Reel Therapy Fly & Light Tackle Fishing charters

  NJBPU announced this week that all offshore wind developers building projects for New Jersey must invest directly in fisheries research as a condition of their power contracts. The state is inviting bids for up to 2,400 MW of offshore wind power and if all are awarded it will generate $24 million in research funding which could be directed toward efforts to study recreational gamefish, related habitat, and other subjects vital to the health of New Jersey's recreational fishing economy. Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA) has been striving for a decision like this since we got behind increased usage of renewable energy and the related potential of improving our fishery and waters by burning less fossil fuels. New York State finalized a similar requirement for its next round (2,500 MW) of contracts earlier this summer, so together this creates nearly $50 M of new resources for critical fisheries and wildlife research needed to advance our understanding of potential offshore win...

Recently I witnessed a fast-moving, fully involved house fire a block away from my home in the Park Place development in Tinton Falls. There was a young man inside the house at the time, and if it weren’t for a passerby running into the house and getting him out just in time, this would be a very different and tragic story. We need to seize this moment to learn from this experience and possibly prevent catastrophe and property loss in the future. In talking with my neighbors, it is obvious that many homeowners remain unaware of a potentially lethal fire hazard that could be lurking inside many of our homes. Regardless of the cause of this latest fire (which started in the garage area, the official cause of origin has not been stated yet), this incident demands attention to the original electrical panels that were used when our homes were first built.   Pretty simple, you need to go out to your garage, or wherever your electrical panel is located and open the small metal d...

Father fighting a Gator Blue with his son  Family trips are in a class by themselves. Normally, aboard reel therapy, the age cutoff is 12 yrs old, but since this was a special occasion for these folks, I made an exception. We started out with some heavy North East winds so we were unable to venture out to the bay and open waters, so we stuck to the river. Getting away from the big blues is key now to finding the striper fishing around here. Right now, the adult stripers are spawning but there are plenty of bass from 22-26 inches to be caught. They are all pretty chunky and strong fighters. Great fly rod fish, can't go too light as there are 30 pounders mixed in with the smalls. lately, depending on the flies and lines we are chucking, we are using 9-12 weight rods. These fish can easily bight a schoolie bass in half For the blues, we use a piece of 50lb test for the tippet and check frequently for abrasion and retie often. We have a separate box of "specia...

This blog was written back on  February 22, 2013.  at the time, the ASMFC had declared that the stocks were healthy and robust and that the 2011 year class was the best spawn year on record and things are wonderful. We have now arrived in 2019. Note that as of February 2019 the Striped Bass stocks have been declared OVERFISHED and OVERFISHING is occurring.  This means that adult bass are being removed faster than the stock can replenish itself.    When I started serious striper fishing back in the early 80’s it took me three years to catch my first bass. No, wise guy, it wasn’t because I was a bad fisherman, it was because there were NONE to catch. As hard as it is to imagine now, we (humans) had overfished and d epleted the stock down to almost nothing. One of my fondest fishing memories took place one early morning on the Navesink River. I saw the first silver flash behind my blue/chrome bomber plug. After thousands of casts, this little sign of ...

The topic of offshore wind development in New Jersey waters has created three main groups of people: Those all for clean, responsible, and affordable renewable energy growth, those against it for any and all reasons, and the silent majority who are waiting to see regardless of the outcome, and pretty much fine with either as long as their bills don’t rise too much.  I'd like to focus here on those who are against offshore wind development. Recently, there have been some fearful concerns being raised regarding the electromagnetic fields (EMF) produced by the submarine power transmission cables.  Specifically, there is a misleading claim that the EMF of a submarine power cable will create an electromagnetic barrier that fish, namely Summer flounder (Fluke) will not cross.  The contention is that this would affect their annual migration inshore from offshore wintering areas and ultimately lead to the collapse of an important fishery, which is clearly a bad thi...

  Capt. Paul seen poling around the shallow backwaters of New Jersey estuaries. Glad to be one of the few guides in the state that still pole and put anglers on fish.       A-typical June Jersey 30" Bluefish... great shallow water, sight casting with light tackle fishing with swimming plugs, big flies, topwater plugs and poppers...yes, and there are stripers mixed in with the blues, you never can tell whats going to happen. Shoot us a an email quick to setup your trip ASAP... it will be over before you know it. Thanks Paul paulyfish@reeltherapy.com