Escape to LBI in Angler's Journal Magazine

Today, my feature on LBI is front and center on The Anglers Journal website. It was also in the Winter 23 print issue with photos by Jessica Haydahl Richardson

If you aren’t aware of this magazine, it’s a radically departure from other fishing mags. I’m always honored that they give me assignments considering I am a relative newcomer to angling. This feature takes a look at our home, as the way of life we have known is changing rapidly. I’m thankful for getting to learn from Karl Anderson and I got some fantastic insight from Jingles Bait and Tackle, Kevin Wark, Bob Popovics and Dale Parsons.

“…Growing up on LBI, Wark started clamming for his grandfather when he was 11 years old. He would also catch and sell minnows and crabs. “You had a clam bucket and a surfboard — that was all you needed,” he says with a laugh. “This place was founded on that independent spirit of hard work and the opportunity that fishing provided.”Growing up on LBI, Wark started clamming for his grandfather when he was 11 years old. He would also catch and sell minnows and crabs. “You had a clam bucket and a surfboard — that was all you needed,” he says with a laugh. “This place was founded on that independent spirit of hard work and the opportunity that fishing provided.”

Wark has fished for flounder, Spanish mackerel, weakfish, shad, bluefish, menhaden, tilefish, whiting and even sturgeon. In addition to harvesting, he takes part in research work, prompted in part by the decline of fisheries. He’s encouraged by the tuna numbers of late, but he recognizes the challenges that the local boats face from climate change, foreign vessels and regulations. He’s one of those rare fishermen who is trusted by both the commercial captains and NOAA as a go-between. “If we don’t support the small, independent docks like this, they’ll be developed into something else, and they won’t come back,” he says. “That’s why it’s important to keep celebrating the history and culture.”