10.10.26 Felt good to give it a go...

     I talked to Leif a few days ago and he said he was going to give it a shot on Friday, so I followed suit. I had found my waders, at least my stocking foot set up in the storage unit, and brought my rod and stuff up from South Carolina. It felt good to be "outfitted" for fly fishing, rather than walking around with just a rod and a collapsable stripping basket wearing tight booties. 

     I thought about walking the beach around Cape May Point but there was zero wind and it was about the top go high tide. That meant the water was probably like glass so I opted for the jetty where the Cape May Canal meets the Delaware Bay. 

      As I made my way out on the rocks I could see the glitter of rain bait as they skittered across the surface and the sun hit their scales. There was nothing in pursuit and really it was quite boring of a water to fish, but it felt good. It had been a while since I was able to air out some casts. I've gotten used to just walking around in the mud, hunting, without even casting. And when I did it was always into some type of vegetation. 

     So with no targets it was just blind casting which was fine by me. There was some tiny bait, mostly rain fish, that disrupted the calm surface. The dolphins came and went as did the boats heading out for the day.

     I stayed for about an hour before calling it a day. Theresa was waiting for me back at the ranch and I didn't want to go to the well for this. It's mid October and there was always a lull in the action during that time. It used to be you had early bass on mullet, or not, then a storm came, then the October lull, then a banner day near Halloween before the true fall run opened up in early November. Now everything seems to happen later. 

    As I left I stopped to chat with a guy who was fishing himself, just not for fish. He was Asian crab fishing in between the gaps in the jetty. I've seen guys do it before. Most go out on lower tides and flip rocks and grab them with rubber gloves or a net. Not this guy.

     He had a bag of nasty bait that he dropped down in between the rocks, let soak for a few minutes, and then scooped it up into a net. And on each drop he had about a dozen for so crabs. He uses them to fish for tog or sheepshead along the jetty. If they're big he cuts them in half, sometimes removing the claws and legs. 

     Asian crabs, or Asian shore crabs, are an invasive species that were first discovered in Cape May County in the late 1980's. They are from, well eastern Asia, and were brought to North America in the ballast water from ships that came from overseas. They can now be found from Maine down to the Carolinas. 

      The are invasive, which means not good, as when they are found, usually in big numbers, they compete for shelter and food, basically overtaking the place. But from what I hear big fish love them. 

     And today all eyes are on the first named hurricane on the 2026 season. That's Isaias who made landfall last night on the Florida Panhandle, near Pensacola. It came in hot as a Category 3 but has dropped down to a Cat 2 as it travels across the land. They aren't sure when and where

the path will actually take it but the entire southern part of the United States will get a taste, including South Carolina. Back home, they're expecting heavy rains, up to six inches, in different parts of the state. It looks like the Lowcountry could see somewhere around 3-4 inches. 

     We've missed, and will miss, the big fall weather events this year. We were down south when the nor'easter hit New Jersey last week and now are here as things go sideways back home. 

Home? Where is home even at? For the past six months we've been all over the place and we're both ready to get somewhere and stay put. It's hard to get into a life rhythm when you're sleeping in different places each week and have your clothes in a storage bin. We're not complaining a bit, as we've been blessed, we just want to sleep in our own bed and finally settle down.

10.09.26 If you're out in Cali tomorrow....

 

     If you're out in Van Nuys, California tomorrow fly fishermen and tyer, author, and friend of Bob Popovic's Al Ouattrocchi , or Al Q for short, will be holding a tribute event at the Fishermen's Spot starting around noon. He'll be joined by Kim Mutaw, who I have met at The Fly Fishing Show. They'll be tying up an assortment of Bob's most well known flies and have videos of Bob running, some of which have never been seen. 

     This event is like the one Abe Pieciak recently held last Kismet Outfitters in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. Events like this would make Bob proud as we continue to benefit for all of his contributions, and friendship, to those who are passionate about fly fishing. If you getting ready to fish the fall run no doubt Bob will be somewhere in the conversation, or most surely in your fly box.  

