Whatever happened to SKISHING?

[Ed B]

I haven't seen any skishers around in a couple of years. You know the guys who'd put on fins and wetsuits and go swimming with a rod to catch a fish! Did they all buy boats or get nailed by sharks or just lose interest?? Anybody seen any skishers around this last season?

[joebaggs99]

Something about floating around at night in a wetsuit doesn't sit well with this guy.

[Tunabreath]

They were all eaten bu whitey
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[BigFish]

They got in the way of the other people trying to fish?

[eskimo]

They had to keep getting closer and closer to shore to find fish and now they're just surfcasting again 😂
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[Raven]

they moved to where the lobster live.

[Poncho]

They have evolved into strange sea creatures that inhabit caves and only eat fish and mollusk
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[stripermaineiac]

I think many of them got tired of all the plugs landing next to them. like some of the night time kayak guys that don't have any lights on their Yaks LOL

[ivanputski]

My guess is many realized it just wasn't necessary (meaning "further out" did not consistently translate into
larger/ more consistent fishing)
That, and the logistical problems that arose on a regular basis were not worth the trouble

[Headhunter]

Never made much sense to me. Deep wades/short swims/ be willing to try new areas to fish.

[DZ]

We had an avid skisher posting here for a while. Can't recall his name but met him a few times, he was very active in shoreline clean-ups and also attended hearings on striper regs. One of the problems was this extreme form of fishing took many of the general public and law enforcement by surprise. There was an instance off of Ocean Drive in Newport during very rough surf when someone was skishing in broad daylight with loads of tourists around watching the waves. Of course they see this person a couple hundred yards out floating and trying to swim in an area that never has people in the water unless they fall out of a boat! Many dial 911 and a CG is dispatched to rescue. Of course the skisher is fishing and wonders what all the hubbub is about. At that point I mentioned that maybe they should be required to have a dive flag like free divers and scuba divers. It's extreme yes, but if you put others in harms way to attempt a rescue it becomes a poor decision that can get someone else killed. I think the kayak fad has somewhat tempered the skishing now.

[chefchris401]

Dennis

You're thinking of Jacob Freeman, great guy, use to run the "stripercoast Surfcasting club" going back 5-7 years. Super nice guy.

We still talk via FB and text, he's busy with family and kids and life, kind of took a back seat but still fishes a lot

There were a couple other guys that use to do it with him, one guy was Ed, he went off the Deep end and burned a lot of people and made the club look awful.

Pete from NJ was big into it to, he's still on here lurking I think.

Couple guys got "caught" while skishing off the c town breach way, buddy was drifting a darter and hooked into something big, fought for like 20 minutes and then the line popped. About 15 minutes later kid shows up with a darter buried in his boot. Could have been a bad situation
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[nightfighter]

We usually have a handful doing it on the Cutty trips. But they are more often swimming to a submerged rock. I do recall the time two of these highlining wetsuiters were on a rock in the middle of the night, with nice bass tethered to their belts, and one of them hooked up with a +4 foot brown shark..... That did make for a nervous swim back to shore for them... I have never been tempted to try it. I am much happier on my fiberglass jetty!

[Justfishin']

With the increase in the seal population and the accompanying visits from(larger) sharks, I'm still trying to talk myself into a wetsuit.
Skishing? Ahhhhhhh........no.

[Headhunter]

A shark is always in the back of your head somewhere when your swiming at night looking like a ditressed seal!! Add some live eels and Perhaps a fish you just bleed out.

[piemma]

Years ago 3 of us had blue sharks all around us at Deep Hole. We were way out on the bar and each of us had a couple of bluefish/bass on stringers. I remember Mikey Bagalini throwing bluefish at the sharks as we backed up.

[bassballer]

Skishing always seemed like way to much work.

[wdmso]

Originally Posted by bassballer

Skishing always seemed like way to much work.

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by piemma

Years ago 3 of us had blue sharks all around us at Deep Hole. We were way out on the bar and each of us had a couple of bluefish/bass on stringers. I remember Mikey Bagalini throwing bluefish at the sharks as we backed up.

That will definitely increase the pucker factor, even if they are only blue dogs.

[DZ]

Make believe Quint is talking to a skisher.

[Thumper]

I snorkeled a spot I fish two years ago with my brother. We were pretty close when he tapped me and pointed over my left side. I turned to see a 5 - 6 ft. yellow eyed shark with a very tall dorsal fin that I later learned to be a sandbar or brown shark. Needless to say I was extremely nervous as the shark was between us and the shore but it just kept going like we weren't there. We bailed after that. I have been snorkeling with sharks before but there was something about this one that bothered me. I think the fact that it was so close and I never saw it coming was what rattled me. To this day my heart sometimes jumps out of my chest when I wetsuit this area. There are sharks out there, more than people are willing to accept but at they end of the day they will usually leave you alone. Towing dead, bleeding fish in with you will certainly draw unwanted attention.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

No way in hell i would skish. I'm a good enough swimmer to save my ass that is about it. I give credit to those that do it but i don't think it is necessary to catch fish. Our sport is dangerous enough in many of the places we fish. Floating around like a bobber doesn't do it for me.