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00:00I'm Nick Hanushevsky as a professional saltwater fishing journalist I've
00:04explored the world's wildest fishing destinations now I'm bringing you there
00:08into the saltwater underground
00:30fishing anywhere near the Northeast saltwater in the dead winter of December
00:47and January is not for the faint of heart some may say it's downright insanity but
00:52then again blackfish can make anglers do some crazy things while most anglers pack
00:58it in and wait for warmer weather to descend totog beckon like some ugly
01:03siren of the sea luring anglers to come out and weather reserved for Arctic
01:07animals I fell under the blackfish's siren song this winter and dialed up some
01:12die-hard like-minded friends to buckle down some serious class bulldog tog that
01:18moved into the local Jersey waters what we didn't plan on though was a major
01:22snowstorm out 25 miles at sea
01:28all right Jay so we're gonna go head out blackfishing right now there's two
01:36different ways to go about it with conventional setups and spinning setups
01:39can you explain the nuances of what we're trying to do here and what rod and
01:43some reels we should use absolutely you should have two different combos a rig
01:48rod and the jig rod six foot six and a half foot range fifteen to twenty pound
01:52breed three to four thousand size reel with a fast tip and a moderate bend so it
01:58allows you to detect subtle bites and then if we're basically using like dog you
02:02know whole white leggers for these trophy tog that I believe we're gonna try and do
02:06yeah you know more of a beefier conventional setup works a little bit
02:10better so what do you recommend like a seven and a half foot rod with a narrow
02:14spooled reel with a low gear ratio for torque to have the length so when you drop
02:19down a big beat like that and you get a good hook set on it you want to be able
02:23to hold the fish up and out of the piece right and stack line easily you know the
02:28first ten yards are super critical and I'm gaining and keeping the fish up and
02:33out of the wreck that's great all right so it looks like we got our jigging set up
02:37you know with the spinner and we got our conventional set up to use those big
02:41giant crabs for the big tug so yeah all set yeah well ring me up brother awesome
02:46let's go get it done
02:50when targeting blackfish in New Jersey it's always a solid bet to know the
02:55director of the New Jersey reef program as we joined captain Peter Clark on his
02:59mad hatter where he pointed the bow toward a newly jettisoned secret shipwreck to
03:04see if we could find some blackfish congregating on the recent structure so
03:10Pete tell us about the New Jersey rec and reef program since you basically run
03:13that the New Jersey reef program is one of the largest in the United States yeah
03:18so we've got 17 reef sites from Sandy Hook down to Cape May we have one up in
03:23the Delaware Bay and most of them are laying in that range from easily
03:27accessible boaters like even small boat fishermen like a mile and a half off
03:31the beach you know seagirt reefs what almost three miles 2.8 or something like so
03:35from Shark River it's five and a half miles this site is 1.2 miles off of
03:40Manisquan which is right off of this corner Axel Carlson is right back here
03:44again that's within three miles so we try to site these areas and in places where
03:50fishermen can get to right right and so how do you get the reef material that's
03:54like what a lot of people ask me questions out yeah so everything that we do in
03:59the reef program is donated we don't the state doesn't buy any material the goal is to do 10 deployments a year
04:05we're somewhere around eight this year if we use Susan Rose if we sneak it in
04:10before we'll be the first ones fishing that and the cool thing too about it's
04:16not just shipwrecks that are donated on these reef sites there's the concrete
04:20reef balls there's a bridge rubble there's the army tank units there's so
04:24much different variety from low-lying to high profile structure so tell you man
04:29appreciate you taking us out and if you're gonna go black fishing or wrecker reef
04:33might as well go with the guy who runs the program so Pete thanks a ton let's go
04:38catch some more fish all right all right now we're blackfishing I just mugged
04:43Hutch here he had his hit gonna go right in his back pocket there he is oh yeah on
04:50the jig got a rod shaker here little dude but he hit the jig right but he's going
