The Fish Story
-
•May 9, 2022
Within Bay Mud Lurks the Rarest Fangs on the Planet; A Lone Star Tick Bite That Carries Vegan Aftereffects
It’s odd the way nature worms away some of its most stunning accomplishments. Take for rather ugly instance … bloodworms. Their metallic fangs make them one of the most unusual creatures on Earth…
-
•May 3, 2022
Amphibian Week Has Snuck Up on Us; When Les Turned Butterknives Into Lures
Next week is Amphibian Week, running from May 1 through 7. Yee-ha, right? It’s a perfect time to shower some extra love on that pet toad of yours.
-
•April 23, 2022
Long Beach Island Gives Birth to a Baby Island; Rollicking Winds Won’t Give Anglers a Fair Break
Check it out! Long Beach Island is apparently giving birth to a brand spanking new island. It is emerging, baby-like, oceanward of Little Egg Inlet, off Holgate’s far south tip. It’s so adorable –…
-
•April 7, 2022
‘Tis a Complicated Thing, the Whipping Wind; Time for Cursing to Take a Permanent Break
ALERT: This Thursday evening, a New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council decision will be made on 2022 fluke regs. You can take in the live 5 p.m. proceedings at state.nj.us/dep/fgw/mcnclmtg.htm. Once on…
-
•March 30, 2022
Hang Tough, My Blueberry Bush Family; The Vernal Ponds Are Overflowing
Here’s hoping that wasn’t a killer freeze we just shuddered through. Areas of the Pinelands bottomed out in the terrible teens. Just think of how cold it would have been without global warming. But…
-
•March 23, 2022
Teaching a Goldfish Driving Skills, Bringing in a GE Billion Mosquitoes
In my lifelong pursuit of the weird, very few finds are weird to high heavens. Such is the case with a news story out of Israel that might qualify it as biblically weird.
-
•March 21, 2022
Decelerating to Reduce Poundings at the Pumps; New Law Makes Bicyclists Rulers of the Roads
“We Did It Before And We Can Do It Again … we’ll win!” was a World War II rally call. It eventually became the theme of cheerleaders at my high school. Now might be a fine time to call it back into…
-
•March 14, 2022
First Chirps of a Nearby Spring; Scalloping Could Be Getting Spacey
In pre-spring times like these, it’s little things that first hint at warming times ahead, as wildlife reappears, either emerging from winter siestas or winging back in a migratory fashion…
-
•March 8, 2022
Temperature Swings Like Never Before; When Grocery Cashiers Silently Attack
For global warming devotees, this winter has shown all the symptoms of climate change. That isn’t hard since virtually anything the weather does – good, bad or utterly in-between – falls perfectly…
-
•February 25, 2022
Studies Prove Plants Are Screaming to Be Heard; State Bag Ban Could Have a Doggy Downside
I HEAR YA, HOLLY: Imagine, if you will, standing alone on the 50-yard line of a totally jam-packed stadium, something like the recent Super Bowl scenario. Don’t get nervous, this is profoundly…
-
•February 20, 2022
Ticks Are Bloodsuckers for All Seasons; Wildlife Smugglers Come in Large and Small
One warm day and the ticks do play, as evidenced by crawlers on my pant legs during last week’s 60-degree weather. Per those who study such things, anything over 35 degrees spurs those eight-legged…
-
•February 3, 2022
Islanders Must Be Rough and Really Ready; Melting Butter for Lobsters a la Scaffolding
That blizzard blew – which is a good thing. Like the previous storm, it never caught up to the hype. The snow totals, reaching Island high points of 15-plus inches, mainly in and around my house and…
-
•January 26, 2022
Even Skinny Islands Have Their Leeward Side; How Soused Feasters Named Tuckerton
LIKING LEEWARDS: Taking islands as a worldly whole, most sport a windward and leeward side. The lee side is frequently where the fun is, so to speak. Cities take shape thereabouts due to, well, their…
-
•January 20, 2022
No Fear of Blood Freezes for Winter Flounder; Island Foxes Take Part in Revolutionary War
That was a pretty good gale we just had, though it was more forecasting fury than actual sky fury.
