My Home Waters

The diversity in my hometown of Point Pleasant Beach is a saltwater fisherman’s dream. I was a bike ride or walk away from the Atlantic Ocean, Manasquan Inlet, Manasquan River, Point Pleasant Canal, and Northern Barnegat Bay. Prior to beach replenishment, I was at the southern point of Jetty Country. We used to live line herring in the Spring and bunker in the Summer to these jetties religiously. My first striped bass was taken on the fly in the Squan near Hully Gully. This was a little spill way that came out of the Manasquan River Country Club and dumped into the river. We used to keep killie traps back there to load up the livewell at Kevin Bogan’s Bait and Tackle for fluke bait. The fish took one of the first patterns I learned to tie which was Bob Popovics’ Surf Candy. My variation was comprised of size D Gudebrod ice blue metallic rod wrapping thread and a chartreuse rabbit strip. Its not something I would ever tie today but I might have to for nostalga’s sake.

As I got older my fishing grounds are primarily in the Catskills for wild browns and RI for my saltwater fix. I enjoy chasing albacore and bonito from the rocks and dry fly fishing to brown trout the most. Fishing both single hand and two handed rods is my focus when targeting fish on the fly both fresh and salt. You can check out my articles to see more about that.