We have lost one of the great ones. Irv Fenton, Jr. passed away in his home Sept. 16. Irv was a lifetime member of the PSWSFA. It was an honor and a pleasure to know Irv. He always had a kind word for everyone. Talking with Irv was always educational. I am convinced the man knew everything about fishing. When we had “discovered” the blueline tilefish, Irv sat with me at dinner one evening. He pulled out a pen and started drawing on a napkin. You line up this tower with this lighthouse, run this course for so long….and so on. Then he started drawing bottom contours and said that big sea bass will be here and the tilefish will be on this side. Back then, they were trying not to catch the tilefish. I kept the napkin, and he was right. Even further back, when I had “discovered” the technique of rigging dead eels to troll for rockfish, he showed up with the heads he had made for that 50 years ago. Irv was always making some fishing contraption. He told me where, when, and how to troll those eels for the largest rockfish and again he was right. He did tell me I only needed the front hook on those eels (I was rigging them with two hooks). I went fishing with him one time and he pulled out a large eel. He had the thing rigged with 3 hooks. I mentioned that he had told me that I only needed the front hook. He said that was right, that was all I needed but he was using 3. Irv still holds the state record for albacore tuna. We will miss Irv but we sure were lucky to know him.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailypress/obituary.aspx?n=irvin-fenton&pid=145428813