The Capt.'s Archives
Section 1
LAST KOKOMO REPORT FOR 1998!!!
Date: Wed, 11 Nov. 1998 22:12:54 EST
From: PAPAPABLO@aol.com
AHOY MATES!!!
This is the final report you've all been
waiting for! This report will give you all the figures for the 1998
season. Then, I'm sad to say, this will be the last KOKOMO REPORT for the
year. I was hoping to write another fictional story like I did last year,
solely for your amusement; but alas, time is short and OPEN DOOR is keeping
me quite busy. We are in the process of opening an office in Florida
(the Land of Year 'Round Fishing) and I'll be commuting between the Reading
office and the Florida (Orlando) office most of the winter and spring.
Bear in mind, mates, that I travel with
a laptop computer and you can always reach me by e-mail at: PapaPablo@AOL.COM
Feel free to drop me a line anytime, regardless what state I'm in...even
when I'm in the state of Confusion. I don't know if I'll have any time
to fish in Florida, but if I do I'll send out a SPECIAL REPORT to help
keep you in the fishing mood through the winter.
Several people showed interest in buying
KOKOMO but no one came up with the money. One or two of them are
probably hoping to buy her in the spring after I've paid for winter storage,
etc. Right now, she's simply waiting out the winter on blocks at
Chestnut Neck Boat Yard. I will start advertising her again in February.
My hope is to buy a new boat in April of 1999, but if Kokomo isn't sold
I'll simply use her until a buyer comes along; then buy the new boat.
Kokomo is a great boat and she runs great, too. I don't really mind
using her again next year if a buyer doesn't come along.
Before I get into the actual numbers for
the year, let me preface it by saying that I know the figures are not totally
accurate. I am getting these figures from the KOKOMO REPORTS from
the whole season and I am missing two or three reports. I know Neil
had a third trip but I only have a record of two. I also know I'm missing
some of Armando's numbers. So, if any of you out there think you
caught more fish than these figures show; maybe you did. These figures
are the minimum. I know each person caught at least this many. Also,
sometimes we didn't bother writing down fish that were too short. So, if
you remember catching a dozen fluke that were only 8 inches long or so,
they may not have made it on record. This way, I figure everyone
can read this report and say to themselves, "Oh, I KNOW I caught more than
that!"
Then you can make up whatever number you want. To save embarrassment
for those of you who didn't catch many, I'm giving out only the first names.
I'll start with those who caught the least. The number to the left
of their name is the total number of fish they caught this year.
1998 FISHING RECORD
1 Diane D. - 1 sea bass
1 Ryan D. - 1 sea bass
1 Mike D. - 1 fluke
1 Mark K. - 1 bluefish
1 Dan S. - 1 bluefish
2 Nick K. - 1 fluke, 1 dogfish
shark
2 Casey - 1 fluke, 1 skate
3 Neil W. - 3 bluefish
3 Christopher D. - 2 sand sharks,
1 sea robin
4 Bob J. - 2 bluefish, 1 sea
robin, 1 sea bass
4 Armando M. - 3 fluke, 1 weakfish
5 Francisco - 3 sea bass, 1 sea
robin, 1 weakfish
5 Josue H. - 2 fluke, 1 sand
shark, 2 croakers
5 Jose M. - 1 fluke, 1 bluefish,
1 weakfish, 2 croakers
8 Danilo - 5 sea robins, 3 croakers
12 Dave D. - 5 fluke, 1 bluefish,
1 skate, 2 sea bass, 3 croakers
16 Lee D. - 8 fluke, 3 weakfish,
5 sea robins
22 Eric S. - 11 fluke, 5 sea
robins, 5 skates, 1 sea bass
112 Captain - 44 fluke,
12 blues, 7 weakfish, 16 sand sharks, 3 sea robins, 12 skates, 7 sea bass,
1 brown shark, 1 kingfish, 8 croakers, 1 oyster cracker
TOTAL FISH CAUGHT ABOARD KOKOMO IN 1998: 208
Let's look at the numbers just a minute. I think there's good news. That is, we caught a better ratio of good fish to junk fish this year. More edible fish and less annoying sea robins and skates. Here's how the numbers break down according to species. This is combining everyone's fish for the season.