10.09.26 I knew that move coulda' killed me...

      So during our world wind tour back to New Jersey for the weddings, and visits, and to close up Cape May for the year I also made sure I followed up with my medical appointments. That would take me from Mt. Sinai in NYC last week to seeing my favorite cardiologist at Monmouth Cardiology in Eatontown. That's Dr. Jeff Osofsky who I first met in 2013 when my heart went wonky after a guided trip in the salt with another Doc, Dr. Ron Benitez.

      Dr. Ron and I fished the early morning in Deal on September 30th, HERE. During the trip my chest started to feel weird, which left my brain feeling weird as well. As a registered nurse I should have known better, but I just thought it would go away. After the four hour trip I headed home and figured I'd just sleep it off. By 7 pm I was in the ER at Monmouth Medical and on the monitor with a heart rate in the 160-180's. 

     They tried to control it with medication and the next morning was when I met Dr. Osofsky who stood over me explaining that he would like to do a synchronized cardioversion to zap my heart back into a normal sinus rhythm. I guess he scared me enough because as he was talking with me I converted, on my own, back into a normal rhythm. And since then he's been my guy.

     Like every other old guy out there I've been on a mix of antihypertensives and statins over the years for blood pressure and cholesterol control. I've had a few admissions for hypertensive crisis, 

worn a Holter monitor, and have been on the treadmill for a stress test. It's always, "It's all good, I'm not worried". He's kinda like my 9/11 Doc up at Mt. Sinai. when my CT came back, "Suspicious for primary indolent lung cancer", he too said, "I'm not worried". "Do I have lung cancer?", I asked, to which he said, "I'm not concerned, let's wait and see". Those are my kinda docs. 

     While I try to make sure I get into the office from time to time I've been that patient who makes excuses when it comes to getting meds refilled. They always do it but it was time to see Osofsky in person. With us moving down to South Carolina, where we have no Docs, it was good to get prescriptions filled, with refills, before we head home. I anticipated a quick uneventful visit.

      When I arrived it was the usual, height, weight, vitals, and a 12-lead EKG. Soon he was in sitting there with Theresa and I going through my recent labs and seeing how I was feeling. Luckily at Mt. Sinai last week they drew blood so I had stuff for him to review, which included my Lipid Panel, or cholesterol numbers. A year or so ago he started me on a statin, or cholesterol lowering med which did its job. My bad numbers went down and my good numbers went up. But I didn't want to be on a statin so I stopped, and just kept the Coenzyme Q-10 as part of my daily pill popping routine. Well I guess statins work because my numbers all went back in directions they're not supposed to go. Basically I've got butter running through my veins, and heart.

     When he got to reviewing my EKG he said, as usual, "I'm not worried but there's something here that's a little concerning". It was just a few lines in the upper right hand corner of the 12-lead EKG, "Old Inferior Infarct", followed by "Old Anterior Infarct vs Lead Placement". In laymen's terms that could mean a few things, it's nothing, or I had a heart attack, or two, and didn't know about it. 

      I've seen this in the hospital countless times. People come in for an acute cardiac event only to learn they had a previous heart attack. The same can be said for strokes, with old cerebral infarcts showing up on CT scan. An on my paper the word "ABNORMAL", in caps, stood out. 

     Old heart attacks, or myocardial infarctions, or MI's, are concerning, but there's nothing you can really do about it. As I sat there I had no chest pain, no dizziness, no palpitations. My vitals all checked out so there was no reason to head over the the ER or the Cath lab. But we needed to know, at some point, what the computer was interpreting. 

     There's heart attacks and then there's heart attacks. There's places in the heart not to have them or to have them. The hope is any blockage or damage doesn't affect the left ventricle, which is basically the big pump part of the heart. Well inferior and anterior wall MI's are all about the ventricles, with having and inferior MI's the better of the two. There's something called "The Widow Maker", which is a blockage or MI involving the LAD, or Left Anterior Descending artery, and that's when people have "The Big One". 

