On Fathers and Fishing: Generations of Shapiros ‘With Saltwater in Their Veins’

Patrick “P.J.” Shapiro held his first fishing rod at age 1½, a foot-long pole his dad Matt bought from Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven. The father and son, now 9, fished Holiday Lake in Manahawkin, near where the family resides, and P.J. – as this story of course begins – was hooked.

Really, though, the story of the Shapiro family pursuing fish from the shores of Long Beach Island begins nearly a century ago.

Herb Shapiro, now 100 and P.J.’s great-grandfather (his “Pop-Pop-Pop” or “Three-Pops”), said his father, Morris, was…