Well, as all have heard about, Penn's has been pretty badly wiped out
for wade-fishing. Flows from 2000-6000 over the past week ensured that
much. With the prospects so dim for the whole region, many rightly
avoided the trip this year. Further dimming matters for me was the loss
to an intestinal bug of the Handyman, at least for the first several
days. With this in mind, I moved my interest for the week south to the
surf off Accomack County, Virginia, having heard reports of many large
rockfish(stripers) and black drum for the past few weeks. My fears were
that these fish had headed on their way north, but, no, I was assured by
the local shop, they will still be around all week.
Joining me for this excursion was the ever-intrepid Frank Reid. I
give huge props to any man willing to make a 2000 mile round trip for
the prospects of fishing strange waters with someone out of his usual
season on said waters. I gathered up 3 or 4 books on the subject of surf
fishing for him to read up as he wished. Prophetically, one book, off
the shelf, opened to the chapter entitled: Safety in the Surf. Oh, gawd!
Anyhow, the short synopsis isn't pretty: between the two of us,
fishing pretty hard, Frank succeeded in landing a smallish shark of
maybe 6 or 7 pounds. I got nothing, nada, zilch. We both managed to get
serious sunburn, insect bites and some minor windburn. On the positive
side of the ledger, some of the sights on the beach were, um, enjoyable.
We saw porpoises, possibly a small whale of some species, cormorants,
pelicans, egrets, ponies, sika deer,and enough ducks and geese to keep
Miller busy for a month in his truck. We stuffed our face with fried and
steamed seafood, fried chicken and cold beverages. I returned, tired and
resembling a raccoon due to sunglasses and hat in the sun.
I can only hope that Frank returned safely. He will regale you with the
finer points of blister care, separating edible items and bait into
separate coolers, and what squirrels look like when waterlogged. Until
he chimes in, I will return to resting at home.
In short, it's a lucky thing that what makes a good fishing trip is
NOT simply good fishing, but good friends, beautiful surroundings and
other intangibles........
Tom