     So our return trip back home will be delayed as I'm now scheduled for a nuclear stress test. It's the definitive test, outside of a cardiac catheterezation, to see how blood is flowing around the 

heart and if there is ischemia, reduced blood flow, or infarction, no blood flow and cell death, to the heart muscle. 

     On the drive home back to Cape May Theresa and I tried to remember if I had any kind of event that we just brushed over. Have I exerted myself in the last few months? Yes. Have had some chest discomfort? Sure? Have I worked until the point of exhaustion? Well, let's see...

     To say I, well we, both killed ourselves to get ready for and then move might be an understatement. If I did have some kind of silent event it was most likely during the last six months. This easily goes two ways, I had a heart attack, or attacks, or not. No need to fret over it, the damage is done, or not. The NST will provide all of the answers. 

     So like I've always said here, early detection, and routine check ups are key. That's for men and women. That includes the prostate exam, colonoscopy, vitals, blood work, and an EKG. Basically all things done during a routine physical. The goal is to do some prevention, either by lifestyle changes or medication, before you have an acute event. And if there's nothing to be found as least you have a baseline if things in your body were to go sideways in the future, and then will.

     Don't wait until you can't pee, shit blood, have pain, or can't speak, before you get checked out. By then it could be too late to reverse the damage. Our bodies are working 24/7 and compensate for things that happen not under your watchful eye, nor give you symptoms. So for me, I'll be in the waiting room, sorta, waiting to see what the nuclear stress test says. The only thing is I left my sneakers back home in South Carolina, so I'll have to hit the Goodwill to find a pair, so I can get the treadmill speed and my heart rate up. Parts of my heart will either light up or not, but hey, like my Doc's always say, "I'm not worried".

10.08.26 Oh boy, here we go....

     Things are going to get interesting with this one. I won't take a stance, nor a side, but will report kinda what's going on with one of the legacy brands out there in fly fishing. That company is R.L. Winston and they have set off a firestorm with something they did, knowingly or not. 

     You know over the years I've addressed some of the marketing campaigns that have been introduced in and around fly fishing. They include some hot topics like race, gender, and sexuality. They've also touched on things that are, or were, going on in society, with some labeling things as "Woke". And you know what some say, "Go woke, go broke". 

     So with not knowing all of the facts here's what I do know. There is a women who is an influencer, or content creator. And part of her jam is publishing adult content by subscription. I'm not sure if she is on Only Fans, but it's along those lines. That's a platform where males and females post content, usually of sexual nature, adult stuff, where paying subscribers can see when visiting said sites. Some may call it pornography, and I guess it pretty much is. 

     Her name, maybe it's her stage name, is Lamar Gatz. I don't know much but I saw, while scrolling around social media, that she does her business along with her husband, along with others that join in. That's him in the middle, below. 

Hey, they're adults, it's adult content, there's big money to be made- like a ton, by their own admission on podcasts they say they make about $1.5 million dollars a year. It's legal, there's my body my choice, so to each their own. Searching around it doesn't take much to find images of her at work, um, that's her below.

     Did I post this for attention? No. I included it in this blog for context as to why it has added to the furor of the connection between Gatz and Winston. What could an Only Fans type adult content creator and a fly rod manufacturer have in common? Well, let me explain. 

     Like other influencers, content creators, hell, bloggers, basically their lives are an open book. So you get things across a broad spectrum depending on how much or little they want you to know. Well, it seems, Gatz wanted to learn how to fly fish. That's all good, as a sport we want more people, regardless of age, gender, identity, or beliefs, or how they make a living, in the game. At least that's what I think. We are all different. We all have our own lives, and make our money in different ways, and that can include professions that others may not be able, or choose, to do.

     So it appears Gatz did what other influencer's do. She most likely penned an introductory letter to R.L. Winston stating that she wanted to get into fly fishing and has 700,000 followers and could help further expose, no pun intended, others to fly fishing by telling her story. Sounds innocent enough, right? 

