Dreamin' About Fishing Season!

Hi, there fellow fishermen.

Welcome to SHORE11.ORG, All Things Green Down the Shore for Jim’s Jersey Fishing News and much more.

"Jim's Jersey Fishing News" with Jim Shaffer

SHORE11.ORG, All Things Green Down the Shore offers up to date news, blogs from a variety of different viewpoints, useful access information and thought provoking features. Our passionate bloggers include:

Margo Pelligrino, NJ's "enviro-celeb" paddles and talks to groups all over the east soast. Margo puts her money where her mouth is. She has paddled thousands of miles in spupport of ocean issues and her blog is filled with her ocean bound adventures, strange sea tales and unique sea level point of view. Kids love her, too.  My three nieces attended an event Margo spoke at last August. One of them said,  "She is my role model." So long, Hannah Montana!

We also have Bill Wolfe, a veteran reporter and environmental barracuda who knows these waters. Bill will write an insider's view of New Jersey's environmental issues: policy, media, and politics. Bill pulls no punches when it comes to breaking down the issues like few can. Teachers should use his columns to show future environmentalists how you CAN make a difference.

John Weber is the Surfrider Foundation's East Coast Regional Manager assisting chapters from Massachusetts to New Jersey. John is a life-long New Jersey resident who spends summers in Beach Haven, NJ where he learned to surf and scuba dive. John knows the Shore and surfs on weekday mornings. Lucky John, huh? John covers issues that impact the Jersey Coast.

Jim under a Jersey blue sky.

They are giving me me the opportunity to use the website to promote environmentally conscious fishing. I'll also provide you with useful information reliable fishing reports, along with news that touches everyone that loves the Jersey Shore. Please visit us often and use us as resource to help you stay informed about protecting our beautiful natural resources so we can enjoy them for years to come.

Jim with a short Sea Bass that went right back.

Fishing is important to many people and cultures from around the world. If you walk on a subway train with a fishing pole in hand, you will be greeted with the warm smiles of many nations. Faces of every shape and shade will turn up a little around the corners of their mouths and eyes will brighten. Bring a fishing pole into a bar and everyone will stop by at some point to ask about pole and for some to share a fishing memory of their own.  Trust me I’ve done it. They will ask.

Give a fishing pole to a dedicated environmentalist and you have some morals dilemmas that need to be addressed.

I am not perfect, but I have a code. I try to never kill what I don’t eat. I speak up when guys keep short or out of season fish on party boats. I abhor littering and industrial pollution, habitat degradation and over-fishing. I believe respecting the ocean and treating her like a friend, not like a toilet.

But each spring, I dream of the first true tug on my line of the new season. I catch and release a whole lot of fish each year, but I eat some, too.  More than a few.

This fishing column hopes to stoke your fishing weekends with useful insights, a reliable resource for bait and tackle, boat ramps, tidal charts, ocean satellite readings, recipes, gossip, fishing pictures and tall tales of the sea.

Thanks!

Jim Shaffer

To read Jim's older blogs, CLICK HERE

To view Jim's documentary short film "Adventures of The Urban Angler"  Click Here