Cermele: Big City Hooking and Cooking

Last Friday, I had the chance to fish the Manhattan Cup Tournament here in NYC. While it might seem odd to have a fishing tourney here, many people don’t realize that the waters around New York are prime striped bass and bluefish habitat, and the fishing can be pretty outstanding. Click here or the photo below to check out the latest episode of “F&S Hook Shots,” which we filmed that day.

I always get a kick out of people who tell me they would never eat a fish caught in New York Harbor. It’s funny, because so many spawning stripers come out of the Hudson River and migrate north and south, there is a good chance the striper you caught in scenic Montauk or South Jersey spent some serious time in the Big Apple. The same idea goes for any urban setting. I bet there are people who eat walleyes caught in pretty Lake Michigan coastal areas and would scoff at eating one caught in downtown Chicago. But fish travel. You don’t know where they’ve been.

So I wonder how you feel about city fish? Would you eat them? And if you knew there was great fishing in a city setting, would you keep your boat tied up there, or does the wilderness aspect play too big a role? I’m not sure if I’d keep my ride in NYC, but I can’t knock the killer fishing ops.

JC