I have officially ended the annual Do It All Night Striper Tournament. It really was a tough decision, and I want to thank the body of regular entrants that kept it alive and a great tournament for so many years. There is no one reason for it to end, lots of little things just sort of wore me out and my energy level needed to put it all together just sort of moved to other directions. One of my biggest problems is that it seemed to take more and more effort to get fewer and fewer prize sponsors. One of the big things I wanted to do is get a lot of prizes in the hands of a lot of entrants. Cash for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd is great but for a few years I had probably twenty winners take away piles of prizes from sponsors from the boating and fishing industry. And on that note I do want to thank those that have helped in the past, and believe me I am still wracking my brain for tournament ideas for the future and especially if I come up with some major sponsor and assistance I think I can pull off something great.

I would like to do just a quick history of South Jersey Striped Bass fishing during the seven years that I have been running the tournament. In the beginning early November striper fishing was about 90% night fishing drifting eels. Hence the importance of the "Do It All Night" About the time I started the tournament Surf Clams busted on the scene and became almost the dominant bait. Even though the clams are amazing night time striper catchers, they will also entice a better day time bite than eels and the day time catch rate went up. The next big move was to live finned fish for bait, especially SPOT. Mr Striper just can't seem to resist a spot and they are more visible during the day light hours. Even though stripers will always be nocturnal if you fish the inlet or back bay rips with a live spot at the top of the tide from mid-October on you will probably be rewarded with a multiple fish day. As a result I have found that fewer and fewer anglers find the need to "Fish all Night" to bring home their bass.

As I mentioned, I'm not going to use the extra time for resting, but to continue to improve all aspects of the business. First order of business is to keep the store stocked to the gills with all the bait and tackle you need. Keeping Striper Goodies in stock as fast as they go out is a full time job which takes an amazing amount of time, especially this time of year when the manufactures and the distributors are running their shows and specials for the upcoming year and I want to take advantage of the new items and special deals they are offering so that I can offer you the right stuff at the best prices available. It is great to have a knowledgeable staff that love to fish to help fill out the selection. Ray and Kurt have different fishing styles, but are both experts and together we can make sure your equipment fits the type of fishing you do as well as take care of your wallet as well as possible.

The Tournament also always took up at least three or four of the seasons best fishing days away from my "Absecon Bay Fishing Safaris", which in a way frustrated me since what I like to do best is to be on the water. My boat is running great and I am putting some new tackle on board from some of my best suppliers so we get the very best advantage in landing the big ones. I have a trip scheduled for October 10th, which will be mostly an exploratory trip since it is just a little on the early side, but I expect my magic date of October 15th to hold true and I will be booking every day from then on thru mid-December. The interest has been high already this season and the days are filling up so if you are thinking of booking a trip I suggest you don't wait.

Finally I am working with Capt. Dennis Wheeler to put the finishing touches on the fishing trips on "La Tijereta" our flagship at Parlama Sportfishing at www.FishGuatemala.com. This is really coming together as a great experience so keep looking back at the web site to see the newest developments.