The Fish Story
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•September 18, 2019
Big Post-Season Surf Will Remain Deadly; Bunker Balls Could Become Too Plentiful
We’re well into the post-season, and the winds are playing the all-to-ourselves spoiler. A second round of fishing-ruinous northeast windsis not only making things sloppy for boater anglers, but also…
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•September 11, 2019
Summer Skies Were a Sight to Behold; It’s a Hurricane by Any Other Name
It’s a fine time to wax back on the departing summer. I’m hallmarking it as the summer of storms – passing in a flash, accompanied by resounding thunderclaps. It offered some wild-sky looks.
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•September 3, 2019
‘Military’ Driving Is Ambush Ready; Holgate’s Same Sad Sand Story
Well, it’s that time of year when the Island dies on a dime … in a not-bad way, mind you. The season of beachiness and sun letting gives way to post-season semi-solitude, as tourist traffic bows out…
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•August 27, 2019
Joining Forces to Rally the Island; Eyes in Sky Soon Go Fishing
It was tough going from sun to unsun, warmth to unwarmth – all in an LBI minute. Day temps went from 85 to 55 as if they had just noticed a cop up ahead. So, might this mini plunge be a sign of an…
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•August 20, 2019
When ‘Game Wardens’ Make Presence Known; Pickerel Fishing Hooks Passing PETA Mom
The New Jersey Conservation Officers Association page on Facebook is always a fascinating read. It carries reports of its fish and wildlife enforcement activities. And, yes, those Conservation Police…
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•August 13, 2019
Things That Go Bump in the Water; A Cut Below the Rest at Sushi Class
Can we talk sharks … again? This chat has some local color to it, as in brown and maybe white (sharks).
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•August 6, 2019
Ugly Fish Proliferates And Attacks; Keep Rover in Mind If Celling Along
I want to offer some ink to one of our oddest marine species, a fish seen by many as the ugliest thing in our nearshore waters. I’m speaking of the northern stargazer, a bottom-borrowing creature…
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•July 30, 2019
Non-Riches Within Our Seaweeds; Sin City Gets Rained Down Upon
Seaweed has turned into pure gold in Asia, transformed by the Midas touch of eclectic Japanese taste buds. Assorted seaweeds, known asnori over there, are an essential part of every Rising Sunner’s…
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•July 23, 2019
Time Is Right to Storm Trenton as Public Trust Doctrine Bulks Up
This week I’m committed to going public with a long-festering Island issue. You’ll want to read this. In fact, over 90 percent of all LBI aficionados have long been ready to storm this matter as if…
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•July 3, 2019
When Great Whites Become Terrified Wimps; Saving Trophy Stripers for the Wrong Reasons
When it comes to oceanic alphas, great white sharks are seemingly the alpha-est of them all. Not quite. These swimming jaws of doom routinely become haul-ass wimps. It might be seen as karmic…
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•June 26, 2019
Wind Turbines Now Firmly on the Horizon; Japan Soon Returning to Its Whaling Ways
WINDPOWER COMETH: Through hell or high water, offshore wind farms are coming to the Garden State. There has been festering consternation over the prospect of towering turbines taking up precious…
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•June 5, 2019
The Un-Pretty Face of the Greatest Tick-Eater of All; NJDEP Issues Warnings About Wildlife in Transition
There’s now even more proof that opossums should be gorgeous in the eyes of tick despisers, of which our region is overloaded – both tick- and despiser-wise.
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•May 29, 2019
Clinging Jellyfish Might Be Eying LBI; When Noah’s Ark Can’t Take the Rain
The rare clinging jellyfish is the talk of the walk, especially if you walk in parts of Barnegat Bay. Since first being found in Jersey waters in 2016, the media has gone a bit mad over the dime- to…
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•May 22, 2019
There’s Nothing to Get Rabid Over; Bass Angling Takes on a Banner Air
Let’s talk rabies. I know: What a pleasant topic on such a nice day. Hey, any day is nicer than a rabies-talkin’ kinda day.
