The two hour drive to Santa Monica turned into a four hour drive, courtesy of  ever-present Los Angeles traffic. I truly did not like LA one bit. The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard reminded me of 42 street in NYC of yester years. More bong and sex shops than anything else. Very seedy feel to the place. Bell Air and Beverly Hills were impressive only if you are into gawking at other people’s houses. We did find a restaurant that was located inside a old train car which was very cool.

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I dreaded a  300 mile drive to Las Vegas. Not only because it was through the desert but because my GPS told me to go through the downtown LA at 9AM. I was afraid that a 4 or 5 hour drive would turn into a 7 hour one. After looking at the MapQuest Read More→

in case you are wondering about the action of Edge Trembler Minnow here is what some others had to say

“The variable action of the Trembler makes it a versatile lure. The back, side and tail flash independently. A regular retrieve makes it look like a school of baitfish due to the flashing effect and S-shaped swimming action. With a dead slow retrieve, it acts like a wounded minnow. By twitching the Trembler, you can make it imitate a panicked fingerling.”

I got to say, from all the small plastic lures I tried this year, this one I was most impressed by.

I’d love to tell you that is nice to come home but the truth is, I much prefer not working

The only problem is…..food. Weird isn’t it? After twenty years of cooking you get to eat out for dozen days straight but you find out about half way through the trip that you miss your kitchen. You get sick of restaurants, fried food and ice-cream. You get to know the inside of your toilet much better than you ever wanted.

But other than that, road trips are a blast if you have a stamina for it. We decided to start our trip in San Diego , California. From there we did a quick pit stop in Los Angeles, then on to fabulous Las Vegas and then another long ride to Grand Canyon Village in Arizona.

For those us you who are considering any of these places I’ll offer some thoughts. I do have to forewarn you that your family habits and idea of fun might be different then mine, so keep that in mind.

Sand Diego was a cool town. Kind of place where I could see myself spending more than few days. We stayed in Marriott next to Gas Lamp Quarters. Two huge towers that Marriot built must have been designed by idiots because you had to wait ten minutes for the elevator. I mean, c’mon. You build the place for thousands of people but only give them few elevators? To boot, the pool must have been heated to 90 degrees making it very uncomfortable. But those were the only bad parts. We really did not spend much time in the hotel other then sleep anyway. I would do you a disservice if I didn’t mention that each of the hotels there charges $25 a day for self parking. Talking about feeling like you are back in NYC! And to boot, there were probably only few hundred parking spots if that many for thousand or more guests. If you happened to return to Marriot at the wrong time of the day you had no parking.

After an nice flight we arrived in San Diego to find refreshing 80 degree temperature and no humidity. We headed to Gas lamp Quarters for late lunch and then walked over to Petco Park to catch Padres game.

Gas Lamp Quaters really comes Read More→

While the boss is away I thought I would share some love with the West Coast!

Shout out to Albano!

As you know I start off each issue with a great fishing related quote. How about for issue 4, you pick it for me. Must have the author of the quote. Most importantly it must NOT SUCK. Best quote gets a double secret SJ prize pack which may or may not contain Lamb Sausage. Winning quote is due august 1st.
-Tommy

From Mr Charles Witek III from NY CCA

Striped bass are arguably the biggest salt water fisheries management success in our region, but there are now some problems.  In March, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Striped Bass Technical Committee released its prediction that the numbers of adult bass–age 8 and greater–will decline at least through 2015.  That’s after recreational catch has declined 65% between 2006 and 2009.  Juvenile abundance indices in all major producer areas have been turning in more indications of low spawning success in the past few years than at any time since the stock was declared recovered in 1995 (although there are still many successful spawns).  Perhaps most worrying is an epidemic of Mycobacteriosis in the Chesapeake Bay stock, which provides most of the bass to the coastal Read More→