04:57back in all right debone is on oh we got a we got a goose here man oh nicer fish all
05:06right yeah debones on the first real fish of the day there a little little white
05:12chinner beautiful white spots on them and everything that hit the regular Belmar
05:16rig there old bottom fishing rig looks like Tim's got one on it is a nice fish
05:23nice work beauty fish Tim that's beauty man you adjust as they cut you know as
05:31they're hitting you got to switch your tactics up so right now looks like the
05:35orange jig and half a white leger we started to get the bite going on the
05:40mad hatter but now it was time to come up with some larger fish this episode of
05:46Saltwater Underground with Nick Hanischewski is brought to you by
05:49Fisherman Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Island X Lures, Nick Hanischewski on
05:54Instagram and YouTube and these fine supporting sponsors this episode of
05:59Saltwater Underground with Nick Hanischewski is brought to you by
06:02Fisherman Supply, Grumpy's Tackle, Island X Lures, Nick Hanischewski on
06:08Instagram and YouTube and these fine supporting sponsors
06:11all right hutch being the editor of the fisherman magazine which doesn't make me a good fisherman
06:19good point but apparently you know some stuff right i know some stuff people don't realize
06:24that like a 10 pound tog in general is anywhere from like 20 to like 35 years old somewhere around
06:29there i mean that's an old fish at that point what's really cool what you mentioned is that
06:34in the last bunch of years what i've seen a lot of in new jersey is folks letting go of those big
06:38fish right you know i think people should be aware of how slow growing these blackfish are and how
06:43long they actually live and uh you know to to you know to give reverence to the fish when they're
06:49that that large you know yeah yeah like anything like you know 10 pounds and over generally speaking
06:55i'm releasing and i try and encourage that too and it's better to let those bigger ones go but it's
07:00really hard to not let a four or five pounder go in the box yeah yeah no those are the roasters it's
07:07the best tasting fish oh man poor man's lobster we call them right it's fantastic
07:11oh we got a rod bender here that can be net worthy nice johnny bones there's d bones with a nice old
07:23uh looks like a male nice male white swinger and then swinger got hutches on one there starting
07:31a bite with the change of the tide here look how cute is it look yeah nice work
07:38johnny bones getting it done over here
07:43look at that man another one man
07:48that's why i'm bringing d bones and huts man
07:53the mad hatter got our tog technique dialed in but we got word that the southern jersey reef
08:01sites were harboring some larger caliber fish a call to good bud sean riley said captain rob
08:07moss on the mover had some sweet intel for big white chinner class blackfish but there was one
08:13problem a major snowstorm was forecasted we played the odds and found a small weather window to allow us a
08:20shot at glory if we could battle the blizzard conditions
08:38robbie what are we doing here what's the plan all right today we're gonna go out we're gonna we got a nice low pressure we're gonna go out and hit some low line wrecks
08:47preferably wooden ones but that doesn't always matter
08:50um out deeper we're going for trophy tog big tog
08:54that's it well let's see we got on the uh spot lock right now i guess and uh
08:59maybe we'll stay on this wreck a little bit see if we can get some of those togs scratching all right
09:03yeah definitely all right this is why we're here
09:05robbie just tangled up with a pretty good one it looks like
09:12looks like
09:15yeah just kind of sitting on it huh
09:18yeah
09:19oh shawnee's on they're starting to bite right now snow's getting them
09:23oh there we go he's starting to make
09:25whoo
09:26nice work
09:28whoo
09:29there's a stab boy
09:31that is a nice chunker fish man
09:34this one's got a little snowball
09:36rob's got the iceberg here dude
09:38there's that's the type we're looking for out here that's iceberg caught tog
09:42that's a nice fat fish robbie
09:44leave it to the captain and catch a big one to start it off
09:47whoo
09:48that's six and a half almost seven pound tog
09:51that's six and a half seven pounder robbie just caught female so we're gonna let her go back down
09:57yep send her back
09:59get some bigger ones out here too
10:02got about two inches of snow already on deck
10:15oh man not gonna have a problem keeping the fish cold today
10:19alright
10:22whoo
10:23another nice one