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•May 15, 2019
Heavy Metal Seniors Escape to Rock On; Jumbo Black Drumfish Are Feline Friendly
MANN OVERBOARD: Last week, two elderly men managed to slip away from their nursing home in northern Germany. Their mission: To attend the nearby Wacken Open Air, a killer world-renowned heavy metal…
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•May 8, 2019
The Beach Umbrellas, My Friend, Are Blowing in the Wind; Jumbo Bass and Blues Making a Dang Decent Spring Showing
I was dubbed a bit of a hero last summer, compliments of a highly thankful gal who was that close to meeting up with the nasty pole end of a high-flying runaway beach umbrella. And it was truly a…
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•April 24, 2019
Speak Softly When Predicting a Slow Hurricane Season; Mississippian Asian Carp to Be Deported Back to China
HEAR YE, HEAR YE: This year’s hurricane season will be slower than usual, fewer ‘canes and such. But I can’t be shouting that to the rooftops. Hurricanes have amazing hearing. If they get wind that…
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•April 17, 2019
Tall Trees Set to Take a Fall; Snakeheads Snake Into Jersey
TALL TREE CONUNDRUM: I find myself forced into a state of noncommittalness over the battle to prevent the clearing of Depression Era white pine trees impinging on the vista of officials manning the…
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•April 9, 2019
Route 72 Is Dangerous Failure as Fireline; Tinted Windowers Sidestep Distraction Citations
HELLFIRE TO PAY: Every wildfire tells a story. The recent Spring Ridge Wildfire was particularly telling in a firefighting vein. It disturbingly proved Route 72 is not the firefighting aid it had…
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•April 3, 2019
Weekend Wildfire Quite a Sight; Doing Mt. Everest for Earth Day
That was a mighty wild wildfire over the weekend. It was named the Spring Hills Fire of 2019, based on its apparent point of origin, the Spring Hill Pygmy Pines Plain. It now comes down to…
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•March 26, 2019
Neo-Traditional Medicine Reaches Gooniness; Hikers, Know If Property Truly Private
I’m having a re-rant on behalf of totoaba fish and poor little vaquita dolphin, both of which live exclusively down Gulf of California way.
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•March 20, 2019
Barnegat Inlet Might Take a Lead From the River Thames; Distasteful Diver Is Semi-Swallowed by a ‘Big Fish’ Whale
Let’s talk the River Thames for a minute. Yes, the one in London. How many River Thames are there … only one, right? Anyway, I think you’ll be excessively surprised where this is going.
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•March 13, 2019
Weirdest Boat Fishing Trip of All Time; Biggest Bass Don’t Make the Best Bass
It’s well known that many boat fishing trips are not made purely to wet lines. Anything can go down out there, including some mighty homicidal happenings. Take, for instance, the whacking of Big…
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•February 27, 2019
Saving at the Pumps for Summer Vacations; Wind Farms About to Sprout Off the Coast
FILL-UP TIME: Gas prices have sorta tanked this winter. For most lead-footed Americans, it means we can keep driving our big-ass trucks and SUVs with impunity. “Fill it up with impunity, please.”
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•February 20, 2019
Antlered Squirrels Come Under Fire During Family Day; Wooden Jetty/Wall/Groin Complex Ready to Pound Sand
Not long ago, I was asked to hype the state’s first sanctioned squirrel hunt, held last weekend at the Inskip Antler Hunting Club, Winslow Township. I balked. Firstly, I had trouble figuring out how…
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•February 13, 2019
Tide Turned on Killer Cats; 750 MPH ‘Hyperlooping’ to the Shore?
How about the Colorado man, out for a leisurely run in mountain country, being put upon by a young and rambunctious cougar? This wasn’t just a cougarly love-tap, or merely a territoriality message.…
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•February 6, 2019
Just Call Me ‘J,’ Grandmother; A Very Confused Polar Vortex
JUST KIDDING, TOM: I’m proud to have been raised on the beach, where, as a small child, the local Native American tribe would see me joyously frolicking in the foam with the sandcrabs, burying myself…
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•January 30, 2019
Grenade Catch Makes Magnet Angler Hungry; Taste of Fame for Man’s Kelp Broth
FIRE IN THE HOLE!: This is one of those only-in-America tales, weirdness-wise. I can do the story no better immediate justice than the opening sentence from an Orlando Sentinel article. “A fisherman…
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•January 23, 2019
Baiting Up for Fungusfish Fingers; When Selfies Take on an Ugly Face
FUNGUSFISH FINGERS … TO GO: Ya ever hear of fungusfish? Mark my words, you haven’t! Still, it’s becoming one of the most popular non-species fish in Europe, where it’s destined to be a surprise hit…
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•January 16, 2019
Lunar Eclipse Worth Not Seeing; Great Groin of Holgate to Soon Rise
The weekend saw the Island tally almost 4 inches of white stuff, at least in my nape of the spit. That’s plenty enough snow for the entire winter. Admittedly, I’ve grown as bah and humbugged as it…
