EP 46: Beach Brawling with Nick Honachefsky

We confront the push for “no targeting” on striped bass, challenge shaky mortality data, and argue for smart, consistent rules that protect spawning fish without killing access. Then we spotlight the Barrier Island Beach Brawl—part surf tournament, part charity engine—that brings anglers together and feeds local families.

• status of striped bass regs and the risk of no-targeting
• why bad data and unclear methods undermine policy
• smarter closure timing around spring spawn
• need for consistency across states and sectors
• early guardrails for the fast-growing sheepshead fishery
• the Barrier Island Beach Brawl: purpose, prizes, and giving back
• catch-photo-release for stripers to reduce stress
• fillet donations to St. Gregory’s Food Pantry
• spot burn etiquette: share patterns, not pins
• Saltwater Underground season preview and ethos
• how and where to submit ASMFC comments by the deadline

Send your comments to ASMFC by October 3rd—go to the striped bass addendum page and click “leave comment”

Great Bay Outfitters - Gear Up!
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Richard Natoli Real Estate
Helping PA homeowners buy & sell with confidence. 267-270-1145 or NatoliRealEstate@Gmail.com

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome, Sponsor Shoutouts, Safety
• 3:20 Meet Nick: Saltwater Underground ethos
• 7:20 Winter grit: blizzards, tog, sheepshead
• 10:20 Striped bass regs: closures vs rights
• 16:00 Data doubts: mortality, methods, bias
• 21:30 Smart closures: spawn timing and consistency
• 25:00 Sheepshead rising: call for regulations
• 28:30 Barrier Island Beach Brawl: purpose and prizes
• 33:40 Community impact: donations and charity
• 37:00 Event details: dates, rules, signup
• 41:00 Season 6 preview: species and style
• 45:00 Spot burn realities and etiquette

Transcript

Nick H: 0:00

If you take away the option to fish, that's it's just it's that's not constitutional, in my opinion.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 0:12

Hello and welcome back to the Fat Dad Fishing Show. I'm your host, Rich Natoli, and uh we had last week off. We had a uh a guest that was trying to get on and just could not. The uh the charter business kind of caught up with him that day. So he's gonna be back on later. I'll announce the name later. Um, but later in the year he's gonna come back on and and we're gonna get there. But tonight we have Nick Hanashevsky, Saltwater Underground, your local mid-Atlantic national personality, I guess. Uh, the guy that represents us on TV with the fishing shows uh and and you know, New Jersey, New York, all the areas in the mid-Atlantic he's gonna be on. We're gonna talk a little bit about, well, straight bass regs. We're gonna talk about the barrier island at Beach Brawl, uh tournament. Uh I don't know if it's actually a tournament, but uh event, the the big event for New Jersey fishing, surf fishing. And uh we're gonna talk a little bit about Saltwater Underground. Before we get into that, I'm gonna roll into the sponsors real quick. We have a our our first sponsor is Great Bay Outfitters, my home shop. And look, uh talking to Paul today, and if you're a kayak fisherman, temperatures are dropping. So this is the time of year where you're gonna see it, it's gonna happen no matter what I say here, no matter what people like Paul and any anyone else does. Somebody's gonna be on the water and they're gonna be unprepared. The water temperatures are dropping and they're gonna get stuck in the water without a dry suit on. Well, Paul has them. He has them in stocks. In stock, he has the uh the level six. Make sure you go out and get them if you're a kayak fisherman. I have been in the water in a capsized kayak in uh March in Rariton Bay, and it is not fun even with a dry suit. If I hadn't had that dry suit on, I'd probably be dead right now. So uh that's not an exaggeration. So uh look, if you're a kayak fisherman, go out and get one. And I'll tell you what, if you just want to stay dry, he's got the tops, he's got the bottoms, he's got the full suits. Check uh check it out at Great Bay Outfitters. Uh, now's the time of year to do it. On top of that, we have Quad Stay Tune, Kevin Driscoll. Uh, any anyone looking for a tune for the engine for your Toyota trucks, the Tacoma, and so on and so forth, it'll take care of the gear hunting, get more efficient mileage out of it, more horsepower, more torque. So give Kevin a call for that. And then for real estate southeastern Pennsylvania, that's me. I am a realtor with Weikert Cornerstone Realtors out of Bluebell and Collegeville. If you have anything, let me know. Things are really picking up in that business. And I want to thank all of you because I have had business coming through this podcast, uh, including a sale down in New Jersey, a property under contract in New Jersey. So if anything I can do, reach out. Number is in the beginning of this. It's 267-270-1145. And with that said, we're gonna jump right into this. First of all, I want to say thank you to everybody in the chat. Good to see you. We'll try to work your questions in. But with that said, I'm gonna bring Nick Hanashewski back in. Nick, it's good to see you, man.

Nick H: 3:22

What's up, Richie? How you been, brother? All right.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 3:24

I I've been good. I I gotta say, it was funny. My wife was was talking to me before this, and she's like, What are you doing? Because I'm usually I'm usually still working at this time. She's like, What do you what are you watching on TV? She's like, Oh, you're watching fishing. I was like, I'm watching my guest. She's like, No, you're not. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, here's my guest. We were why we were watching the blizzard uh tog.

Nick H: 3:48

I've seen that a couple of times.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 3:51

Yeah, I've seen it a couple of times, but I I just love it because it just kind of encapsulates what we're heading into now. I mean, it's still a little early for the blizzard tog, but the cooler weather fishing and all of that. And and before that, I watched the other one from last season. The one I watched it actually last week, maybe the week before. I watched the one on the striped bass. So uh, you know, we got to talk striped bass. Yeah, but how you how have you been doing?