10:25whoo
10:26that's the man right there getting him
10:29you gotta battle through the snow
10:32get some tog today in the cooler
10:34this one just whacked it
10:36it put a green crowd down to differentiate here
10:39and this one hit it a little bit harder
10:42feels like a better fight
10:44that'll keep
10:45yeah not too shabby
10:47oh yeah there's the greenie right there
10:49alright
10:50there we go
10:52already iced
10:53we're bringing them up iced
10:55what is this garbage
10:59you'll get yours
11:01you'll get yours
11:02now he's bulldogging
11:05now he just realized he got hooked
11:08yep
11:09oh yeah
11:10on the green crab
11:12came up with slush on him
11:14alright
11:16getting a little bit bigger now
11:18there we go
11:19I can't defend myself
11:23knucklehead
11:25release this little guy
11:27put him back in
11:28about four and a half
11:29five pounds
11:30going back
11:32down where it's warmer
11:34oh yeah
11:37whoo
11:38this is the secret snowball
11:40the crab ball
11:41it's gonna see Shawn's face real soon
11:43Jess just got walloped by a big tog
11:46just working the fish right now
11:48bending the rod hard
11:49that looks like a good one Jess
11:51swing him up
11:53nice
11:54whoo
11:55the couple that fishes together
11:57stays together
11:58whoo
12:00nice snowbound hug right there
12:02whoo
12:03whoo
12:04that's a better one here
12:09I might swing him
12:10ah
12:11I love his butt coming out
12:12alright
12:13time to stick
12:14to have a get it done on the mover boys
12:16whoo
12:17alright
12:18I'll lay him right down in the snow
12:20in our own homemade ice box
12:22up here with a full inches of snow
12:24alright
12:25when he got snow
12:37snowball fight
12:46getting there
12:47little male building up in size now
12:49oh
12:51oh
12:55oh yeah
12:56got the rod bend here
13:04whoo
13:05here we go
13:06let's go get more
13:07when coming to Summers Point in Ocean City man
13:10gotta make the stop at Charlie's to get the chicken fingers and wings
13:13meanwhile well Jess is claiming fish
13:15that's what we eat
13:17that's what keeps us
13:18keeps us fueled up out here
13:20whoo hoo
13:21can't beat it man
13:24wings for everybody
13:26thanks Charlie
13:28whoo
13:29Jess is catching tog
13:34wings to tog
13:36another pretty decent one
13:38keeper size but I don't think he's a trophy
13:42oh
13:44I thought he was bigger than he was
13:46little boxer
13:48little roaster
13:54looks like Sean just got waffled by a big fish here
13:57let's see how big it is
13:59alright
14:04yeah
14:05it's all worth it out here in the snow man
14:07it looks like it was now
14:08that's a nice fish man
14:09beautiful
14:10woo
14:11Johnny and Jess
14:13Jess just scored a nice
14:14four and a half
14:15five pounder right there
14:17snow blind and happy
14:19our crew found the joy in wreck fishing during a beautiful snow storm
14:23but the sweetest treat was to come
14:25as I put out a phone call setting up a meet the next day with Chef James Avery of Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen
14:32we'll see what James can do with this black fish
14:34we'll see what James can do with this black fish
14:36yo
14:38what's going on
14:39what's up handsome
14:40what's going on
14:42what's going on
14:43what's going on
14:44you got it
14:45now
14:46the snow
14:47you got it
14:48it's a hot pot
14:49and you and the salt water underground
14:50with Nick Honyshevsky
14:51up this blackfish we're stopping by the home of chef james avery who's actually gordon ramsay's
14:56sous chef on the show hell's kitchen we'll see what james can do with this blackfish
15:02yo what's up handsome what's going on you again with some blackfish man
15:10all right all right brother what are we going to do here today tell me what's happening well
15:13you told me you got some tog yeah is that what i'm hearing buddy tim went with you
15:18yep all right so you know tog is actually my favorite fish both going fishing for it and
15:22eating it uh but i think honestly the best way to prepare it for us today is just really like a
15:27really simple beer batter i learned from gordon ramsay right right the recipe is awesome real
15:32simple home style man that's it dude and i hope you're you know the people that watching your show
15:36and you know it will knock this recipe out it's super simple shows how it's done brother yeah man
15:40let's do it so uh the first thing with the beer batter is all-purpose flour uh in here i've got
15:46about a cup i like to season it with a little bit of curry powder now you can use old bay you can
