By Noah Zucker

MILFORD — Fish from local waters can be surprisingly hard to buy in Delaware, but one Milford angler is bringing his fresh catch directly to the people.

“Everything is local. It comes from right here in the Delaware Bay. All the fish, crabs. Everything’s from right here,” said Jimmy Tibbitts, who recently started selling his product out of his home through a venture called JT Fisheries.

Ed Hale, a marine advisory service specialist for Delaware Sea Grant, said this is revolutionary.

“Jimmy’s operation is completely local,” he said. “That’s the cool part.”

Mr. Hale said “walking into a (local) commercial market and finding a Delaware product is actually hard to do. For the most part, most of our commercial fishers have historically, pre-COVID, sent their fish outside” to other markets.

“So there’s been this inability for people to acquire locally derived seafood,” he added.

Mr. Tibbitts, who is a 1982 Milford High graduate, has been a professional fisherman since that year.

“That’s the only career I’ve ever had,” he said. “When I graduated from school, everyone went to college, and I went fishing.”

Mr. Hale said Mr. Tibbitts’ old-school approach is really quite unique.

“He’s one of the last commercial netters in the lower bay area,” he said. “We have about 30 to 35 active participants in the commercial field netting.”

The store

In recent weeks, Mr. Tibbitts has been working hard to get his homey storefront at 23097 Argos Corner Road in Milford up and running.

“I’m just in the process of trying to get everything started,” Mr. Tibbitts said. “I got the walk-in (freezers) and stuff like that,” but now he’s waiting for his electric to be fully hooked up.

That hasn’t stopped him from selling his product, though.

“I’m selling what I can sell right here,” Mr. Tibbitts said of his daily catch. “I’ve got them all iced down, of course.”

But he’s “not really up and running as far as the wholesale part of it yet. But that’s coming. That’s what I want to do.”

If retail sales become too much of a challenge, Mr. Tibbitts said he may opt for a solely wholesale model.

“I’m hoping I can make everybody happy,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to do, but I’m going to try.”

Until recently, Mr. Hale had been running a seafood-distribution network that Mr. Tibbitts participated in.

“Delaware Sea Grant actually received a federal grant opportunity from the national Sea Grant office,” Mr. Hale said. “It was all focused on COVID rapid-response issues.”

Mr. Hale built out “a community seafood-purchaser network, kind of akin to a community-supported fishery, but instead of a subscription fee, all I did was simply aggregate orders and pass them on to commercial fishers.”

But he plans to end the project to avoid competing with Mr. Tibbitts.

“The Sea Grant, once a local business pops up, will make every effort to not compete with a private business,” Mr. Hale said. “It’s just not the way we operate.

“I’ll probably continue sending out educational information about where people can find fish,” he said.

“Jimmy’s been fishing for decades, just himself, and selling to a commercial processor, who would then distribute products,” Mr. Hale said. “Now, because of this opportunity of direct public sales, now, Jimmy is essentially engaging the public on his own and moving direct sales into a business opportunity.”

Products available

Frugal customers will find great value at Mr. Tibbitts’ shop.

“I’ll be cheaper than them,” he said of national grocery chains because “you don’t have to worry about the middleman handling it. It’s coming right from the boat.”

While a pound of rockfish could go for $16 at Food Lion, for example, Mr. Tibbitts will offer the same cut for just $3 a pound.

There is an extra level of work and expertise involved for his customers, though.

“I’m not going to be in the business of cleaning fish,” he said. “I can’t set that up because I would be married to it. I’d never get to do nothing.”

Mr. Tibbitts, who works alone except when crabbing, said his offerings will be dependent on the season.

“Right now, we’re mostly catching rockfish and perch. Then, we’ll move from that and go crabbing for females in the spring run,” he said. “Then, you have black drum and a few trout starting there in April and May. Then, after that, in July, August and September, we spot bluefish and a few Spanish mackerel.”

The expert fisherman is also an avid hunter. Although he will be focused on fishing most of the year, he plans to take November and December off to go deer hunting, even though he can’t legally sell venison in Delaware.

“The only thing I can sell is muskrats and (raccoons),” which he traps along Cedar Creek, Mr. Tibbitts said.

Demand for that sort of game is low, but he said he has a monopoly on the local market.

“Nobody does it anymore,” he said of trapping small local game. “I think I’m the only one that does it in Sussex County.”

Everybody loves Jimmy ...

Mr. Hale and the rest of DSG are big fans of Mr. Tibbitts’.

“Jimmy’s been a longtime participant in cooperative research with the state, and he’s just a very nice guy,” he said. “He catches a lot of different species, which makes his activity pretty cool.”

Customers looking to stop by JT Fisheries should reach out to Mr. Tibbitts at 745-2424 before stopping by, as his hours aren’t firmed up just yet.

It will be first-come, first-served.

“If they want them, they’ve got to come and get them,” the fisherman said of specific varieties of fish. “I can call them back when I’ve got them, but I don’t hold anything.”