How time flies…. I remember in 1996 having a beer with a friend of mine talking about creating a site dedicated to fishing in NJ. As luck would have it, he told me one of our mutual friends was building websites for businesses and could probably help me out. I met with Simon a few weeks later told him what I wanted, gave him a bunch of documents and ideas and off we went.
We launched the site in 1997 and all we heard were crickets. Back then, there weren’t a lot of people on “the Web” and it was just about the time when dial up Internet Service providers like AOL were going main stream. Remember this sound, the dial up modem
https://www.freesound.org/people/Jlew/sounds/16475/
I’ll never forget the first post on the message board either…. It read “Is anyone out there”?
Around 1999 we started getting a decent amount of traffic on the site and I remember going down to the docks all over NJ trying to get some charter and party boat owners to advertise with us. Needless to say, at that time most didn’t understand the internet. One Captain I approached told me “You’re crazy… No fisherman is going to go on the computer to read about fishing, get off my boat”!
20 years later we’re still here and going strong, that same captain became a sponsor with us and it’s been a hell of a ride. I’ve met a lot of great people here, many who’ve become lifelong friends. I’d also like to think we’ve helped more than a few businesses along the way and we continue to do so. The thing I’m most proud of is all the people we’ve put together and the outpouring of support here for our fellow fisherman, especially in their times of need.
So to celebrate 20 years, I’d like you to look back and share some of your memories, pictures and experiences on the site and with our community. Everyone who shares a story on this post will be entered into a random drawing and I’ll select 10 people to receive some NJFishing.com gear.
If you’re a sponsor here and would like to donate a drawing prize, please let us know. I will list them in this post as well as a link to your site.
Let me prime the pump with a few things and some pictures that might spark some memories.
- Tales of Fireball “he did me bad”
- Bill would start every post “ just got back”
- The Phantom Fishermen
- King of the Knoll, the Clam Man, Inkjet John
- Swallops!!
- Ice fishing party
- Our first Christmas party…. All 5 of us
- A visit from Tuna.com Dave, Paul and Sandro for our Sandy Fund raiser
- Sites been hacked. It’s back up….. Ooops it got hacked again.
- The old message board, one big forum….
- The new message board and a fresh water section too Andy S
- The RFA fishing trips or should I say boating trips
- PUOSU
- NJF Tuna Trips
- 911
Lastly and most importantly a tip of the cap to all the people who have supported the site along the way. Our loyal sponsors, our webmasters Simon Bula and Mike Tese, of course our past and present Moderators Buckshot, River Rat, Andy S, Joey Dah Fish and the Charter Master LAB, Mike Wells (RIP).
My sincere appreciation to all who visit here and make this community what it is. Thanks for your contributions to the site, supporting our fellow members and sponsors and I look forward to hearing all your stories and seeing some old pictures.
Cheers!!
