I’M EARLY, AND THE RAMP IS PACKED with trucks, trailers and boats — a buzzing hive of activity. And like a nest of wasps, there is a hostility to it. Honking, yelling, profanity. Anglers jump the line, cause traffic jams and incite “ramp rage,” a close cousin to road rage.
But everyone is going the wrong direction, and I’m relatively certain they’re utterly unaware. Not one boat is going in the water. They’re leaving the best fishing behind, and as I watch the chaos, tucked away in a distant corner of the lot, I sip my coffee and feel smug.
Tom Kosinski, my guide for the night, arrives as the swarm of trucks and trailers has mostly thinned. He gets right to work launching as I hurry over. Kosinski is an inshore and fly-fishing guide based in Redbank, New Jersey. We met through a mutual friend and quickly bonded over our devotion to striped bass. Kosinski is a fishing intellectual, a true scholar of old ways and new, who integrates techniques from other fisheries. He is stoic and quiet, but with a fierce wit and a wry, sarcastic humor that often catches me off guard — but in a good way. Whether talking about fishing, politics or music, Kosinski considers his words