     So like any other company out there the chance to gain exposure, again no pun intended, as they fight for market share sounds like a good investment. Someone at Winston probably saw the introduction, didn't vet her much, and decided to send her out a Winston starter kit, which she posted in video format on her various social media outlets. She also has posted videos about her first fly fishing outings and even her first fish she brought to hand. While yes, those videos are stacked between teasers about threesomes and solos with sexual overtones, it's still fly fishing, and she's an adult in an adult world. Again, just the facts, not my opinions. 

     So, like about anything else, people took to the airwaves, well social media, to give their perspective on the damage this scenario could do to women and fly fishing. It, the comments, delves into the sexualization of women in fly fishing, and probably everything else out there, especially if it comes to market share and money. Let me stay this fact, sex sells, good looking people sell things, both men and women. Look at the ads and the catalogues. Ever see a dude with a body like mine selling anything? Well, of course not. 

     Now when it comes to fly fishing the sexualization, of men and women, kind of gets tampered down depending on what they're selling and where they're selling it for. Most of the time fly fishing is done in freshwater and anglers have on waders and clothes and hats etc. In the saltwater maybe not so much, but the big outfitters have done a good job staying away from selling mens Speedo's and women's thongs to wear while on the front of the skiff casting to rolling 150 pound tarpon. That's the fly rodders, the spin and gear side well they need some work. But I'm not judging.

     I'm only on Facebook but I'm sure it's the same across all social media outlets. When you become part of the algorithm for a topic you just get enrolled into all those types of feeds. So for me, fishing is part of my computer IP address DNA, so I get a lot of stuff like the above. And the more south or warmer climates you see images with anglers with less clothing on, especially from the ladies. I can picture images like these in some old calendar hanging in a tackle shop back in the 1970's but I wouldn't think they would pass todays equality litmus test, but they do. 

     As I've said good looks, sex, and sexuality sells, even in fly fishing. And that's moreso with women, unfortunately. To me good looking people are good looking people, and I like to see them, doing things I like to do. Hell, there's hot firefighters, doctors, nurses, guides, photographers, bloggers, and fly rodders out there, good for them, wish I were one of you. And when you come across beauty, male and female, and talent, they can make for the perfect storm for advertising and influencing and ambassadorship, which can led to brand recognition and sales. True dat'.

     So from all the comments I've seen out there it's kind of leading to ganging up on R.L. Winston, I guess, the real adult in the room, not the adult content creator. There's a shaming going on for that company for aligning or allowing the sexuality of a women to be brought out into the mainstream, for possible financial gain. In most posts people start off with the gist that they are not attacking the young women or how she earns her money. Fair enough. Below is just one post that I read...

     People are allowed to have their opinions and even put them out into the social media world where they will live forever. They can even choose to boycott a company, or an event, if it doesn't align with their beliefs or are offended in any way. That brings us back to the cancel culture stuff that was a big part of our daily lives just a half a dozen years ago. 

     But then, truthfully, how can you blame one without judging the other? How can you have distain for a company that is supporting a new fly fisher whose career path interferes, or is incongruent, with the image, or likeness, that one gender has worked hard to create? And then does it harm women fly fisherwomen? That's not a statement, that's a question. My respect for fly rodders, of both genders, can't be tarnished by the alignment or ads a company, that they own, chooses to do in their best interest. But I'll recap, I don't think this went down like we are seeing it unfold. It's reminding me of that whole Bud Light drama a few years back. And drama? Well that cost Anheuser -Busch about 1.7 billion dollars in North America alone.  

     So what will happen? Well it'll blow up in fly fishing circles, on social media, and in online magazine blog posts. There will be You Tube videos and most likely some kind of seminars during the upcoming fly fishing shows that kick off in a few months. And then it will go away, just like everything else does. 

      I know someone will want to hang me by my nuts on where I'm headed next. If not for the mere mention of Joan Wulff but by including a picture of her with the others that are in this post. Now Joan Wulff is one of the OG's. She's royalty in fly fishing. Style. Grace. A huge contributor to fly fishing and of course casting. And I might add beautiful, even as she approaches her 100th birthday on October 18th. 

