Capt. Jack: Surf fishing is right around the corner
“Summer's lease hath all too short a date.” — William Shakespeare
I think it was August when I caught the snapper blue.
Each precious morning of our allotted time at the cottage in Rehoboth I’d be awakened by the boom of the surf. The wind didn’t always seem to be blowing, then, it seemed.
I’d sneak downstairs, taking care to avoid the fourth step down so that its “scceeeech” of old varnished pine wouldn't wake some adult. I’d let myself out the back door and pick up my surf rod where I’d sprayed her down the night before.
Evening sorties to the beach were far easier. You’d have to make way for the folks streaming back from the beach along the sidewalk, taking care not to impale a blow-up raft with the rod on the way eastward. Open screened porches would be filled with happy hour chatter and a variety of smells from a range of suppers would float out.
Right at the end of Oak Avenue, the scent of sweet peas would mingle with the tang from the Atlantic. I always packed a jacket for the walks back as August often had the chill of fall, and you’d hear baseball games from open windows.
You never really caught anything of substance in the summer, at least I didn’t. Smooth dogfish were what you caught mostly; we weren’t overrun with sandbar sharks yet. Every now and again you’d catch a ling or kingfish or spike trout.
On one such August evening, dreading having to leave the beach as my dad started football practice, I hooked a snapper blue. The fish jumped and shook and its teeth sounded like castanets.
As was the custom taught I buried the fish in the sand, getting down to the chillier sand below acting as a cooler for the fish. Just as I finished digging the hole and burying the fish, I saw my grandfather, standing at the top of the dune on the walkway. He smiled, a proud smile, and vanished into the gloom and crickets and headlights of a Sussex County evening.
Mullet are starting to jump and flash in the surf right now in the present, and that means surf fishing is right around the corner. More good news is also coming from the Atlantic, as flounder fishing has continued its comeback from a sluggish start.
“While we struggled a few times last week with poor drifting conditions, there seems to be as many or more fish around than we have had all summer,” said Capt. Rick Yakimowicz aboard the all-day headboat out of Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes.
“When everything clicks it’s not unusual for anglers to catch between 15 and 20 shorts (not legal sized) and we have some limit catches each trip. Our pool fish has been in the 4-pound class.”
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Other anglers have been reporting good catches. Mike Hilligoss passed along that on a recent weekend his crew landed more than 100 flounder, with Gulp! shrimp and a teaser rig being the most potent combo. The fish ranged all the way up to 5 pounds.
In Shark Bay, there has been a showing of croakers but the fish are very small, in the 6-8 1/2-inch size. There has also been a smattering of spot but not enough to warrant much attention from either commercial or recreational anglers.
The katydids are warming up at night, that chorus that reminds us that time is growing short along local waters. So, get out there while you can! Those school buses are right around the corner.
Comments, questions or reports to captjackrodgers@comcast.net