Jersey Strong Fishing Apparel and Beer
New Jersey often gets a bad rap, the recipient of too many “What exit?” jokes, Sopranos quotations and references to the time-sucking turnpike. It’s not often considered an exceptional fishing state. Nevertheless, it has a lot of fishy goodness to offer. My initial foray into the world of tuna popping revealed that several of the best shops dedicated to that pastime, along with several of its best practitioners, live in the Garden State. Furthermore, it’s the place that has produced several top bass pros including 2003 Bassmaster Classic winner Mike Iaconelli and his Bass University partner Pete Gluszek. Fishing media legend Joe Cermele, who could fish a new place across the globe every week if he so desired, still chooses to spend much of his time on the water in Jersey.
Whether you’re headed “down the shore,” to the pine barrens or elsewhere, there’s quite a bit of fishing diversity and excellence in New Jersey. Admittedly, I’m only fished there once myself – a bachelor party bluefish excursion out of Belmar – but I’ve fished the adjoining waters of Delaware and New York enough to know what it’s all about. I also provided on-the-water coverage of a Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Delaware River out of Philadelphia, which of course is in Pennsylvania, but much of the river resides within the adjoining state.
Except for a few bass club jackets, though, I hadn’t seen much gear or merch celebrating New Jersey’s fishy heritage, so I set out to see what I could find. Here are the results of the initial survey:
NJ Fishing Apparel
TAK Waterman
Local Waters
7th Street Surf Shop
Guy Harvey
David Dunleavy
NJ Fishing Beers
Notes
Slack Tide may have one of the greatest lists of fishing beers in the nation, including: Head Boat, Schoolie, Doormat, Head Shake, Livewell, Bucktail, Cedar Plug, Treble Hook, Haywire Twist, Tail Rope, Snapper, Morning Bite and my favorite – Notorious T.O.G.
The state fish is the Brook Trout but I could not find any specific NJ brook trout gear.