Nick H: 4:19

Good, man. Real good. I'm glad you watched uh the blackfish blizzard episode. That kind of encapsulates like what saltwater underground's all about, you know. You know, just to like like hit the nail on the head with what what the show kind of entails is that uh, you know, it's kind of like underground roots, man. You know, it's like we're out there in three to four, five inches of snow on deck, you know, like the hardcore stuff, not like that, you know, the easy sunny fishing down in Florida or something, you know, like we go out and we'd pound it, you know, and a lot of people don't realize how hardcore we all are up here in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and and and all that. But uh yeah, it was a fun episode to film, you know. And uh, you know, we try and target those fisheries on camera that nobody usually gets a chance to see. And funny enough, I saw your opening promo there, and you got the sheep's head on the kayak. That's awesome, number one. But number two, our first episode that we're filming season six now, which is gonna start airing January 1st again on Discovery Channel and all the other outlets. But um, we filmed the Sheep's Head episode with Danny Schaefer of the Insomniac, who's like the Sheep's head guru. Every you know, he really has been fishing for 25 years uh in Jersey. People never even knew they were still here. But uh that you know, that just got me amped up watching you catch that uh on your wheels, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 5:36

It's funny where where I was catching those, Dan is always there. So I mean Dan is truly the godfather, the the guy who put it back. Uh I mean he put it back on the map because it was off the map since like the 70s. Right, right. You know, the sheep's head. And he's really it's all it all comes back to him. He's the one who got it going. I mean, he's the bottom sweeper jigs, and all that stuff. He he's the one who made it attainable. And uh I've told this story before, but I'll tell you, it's funny. I went down to fish the outer banks. I went down for I think a week or two weeks, and I was like, Well, I gotta go fishing. And I went into the shop and and they said, What are you gonna do? I was like, I'm gonna go for some sheep's head. And they're like, No, no, no, you have to come here, you have to see this. I was like, Oh, they're like, We got that, we got this thing, you'll never believe it. It you won't believe it works. And they showed them like, yeah, it's a bottom sweeper. They're like, You've heard of this? And I was like, I'm I was like, I fished New Jersey, and like, oh, you've heard of it. I was like, Yeah, they were all excited about it, so that's all Danny.

Nick H: 6:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right, Danny. It was a great episode, man. And uh, I'm not gonna let the cat out of the bag how we did, but we did well. And we wait till you see the some of the fish that we caught, man. I mean, I rarely ever get a chance where we have all our footage in two and a half hours for like basically the whole episode, at least for three segments worth. And uh it was just phenomenal. And uh, wait till you see some of the the cool uh catches that we had there and and some of the size of the fish, and different a little different way to do it than I've done it with them before. So it's kind of cool, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 7:10

All right, I'm looking forward to that one. I you know what, and and I love when they're released at the beginning of the year because that's where you kind of go into the doldrums, right? Like the only the only salt water fishing I'm doing in that time is for white perch. Yeah, you know, yeah, you know, because I I don't unless I'm going offshore and on for tog into January, but that all depends on how long those boats are running.

Nick H: 7:33

Surely, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 7:34

So it gets me through.

Nick H: 7:36

And then there's blizzards you got to deal with too. Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 7:38

I I love that. I I I went fishing, gosh, it was maybe three years ago, and it was down behind Stone Harbor, and I was in Hereford Inlet in the kayak, and it's just me, and there's not there's not any wind. All of a sudden it just starts snowing. It's like a squall, but it's coming, it's coming down. And I go under the bridge, and there and some guy walks out onto the bridge, and he's like, You okay? I was like, Yeah, he's like, you know, it's snowing. I was like, Yeah, man. I'm like, this is perfect weather.

Nick H: 8:09

I know it's magical, man, when that happens, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 8:13

I only got some tog that day, but you know, that's really all I was I was fishing for because it was in January.

Nick H: 8:18

But yeah, but just being out there when you're graced with having a blizzard come through and uh having like a whiteout, man, that's just it's it adds to the experience more than the fish do, in my opinion. You know, it's just amazing being out there on the water when the when the weather is a little bit challenging or different, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 8:36

Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. All right. Well, let's we we have limited time, so I want to make sure that we jump in through some of these topics because look, we got some big topics to talk about. And the first one, we're gonna actually at Jim Hutchinson Jr. is coming back on hopefully next week, but sometime shortly, and we're gonna be talking striped bass and some other you know, fisheries news. But I've seen some of your opinion, but I wanted to you know have you kind of share directly with people what's your thought on this entire, you know, it it's possible that we're staring at a closure of striped bass.

