Westfield Fisherman Shares His Misadventures In Book

WESTFIELD, NJ — Fishing is not as quiet a sport as you would think and Westfield fisherman, Stephen Sautner, definitely has his fair share of adventure stories.

From getting chased by a 400-pound brown bear in Alaska to walking out into nudists on a New Jersey beach, Sautner shares his experiences and misadventures with fishing in his first full-length book "Fish On, Fish Off."

Sautner, a former New York Times “Outdoors” columnist, grew up in Westfield and graduated from Westfield High School. He was never an athlete but always loved fishing.

“No one in my family fished. I had to teach myself and because of that, there was a lot of trial and error and I emphasize error,” Sautner told Patch. “There was so many weird, stupid things along the way and misadventures and strange things. And they have continued on even now at age 51. I still continue to have strange things happen when I fish.”

His fishing career definitely started off with an adventure. As a teenager he walked into a tackle shop in Westfield — that is no longer in business. After making a purchase, the owners told him about a great fishing spot in Sandy Hook.

So Saunter packs up his car and drives down to the shore. When he arrives, Saunter dressed in full fishing gear and carrying rods, tackles, bait and everything needed for fishing heads out onto the beach. As he gets closer to the water, he realizes something is wrong.

Eventually he looks around and notices he is on a nude beach. He realized then the owners were having some fun with him.

Saunter’s book continues this way throughout. You don’t need to know anything about fishing to read about his experiences.

“I wrote this book because I love telling stories, love hearing stories and love campfire stories,” Sautner said. “But I started to realize the stories I liked to hear and tell were not the standard I caught a big fish story. It was when things went wrong or weird or I fell off a boat or was chased down a river by a bear.”

Along with his stories abroad, Sautner recalls stories in his hometown as he fishes very often in places like the Rahway River, Green Brook in the Watchung Reservation, Brightwood Park Pond in Westfield and Echo Lake.

Sautner now lives in Scotch Plains and continues to fish for anything with fins.

He will be doing a book signing at the Town Book Store in Westfield on Saturday, Nov. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m.

"Fish On, Fish Off" is published by Lyon’s Press and is available at bookstores and online.

(Images provided)

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