NJFishing.com Rewind

[Gerry Zagorski]

Not sure what hit me but I got a little nostalgic today looking back on all the records I kept for the site..... So, here is how we got started....


Like most of my brain farts, it all started over a beer with a few buddies down at the local Knights of Columbus back in 1997. I’d been working in technology companies pretty much my entire career. I was exposed to the Internet early on when I purchased my first Hayes modem (1200 Baud) and the only real browser was Netscape. Having an interest in the Internet and a love for fishing I figured why not create a fishing site? I had no idea how to write web pages but as luck would have it one of my buddies Simon Bula did.

At our next meeting Simon and I discussed the lay out of the site and I gave him a bunch of word documents to work from, many of which you see on the left side of the site here…. I saw that there were a few sites out there that had message boards and asked Simon to check into it…. Probably the smartest thing I could have ever done. Simon was on it like white on rice, we got the domain name NJFishing.com and the rest they as they say is history…… One little side bar here. At the time I was purchasing domain names I literally had my finger on the button to purchase all the states PAFishing.com. FLfishing.com etc but I never did. If I had, I may have been writing this article in the Keys somewhere  Oh well…… I digress….

Not sure when the first post went up, but some of the early visitors were:

Larry Rhodes AKA King of the Knoll
The Clam Man Artie Berkman
John Verus AKA Buckshot
Bill M Blackfishman

We started out very slow. I think the first post was something like. Watson come in here, but, every day there’d be a few more people coming and an contributing to the board.

That spring I went on a little road trip….. My first visits were to all the tackle stores. I would ask them to hang banners in their stores and in exchange I would list them on the site. After that I went to Atlantic Highlands, Belmar and Point Pleasant to visit the party and charter boats. As they came in from a days fishing I would pitch advertising to them. Talk about a tough cold call……Picture this…. You just got done cleaning up your boat after a long day of fishing and some Yahoo approaches you about spending money advertising on the Internet. Most people looked at me like I had three eyes. A few had heard about the Internet, but practically no one had a web site. I remember one Charter boat guy down in Atlantic Highlands who was in the yard getting his boat ready for a spring launch telling me “ are you frikkin crazy?” get out of here. I almost got physically throw off a few boats down in Belmar. I knew this was going to be an uphill battle but I didn’t think it would be such a long steep hill

In any event sponsors started coming on one by one. In fact, you will notice that the sponsors on the site are listed in their port of call in the order that they came on to the site…. If my memory serves me correctly, I think they came on as follows:

Mi-Jo
Canyon Runner
Bounty Hunter
Miss Michelle
Golden Eagle
Tuna Tic
Teal
Norma K
Tunacious
The Edge

A personal thinks to all of them for taking an early leap of faith with me.

The site would grow in terms of posters, lurkers and sponsors pretty much every year. I started keeping records of site hits back in 2002. Just looked at the October 2002 report. We had 544,000 hits for the month and 47,000 site visits.

There were many pivotal points in the history of the site that come to mind, a few bright ones as well as some dark ones:

The board feud back in 2002. We had open registration then and needless to say we had more then a few people that were taking liberties on the board. It all came to a head when I found out who they were and locked the site registration and got rid of them one by one. I will never forget the one call I made to a person who will go unnamed. He worked at a very prestigious Wall Street Firm and was foolish enough to post all kinds of vulgar stuff from his work computer. I knew this because I tracked the IP address and it resolved to xxx.xxx.xx.his company name. I called him at work one day. He was a bit taken back at first and denied everything. I told him that if he did not come clean I would be forced to send the CD I had burned (and still have) of all his posts including the IP address to the HR department were he worked. Needless to say he came clean and like the coward he was he rolled over on a few other people who will remain nameless that were also involved.

In 2003 I got caught up in a merger and “downsizing” in my corporate job got a nice severance package. I came home to my wife and said…. I got some good news and bad news. Bad news is I lost m job, good news is I got a nice severance package and after working non stop for 25 years with 2 different companies, I’m taking a year off. Well, that went over like a fart in church….. I decided to concentrate on the site as well as do some of the thing I always wanted to do but never had the time like get my captain’s license.

As luck would have it some guys I had never met before, John McAdam and Gary Coughlin put a post up on the site that peaked my interest about forming a fishing TV show for NJ. I met with them one night at Gary’s we discussed some ideas for the show. I introduced them to a few of my sponsors Bob Konz on the Allure and Dave Dawson on the Tunacious and next thing I know I’m co hosting it with Tina Cervasio. We did 3 season of the show and had some great memories doing it. I fished a lot, met some great people, fished on some awesome boats and had the opportunity to fish in some awesome tournaments. We also had a commercial spot on the show for NJfishing.com and that started even more people flocking to the site….

Fast forward to 2014…. We are now averaging 9.5 million hits a month and 235,000 site visits per month with over 100 sponsors. Not bad for what started as a conversation over a beer.

I've had a few fairly generous offers to sell the site but numbers aside, I still get a lot of enjoyment running the site and appreciate all the contributions from our regular visitors and the continued support of all our sponsors. After doing this for 17 years, it’s hard to let go of that…. I’m also continually amazed of the caring and supportive community of people we have here.

The thing that I am most grateful for and proud of, is the friends I and others have made here. That in my opinion is what life is all about.

Thanks a bunch to all who visit, contribute to and support this great site we have.

It’s been a great ride and I hope it goes on for at least another 17 years!!

[MoparCharlie]

All I can say Jerry is THANK YOU for all of your hard work.

Bet your wife doesn't think your crazy now....well at least not about a fishing website

[Solemate]

Thanks for the information. It has been a very rewarding experience to visit this site and be a participant. Keep up the good work.

[Down Deep Sportfishing]

There was an old commercial that went something like " You've come a long way baby ", don't remember what it was but if we have a beer sometime, it might come back to me . Great story, congrats and continued success Jerry, it's a great place.

[Reelron]

I remember contacting you years ago, about posting info for the Hi-Mar Tournaments. You were a great help to the club then and you are now. I certainly hope no one ever forgets that!

Thank you my friend.

[hartattack]

Originally Posted by Down Deep Sportfishing

There was an old commercial that went something like " You've come a long way baby

Virginia Slims - cigarettes for "her"

Gerry hit the Lottery when he created this site. The good news is that he's sharing the wealth. It's a privilege to be part of it

[Wilson]

I remember the old board well... it was like the wild west of fishing.... and funny as hell to read some of the posts.

A clink of the scotch glass to you Gerry

[frugalfisherman]

Screw the posts. I want Tina Servasio back on a tv show. She was hot.

[jlrotary]

Great read. This site is great Gerry! I visit numerous times everyday, I'm addicted.

[Down Deep Sportfishing]

Originally Posted by hartattack

Virginia Slims - cigarettes for "her"

Yep, thanks Hart, I owe ya a beer

Originally Posted by frugalfisherman

Screw the posts. I want Tina Servasio back on a tv show. She was hot.

Right on!