Nick H: 9:10

Yeah, it like so I'll try and put it all together here in one nice concise form. But we were at the I was at the meeting down there in Manahawkin along with about another hundred anglers there. You know, we're we were hoping for a bigger show, but we got what we got. So if anyone is not aware of what's what's on the table, you know, there there might not only be like actual closures of the fishery of no harvest thing, but there might actually be no targeting, which means you can't even fish for striped bass. And I know, I know it, I know it here. I hear from people, oh yeah, well, I'm fishing for blues, quote, I'm fishing for skates, quote, quote, you know. But I'll tell you what, man, it's like if you're there in early December on the surf and there's 500 people at Island Beach State Park, the game wardens know there's no bluefish around, there's nothing else. So they will write tickets, you know, and that's their job. They're putting in an untenable situation. But let me rewind before any of that could possibly even happen. We don't know what the regs are gonna be yet. We're hoping for status quo, which is one fish between 28 and 31 inches. But my thoughts are absolutely, I do, I mean, I'm vehemently opposed to any no-targeting law. Like if you take away the option to fish, that's it's just it's that's not constitutional, in my opinion, you know. I get it, you know, I get it, like you know, you know, they're trying to protect the species, but the one data point that I did not like that they said, because I don't believe it, is that they said catch and release mortality was nine percent. And I raised my hand, I asked them a question, I said, where do you what are the mechanisms that you determine that nine percent? And the answer I got, they said, Well, we do tag and release, and we have some acoustic tags, but they didn't really have the right answer, they didn't know the actual answer. Yeah, and so I said, Well, how is that multiplied? How many acoustic tags have you gotten out there and gotten back that they're dead, number one, right? So even if they put 10 tags out, right, and they got one bat, which would of a on a dead fish, that means you would have to multiply that times millions to get like an actual uh subset data sample to make that nine percent a reality. So, anyway, the no targeting is absolutely off the table, in my opinion. Regarding no harvest, if they're gonna do something with a no harvest with the waves, everyone's gonna have to suffer up and down the coast, right? Because they're they're doing it everywhere where everyone has certain waves like wave two and wave five, and each wave is two months. So wave one is January, February, wave two is March, April, and so on, right? So if say they did a wave two and a wave five closure, that means we would be closed for September and October and March and April, which would suck, right? Yeah. For no harvesting and no targeting, right? But in my opinion, if they were gonna close the fishery for no harvesting, I mean, I've always espoused this belief is do it when they're breeding. You know what I mean? There's no sense in targeting 50-pound fish that are egg laden, you know, in March and April, whether it's the Chesapeake, the Delaware River, the Hudson, Rarit and Bay, if they're gonna close, if we have to close the fishery, I would do it during the spring spawn for the most part. Because the fall run, you know, they're just fattening up, they're not spawning anymore. You know, that just makes the most common sense to me.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 12:31

Yeah, I agree. I I'm falling on the side that you are. First of all, I don't trust anything that they say as far as the numbers.

Nick H: 12:37

And they're they're the first to admit it too. They say our data is it's not concrete. We're just trying, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 12:43

I mean, I I spent years doing statistical analysis for a very large company. And here's the truth. If you're working in statistics, it you can make it say whatever you want it to say. Sure. Especially at the level that they're sharing data. You know, we're not talking correlation, we're talking or we're not talking causation, we're talking correlation. And and you know, unless you're doing you know, some significant regression testing on large samples, I just don't get it. And some of the things I've heard about how they they get even harvest numbers, it's absolutely insanity. Yeah there was a captain in Maryland who was blown up about this last year, or maybe it's the year before, and he was saying what they did is they said, All we have X number, we have 50 boats in this marina, and that means that they're catching what I these are not the real numbers, but they assumed that everybody was catching and keeping one fish per day for the entire season.

Nick H: 13:40

Right, right, right.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 13:41

And that's what they used. He's like, That's he's like, No way is that possible. He's like, half of these are recreational cabin cruisers, they're not even fishing, but they just assume that they are. And I get it, they're I I do believe they're doing the best they can, but I don't know about that, but I mean I really don't.

Nick H: 13:59

I really don't. I mean, I don't think they're doing the best they can. You know, I mean, there's ways to gather data. I mean, they ask captains to keep detailed logbooks of how many fish they catch, when they catch them, you know, what they release, and yet they never ask for the information from the captains. You know, they're required. I forget what the technical term is, but they're required to you know keep the logbooks of the fish they catch, and they never ask for the data, you know. I thought they did. They do, but they don't use it. I mean the the lady that was uh answering questions says, Yeah, we're working on correlating and getting all that data and having a system where we can actually get that data involved. It's like then why are you asking for it? If you instituted a plan that doesn't have an actual outcome, why would you even ask us to do it? And the conversely, we're at the meeting, and I think one of the captains was like, What's the data on the circle hook mortality? You instituted that law three years ago now for any kind of straight bait bass fishing with circle hooks. Can you tell us one way or another if it worked? And they openly admitted, they said, We have no data to say either way, you know?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 15:04

Yeah. I don't they're not collecting it.

Nick H: 15:07

Of course they're not, you know. So I don't know. I mean, we we can go on and on. I mean, it's like beating it, you know, our head against the wall all the time, but you know, you we have to beat our head against the wall to fight for what you know what we need. And and I have, first of all, I have no problems whatsoever if the data is correct and it's salient data and it's truthful, at least to have enough of the subset of it to make some kind of actual truth out of it. I have no problem closing the season or doing what needs to be done to save the striped bass stocks, but they openly admit they don't really know if you know they're up or down. And you're oh my god. There was this one graph in their PowerPoint presentation, it was a bell chart, right? Yeah, and the levels that they had where they said we need this is the level we're trying to achieve, right? You know, to declare the stocks rebuilt. This is kind of like a half level, and this is like another level that we're working towards. The level that they want the stocks rebuilt at, that timeline went from 1930s to present day, and not once did it hit that top that top of that bell curve. So the entire recreational striped bass fishery since the 30s, in their opinion, has never hit that rebuild biomass. It's like yeah, like they set their goalposts so far away that like it's not it's way beyond reality, you know what I mean? They have to like change the parameters, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 16:33

So that is you know what it seems like every time that something like this comes up, it just turns into a cluster.

Nick H: 16:41

Yeah, you know, it's uh and and I and believe me, I release 99.9% of all stripers I catch. I've always have, you know. If one gets gut hooked and it's legal, of course I'm taking it home, you know. But like I I'm catch and release since birth, you know what I mean? I I rarely ever keep any fish for that matter. But it doesn't mean that people that have the right to take a fish home, that their rights should be encroached, you know, to be able to harvest a fish if they want. But uh, but I'm a big believer, obviously, in catch and release and the conservation of the stocks, but it has to be based on legit data. You can't just grab the shit out of the air, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 17:18

Yeah, well, let's see if they actually start collecting legit data. And we you know what, you know what would fix it? Collect the data and then let a private firm do the analysis.

