Interesting news item I stumbled upon doing genealogical research - note the discussion of the 85 pounder that got away:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Oct. 1, 1899

Some Fine Catches Made at Mantauk by a Party of Brooklynites

Montauk, L.I., September 30 -- Fishing for striped bass with rod and reel in the surf off Montauk Point is a pastime that is enjoyed by but few Brooklynites. Recently a party made up of H.E. Bedford, Jules Stearns, Mr. Young and Mr. Morgan, all from Brooklyn, came here and had some excellent sport, as the following remarkable record made by three of the party will show:

Mr. Stearns...16-lb., 18-lb., 25-lb.
Mr. Young......22-lb., 20-lb., 16-lb.
Mr. Morgan....25-lb., 380lb., 32-lb.

Mr. Stearns also lost one bass, the head of which came ashore the next day, after the body had been eaten off by a shark. This head measured twenty-two inches in circumference and it is estimated that the fish must have weighed at least eighty-five pounds.

Numerous other catches of bass were made ranging above twenty-two pounds. The largest fish caught was a thirty-eight and a half pounder taken by a Mr. Simonids on September 2. It holds the record for this season here.

How did people catch fish before the internet??? :D

Originally posted by fishsmith
How did people catch fish before the internet??? :D With cotton line and bamboo poles ... But they had to find their own spots :)

Before the Internet I certainly could never have gotten started fishing, but if I were a Brooklyn Eagle reader in October of 1888, I would have read the following on page 6:


"Where are you bound fishing at this time in the afternoon?" I asked a South Gerry pilot the other day when I met him coming down Atlantic avenue with his rod.

"I am going down to the ferry dock, of course."

"Well, I hope you'll have luck and that you'll find the crop of hoop skirts and old boot plentiful this season, " I said some what sarcastically.

"Now look here, young man," he replied, "I'm not fishing for hoop skirts and boots. I'm fishing for striped bass and I'm going to get some, too. There are plenty of striped bass around the docks and some of them are big enough to suit any man. I've cought fourteen pound bass of that dock. What do I use for bait? Why, I use these blood worms. They are the latest fashion in bass bait. Some time ago the striped bass would not touch anything except shrimps. Then they go tired of shrimps as a steady diet and wanted shedder crabs and then they changed off on sandworms; now they only hunker after bloodworms. There are bloddworms you see here. They are all alive, you see, about four inches long and light borwon in color. They are transparent and there is a steak of blood running through them from end to end. I think they sparkle in the water. We find them buried in the mud of the river banks at low tide. That's the only way I know to catch the. They feed on seaweek, and if you put them in a bosx abong damp seaweed they will keep alive for days."