The Fish Story
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•August 25, 2021
Turbines Are Obsolete Before They Even Arrive; Whitetail Deer Contending With Another Malady
READYING FOR TURBINE TIMES: Relatively soon or thereabouts, an array of turbines will take root off the coast of South Jersey, though not off LBI … for now. Jersey-Atlantic Wind LLC will have the, as…
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•August 22, 2021
Rays Aren’t a Bright Sight for Baymen; Whitetail Deer Might Be Viral Reservoirs
Cownose rays fly high on my list of cool summer fish to follow. That coolness was again in full flow last week with mind-bogglingly huge schools of them winging around Barnegat Inlet and, somewhat…
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•August 11, 2021
Time to Go Sushi With Cellular Salmon; When Pet Owners Tire of Their Minions
Sushi-loving diners in Callie will soon be partaking of test-tube salmon, compliments of San Francisco-based firm Wildtype. The company touts itself as “Building a better food system by pioneering…
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•August 5, 2021
A Tarpon Tale Twice Told; Rays Still Making the News
Along with swirling sky excitement, the Island’s angling community was recently blown away with word that sportsman and outdoorsman Jake Kline speared a major tarpon in the waters of Barnegat Inlet.…
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•July 29, 2021
Bunker Washup From Up Above?; Stingrays Get Cozy With Bathers
There was recently a series of either small fish kills or small fish spills, the latter from commercial vessels. Holgate had a goodly number of DOA bunker/menhaden float in.
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•July 22, 2021
New Type of Tree-Hugger Lands on Island; Eyes of Bay Scallops Launch a Lifestyle
THE ISLAND WELCOMES TREE-HUGGERS: For many moons, wildlife of a canid kind has been heavily discussed on LBI. Discussion has spawned debate over the compatibility of people, coyotes and red foxes…
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•July 15, 2021
Talk About Balancing a Beach Budget; Tesla Talking Big About Cyborg Truck
While doing my never-ending research on barrier islands, I was recently drawn to the highly functional science term “sediment budget.” Being a wordologist, I’m both intrigued and thoroughly sold on…
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•July 13, 2021
Old Barney Might Have Internal Problems; the ‘Great UFO Incident’ at Spray Beach
Getting info through state channels is tougher than overcooked calamari. All questions must go through the press department, which in turn seemingly lives by the unwritten motto “Let No Question Go…
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•July 6, 2021
My Apologies, Ming, on Behalf of All Humanity; Eel’s Meaty Appeal Belies the Toxins Within
Welcome to the jungle days on Long Beach Island, ushered in by July 4th.
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•June 25, 2021
Just When You Think You Know the Oceans; White Shark Makes a Thresher Day Greater
I have a new leader for my annual “Who Woulda Thunk It?!” award. I’ll introduce it by boldly ordering the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans to move the hell over and make way for – ta-da! –…
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•June 17, 2021
There Is No Stinkin’ Bonnicut Bridge and Bay: Muffed Up Lyrics Diss the Essential Jersey Shore
Let’s begin with some bee-bop, transistorized, LBI beach trivia fun, by taking a dive into the deepest end of our Island trivia pool. In doing so, I will nobly risk my heavy metal membership card by…
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•June 10, 2021
Perfect Island to Search for UFWTFs; Blue Holes Can Suck Life Out of You
We’ve accelerated into quite the summer feel, thanks to the purest form of solar power, though the official season start is still a couple weeks away – after which the days immediately begin getting…
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•June 3, 2021
Rain Dancers Might Have Overdone It; Your Assignment Is to Collect Meteorites
Well, somebody’s rain dance had an impact on the heavens, to the delight of farmers, forest fire fighters and frogs.
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•May 26, 2021
America in Wind War with Sleeping Giant; T-Storms Are Only Hope for Thirsty Tadpoles
DON’T READ THIS SEGMENT, SANCHO: Fighting windmills is seemingly a long-held tradition. Just ask that other hallucinatory Don, namely Don Quixote.