     I found an article in Hatch Magazine published in 2013. The lead image shows a photographer catching Joan mid-cast. Now while her outfit is modest in today's standards what was that standard some 70 years ago? We all know times, people, and limits change, just look at pictures from ladies on the beach in the 1950's and then todays beach scenes. It's about enough to make you blush. 

     

     In the article it kind of leads the reader to believe that fly fisherwomen of today have Joan to thank, "...for making fly fishing hot...". I'll let you read part of it below.

     I'm not going anywhere further with this, but I will say, things evolve. Back then some may have taken offense to the pictures of Joan. Imagine how a wife might have felt if her husband had those pictures posted above his fly tying table? Might someone say that there was a hint of sexuality in between the style and grace of Joan's casting abilities? We can't punish people for being beautiful. But now we can judge, or even punish them, for what they do in on-line subscription only adult websites.

     And that to me is the end. Obviously there's no comparison between Lamar and Joan, and I never intended there to be. But if we're going to open a can of worms then let's open it, and be honest. I think in the end this was just a bad accident, two things meeting at an intersection where they collided. Winston will no doubt separate itself from Gatz in some social media admission of guilt and poor judgement while Gatz's subscription numbers will go up a bunch. But the damage will be done. She'll be shamed and asked to remove the Winston swag from her photos and videos to appease the general population, or at least those who are offended and are voicing their opinions the loudest. 

     The shame is, at the end of the day, I believe Lamar was truly excited about stepping into fly fishing and even landing her first trout. And instead of attacking her, or being repulsed by what she does for a living, maybe we should teach her how to handle a trout that's going to be released. You know the trademarked saying everyone used for a while, "Keep Em' Wet", well no pun intended. 

     But somewhere someone got offended at that possibility on how "Keep Em' Wet" could be interpreted, so, after a kinda cancel culture kicked in, it was renamed to a more accurate and fitting, "Keep Fish Wet".

     That way we would never think that the campaign to save fish from dying could be misconstrued in thinking we were somehow talking about a human being and their sexual arousalness. This is all nuts, like nuts, that you eat, not the ones I'll be hanging from after this post goes live.  

10.07.26 Took a ride out west...

      As part of our return trip we wanted, and needed, to swing by the old neighborhood for a visit and to pick up some stuff we still had hanging in the closet at our former neighbors house. It felt weird, almost uncomfortable, being within a few hundred feet where we once called home. We don't know why, but we both couldn't wait to get out of there. 

     I think part of it, at least for me, is the guilt I still have about selling it. In some deep corner of my brain I feel like I committed a crime, and got away with it. Now she's a beauty of an old house, but comes with a lot of needs, and required maintenance just to keep her status quo. I conveyed everything I could to the buyers, who seemed happy the last time we spoke to them, but, still, we avoided them, as to not want to hear, or be accused, of hiding or not relaying something they found out when they got in. 

     When we were planning on selling I came up with a date of May 22nd for it to be put on the market. I knew the house showed its best during May and spring is always a good time to sell a house. When we had our estate sale and planted our "Coming Soon" signs in the front yard

the Zestimate at that time put the homes value at over 1 million dollars. Now Zestimate isn't science, but it is something sellers and buyers use when they surf Zillow. So for us the timing was perfect and we needed to strike when the iron was hot, and we did. 

     We had sat down with a team of realtors who came up with a marketing plan which included listings, and staging, photos and drone shots, and New York Times listings. That would all happen after we had cleaned the place out and had it show ready. I told them that wasn't going to work. This house needed to go-live on May 22nd and, like I said, it would be sold in less then three weeks. They weren't buying it, so we did it on our own, and had an offer on it a week before May 22nd, and we closed in July.

     And we're lucky, well blessed, that it happened when it did, exactly the way it did. If it didn't go in May it would still be sitting for sale. Out neighbor was selling at the same time we were. We had a plan to list them at the same time thinking it would stir up a buzz and help both of us sell quickly. We got out of the gate quicker, sold it ourselves, while she went with the realtors, and their plan.

