[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]By MIKE SHEPHERD
One of the largest flounder ever caught "other than boat" in the state may have been in Absecon Inlet on Sunday afternoon.
Phil Todd was urged by his 10-year-old son, Phil "P.J." Todd, to take him on a Father's Day fishing outing. It sure turned into a celebration when the 42-year-old Todd hooked into a 17-pound flounder.
Curt Riccardi measured it at a full 3 feet in length at Offshore Enterprises tackle shop in Atlantic City.
Todd said he and his son first tried the beach in front of Harrah's Resort and Golden Nugget Atlan-tic City but did not do anything there. So Todd drove over to the area between the William "Bill" Demones Jr. Atlantic City Seawall Fishing Complex and the end of the old Atlantic City Boardwalk. Just after noon, Todd rigged a big minnow, cast it out about 40 feet off the bank and rocks there, and the doormat was taken in by the old "big bait, big fish" trick.
"She was beat," Todd said of the fish when he got it on land.
Todd moved from Cape Cod, Mass., to Egg Harbor Township in January 2000. He owns Phencemen, a fencing company with headquarters in Absecon. He fished in Cape Cod, where his biggest fish ever was a 34-pound striped bass.
He said that since he started the business he has less time to go fishing. So when his son started to talk about it, he thought it was a great idea, and that's just what it turned out to be.
The 17-pounder wipes out The Press Fishing Contest Other Than Boat record of 16 pounds, 8 ounces set in 1973 by Stan Staniszewski of Phila-delphia. The Press Fishing Contest and New Jersey State record is 19 pounds, 12 ounces and was established way back in 1953 by Walter Lubin while fishing off Cape May. Lubin's record is the oldest on The Press Fishing Contest books.
Home 
