It’s the first day of November as I sit at my desk writing this, the final “weekly” editorial for 2022. Our weekly seasonal run comes to a close as this week’s online edition is #37 of 38 issues on the year (our December edition is #38 and goes to print on Sunday, November 20.)
Thirty-eight annual issues in total, all geared to anglers in the New Jersey, Delaware Bay region; 26 “members only” digital weeklies, and another 12 monthly print copies. Not to toot our own horns here, but in these days of increased pricing and decreasing service, that’s a pretty significant publishing accomplishment (on top of the 52 weeks of fishing reports through even the dreariest of winter weeks at TheFisherman.com).
If you’ve ever noticed the Issue number on the cover of The Fisherman, that’s the individual issue out of a total of 38 in the year. Next to that is the word Volume, which represents the number of years this edition has been in service to this region. So, this is the 37th issue of our 50th year of fishing news and information tailored to the New Jersey, Delaware Bay region; many others have tried, and failed, to emulate that model through the years, but at the end of the day I don’t think their hearts, souls or roots have ever really been in it.
There were immense shoes to fill when I first started here back in the fall of 2002. The founder of this edition, longtime editor and publisher Pete Barrett gave me my shot after 15 years of doing freelance writing at the Jersey Shore. My first full-time job out of college was working at WOBM radio in Ocean County, before I picked up stakes and headed for the Big Apple to make my way in multimedia. Then came the events of September 11, 2001, when the world changed for everyone. Nearly a year to the day later, I dropped out of Manhattan and returned to the Jersey Shore, never really to look back again at the corporate world.
So The Fisherman wraps up its 50th year in New Jersey, while I find myself reminiscing on my 20 years in the business of recreational fishing. I’ve seen many changes along the way, some good, others not so much. Striped bass for example; growing up in Southern Ocean County in the 70s and 80s, the guys I knew who were catching linesides worked hard and slept very little. They went to Batsto or the Metedeconk to pen up live herring, and fished through the night in hopes of one good fish before work or school. We lived through cutbacks, moratoriums, banner years, lean years, epic fishing, public rallies and raucous debates, only to find ourselves in another rebuilding phase to increase spawning stock biomass.
Fishing, like life or work, often runs in these full circles.
And thus another arc is completed here in Issue 37, Volume 50, as our 26th and final digital weekly of the year ushers in a winter hiatus of sorts. We’ll continue providing weekly fishing reports throughout the winter, and you’ll still get another five glossy-covered monthly issues (December through April) until Issue 5, Volume 51 kicks off another weekly cycle again on April 3, 2023.
I have about a dozen story “queries” to look at right now for 2023; article pitches from some of the top writers in the region (my apologies for the delay guys, my arm has been in a cast). If you’d like to contribute to our 51st year of publishing in New Jersey, I have a lot of open space at this point; 38 issues worth to be exact. Drop me an email at [email protected].
But with a wee bit of time on my hands right now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going fishing.
