This is my 37th Editor’s Log of the 2026 season, and the 37th edition of The Fisherman for the year. Next week, our December printed monthly (#38) will arrive in subscriber mailboxes throughout the New Jersey, Delaware region, and then my weekly schedule gets a little lighter. We’ll still compile weekly fishing reports to email directly to our subscribers every Tuesday, with my regular Thursday video fishing forecast (52 weeks a year).
Since my return to The Fisherman in February of 2015, following a six-year tour of duty at the old Recreational Fishing Alliance, I’ve only missed one video fishing forecast that entire time, handing the reins to Jenni Ackerman for one week that I was in Nashville with my wife. I’ll admit, my wife Michele often reminds me of how we used to vacation together during the month of November, when my weekly deadlines lightened up a bit. But as the striped bass runs have become more and more impressive – nine or so of the last 10 Novembers – I’ve prefer to stay closer to home this time of year. Last year was a relative bust in the November surf, but as an eternal optimist I believe that vacations will have to wait just a little longer.
The weekly digital with the inshore, surf, freshwater and offshore columns – as well as tips, tackle reviews and regular news briefs – will return in April of 2027. Just remember, as a paid subscriber to The Fisherman you receive 12 monthly print (and digital version) with full access to all three editions (New Jersey, Delaware Bay; Long Island and Metro New York; and New England) and those 26 digital weekly supplements from April through November.
If you’re not receiving our biweekly emails with fishing reports and a Thursday video fishing forecast, visit our homepage and select either the E-News Signup option or update your account to ensure that we have your email address in the file. Even while the numbered digital weeklies will go on hold for a few months, we still have our weekly deadlines to deliver the best fishing news and information every week for our loyal members.
Look for the December edition of The Fisherman during the week of November 16th with our annual Holiday Gift Guide, packed with dozens of unique holiday gift ideas for the angler on your list (even if it’s your name at the top of that list!) This annual gift guide is something we’ve been doing over 50 years, and harkens back to the days of catalogs we received by mail during the holiday season.
I haven’t been on the beach much during the month of October, trying my hardest to work towards these final deadlines of the 2026 editorial season. And while we still have weekly reports, news, and a weekly video fishing forecast, my schedule should now allow me to not only chase reports up and down the Jersey Shore – just like everybody else – but hopefully I can provide better “real-time” analysis and reporting from the scene itself.
That said, I’m also working on the full schedule of seminars for the 2027 show season, with the Philadelphia Fishing Show at Oaks, PA from January 8-10, followed by the New Jersey Boat Sale & Expo in Edison from February 4-7, and the Atlantic City Boat Show scheduled for February 24-28. If you’ve got some “how to” seminar experience under your belt and might be interested in offering up some of your expertise email me at jhutchinson@thefisherman.com.
Also, if you’re interested in tackling a ‘paid’ article for 2027 to help fellow anglers to up their score in the New Year ahead, by all means drop me an email; it’s all about sharing. Word to the wise, if it takes me awhile to reply, I may be (ahem) out there making reports, rather than just writing them.