15:52use cayenne paprika i'm telling you this is what i like and you can put as much or as little as you
15:56want in i do a teaspoon and a half of baking powder not baking soda baking powder salt i'm going to go
16:04with about you know a teaspoon now i'm making my batter first you want to get this give this batter
16:09time to relax once you mix the batter it's gluten so it gets kind of tough you want to let it chill
16:14you know chill out now here you want to do about a half a can to three quarters of a can here's what
16:22makes this batter recipe so good what happens is when alcohol hits the the oil what happens is it
16:30explodes and evaporates quickly you get all these little crispy bits i don't think there's enough
16:34alcohol in beer so i like to add a little bit of vodka you could use gin but really you just want
16:39that neutral spirit basically he wants you want it to resemble pancake batter okay all right here's
16:45the proof of the pudding here brother got those black fish with timmy and juicy everyone else on
16:50the mad hatter just make sure there's no bones in there so what i'm doing now is all this is right
16:56to my left is a little bit of all-purpose flour this is gonna stick to the meat and then when i put it
17:03in the batter the batter is gonna stick it's gonna help the batter glue to the the meat of the fish
17:09okay i got a makeshift fryer put together got a little peanut oil in there got it on my induction
17:15burn you can do on your stove top you just want to be around 350 400 degrees in the batter
17:21okay look at that bubbling up nice oh yeah that's it you can see that vodka is you know giving all
17:32those nice bubbles in there by the time this batter sets and gets golden brown that beautiful tender
17:38meat on the inside it's beautifully nicely cooked you want the oil like medium high so that it gives the
17:45fish time to cook so the bat as the batter is slowly setting and crisping up and turning golden brown
17:50you're giving that fish on the inside enough time let them let them hang out in the jacuzzi for a
17:55little bit some tartar sauce yeah man yeah now we just wait let that let the oil and the fish do its
18:06own thing you know how long does it generally take till they're uh ready to cook i'm gonna give it like
18:12six or seven minutes i got a little tool for that oh nice i don't use a thermometer i use a keg tester
18:21yeah and i can pierce the fish and it slides right through the fish without it like kind of
18:27i know it's done so i'm about yeah i'm gonna give it like another minute and a half so you want that
18:31sliding through the fish yeah that's pretty wild you could also do this right like hold it in
18:36it's hot you know it's done that way you're not poking ripping all these i use that mistake you know
18:45good little trick i got now you want to have a place to rest your your fish on okay
18:54this is going to allow it cool let that extra oil drain off
19:03that's it anytime something comes out of hot oil you want to season it i use it with a little bit of
19:09sea salt okay do it when it comes right out of the fryer it'll help the oil stick to it i also season the
19:17matter so there's plenty of season in there right that's it man fish and chips man this is sick i
19:24got to dip in again see what's up get a plate
19:29the fragrance of that blackfish and that yeah just that hint of curry so it's not overwhelming
19:35yeah and it brings out the flavor of that white white meat from the blackfish yeah otherwise we're
19:39kind of born you know people think of curry as like the visual of curry cheers man cheers to that
19:44that i can dig this beer and uh fish and chips that's great thanks a ton brother yeah man
19:51this is how we get it done i got uh a beer and fish in my hands so we got to give a pound
19:56cheers later guys all right that's how you do blackfish fishing is always a memorable experience
20:03but you have to admit some fishing trips burn a little bit brighter in memory throughout the years
20:08pulling on blackfish with good friends hutch and d-bones while learning about the prolific jersey
20:13reef systems from captain clark was a solid time but when you want to turn up a blackfish experience
20:19to 11 why not throw in a snowstorm with some long time friends like sean jess ed and captain rob all the
20:27while battling hand numbing temps to secure fillets for the frying pan we may all be getting older but
20:34sprinkle in a little snowfall in the inner kitten you will always come out to play
20:38that my friends is what the true meaning of fishing is all about
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