Thank you so much for this video. It’s very well put together, thoughtful, and feels delightfully sincere. As a kid I always thought of the Raritan river and bay as a polluted wasteland, and I guess for a long time it was. But as an adult I’ve come to find that it is actually a thriving ecosystem on the rebound, and fished for strippers for the first time out of the Highlands a few years ago. On our way back to port I saw a young guy offloading baskets of clams off of his boat, and it hit me like a ton of bricks, we still have real industry, traditional industry, in New Jersey. Ever since seeing those clams being unloaded, I’ve come to learn of just how thriving of a fishery the bay and jersey shore historically were, from oysters to pound nets. Anyway, thanks again for this video, it was a real treat.
This is actually amazing to me. I grew up in Middletown, specifically Port Monmouth and as a kid we all thought the bay was polluted. We used to see condemned signs all over the bay shore. I used to fish the flats near Earl for fluke and never knew that there were clammers working that water. Had I known I might have tried to become one of them. This was in the 70s and 80s though.
Rest in peace Richie Gardner, thanks for the talks all those mornings at Schupps. Great Memories. Lots of clamming up there in Heaven.🙏❤🐚
I met Richie many times. He had so much knowledge I miss him
Thank you so much for this video. It’s very well put together, thoughtful, and feels delightfully sincere. As a kid I always thought of the Raritan river and bay as a polluted wasteland, and I guess for a long time it was. But as an adult I’ve come to find that it is actually a thriving ecosystem on the rebound, and fished for strippers for the first time out of the Highlands a few years ago. On our way back to port I saw a young guy offloading baskets of clams off of his boat, and it hit me like a ton of bricks, we still have real industry, traditional industry, in New Jersey. Ever since seeing those clams being unloaded, I’ve come to learn of just how thriving of a fishery the bay and jersey shore historically were, from oysters to pound nets. Anyway, thanks again for this video, it was a real treat.
This is actually amazing to me. I grew up in Middletown, specifically Port Monmouth and as a kid we all thought the bay was polluted. We used to see condemned signs all over the bay shore. I used to fish the flats near Earl for fluke and never knew that there were clammers working that water. Had I known I might have tried to become one of them. This was in the 70s and 80s though.
Rest in peace Richie Gardner :'( screw covid
Clamming within sight of the nuclear submarines. What could ever be wrong with the bay here??? Oh my goodness. Radioactive clams.