Nick H: 17:28

Right.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 17:28

Like a like a you know that these people have agendas, you know.

Nick H: 17:33

I mean, there has to be, and I hate being a conspiracy, but like there has to be, you know, there's just some, there's always some back dealing when you're talking about this kind of money in politics, you know, one one way, shape, or form, but you can't let it get out of control, like, oh, it's you know, all the commercial guys are buying everybody off, every politician or something. I mean, I'm sure there's some, I'm sure there's some recreational guys that might be doing it. Who knows the truth? But the point of the matter is is like you gotta have a you know, a clean head on your shoulder basically to look at it and observe what's going on and what needs to be changed, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 18:06

Yeah, I I personally would like them to actually research where the fish are going. Right. Because we know they're in the canyons and we know they're not looking at them out there.

Nick H: 18:15

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 18:16

It could turn out that it could turn out that we are at the peak, but they're they're 150 miles offshore.

Nick H: 18:21

Right. You ever hear, you know, you hear the sea bass guys in the middle of the winter, like January December, you know, jigging 30-pound bass up 60, 70 miles off, you know. And they always file that 20 fathom line all the way from Long Island down a lot too, just blown up on bait when the tuna are there, you know?

Speaker 02: 18:39

Yeah, yeah.

Nick H: 18:40

Yeah, so yeah, it's difficult when you don't have correct scientific data.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 18:44

Well, let's see, let's see if they do it. I I just have such low confidence that they will. But you know, and the other thing that doesn't help is every state does it differently. I mean, Maryland has the craziest opens and closures, and but at least some of theirs, you know, hey, they're spawning, so it's closed, closed, closed, you know, in certain areas. So at least I get it, but I don't know. A lot of it just seems way too random to me. There needs to be some consistency between rec and commercial, yeah. And there needs to be some some real consideration for the data, as you said, because I first of all get it get them off the commercial menu.

Nick H: 19:24

I mean, there's no I mean, I don't believe striped bass should be a commercially fished species. You know, I'm big in the advocate of you know game fish species, and but you know, I mean bass are good to eat, I get it, but go catch them yourself, you know. Don't order them at a restaurant.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 19:37

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Uh honestly, I I don't put them in my top ten fish. Yeah, I I really don't. No, no, I mean they're they're good, but you know, they're not good enough for me to keep more than a quarter of one a year, and that's only if it's gut hooked. And honestly, Nick, I haven't gut hooked a striped bass in probably seven or eight years.

Nick H: 19:59

Right now, yeah, like likewise, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 20:02

Yeah, I don't know. I did have one that I could not revive that was luckily within the slot years ago. That's probably four or five years ago, but that's it. It's just too much work to clean for something that doesn't taste, you know. It's yeah, you see, Paul.

Nick H: 20:18

Fun to fish for though, that's for sure.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 20:20

Striped carp.

Nick H: 20:23

There it goes. Yep.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 20:24

Well, Paul's a sheep's hey, so he doesn't keep them though, but that that at least has a little bit more taste, and the tog definitely have a taste, but that's a topic for another day because I'm I'm concerned about them.

Nick H: 20:36

Let me real super quick 20-second chime in. Yeah, I'm all for instituting regulations on sheep's head right now because we're already starting to see that they're starting to get fished out and the sizes are a lot smaller than we first had them. I mean, it's good to see smaller fish around because there is starting to become a breeding population again, the conch traps and all that throughout the winter time, but or that are being pulled up. But we need we need limits for them because now it's it's it's like surfshark. And that when that blew up, like the shit hit the fan, right? So it's like the same thing with sheep's head. Everyone's doing it now, everyone's catching them kind of thing. There needs to be regulations for them right now, uh in my opinion, you know, because it's totally wild west right now. And people are, you know, that are aren't in the know that are just going out there, they're just keeping them and taking them home, and they're taking them out of the ecosystem when it's starting to try and replenish itself to its historical levels back in like the late 1800s, early 1900s.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 21:31

Yeah. I I would like to see the data before doing anything. However, my gut tells me it's it's time. And I can just tell you, look, I know for a fact that there's at least three guys we may not be watching at the moment, but that will listen to this and then text me after I say this that keep every sheep's head they catch, every single one, even the 10, 12 pounders. They keep jersey, yeah, and they don't need to, but they do, and they give them away. And I'm like, I get it. You give them away.

Nick H: 22:04

They taste the same, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 22:05

Yeah, yeah. So I'd like to see the data first. I will say that. And I know that they are collecting data. They started what last year in I don't know.

Nick H: 22:13

All I know is that there's more sheep's head around than redfish and cobia for the most part, and we have laws in Jersey regarding cobia and redfish. So you know what I mean?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 22:23

Yep, yep, I agree. I agree. Here's a weird law. They they put they sp they put speckled trout under the same thing as weakfish. Yeah, well, I mean they're different species, but it looks like it.

Nick H: 22:35

You know, use the same law.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 22:36

And if I always thought that was funny because they don't look like it.

Nick H: 22:41

It's so easy to tell the difference, but you know, I mean, you really gotta know. I mean, not really gotta know, but you know, and then they get like the sand trout that kind of look like weakfish too and silver perch sometimes.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 22:53

I can see that I can see that, yes. I can see that crossover. It's the spec. I it's just funny to me how you know they can be so on something and off on others.

