The Potential New Jersey State Record Thresher Shark came to the dock at Arnolds Brielle Yacht club for official weigh in Saturday 6-27-2009.  The mammoth 683 lb Thrasher was caught on the charter boat Kristin Marie with Captain Jeff Maritz of Point Pleasant at the helm.  This was a Dan Sandorff Charter with friends all residents of Warren County. The fish was boated by angler Benn Fogelberg of Washington N.J. After a wonderful day with many large blue sharks and one Mako, although not large enough to qualify for the tournament which they had entered it was 5:00 time to go. Then a run off Benn geared up with Gimble and harness, not knowing what awaited him. An hour and 45 min. later when the battle was over, everyone on board was overwhelmed with the sheer size of this Thresher.  Next to get it aboard, difficult even with a transom door, much howling yelling, ropes gaffs etc. Trimming the dorsal finally allowed it to fit...

When Captain Mike Platti of Little Egg Harbor arrived at the dock on the morning of June 10th he had one thing on his mind - fluke. Because of his reputation as an excellent captain on his own boat “Reel Time”, and also as a mate on some of the more popular fishing boats in the area, Mike had just been hired to pilot the newest party boat in Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. Aptly named “Islander” , Capt. Mike was anxious to take her out on the scheduled 8:00 am open boat trip and put his fares on some fat summer flounder. Unfortunately, the boat is so new to the area they didn’t even have a sign yet to announce that they were available to sail for fluke that morning. Hence, they didn’t get a large enough turnout to leave the dock.

Somewhat dejectedly, Mike and "Islander" first mate, Dennis, decided to get some breakfast. Not wanting the day to be a total loss, the crew chose to spend the day scouting some fluke holding spots. Captain Mike told me, “We decided to take the boat and go north for some fluke, and see how strong life was tight to the beach.”