THE HIGH AND LOWS OF STRIPER FISHING
AL MCREYNOLDS GREW UP IN A working class area of Atlantic City on the New Jersey shore, left school before he learnt to read and write and patched together a haphazard living as a lifeguard and electrical inspector. His real passion and talent was surf fishing for striped bass. On the evening of September 21, 1982, he and Pat Erdman, noting the forecast of an upcoming storm and knowing rough weather often stirs up the biggest bass, edged out on the Vermont Avenue rock jetty with the lights of the casinos and boardwalk in the background. He worked as a shoeshine boy in those casinos when he was a youth and saw celebrities throw around tips for things like fetching a book of matches; he was about to become fishing-famous himself, with more than a little cash thrown in too.
On arrival, they saw numbers of big stripers crashing into baitfish. After Erdman
