by Tim “The Fishman” Coulson

Having grown up in Red Bank and Tinton Falls NJ, the Navasink and Shrewsbury Rivers have been my second home. My father would take my brother and me fishing when I was five and I have never stopped. In fact, I fish with my brother just about every other day. Throughout the year, and from season to season, these rivers provide an unlimited array of different fishing opportunities. I have a few friends that tease me about never leaving the rivers, but at the end of the day when we compare catches, I usually walk away with a smile (and the biggest catch!).

On the rare occasion that I do venture out around the tip of the hook, my friends will say “Hey, do you have a note from your mother?” implying of coarse, that I need a permission slip from my mother to come out to the ocean. The facts are that if you fish at the right times and are using the right bait you’ll catch fish. Of course, we are talking about fishing and not catching so there are plenty of things that can go wrong to hamper your pursuit for fresh seafood.

There are different seasons for local fish just as there are for locally grown produce. You wouldn’t expect the sweet corn to be very sweet in December, just like you wouldn’t expect the bluefish to be biting in January. In the spring, some of the first signs of life in the rivers are the arrival of menhaden or moss bunker. This usually occurs in April, depending of course on the harshness of the winter.  Other baitfishes, such as herring, also start to enter the rivers as well at this time. Not far behind the baitfish are the Striped Bass, which have migrated following the bait up the coast from the south. This is a good time to use live bait for bass for a shot at a trophy fish from 10-30 pounds or maybe bigger.

One day this past spring, while fishing with live bunker and drifting in the river, I landed one bass after another until the bait was gone. It was around 6 that morning when we finished catching nine fresh bunkers for bait. I set a drift and waited while the bunker swam in the current. The bait didn’t even have a chance to get to the bottom before WHAM! Then seconds later WHAM again! “Fish on!” my brother yells and we are both fighting two nice fish. We landed the fish, both in the 20 pound range, on the first drift. A few minutes later, after a quick celebration, we settled down and set another drift up the river. A friend was passing in his boat and came over to see how we were doing, and of coarse do the usual tease about “the Brothers” not going to the ocean. At this point I am just a bundle of nerves inside and showing my best poker face because I can feel my bait being attacked again. I tell him that I can’t talk at the moment because I am about to be busy. It was about that time when I set the hook on what turned out to be another bass in the 25-pound range. I think my friend was in shock because he just stood there as we pulled in two more nice striped bass. He finally decided to try his luck, but by that time the bite was off.

This is the story of being in the right place at the right time with the right bait and the proper moon alignment, etc., etc. (Oh yea and I had my lucky rock too!).   All kidding aside, there are some nice fish to be found in the rivers and you too can find them if you take the time to “know your fishing hole”.