-
•January 15, 2022
A Little Coyote Chatter Never Gets Old; The Eagles Have Landed Again and Again
I was actually talking to myself, though I’ll also aim an equally sincere “Welcome back” toward all y’all – and anyone else who stumbles in here for 2022.
-
•December 27, 2021
When Road-to-Nowhere Almost Led Somewhere; Taking a Year to Stump for Striped Bass
I’m heading into my semi-vacation mode, as The SandPaper semi-shuts down until early January. For me, the break means time well split between beaches and the outback – camera and metal detector in…
-
•December 20, 2021
Picking Perfect High-Flying Gift for Anglers; When Striper Decline Is What Nature Wants
Many Christmas columns back, I wrote about a lady who called me, desperately seeking my input about a gift she wanted to get for her hubby. I first figured she was another struggling shopper…
-
•December 8, 2021
About That Smile on Snowy Owl’s Face; Anglers Tend to Churn Things Up Year to Year
It’s hard to believe it has been an entire year since a year ago … as in right about now. If that makes thorough sense to you, you’re likely a regular to this column.
-
•December 7, 2021
Those Bites Aren’t What You Think; Scallops Surge Out of Budgetary Sight
SPIDER SCAPEGOAT: Let’s have some fun and talk about winter bites, itches and rashes. I’ll begin by relating the worst midwinter skin outbreak I have ever seen. It came about when a highly…
-
•November 25, 2021
The Odd Affiliation of Gulf Auctions and Windmills; Autumnal Striped Bass Remain Big on the Three ‘B’s
When it comes to us Earthlings possibly allowing the planet to die during our watch, I’m genetically inclined to be upbeat, clinging to a live-long-and-prosper attitude. I vow that we, as a global…
-
•November 15, 2021
Shopping the Shore for Good of LBI; Why We Have to Ferret Out Veterinarians
CLAUS FOR CONCERN: This entire hubbub over hellish gaps in the holiday supply chain of holiday goods has me, along with a boatload of others, detecting an all too convenient act of reaching early…
-
•November 1, 2021
The Wicked Weir of the North Strikes Again; Lonely Fading Away of Holgate Rip Bass
The Wicked Weir of the North just claimed yet another victim. Those submerged jetty rocks at the east end of the North Jetty at Barnegat Inlet ruined life for a very sweet sailing vessel.
-
•October 26, 2021
Woman Bombarded From the Sky; Migrating Mullet Make Final Run for It
Loads of fishy stuff below, but first a bit of free-falling freakiness.
-
•October 17, 2021
A Grain of Salt and the Almanacs; Normal Winter Would Present as Hot
Well, that there was some kinda blow. All told, it was well over 96 straight hours of honking small craft advisory-grade northeast winds, coming in at 20 to 25 mph with higher gusts. Such a…
-
•October 6, 2021
When Excuses Fly Over Having No Permit; Give Thanks to Possums Before They Pass
BEACH BUGGY BANTER: It’s the season of excuses for those driving beaches without a permit. I’ll offer a quick excuse primer. And nobody knows the babbling explanations I’ve heard over the decades.
-
•September 30, 2021
Pescatarians Get Month to Themselves; You Won’t Believe My Fishy Marine Band
I joyfully admit I fully flubbed one of my fall predictions. I had prophesied a busy-ass September on LBI, almost on par with summertime times, based on last year.
-
•September 22, 2021
Black Flies Take Over the Island
SMALLER IS NEW NORMAL: Over the weekend, a national news broadcast ran with a catchy story that the world’s fishes are getting smaller, literally littler. The story was almost singularly predicated…
-
•September 21, 2021
Time to Go All ‘007’ on Invaders; CHANJ Seeks Creature Continuum
Today’s theme: If the Chinese can do it … why can’t all y’all?
-
•September 13, 2021
Summer Takes the Long Way Out; It’s Tougher Being Green on LBI
Like old soldiers, summers on Long Beach Island don’t die, they just fade away. Having soldiered through over a half century of Island summers, I have seen the departure of the sunny season morph…
-
•September 7, 2021
It Gets No Louder in Nature; Dining on Undivine Seafood
I finally got an earful of what was earlier hyped as a break-out year of “Brood X” 17-year cicadas, what we simply called “locusts” back in the day. That earful led me to investigate nature’s…
