Who introduced you to fishing?

[Denlon]

My Dad- We lived in Little Silver between the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers...About 5 miles from the shore.

He had me out in the back yard with a fly rod in my hand when I was only about 5 years old. Then practice at Garvey's Pond in Navesink, and Mohawk Pond in Red Bank. Then on to the Gorge for some hands-on trout fly fishing the next Spring.

That was followed by Fluke fishing off the old Long Branch Pier about 1948. My first flatfish was an exceptionally large Sundial that was jigged from the L-Shaped corner of the pier using a strip of Sea Robin tail as bait. I couldn't reach over the top rail so I had to poke the Calcutta Bamboo pole between the middle and top rails to fish.

Then on to Weakfish & Croakers off the beach in Sandy Hook (This was in the late 40's & early 50's so both of these fish could be routinely caught in the Jersey surf.) My favorite was fishing for Blackfish off the old Takanassee Jetty using "sand Bugs" (mole Crabs) as bait.

When I was about 10, I graduated to plugging Stripers off the Sea Bright & Long Branch surf in the Fall.

Those were the days!

Denny