Shorelady told me this would be published today in the Hook Line and Sinker. Fantastic read, courtesy of Judy and the Asbury Park Press. It stresses kayak safety and good common sense, one of the things that may not be glamorous, but can save your life.

WTG, Judy and Dave!

http://www.app.com/article/20110520/...mg|Frontpage|p



Element of Surprise
In a kayak, you've got stealth on your side

6:41 PM, May. 19, 2011 |
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Judy Seger, Allenhurst, great granddaughter of John Seger, who owned Seger's Sporting Goods in Asbury Park in the early 1900s, with a 26-inch fluke caught in Raritan Bay on a kayak. / Courtesy of Judy Seger







Written by

DAN RADEL | STAFF WRITER



Dave McCallumm stalked this striper on his kayak at night under the Route 37 Bridge in Barnegat Bay / Photo courtesy of Bob MacMasters



If you're looking for a fishing adventure, you might want to think about getting a kayak.
That was the message from Dave McCallum to the group of 40 that came to hear him speak last Saturday night at Fishermen's Supply in Point Beach.

"When we start the fishing seminars in the spring people always ask when the kayak guy is coming. He's our best draw,'' Brian Stensland of Fishermen's Supply said.
McCallum was there Saturday night. All six-foot plus of him and the kayak he's been using for the past decade to hunt down stripers where people seldom look; which is sometimes right under their noses.

"There's nothing better than catching fish underneath someone's Bertram when they're docked,'' McCallum said drawing a laugh from the group.

While it's true a kayak isn't going to get you to the canyons or even to the reefs out front-unless you are incredibly daring-McCallum teaches that there is no need to go that far to catch big fish. It's a philosophy he picked up from his early role models when he was still just a grommet learning to fish.

One such role model was surf fisherman Joe Barca who taught McCallum way back in the 1970s that stripers-and big ones-can be caught in waist- high water in the surf.
"Joe never brought bait to the beach. He had me dig for crabs or clams in the sand instead. I'd be out there in the water doubled over getting bait and all of the sudden I'd hear a splash by my side. It was Joe casting to where I was standing. But that's where he caught his stripers, in shallow water,'' McCallum said.

McCallum's early schooling in fishing remained embedded in him and put him on the path that would lead to discovering kayak fishing. His first kayak was a Hobie.
"It was a sit on top not a sit in. I looked at it every night before I bought it. When I finally got it and took my first ride I flipped over. I got back on and flipped over again. I couldn't keep my big body on top of it,'' McCallum explained.

That was about 10 years ago when kayak fishing in New Jersey was just starting to catch on. It is because of people like McCallum that more and more anglers are fishing in kayaks. And from the looks of the group Saturday night-parents, kids, grandparents and avid fishermen-they're coming from all walks of life.