Capt. Karl Anderson

This article originally appeared in On The Rip, the magazine of South Jersey Tournaments.

Several things collided to make Atlantic City one of the hottest fishing destinations on the coast throughout the 1920s to the early 1980s. With it’s naturally deep Absecon Inlet, its prominence as an upscale east coast seaside resort in the early days, the proximity to Philadelphia, New York and points south. Along with a host of boat builders within an 80 mile radius that built sea-going and back bay boats for hundreds of years, Atlantic City was perfectly situated to be the host to some of the top skippers and anglers of the day as well as great fishing action both inshore and off.

The early charter boat skippers fished from sailing cat boats and later engine powered bateau. Most of these boats were locally built in south Jersey by many popular and well-known builders of the day. Targeting bluefish, bonito, weakfish, fluke and sea bass the skippers catered to the well-to-do tourists that came to the resort. Unlike today, the majority of charter captains were the owners of their boats and had a commanding knowledge of the areas they fished without the aid of echo sounders and GPS chart plotters.  These captains provided the tackle of the day which was far less robust and reliable than the ultra-engineered equipment of today. 

Always a place of notoriety, Atlantic City, like so many other resorts saw its share of economical ups and downs, but the heyday of sportfishing for the city really came when the once famous Atlantic City Tuna Club was founded in 1935-36. The club was the vision of an Atlantic City fisherman and sportsman, Harold Sturm, who wanted to have a tuna club like the Beach Haven Tuna Club to his north. Needing a good man to organize and spark the interest to continue the process, a local businessman named Willard Shaner was enlisted to get the fledgling club up and running. 

Under the guidance of Shaner, Sturm and several other sportsman, the group pushed forward with the club having the first meeting on November 12, 1935. The start-up and regular meetings were held at Hackney’s, a popular local restaurant owned by club member Roy Hackney which came to be one of the largest and most famous seafood restaurants in the country during this time. The meetings continued to be held there until April of 1936 when they were able to rent the building that housed the Atlantic City Yacht Club on Massachusetts Avenue. It was a large three story building with docks out back on Gardner’s Basin that moored both charter and private boats. The club eventually purchased the building and participation in the club quickly grew to be the largest fishing club in the world at that time with over 1500 members.

Throughout these years club members competed for prizes in the annual contest and ventured farther offshore to fish the Lobster Hole, Atlantic City Ridge and 20-fathom curve catching tuna, marlin and dolphin. One of the Club’s early members, Capt. Clarence Starn started fishing daily charter parties in the early 1920’s from his sail boat. He later purchased the Pennsylvania Railroad pier in 1936 and developed Captain Starn’s Restaurant and Boating Center which opened in June of 1940.Through the years the business grew to include the famous waterside restaurant on the inlet, a fleet of fishing and excursion boats, a fishing pier, seafood market and the “Miss Atlantic City” speed boat offering thrilling rides to tourists. 

Some of the early boats to go farther offshore were member Rod McCoy’s Malova V, the Dolphin owned by club member and officer, Luther “Tommy” Thomas. Bluefin tuna was the regular quarry for the Jersey fleets and in 1937 Thomas along with friend and club member Harold “Piney” Parker aboard the Dolphin caught a swordfish on rod and reel by presenting the bait on the surface and to top it off, they were only 14 miles offshore of the fabled resort. In 1941, this pioneering group landed the winning marlin in the Isaac Walton Tournament, a prestigious event of the day. 

Things halted for the offshore fishing enthusiast during the war so from 1941 to 1945 the fleet was working the war effort. After the war in mid-August of 1947 Thomas and Parker renewed their offshore hunts and travelled on the Dolphin to Belmar to fish the U. S. Atlantic Tuna Tournament with Parker catching a 221-pounder that gave the Atlantic City Tuna Club the win in the fabled tournament. 

The summers of the late 40’s and early fifties saw continued good bluefin fishing but in the summer of 1953 there was a ten day period of previously unheard of white marlin fishing. The fleets from Beach Haven and Atlantic City saw numbers of whites that gave most boats multiple bites into the double digits in a day. 

The fifties also saw a change in the boats of the fleet. The bateau style was giving way to a more modern and conventional looking boat. C.P. Leek and Sons who started the Pacemaker then Egg Harbor Boat Companies on the Mullica River, Wheeler Boats from New York and a host of talented local builders began supplying the charter skippers and private owners with boats that had larger engines and standard flying bridges. Boats were being made to house the reliable Detroit Diesel 4 and 6 cylinder 53 and 71 series 2-stroke engines that won the war and were being marinized by Johnson & Towers who supplied virtually every builder with diesel power. 

By the 1960’s the boats and equipment were rapidly advancing technologically as well as the skill level of the crews. The fleet and club members out of AC were there to take full advantage of it. Members Bill Kooperman on the Painter with Captain Lou Dell, Bill Price’s Elsinbil with Captain Frank Brown, Captain Frank Pitale’s Barracuda, owner Al Lasch with Capt. Ed Howe on the Saja, Herb Clofine with Captain Whitey Fulton on his Rybovich’s Amigo IV and Amigo V as well as the powerhouse crew of Mike Levitt’s Jersey Devil with Captain Ronnie Jones and his brother Frankie that were turning up the heat on the offshore grounds and setting records.

In 1961 the Amigo crew set the record for most white marlin in a day for a boat with 9 on September 6th, only to later break it on the 9th with a double digit day of 13 released and one boated. They also caught the first shortbill spearfish on rod and reel off the Jersey coast in 1964 as well as garnering several tournament wins during this time. The crew of the Jersey Devil with anglers Levitt and Jack Soble would begin a record fish catching, traveling and tournament winning streak that has spanned over 60 years including numerous world records for Levitt and an incredible then World Record 1128 pound Blue Marlin on 80-pound line in June of 1975 out of Hatteras for Dr. Fulton Katz, the second grander Blue Marlin to be caught in the Atlantic. 

The famed “Greater Atlantic City Marlin Tournament” ran from 1954 to 1978 was fished from the Frank S. Farley State Marina and was sponsored by the City and the AC Tuna Club. In 1975 the Club was foundering and no longer sponsored the tournament, by 1977 the city was not sponsoring the event either and it ended. Throughout the tournaments history, there were many notable catches and top crews came from up and down the coast to fish the offshore grounds of the once gilded city. 

Legalized gambling brought the first casino to the city in 1978 and through the eighties, the city saw fishing boats return for big name events like the Playboy Tournament which fished for one year, then from 1982 to 1987 the South Jersey Marlin Mardi Gras, Fish for Life Leukemia fund raiser fished from Atlantic City and Cape May. This ended tournament fishing from Atlantic City when the event moved to Cape May as a stand alone in 1988, the same year the luxury tax crushed the New Jersey boat builders and recreational fishing. Today, there are no tournaments fishing from the once iconic port, however there is still a vibrant fishing scene and a home for transient boaters throughout the season.