Nick H: 23:03

You're talking as a uh, I assume like a southern Jersey type guy, like a lot of speckled trout don't move north of Barnegut Inlet. I mean, they'll trickle up, but you know, down south in the you know, November, October, whatever, you'll get specks down there. But I bet you if you got a speckled some guy calling in Sandy Hook, they'd be like, Man, look at this weak fish with all these spots, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 23:21

Okay, you know, I'll give you that. Yes, I'll give you that. And even you look, it's it's still rare to catch them down here. I think part of it is because people gave up fishing for weak fish and you're gonna catch them in similar right, similar ways and places. Certainly, yeah, not the same, but similar. So I think the targeting has gone down definitely. Hey, look, we we do need to talk about your your big event, your annual event, because this is one of the coolest events that you're gonna find, I would say, in the mid-Atlantic. The Barrier Island Beach Brawl. You gotta you gotta let people know about it, what it is, how they can get involved, and why it's it's such a cool event.

Nick H: 24:01

Cool. Well, thanks for the plug, first of all, Rich. So this is a seventh annual Barrier Island Beach Brawl. I've started this tournament, like I said, seven years ago. This year it's on October 10th and 11th. It's always on Columbus Day weekend because everyone usually has four days off for that weekend. So I only make it a two-day part of the tournament. So you have the other two days for your vacation, whatever you want to do, you know. But anyway, I started the tournament because honest to God, I just I get so tired of like social media and like how everyone yells at each other and everyone, you know, bitches and moans and and has something snarky to say, or this and that, and making fun of people. I was like, I want a tournament like the old tournaments, you know. Like when I was a kid growing up, it was about like getting together with your dad or your mom or your friends or uncle, whoever, you know, going out and fishing and then being excited for everyone, be amped, be like, oh man, that guy got a striper, oh, he caught a fellow salvia on the Barna Gachetti, you know, and like, you know, of course there was competition back then, and people, you know, talk behind each other's backs, being like, oh, he doesn't know what he's doing, kind of thing, or whatever. But it wasn't so vitriolic as it is like nowadays. So I wanted to create a tradition again, which is why I built the tournament out to bring family together and have people, you know, mark it on their calendar every year to come back and join with friends and take their kids out. I've seen kids grow up from three years old to like 10 years old now, and they come back every year and they're more stoked every year, you know, to fish with their mom or their their dad. And you know, I have friends that come around from across the country, old college buddies, who I didn't talk to in 20 years, and they all get together, you know, just to fish this tournament and get, you know, it's a it's a it's a commitment where they can all you know rekindle relationships. But you know, the point of the matter is is that it's not uh we do give away cash and we actually have $35,000 worth of free gear that we give away because all my connects in the fishing industry, everyone donates heavy to it. They're all monster prizes, you know, from every manufacturer that you can possibly imagine, including all the Barrier Island tackle shops, you know. It's called the Barrier Island Beach Raw because it's from Manisquan Inlet to Barnegat Inlet. That's my island there, the Barrier Barrier Island there. But the point is that we give away, you know, a ton of prizes. There's cash prizes, obviously, too, for all the species. It's not a striped bass, like strictly tournament. In fact, there's 15 eligible species broken down into like you know, bluefish, weak fish, trigger fish, you know, black fish, a little tiny bonito in striped bass category is catch photo release. You don't even have to measure it, you don't have to weigh it because I don't want to keep that fish out of the water. People are gonna catch bass in October, so I figured we might as well make a category for you. All you gotta do is snap a photo. I don't want to, you know, you know, measure or anything, so we get that fish back in the water. And you know, I just draw randomly, whether it's a 12-inch fit bass or a 15-inch bass. Everyone's got an equal chance of winning the bat top three bass categories. That's you know, so I don't make it like you know, you have to catch the biggest one type of uh deal. But um, you know, it's uh seven years going strong right now. And you know, if anyone wants to sign up for it, you gotta hit me up on Instagram at Nick Hanashevsky, and you can go to the saltwaterunderground.com store link, the Barrier Island Beach roll and click that. And uh we're closing registration in nine days. So if anyone hears this, you know, do it now.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 27:35

Yeah, it's I mean, it what really appeals to me about it is it's not like a hardcore tournament where people are going to be stressed the whole time.

Speaker 02: 27:43

Right, that's not the point, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 27:46

Yeah, you see so many people, and I kind of get that way sometimes when I do a tournament. Like if I really want to try to do well, I've kind of turned the corner on that, and now I just go out and have fun, you know, and try to get together with people to do it. But I love the fact that just anyone can end up walking away with a prize and feel like they participated.

Nick H: 28:06

And that's if I can say that too. Of course there's prizes for the species, but I get so much gear that I give it away, right? So I pick your name out of a hat. So, like, I mean, hundreds of people are winning free stuff for not even catching a fish, you know?

Speaker 02: 28:20

Right.

Nick H: 28:20

And that's the way I want it. I want you to go out and have fun with the chance of catching something, and then you're gonna walk away with something because anyone who signs up gets an awesome SPF uh shirt, which is cool. You guys are gonna be the first to see if you do on YouTube. This is the first uh shirt I just got them yesterday from sport fishing apparel. But um nice you know, you always get like the shirt, it's an SPF shirt this year. You get a bag of fish bites, you get some stuff from Costa. So it the entry fee itself, you're already getting all the stuff back at you, and then you got a chance of winning $35,000 worth of stuff. Oh, if I may say one more thing too. One of the most important facets of the tournament is that anybody who doesn't want to keep their fish, we keep them and I fillet them personally, and we donate all the fish to St. Gregory's Food Pantry in Point Pleasant to feed the homeless and hungry. And every year that I go there with coolers full of fillets, you know, they're stoked. And the people that run the pantry, I think they're nuns. They say every year they get people saying, When's the fish coming? When's the fish coming? So that makes me happy that you know people really look forward to eating the fish that we donate there. And then we also have a 50-50 and raise money for St. Jude's at the awards party at Heavy Reel Brewing, you know, uh in the afternoon on the Saturday the 11th. So yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 29:39

See, Nick, this is this is the kind of event I love. Right. It's not all for the glory and the you know, the the big picture of the the fish on the hook. It's people out fishing together, and there's no reason to hate the guy that just reeled in a fish next to you. Right, right. You're not the one. You're entered anyway, you're all entered anyway.