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•May 20, 2021
Wildfire Draws Admirably Huge Firefighting Crowd; Pine Barrens Tree Frog Most Handsome in Nation
I was in the vicinity of Sunday’s wildfire along Stage Road in Little Egg Harbor. Talk about a madhouse, though in the finest of ways. There were mustered firetrucks of every shape, size and purpose…
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•May 6, 2021
Trading in Real Intelligence for Artificial; Getting Creative With Plastic Pollution
There’s no longer a plant I cannot identify, be it your garden variety orange monarch snow crocus or, going far afield, a Pinelands rarity, like a linear-leaved ludwigia.
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•May 4, 2021
Arctic Lightning Not a Flash in the Pan; A Crash Course in Driving Killer Route 539
As our season of thunderboomers gets ready to rumble, there are dedicated bolt counters out there, geared to tabulate the exact number of air-to-ground electrical discharges across the nation and…
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•April 22, 2021
When Islanders Become Instant Colonists; Catfishing Takes on a Whole New Meaning
WE CLAIM THIS ISLAND …: Live here long enough and it’s easy to assume you’ve come across just about every Island attribution out there. It has been dubbed a seaside resort, shoreline attraction…
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•April 13, 2021
Glittering Planet Is a Cool Planet; Return of Well-Managed Stocks
My column’s word of the week is geoengineering – and it just might dim your perception of the world around you … but in a good way. Explanation needed.
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•April 8, 2021
There’s Bass in Them-There Bay Waters; Town Bugged By Eerie Bumps in the Night
RUNDOWN: Bass are trying their hardest to hit Island beaches, with a few quiet catches of shorts taken by static rodders throwing clams or, a tad costlier, juicy bloodworms, the larger bloods…
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•April 1, 2021
Turning to the Sea to Reduce Cow Belches; Big Plastic Is Playing Us Through Recycling
The two big summer beaching questions being blown my way have to do with masks and marijuana.
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•March 24, 2021
Ireland Is Getting Cranky Over an Unwanted NJ Visitor; Canada Resorts to Satellite Warfare to Go After Poachers
You’ve all heard the adage that one man’s crab meat is another man’s poison, right? OK, so maybe that rendition isn’t all that universal, but it has become quite apropos over in Ireland, where one…
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•March 18, 2021
The Woods Are Alive With Smoke; A Black Blade That Saves the Birds
It’s the smoky smell of springtime in the Pinelands, via the wafting scent of controlled burns – or, more surgically speaking, prescribed burns.
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•March 11, 2021
A Fish That Fights for Our Atmosphere, Then Does Double Duty Eating Plastics
Meet the most important fish in our world, the sardine-sized lanternfish, ostensibly named for their ability to glow in the dark via cells called photophores. However, their swim-about glow pales…
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•March 4, 2021
Gather ‘Round and Talk Some Tempests; One Wind Farm Could Tell a Mighty Tale
Since I went sorta cheery in last week’s column, I’ll shift to the way-wary side of things this week by respectfully acknowledging the arrival of March and its weather-worn Ides.
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•February 24, 2021
Herd Placebo Might Help Sink COVID; Coyote Snaring Has Folks Up in Arms
Sorry, but I must play hardball this week. Paraphrasing the song words of Julia Michaels: I’ve got issues, you’ve got them, too. Give yours to me and I’ll give mine to you. I’m alluding to tons of…
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•February 20, 2021
Whitetails Have a Hankerin’ for Dunkin’; Coyote Trapping Has Its Own Pitfalls
Got a fun truly true tale of an older gent, living on the edge of the Pines, who has created an unusually sweet bond with the deer in his backyard. As I’m told it, the fellow has some inside contacts…
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•February 15, 2021
Rise of Barnegat Light’s Zombie Whale; It Starts With Dead Bigfoots, the Devils
ZOMBIE WHALE: As the buried whale of Barnegat Light has erosionally risen from its shallow grave, I further researched ways to rid a beach of deceased leviathans – a worldwide problem, though not so…
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•February 4, 2021
Checking Out Winter’s People Presence; The Juicy Invention of the Color Orange
Not that this column ever shies away from going a tad off-topic, fishing-wise, but this week, located in the hinterland of winter whateverness, it will be bouncing far and wide.
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•February 2, 2021
Offering a Farewell to Germy Handshakes; Hoping Our Spring Bear Made the Right Moves
Let’s bid a fond farewell to the handshake, which has bowed out, giving way to the bumping of knuckles, the new proverbial fist bump. And handshakes may very well never return, especially after…
