years ago. There were so many of them early in the season that you couldn't fish for fluke because the second your bait hit the bottom... tap tap and you pull up a half killie. Had to fish for them with a long shanked hook, because you didn't want to get near their beak. They used to bite the thin wire hooks in half at times. You could not leave any fingerprints for about two weeks after cleaning a batch of them because the pointy spines would tear up your hands.

[RyanF]

That doesnt look like a stargazer to me, but Ive only caught a couple and it was pitch black out.

RyanF

[Stalker Charters]

Wow, sea urchins? When was this (if you don't mind)?

I saw some urchins by the rocks recently too. They are around. For the puffers, I don't think I ever saw one around here.

[young~gunz]

tickle the fishes stomach if it blows up you got a puffer :D

[mericanwit]

Zuks, Eagle,
Yup... I remember seeing my uncle do it with the nail and board. Just too young to actually remember how to do it... But agree that they were tasty! Used to catch alot of them in and behind Brig, used to stop at Jack Blade's bait & tackle shop.... Those were the days...

[The Hard Way]

http://www.thejump.net/id/stargazer.htm

http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/images/index.gif (http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/FEB04/index.html) http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/images/previous.gif (http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/FEB04/Leafy_Seadragon(Phycodurus_eques).html) http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/images/next.gif (http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/FEB04/Southern_Blue_Devilfish(Paraplesiops_meleagris).ht ml)


Eastern Stargazer(Kathetostoma laeve)
http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/FEB04/images/Kathetostoma_laeve.jpg

[boatliftman]

I used to catch loads of 5" blowfish in my eel pots, so many that more would fit. They were like large cocktail shrimp after cleaned:) They are still around

[c21denny]

Candy man thanks for the idea, used to fish for blows by the bushel and take them home , taste just like chicken. All the old cleaning posts used to have a nail sticking up just for cleaning blows on dock. Haven't heard or seen much in the Barnegat bay lately but will definetly abchor up late summer and bring the ultra lights:)

[JerseyZuks]

We used to have a ball catching blowfish.

4'-6' of water, chum pot filled with frozen chum, little chunks of squid or clam on a long shanked hook.

Late 80's/early 90's we used to catch them by the hundreds in the Barnagate bay (all catch and release)

[boatliftman]

Be glad they are not around like the used to be, the way things are now they would probably drive out the few fish we have left

[WreckinBall]

They are still around usually in Sept and Oct on the flats and around mussel beds. The last time I tried fishing for them was probably 5 or 6 years ago. I used to fish on the flats around that group of pilings near the OC Toll Bridge with clams and winter flounder rigs. Using a chum pot brings them in better. Once the flounder have left the bay in the late summer and early fall, but before the bass start is the best time to anchor up with a chum pot and catch all kinds of pan fish in the back. Aside from the blowfish, you'll catch porgies, kingfish, triggers, small blues and weaks, white perch, small bass, etc..

[mericanwit]

So,
who's gonna be available late summer to hold blowfish cleaning courses...?

[SURF STRIPER KING 0536]

I foul hooked 2 in 1 day over the summer. I caught a few while i was in the fl keys too

[gunsmoke]

Wow: I haven't thought about catching blowfish for almost 40 years.
My Dad used to take us fluke fishing out of Captree, and there were only three fish that existed for us; fluke, sea robins, and blowfish. Most of the time you pulled up a robin, or a blowfish, and occasionally, a fluke. Things have changed in 4 decades.:confused:

[Vitalsigns]

I got this last year on the beach I think this was a puffer:confused:

http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/DSCN1018.JPG
Definately a puffer but not the kind you normaly see up here or not a blowfish.

[WreckinBall]

Definately a puffer but not the kind you normaly see up here or not a blowfish.

Striped Burrfish (spiny puffer).

[The Hard Way]

We used to have a ball catching blowfish.

4'-6' of water, chum pot filled with frozen chum, little chunks of squid or clam on a long shanked hook.

Late 80's/early 90's we used to catch them by the hundreds in the Barnagate bay (all catch and release)

If you are going to chum with CLAMS Why would you use squid for bait? ?
Worms yes they are natural in the area. IF the blowfish are coming into eat the chum (Clams) they are going to be pissed when they find a squid

[JerseyZuks]

If you are going to chum with CLAMS Why would you use squid for bait? ?
Worms yes they are natural in the area. IF the blowfish are coming into eat the chum (Clams) they are going to be pissed when they find a squid


Chum was usually chopped up clams, fish carcassas, squid heads etc.

Grind it up, pour the slop in a cool whip tub, freeze it

[skunked]

Anyone Know If They Are Being Caught Anywhere From Maine To Florida??


We caught some at the outer banks last year... we were looking for trout but found sheephead and a few puffers we were under some bridge on nice docks... I think it was under 64

[fdformicola]

we used to catch so many of the in early 60's all you had to do was catch 1 bring it to surface let it sit on top of water and all the other blow fish would come up to see what was going on and we would scoop up as many as we wanted very good eating and easy to clean if you know how.;) :)

[OUTCAST2]

Caught on a Mass beach. Didn't ask him for a ride! :D :D :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v393/outcast1/ted4.jpg