I went out this morning and started in Surf City. Saw a few fish caught and met up with John, Ed and Carmen. John had a 35” first cast. Moved to north beach for a little while then back to Surf city and picked up Carmen. Tried in Brant then took the road back to Beach Haven. It was almost the same spot as Fridays massacre. Carmen and I watched his rod jiggle a little. He said “come on take the bait”. I looked a my rod and saw a very limp line, it took a long time to pick up the slack and lo and behold I came tight on a fish. Had one more fish ( no pic) and released in the wash.

Bill Bond, Carmen Bufardeci, Pat Presutto and I (Glen Minor) hit the beach today on the 1st day of May. Eight Stripers in total were landed – a few under, a few over and a couple of keeps.  What a day on the sands!

Glad I joined VHFC. Went fishing with Glenn, Bill and Pat today. We had a great time fishing the surf with Clams.  Fished from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. We beached 7 or 8 Stripers. Just flat out fun time today. Thanks guys for all of your help!

First striper of the year. It’s been a tough one so far, but I was finally able to hook and land a striper. Hopefully a sign of things to come.  Fished with fellow members Glen, Carmen and 006-7/8. Already looking forward to the next trip out. Measurement was 27”

Bill and Glen both had keepers, Carmen had an over. Numerous other fish caught also.

On Thursday, April 23rd I headed out to a wreck in 75ft of water and caught just 2 shorts with a chilly 49 water temp. We then headed toward Garden State South and stopped at 2 wrecks along the way. I caught 1 keeper and a couple of shorts. We eventually moved to the reef where my crew caught 4 more keeper Tog – two went 18″ – and a small number of shorts. That’s future club member Bob with his two fish. Too bad the season will be closing soon and the immediate forecast is rough seas!

New Junior Angler member Gaige Grant (Glen Minor’s nephew) caught his first keeper tog at the fuel dock behind the lighthouse in Barnegat Light yesterday May 15. Gaige’s fish went 16 3/4″ and hit a green crab on the afternoon tide. BTW, great photo clearly showing the length!

Today was the day for Bill Bond. Here is Agent 006 7/8 incognito holding a keeper Bass measuring just over 30″ caught at Graveling Point. Bill is on the Board of the Village Harbour Fishing Club. Way to go Bill!

I went Striper fishing this morning (4/15) with fellow anglers Pat Presutto and Billy Bond at Graveling Point. I caught my first Bass for the season at 30 7/8″ just under the 31″ throwback length. Bill also had a Bass that went 30 1/8″. Great weather and two keepers!

Today April 14, 2026, I joined 4 other VHFC members at Graveling Point to try our luck off the sod banks. It was a beautiful day and we spent the first two and a half hours of it swapping stories and enjoying each other’s company. Around 10:30, the conversation was interrupted by a hit on one of the 7 or so lines we had in the water. I was instructed to grab the pole and have at it. After a brief but exhilarating fight, I landed the 31 1/8” inch striper as seen in the photo. FIRST ONE EVER! Just my luck, it was an eighth of an inch oversize, so back into the water it went. Regardless, it was an experience I’ll never forget!

I’m deeply grateful to Glen Minor, Bill Bond, Pat Presutto and Phil Kaplan for their encouragement, generous support and advice with helping me achieve this goal. I also want to thank the Village Harbour Fishing Club for helping me learn the ropes when it comes to saltwater fishing. Trust me, this is only the beginning as I’ve got a lot more to learn and a lot more fish to catch.

I fished Barnegat Beach last Wednesday, March 24th. I wanted to fish Graveling Point, but I would have missed the high tide.  At BB, the high tide was at 2:40 so I fished Bloodworms from 1:30 to 3:30.  Besides the 30+” keeper, I had one other bite before having to leave for dinner. Great start to the season!

On March 5th, Weighmaster Pat, Money Man Jerry, Bayside Dave, Secret Agent Bill and Even Chuck joined me in a knot tying seminar at the Lacey Township High School Fishing Club. We were invited by Jeremy Muermann (runs the club) to do this seminar and help with educating the students in the club.

We spent the afternoon teaching the students the art of tying the Clinch, Uni, Dropper Loop and Double Surgeon knots. Time was also spent showing the difference of various lines and the need to use different knots based on the line material and purpose of the knot.

Just like our experience with the Battle on the Beach, I think we had just as much fun (if not more) than the students. What a great bunch of kids! Special thanks to Dave Etelman, Pat Presutto, Jerry Nichols, Bill Bond and Chuck Dishian. Everyone donated time and material to make this event happen.

Next week we take this show to Southern Regional High School. Can’t wait!

They say the only thing better than owning a boat is having a friend who owns a boat.  I’m not sure this applies to snowbirding but it worked out well for us last week when we bugged out of Wintergeddon NJ and went to Long Key, FL to visit our friends, Kerry and Loretta Stephen.  Kerry tows his 28’ Egret CC down there each winter.  Timing for our get-away was perfect and weather conditions nearly ideal.

