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Capt. Jack: After Hurricane Irma, our thoughts are with Florida

CAPT. JACK RODGERS
DELMARVANOW CORRESPONDENT
Capt. Jack Rodgers

“He always thought of the sea as 'la mar' which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman. Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as 'el mar' which is masculine. They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy. But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.” 

— Santiago in "The Old Man and the Sea," Ernest Hemingway

With so many of us in lower Delaware having ties to Florida and, as people of conscience, it’s impossible not to reflect and feel for the residents of the tropics this week. 

Hurricane Irma devastated the islands throughout the tropics and punished the South, with Florida taking the brunt of the punishment. Luckily the storm had weakened some, but hardly enough to spare everything. 

It was heartily disconcerting to see areas so familiar to many of us being used in the drumbeat of viewer-attracting-hype surrounding the storm. Our thoughts are with those impacted by this major weather event, no matter where they live.

READ MORE: How Mike Seidel weathered his journey from Salisbury to the eye of a media storm

Yesterday I sat by Shark Bay and looked at a mirrored surface. The fact that it was so calm was no surprise as I had to work and the tang of salt from the nearby Atlantic permeated the air. 

It was an idyllic evening remarkable in that there were no mullet in sight. Typically a calm day in September, the cold of winter hiding behind the curtain of chill in the air, resulted in mullet arrowing their way all along the surface heading south. Today: None.

This image made from video shows damage from Hurricane Irma in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017.

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz shared that the canal in Lewes is full of them, big squadrons working all along the surface. It’s disconcerting that there are none up north here for the second straight year.

In happier news, Capt. Rick reported that fishing aboard the all-day boat was good when they can get out. Anchoring over structure in the ocean has been providing good catches of sea bass, a few fluke and triggerfish. 

The bass fishing has been really good and you better come and get them while you can, as, mystifyingly, the season closes for a month next week. The bass are falling for clam or squid. Many sharpies are now jigging with a diamond jig and teaser to lure in the bigger bass.

Old Inlet reports small blues in the surf, with the overwhelming majority of them under a foot long. The snappers are falling for mullet fished on mullet rigs. It’s time.

Reports, comments or questions to captjackrodgers@comcast.net

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