     Well last week her home, which is stunning, was featured in The New York Times, above. And the real estate market, for now, has seemed to have softened up a bit. Interest rates, time of year, New Jersey real estate taxes, could all be contributing factors. But, for us, somehow, we got it ready and sold just at the perfect time. 

     So while we sat having lunch in my former neighbors house I kept looking over to see the old house, and maybe what they had done with it. I went online and looked up the Zestimate and it's 

now down to $828,000, just about around what the buyers paid for it. You know if that number was it when they bought I don't know if they would have paid even money for it. I guess timing is everything in real estate.

     And of course I couldn't pass by the chance to stop and check out the river. The Delaware River. What seven years I had here. I say seven because we lived in Titusville for 8, but I didn't really fish it this spring. 

That pull off above will not be there one day but I pulled into there countless times to scout, check conditions, relax, and even fish. Just about every morning I made the commute to Essex County College in Newark I would stop and look at the water and see what colors the lettering on the "Trenton Makes The World Takes" bridge were.

     I had so many good times fishing that river and met good people while doing so. And the striped bass. I would have never dreamed that in the heart of New Jersey's capital city I would come to call this my home and favorite water to fly fish for striped bass. One thing that moving to the Lowcountry has reaffirmed to me is that I miss fishing big and moving water. 

      Over the years I was always hesitant to post trip logs with pictures as to not blow up a spot, or even that the fishing was good. It's a place that you really can't just go to and be productive. You have to put in your time, learn, and be dialed into. And by the time we moved I can say I had it down pretty good. So if you were to ask me if I'd rather have a day to fish the spring on the Delaware, when the bass are on the herring, or a fall day, when the bass are on the peanuts on the beach, I'd would pick the former. 

      And since this post is all about Mercer County I figured I'd share some Trenton news. It wasn't my scene, but was a huge Jersey music scene venue. It was called City Gardens. It was a 

nondescript rectangular masonry building that was a mix between a club and concert hall. It was one of the most popular places for the hard rock, punk, and alternative music fans to go to from 

the 1970's through the 1990's. I never knew of it until I saw and article that a car had driven through the vacant structure a few years back. It was a place that I drove past on Calhoun Street on my way to work at Capital Health. 

     There was a push to save the place but it was deemed uninhabitable and ordered to be torn down. Well, yesterday on October 6 , 2026, it met the proverbial wrecking ball. I saw on-line that people drove to be there when it went down and to grab a brick or something to remember the place by.

     Knowing the place was historic I took Erin there on December 27th, 2022, to take a tour and some pictures. By then the place was wide open and the vagrants and scrappers had moved in and called the place home, or work.

     The place was big, and I can imagine only if it's walls could talk. There was nothing we could find that had City Gardens on it so we just settled for some pictures before leaving.

     And while we were down south last week the north got beat up pretty good with the weather. Now we're up here, and it looks like home may get one of those fall tropical storms, or at worst, a hurricane. 

     Right now it's churning it's way north from Mexico. If the path doesn't hit you the rain just might and it looks like the southeastern part of the country is going to get hammered. 4-8 inches of rain is a lot of water and the higher to lower elevation areas don't do well with monsoons.  

     But for now we're back in Cape May, freezing our asses off, but enjoying the crisp fall weather. It's empty down here as most people have stopped vacationing or returned to their primary residences. Closing up shop here and heading south back can't come soon enough. I've got used to shorts and t-shirts in the short time we've been down south. I'll trade in a light jacket if it gets down to 50 degrees in South Carolina over $6.00 a gallon home heating oil prices any day of the week. 

     And that brings me back to the old house, and that old oil burner. The new owners have no idea how hungry that thing gets, and the frequency and costs that comes with visits from Stockton Oil. We kept our thermostat at 60 degrees, and it took everything she had to hit that mark. I guess that's where the guilt comes in. You don't know until you know.....and they're gonna know soon enough.