Nick H: 30:00

Yeah, it's the same chance with the St. Croix Rift or the Fetty, you know, cooler. You know, it's the same chance for the most part, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 30:07

Yeah, and it gives it people to show up to the awards thing too, because I didn't catch any, I didn't weigh anything. Half the tournaments, it's only a quarter of the people because a quarter didn't catch anything. Right. Another another quarter know that they're they're not in the running, and then the last quarter they're either they want a beer or they they have a shot.

Nick H: 30:27

Yeah, you get to drink a few beers at Heavy Reel, and we brew our saltwater underground lager for that event, too, which is cool.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 30:34

Yeah.

Nick H: 30:34

And then not only that, we you know that's where all their prizes get given away. So you should be there.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 30:40

Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, hopefully, hopefully we get a bunch of people in on that and doing it. Look, if you're just gonna do one event this year, why not? You know, it's events like this. And I I love the fact that you donate the fish that people don't want to keep. And you personally clean most of or many of them.

Nick H: 31:00

Oh, yeah, all of them. I remember those picks most of the time, yeah. Uh I had my buddy help me one time. One one time we had you know, the bluefish came through big time. So there was tons of like one and a half to three pound bluefish. Yeah, and everyone's just like, here, have them, have them, have them. So I was like, Of course, I'll take them. And took me like five hours to fillet them at the crab's call in the back. And and uh, you know, just the you know, fresh white meat fillets, they don't have bloodlines in them when they're not small, and uh, you know, it was a lot of fish to to fillet, but I enjoy doing it. I know I'm doing it for you know to make people happy and and have their guts full, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 31:35

So yeah, that's great. I I love that. And it was well, you get you donated almost a hundred pounds.

Nick H: 31:41

Last year was a hundred pounds of fillets that the people donated to me and we filleted. We had we had over 200 fish donated last year, and uh I fillet filleted them all in the back, you know. That's correct. But you know, and like uh I I guess you know, overall it's mainly like small blues, but then we have like use every year like 20 some black fish that are donated, sometimes bonito are caught, trigger fish, kingfish, stuff like that. You know, we won't you know we won't fillet little tiny up because they're just not good eating, you know. Right, right, right. But but you know, every other fish that's on that list is is edible very and very good.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 32:17

That's awesome. That's awesome. I I don't know if I can make it down. I would love to though. I may just buy the entry whether I just stop in, man.

Nick H: 32:25

Yeah, just yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 32:27

I mean, you you'd think I could find some time to get down there over those few days and uh you know, walk the beach and just hang out and and everything. And uh it's definitely my plant. My brother's in the chat. He wants to go down, he wants one of your beers, actually.

Nick H: 32:39

Yeah, yeah, we're gonna be brewing them there. It's a nice light lager.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 32:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He'll he'll be into that.

Nick H: 32:46

They'll be selling six packs of that too. So you can take one home with you.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 32:50

All right. I'm sure he'll take more than one home with him. Yeah, as a matter of fact, if he's at work, he's in a brewery right now.

Nick H: 32:59

How about it?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 33:00

Yeah, so uh God, I hope he's not at work. He'll end up getting fired. Watching a live stream while he's at work. Uh, yeah, all right. So everyone, make sure you check that out. Go to Saltwater Underground website. It is there at the top right. I mean, you can go in and see all about it, and then you go into the shop and you can buy it. And the dates again, Nick?

Nick H: 33:20

This October 10th and 11th, a Friday and a Saturday.

unknown: 33:24

Awesome.

Nick H: 33:24

Columbus Day weekend, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 33:26

Is the award on the Saturday on the 11th?

Nick H: 33:29

So, yeah, you can start fishing at 5 a.m. on the Friday and you fish all the way through till 3 p.m. on Saturday, and the award starts at 4 p.m. on Saturday. And we start giving away everything at 6 p.m. on that Saturday at heavy reel brewing in Seaside Heights.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 33:45

Okay, and it's all land-based fishing?

Nick H: 33:47

Yeah, strictly land, strictly the surf. Yep.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 33:50

Okay. All right. So if you don't want to compete for a species, you just want to enter it and fish it and and hope for an extra prize, you could jump out on a kayak, right?

Nick H: 34:02

Nope. No, no dice, brother. I I have to rule with a militant fist on this um, believe me.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 34:09

All right, fair enough. You know what? It's a good excuse to not lug a kayak a hundred and some miles down there for the day, too. Yeah, that's always stressful too, because you know, you do a tournament with a kayak, and then all of a sudden you're sitting at the awards thing with your kayak unlocked unlocked in the back of a truck, you know, with a thousand dollars worth of gear in it. So yeah, all right. I I'll bring my uh I'll bring my surf stuff.

Nick H: 34:32

Bring your surf run and grab your beach permits, man. You know, get them.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 34:35

All right. Well, I'll jump on somebody's truck that has a permit because I don't have any permits for this uh for this.

Nick H: 34:40

There you go. Park and walk, yeah. That's good.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 34:43

All right, so before we go, I want you to jump back over to Saltwater Underground. So yeah, you have season five coming up, starting. So you had talked about one episode. What are some of the what are some of the species that you think are going to be in? You haven't filmed all of it yet, have you?

