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Category: Great Catches
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Published: Saturday, 21 July 2012 10:29
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Written by Bob Maehrlein
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Hits: 12939
Congratulations to Matthew Ruggiero, age 7, for his fine catch of this smooth puffer fish! Young Matthew was fishing with his mom, dad and older brother Nico this past Wednesday, July 18 on their boat “Hook’m & Book’m”.
The family was fishing Barnegat Bay, near Waretown. As Dad was cutting up the squid, and Mom and Nico were fishing off the stern, something big took Matthew’s bait. According to Matthew’s mom, Nicole, “Matthew gets hooked up and starts yelling, ‘It’s a big one!’ The line was pulling very fast and his drag was screaming!”
Once the fish was finally brought to the surface, and they realized how big it actually was, Dad reached for the net and expertly scooped it up. “We couldn’t believe the size of the fish!” exclaimed Nicole.
It taped out at 18 1/2 inches and pushed the needle on the scale at L&H Bait and Tackle to 3.42 pounds. At first, they thought they might have had a record blowfish, a.k.a. northern puffer. However, upon closer examination, it was determined to be a smooth puffer. To which Nicole remarked, “Not a state record, but pretty big!”
Just one look at the picture of the smiling, young Matthew holding his prize catch will tell you he agrees wholeheartedly!
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Category: Great Catches
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Published: Tuesday, 19 June 2012 17:33
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Written by MIKE SHEPHERD Press of Atlantic City.
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Hits: 15222
One of the largest flounder ever caught "other than boat" in the state may have been in Absecon Inlet on Sunday afternoon. Phil Todd was urged by his 10-year-old son, Phil "P.J." Todd, to take him on a Father's Day fishing outing.
It sure turned into a celebration when the 42-year-old Todd hooked into a 17-pound flounder. Curt Riccardi measured it at a full 3 feet in length at Offshore Enterprises tackle shop in Atlantic City. Todd said he and his son first tried the beach in front of Harrah's Resort and Golden Nugget Atlan-tic City but did not do anything there. So Todd drove over to the area between the William "Bill" Demones Jr. Atlantic City Seawall Fishing Complex and the end of the old Atlantic City Boardwalk. Just after noon, Todd rigged a big minnow, cast it out about 40 feet off the bank and rocks there, and the doormat was taken in by the old "big bait, big fish" trick.
"She was beat," Todd said of the fish when he got it on land.
Todd moved from Cape Cod, Mass., to Egg Harbor Township in January 2000. He owns Phencemen, a fencing company with headquarters in Absecon. He fished in Cape Cod, where his biggest fish ever was a 34-pound striped bass. He said that since he started the business he has less time to go fishing. So when his son started to talk about it, he thought it was a great idea, and that's just what it turned out to be.
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