Shop Talk: Hudson Valley Rod & Gun's Tony Morabito

Walk down Beekman any clement day and you're bound to come across an affable fellow in his baseball cap, hanging out with a buddy on their lawn chairs next to the U.S. flag.

Tony Morabito owns the bait and tackle shop here that's been the family business since the 1930s. Since he's lived within a few blocks all the 81 years of his life, we knew he'd have something interesting to say... about sewage in the river, the best catch, taxidermy animals, and more. Best of all, Tony discloses his secret recipe for frying up that fresh fish.

So buy local and go say hello to...

Tony Morabito, owner of 

1. Got a big fish story?

TM: No big story. I fish any place there's water. I don't get out as much as I'd like to but I still do. I fish wherever fish are biting. Sometimes there's fish in the water, sometimes there's not.

2. What do you catch here?

TM: Salt water you've got striped bass, white perch, cat fish. I've been eating the fish here since I was five. Fresh you've got the small and large mouth bass, crappie, blue gills. The crappie and the blue gills are the best eating fish there are I think.

3. I have to ask what you think about the latest sewage trouble?

TM: When I was a kid, all the municipalities dumped into the Hudson. We'd be swimming at Kingsland Point and all the garbage was floating by. It's cleaner now.

4. Are those your taxidermy animal heads on the wall?

TM: None of them are mine, biggest waste of money. There's always a head collecting dust on someone's wall and the wife says, get it out of here, and it winds up here. There's a deer, wild boar, grey fox, pheasant, buffalo, salmon, trout...

5. What's the best way to cook a fresh fish?

TM: You want my secret recipe huh? 1 egg, 1 tablespoon sour cream, salt and pepper to taste, dash of cinnamon. Mix it all up. Add flour slowly until it gets to a thick pancake batter. Dip fish in it, fry it in some oil, and it's like a thick tempura. Don't like cinnamon, you can skip the cinnamon.