Nick H: 34:57

Oh, we've only done one episode, and I got to get all this cut and edited by December 28th of this year. So we're in a mad dash right now, you know, because we're on we're on, you know, just four networks Discovery Channel, Sportsman's Channel, World Fishing Network, and Waypoint TV, all your streaming services. You can always find all past episodes on there now. But season six starts out December 28th, I think is the first episode that's gonna run. But we did that sheep's head episode to start. We always like getting like a you know a surf fishing one in. We did we actually did a pretty cool uh we still have to finish it up, but uh surf luken, which was a cool episode.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 35:33

That's catching up. I I want to see that one.

Nick H: 35:36

Yeah, we went with uh Shelly Karas, too. So if anyone knows Shelly is a local legend down here on the island. Yeah, but um, but yeah, so we got got some surprises lined up. I actually have a couple travel uh related shows too, going to the Florida Keys, so that'll be pretty fun to go fish down there, you know, bringing a jersey style down there and seeing how we can pound them out in the keys, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 35:58

Well then when you're down there you can make fun of them because they think you know 70 degrees is cold.

Nick H: 36:03

I know, I know. I won't be don't worry, I won't be wearing any bright turk turquoise or orange shirts, man. I'm always saltwater underground gear, and I'm from the northeast, man. You know, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 36:14

I I have a problem with those colors. Uh it's just not me. I like I wear black in the summer. It's sometimes I'll wear if I need a long sleeve, because my black, I only have one black SPF shirt that's long sleeve. So then I'll wear some of the lighter color ones, but uh, I'm just not that dude.

Nick H: 36:30

I was never I'm never that guy either. My show's not really based around that kind of look either, you know. But yeah, yeah, every now and then you might see me with one on. I'm not saying it never happens, but uh just not my ethos, really, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 36:42

Yeah, well, especially not for the show.

unknown: 36:45

Yeah.

Nick H: 36:46

We got like bunker chum on us, you know, squid hanging out of our pockets, you know. Yeah, it's real fishing, man. It's like legit fish, real fishing, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 36:54

Yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to it. I I can't wait to see you and Dan in that in that first episode. You know, I'll I mean no, I'll recognize the spots.

Nick H: 37:03

I'm sure, yeah. Uh we we tried keeping them as blurred as we could, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 37:08

You know, I think to that point, let me just say this. And this is where a lot of the drama in fishing comes from. You showed a spot, you showed my spot, you showed my spot. Okay. I'm just gonna say this. You can agree or not agree. We do our best to not show specific spots, however. If it's a bridge, it's a sheep's head spot. Done, done. Uh uh you can argue and whine and bitch and complain all you want, but it's a sheep's head spot. Yeah, yeah. You know, if it's a jetty, guess what? It's a tog spot. Yeah, there's not much I can do about that. And if if you happen to catch that one little flagpole that's three miles distant that you can just see, and now you know where it is, uh, you know, we do our best.

Nick H: 37:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's more or less the timing of when uh with social media more than I mean, TV is like when we're filming this, it's six months before it even airs, so it doesn't even matter. But like when it comes to social media, that's where it gets to be an issue because if you're posting something, you know, with a discernible landmark in the back, then everyone, you know, that are mainly new anglers who are just getting into it that just don't really know the the ethos of respect. They'll just be like, oh, where's it? Where's it? I'm gonna go fish. That's where the fish are without doing any work or anything. And I'm not gonna lie to you, there's been times where I posted really quick on like Instagram, and I get lit up and I'm like, shit, man. I'm like, oh, I left that thing in there, you know. It's like, and then it's too late to take down, and it's like, oh, you know, spot burn. I'm like, man, you know, whatever.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 38:41

I've gotten lit up a lot. I actually very rarely do any videos anymore for that's just one of the reasons. Yeah, but the one thing that I am super, super careful about is land-based spots. To me, that's the biggest deal because if you're a land-based fisherman, you do not have a fraction of the options of people in a kayak or on a boat. Yeah, uh, in a boat, it's like, okay, you know, I I can see a little bit more of understanding, but people still and and by the way, I'll go back and say this I know a lot of very, very experienced fishermen that will jump on a spot just because they saw somebody post it, and then they'll think that they're dialed in on the species because they caught one there. It's like, dude, you you saw Nick catch there yesterday. I mean, you didn't do really anything to find it yourself, you just recognize through the blur that water tower.

Nick H: 39:33

Yeah, it's weird though too, because it's like, you know, if if say I posted like a picture from last October or something, right? Where, you know, I'm standing, you know, next to Jenkinson's, right? In Point Pleasant. And if I post that, right, even though it's like a year ago, people will be like, oh, you know, you're blind. It's like those fish are gonna be after four days, they're not at that spot anymore. And they're some are totally I'm talking about striped bass here, you know, in the surf fishing or whatever. But I still get the idea why people would get you know angry with it, but it's so hard to be able to like communicate that. Like if this photo was up there eight months ago, you know, is when I caught this thing or something, you know. It's like you can't even get away with retro posting anything anymore. And I kind of get that, but when people don't know the whole story, everyone's first to comment on it, and then it gets viral being like, Oh, you're blowing up spots. It's like I'm blowing up a spot where I caught a fish two years ago, you know, if that's the case. But I mean, I do get it. Don't get me wrong, I fuck I I I'm not a believer of spot burn, and I hate when I see it, and I hate when I do it, and I do it usually inadvertently if it happens. There'll be something in the photo that I forgot to blur out or something, you know. But believe me, you'll get called on it, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 40:47

And uh I got I got called on it for talking about the Eighth Street Jetty in Avalon. I was like, can you even blow that up at this point? I mean, it's literally everybody knows about it in South Jersey. And it was for cocktail blues, Nick. Cocktail blues was what the video was about. Yeah, and I was like, dude, they're they're just swimming through. They weren't even there five minutes later.

