The Jersey Shore has lost another if its legends as Gene Graman passed away this week. Graman made a miraculous recovery from heart problems a few years ago, but old age finally caught up to him as the lifelong bachelor had to go into a long term care facility.
Gene was a founding member of the Hi-Mar Striper Club, and owned a series of wooden boats that resulted in his nickname of Capt. Wood. He owned a small appliance repair shop in Red Bank, where he also lived.
Gene’s only hobby was fishing, and he worked hard at that — especially at night. We met after I took over as Salt Water Editor of the Newark Star-Ledger. I used to commute from Lake Hiawatha in northern N.J. to my Mako center console berthed in Montauk, but decided to bring it to N.J. after moving even further away to Wall Township on the Shore. I wrote about particularly missing night trolling with large plugs for big stripers on the Shagwong Reef rip, which had produced many lunkers including several 50-pounders.
Gene sent a note inviting me to join him in fishing a similar rip in N.J. even if it was over sand bars rather than rocks and kelp. With the ebb tide roaring past Sandy Hook to meet the ocean swell, there was a crashing rip that Gene worked with his wooden skiff which could safely handle the breaking waves if he got sucked in too far. He used lighter conventional wire line tackle and smaller plugs, but it took the same skill to get the lures in the right place without being blasted by a wave.
The bass were of mixed sizes, but I was surprised to catch two of 32 and 36 pounds which took quite a bit of time to fight against the fast current while avoiding the breakers. Big bass weren’t common in N.J. at that time, so this was a revelation. Unfortunately, I never caught such large bass at night in the rip after that, though there was usually good action with little competition.
Storms and channel dredging changed the nature of that fishery, and Gene switched to drifting sandworms and small eels through what had come to be relatively mild rips.
Gene was also a master of working eels in Ambrose Channel during the fall, and moved his boats down the Shore to run off for Mud Hole school tuna chunking. He ordered the last wood boat constructed in Raritan Bay. The aptly-named “That’s It” was a very seaworthy beauty, though no longer practical when the builder closed his doors and there was no one left to winterize it. Gene ended up resurrecting a “go fast” boat, but had to sell it after realizing that he wasn’t able to maintain it as he grew older. He had always kidded about wanting a Viking funeral in That’s It with the boat set afire and headed out to sea. but that wasn’t to be. He did leave behind a legacy of information about striper fishing which he freely shared with other anglers. I’m sure Gene is exploring heavenly fishing grounds now – and surely will be remembered among the greats of Raritan Bay fishing.
A gale watch is up through Sunday afternoon. Saturday starts with SE winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 35 in the afternoon.
Tight Lines 