I was able to spend four straight days out on the water with Kerry who introduced me to Florida Keys fishing.  Primary targets were Mangrove Sapper inside and Yellowtail Snapper fishing reefs outside.  We also spent a half day trolling for Mahi and Blackfin Tuna.  Conditions were a little rough and we weren’t able to cruise out to the prime fishing grounds so we came up empty.

We ended up having to reschedule our return flight due to the storm and found ourselves stranded in paradise.  It gave us the opportunity to explore Key West, a unique place.  Happy to be home but very likely to return.

I know from friends and neighbors that the winter of 2026 has been brutal! SWFL (Cape Coral) has also had its coldest winter in 15 years. No sympathy needed but for three weeks we had temps ranging from 40 – 60 degrees and it definitely put the fish bite on hold! Well, that ended 10 days back and we are back in the 80’s and the fish are feeding.

I went out with the only guide I fish with here, Captain Mike of Dragonfly Charters for some fishing in the mangroves. The keeper Redfish (Red Drum actually) was a perfect slot at 24″.  The Spotted Trout shown was my over at 21″. You are allowed three from 15 – 19 with only one over 19″. My other two fish were 18″. Rounding out the catching was one Sheepshead and one Blowfish!

Special outing for me yesterday (12/7) joining Dan’s wife, Cindy, her son, Joey, and his friend Scott on the Ludwig’s boat to chase striped bass.  My last time fishing with Dan was doing the same thing with him and Joey almost exactly two years ago.  Dan was an avid fisherman and VHFC member who passed in March, 2024 leaving us too soon.

With sparse and frankly non-motivating reports to go on, we decided to head out Saturday morning and explore.  We immediately ran into birds at the mouth of the Barnegat inlet so stopped to throw topwater and shallow swimming lures but nothing happened and we had to move on.  Weather was cold but winds were mild and ocean conditions good so we headed north cruising up to Seaside before seeing any real signs of life.  Up there we encountered a much-diminished fleet (thank goodness) but it included notable charter boats including the Miss Barnegat Light, Super Chic, and the Mary M IV.  Boats and bunker were pushed in close to shore on the south side of Seaside and Joey nuzzled us in just to the north of the loosely packed fleet. 

I quickly had a striper slapping my doc spook but didn’t hook up.  We tried a variety of plugs and jigs and I finally connected with a chartreuse swim shad catching a fat 31” keeper.  Joey switched over to the same and hooked up about 10 minutes later.  After that nothing so we decided to try trolling.  Joey worked a relatively short stretch at the southern end of Seaside trolling high-low Mojo’s and we caught an additional five fish with Cindy landing two of them (her first stripers!).

After a cold and challenging but great day we headed back to the docks.  I feel sure that Dan was looking down, happy and proud.

Monday, I went out with Tim Naples and his friend on Tim’s boat “Navigator.”  Striped bass were the day’s target.  We left at 6am and went out through the Little Egg Inlet.  Heading north along LBI and not seeing any action, we went past the Barnegat Inlet and started seeing other boats.  We didn’t start marking fish until we got in front of the Ferris wheel.  Tim was the only one who pulled up a bass while the three of us were jigging.  It was oversized, so we had to let it go. 

After a couple hours of marking fish and jigging, with no takers, we started trolling with Mojos and umbrellas.  We ended up boating 9 stripers – 6 overs, 1 under, and 2 keepers.  We called it a day and headed back around noon.  I only took one photo that day of Tim with one of his catches.  I always have a great time with Tim and his buddies, and really appreciate the invites.  I’m looking forward to more good times on the Navigator next year!

I was invited to fish with member Drew Kraycirik and neighbor Anthony aka Rig a Tony for Tog and Stripers. I knew Stripers had been recently scarce from Larry Leary’s latest report, but we thought we would give it a try.

We started at the north jetty for Tog, but conditions were very difficult to fish. We then headed outside the inlet and found birds working but no fish were on them. We tried a wreck off the BI reef but also had no luck, so we returned to the north jetty. The south wind made fishing difficult sending waves broadside into us, but it was fishable. We had to weed through many shorts to get our 6 keepers. Still a good day on the water!

The Jen-Jen headed out of BI with me, Brian, Tyler, Sean and Bryson searching north for stripers. There was a large fleet off the beach. We caught one throw back and then decided to try some tog fishing.

We wound up going to GSN but most wrecks were occupied but we did get several keepers. We then received info from a friend at GSS, so we headed there. Unfortunately, the bite must have turned off and then the south wind started to kick up.  So, we decided to head back north running the beach.

Luckily, there were large schools of sand eels and plenty of bass. We kept two plus a slot and we released a lot. Great day on the water with my family. They’re headed out again today. Looks like the bass are here!