Nick H: 41:10

You know, I mean, I I get I get both sides of it. I really do, because I I get angry when you know people blow up a thing and it's like, all right, you know, no one did the work to go find this, and the word got out in one day because someone saw it in the background and now the spot's totally blown. Like any spot you fish nowadays, if you have it, generally speaking, and I'm talking surf fishing right now, you may have three days of yourself before it's blown. You know what I mean? My rule of thumb to tell you this is that you don't tell anybody about it, it's not gonna get blown. You tell your best closest friend and swear him the secrecy not to tell anyone, he's gonna tell one person, right? And then it'll happen. If you tell a friend and say, Oh man, you know, you're I'm you're close, you're you're a friend, but you're not like my brother, you're not as close as I am. But I told you, he's gonna tell five people, you know what I mean? So you can't even trust yourself. Don't even like don't even tell yourself where you're fishing, you know, if you really are people, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 42:07

And that's why I don't do that's one of the reasons I don't do videos anymore, because it's just it's just too much, too much drama. I'm like, I'm just trying to help people catch fish, you know. It's not the spot that I'm talking about, but yeah, but it is what it is. Yeah, oh well.

Nick H: 42:23

Yeah, that's it.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 42:25

Yeah, so hey Nick, thanks for coming on. I we we had agreed to keep this a little bit shorter tonight. Everybody, the Barrier Island Beach Brawl, make sure you go Saltwater Underground, check it out, sign up for it. That's a great event with a you know, I mean, you've already talked about the benefits to the community too. So uh not only is it fun, but you're gonna help some folks out by doing that. And if you're like my brother, you can go down and grab a beer.

Nick H: 42:50

There you go.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 42:50

Yeah, at the very least, you're you're grabbing a beer, and yeah, we'll be pouring them for you guys, probably. That's awesome. That's awesome. And we'll see what happens with these striped bass coming up. I I'm really concerned about it. I haven't been concerned for a while about what they're gonna do with any species, but this one this one is concerning.

Nick H: 43:12

Yeah, that that's anytime I hear that no targeting, that's really what what really gets me fired up more than anything. So yeah, we'll have to see what happens. But yeah, let's hope for the best. Oh, by the way, if anyone's listening to this, send your comments into the ASMFC by October 3rd, because that's the cutoff day for public comment. And believe me, the words gone viral all throughout like social media and like other outlets. So we're really flooding them right now with with information and with our opinions. And you know, my personal opinion right now, as it is, is I would like to probably at the most have status quo. And if it has to be a closure, then do it in the springtime when they're spawning in the big egg-laden females. But I don't want, I really don't want any kind of closure whatsoever. But status quo is what I'm what I'm advocating for at the present moment. But whatever your position is, is up to you. But send in your comments by October 3rd to be heard.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 44:10

Yes, very good. Everyone, please do that. If you fish salt water, this is this is gonna impact you. You know, even if you don't fish for striped bass, it's gonna impact you because you can be sure it's going to be used as a model for the next species, too. So, and I will just say this with government and anything involved with government, once something is enacted, it's almost impossible to get it reversed.

Nick H: 44:33

Not getting it back.

unknown: 44:34

Yep.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 44:34

No, the Philadelphia sales tax was a World War II tax. It was temporary and it is still there. And I think it's what, seven, maybe even more than seven percent. And uh the one time that I can say that we got something back was when they extended fluke season. That's that's the only time that I that I remember that we ever got anything back as fishermen. And we had to do that ridiculous slot to get it.

Nick H: 44:59

Yeah, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 45:00

So yeah. So everyone keep that in mind.

Nick H: 45:04

Yeah, get active, make your voice heard with this one. This is a this is like a pivotal type of shift type of legislation that's going to be enacted. So make sure you're aware of it and make sure you make your voice heard. ASMFC website. Just go right to the straight fast addendum, click on the top page, and say leave comment, and you'll be able to do it there.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 45:23

Very good. I'll uh I'll put a link in this a little bit later so that people have a link within the YouTube. And I will also put one in the podcast. So if you're listening to this on the podcast, which most of you do, uh that that watch or listen, it's it's usually the podcast. I'll put a link in there as well so you can go through and uh give your opinions. I'm gonna try to actually get this uploaded tomorrow if possible, just so that it's ahead of the third by enough time for people to listen to it so that we can get something done. Um, yeah, so thank you very much. Appreciate it, Nick, for coming on. Everyone, I want to let you know uh we're hoping for uh Jim Hutchinson next week. It's a little fluid, so we'll we'll see if I can he's got travel and and all this stuff going on. He's a busy guy, but we're gonna see about that. Uh and also want to announce we're gonna do another fat dead fishing meetup this winter slash late fall. Probably on the osprey. We're gonna pick a day and we're all gonna get together and go for blackfish.

Nick H: 46:22

So yeah, you know what? I just I just didn't realize there was a comment section here. So everyone who left a comment, thanks, and I'll get back to you whenever I can. But you know, I appreciate any uh any comments you guys had. I just noticed them right now.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 46:36

Yeah, no, it's it's all good. It's it's tough when you're talking and trying and the chat's going by.

Nick H: 46:42

I didn't even know there's a comment section.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 46:44

I I was trying to monitor it. Half of the things are my brother making fun of me.

Nick H: 46:47

So you'll definitely have beer. I'll buy him a beer. Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing: 46:52

Yeah. Yeah, we'll skip over those. All right, Nick. Thanks a lot, everybody. Until next week. Get out there, get on the water, and get some tight lines.