| FLUKE - 77
BLUES - 21 WEAKFISH - 13 SEA BASS - 15 CROAKERS - 18 KINGFISH - 1 |
JUNKFISH:
SAND SHARKS - 19 SEA ROBINS - 21 SKATES - 20 BROWN SHARK - 1 DOGFISH SHARK - 1 OYSTER CRACKER - 1 |
To make a few more observations about the '98 season. I fished alone more than I had in the past, as my numbers show. It gets tougher to get friends to come down. Don't be shy next year. Also, I fished with a lot of teens this year who had never fished before, or hadn't fished very much. No, I didn't always catch the most. Several times I was beat by a teen and I
took it like a man; besides, they said they enjoyed swimming back to the marina. Only one time did anyone get seasick to the point of vomiting on the boat; and I made their father clean the boat (who looked a little green around the gills himself). They won't be invited back next year.
I have a lot of good memories from 1998, including....
- A really nice day with my longtime friend Dan Daily, whose son is
trying to
get Dad to buy a powerboat (keep working on him Christopher).
One evening I caught 2 sand sharks back to back that were each 48"
long
(near the 139 buoy)
I caught several species for the first time in my life...croaker,
brown
shark, and kingfish.
I saw my first dogfish shark of my life.
Not once did the seas get frightening while we were out there...maximum
6
foot swells (with Eric on Columbus Day)
Two hurricanes brushed by; and thanks to God they didn't come close
enough
to do damage.
For the first time at our official Tontine bluefish contest, we caught
only
bluefish!
I won the trophy at the Tontine!
Kokomo ran aground (soft grounding) on 5/16/98 due to a buoy being
in the
wrong place. The Coast Guard later re-set the buoy.
When the damage was
repaired, Kokomo runs better than ever!
I met some really nice new friends in the next slip. I enjoy
Bob, Terry,
Tommy, and Sarah's company. We plan the same slips next year.
I'm looking
forward to it.
This year was marked by lots of sea grass and algae in the bays. It was really annoying all spring, but the waves were too high to go out in the ocean. The water temperature was unusually warm this year, too. I blame El Nino for these effects. Thank God he's gone. Now we have to contend with his little sister La Nina this winter. We may have a slightly colder and
slightly snowier winter because of her. But then we should be back to normal in the
spring. Hooray!
We also set some new records this year:
MOST FISH CAUGHT IN ONE DAY (BEFORE NOON) - 33
FASTEST RATE OF CATCHING FISH: ONE EVERY 6.06 MINUTES
MOST PEOPLE SEASICK AT ONE TIME: FOUR!!!
BIGGEST FISH CAUGHT EVER ON KOKOMO: 48" SAND
SHARK (2)
I also have to take a minute to point out
some personal awards. To preface it, I should say we make quite a
thing about catching bluefish. Not because they're edible (yecch!) but
because they're so much fun to fight. Now, bluefish have lots of names
depending on their size. I simplify things a little. I forget
the 'racers' which are the young early spring fingerlings with no meat
on them. And since there's no official designation for the others;
I made one up.
If a bluefish is edible size but less than
20" long I simply call it a 'snapper.' If it is between 20" and 30"
long I call it a 'chopper.' If it's over 30" long I call it
a 'slammer.' Biggest I ever caught is 36" but they get bigger.
Anyway, we kind of sell the idea that you're
not really a seasoned, veteran fisherman until you've caught your first
"slammer" bluefish. With this in mind we have to say 'sorry' to those
of you whose blues were under 30". Two guys caught their first bluefish
ever, but they were too small to be called slammers. Sorry Dan S.
and Dave D. Try again next year. Actually,
there were 7 of us who caught blues this year but five of them only
caught snappers and choppers. To them we say, try again next year
also. I don't count since I've been catching slammers for 20 years.
But we do owe a warm welcome to Neil Wagner for catching his first 'slammer'
bluefish ever!!!! Congratulations Neil!
NEIL CATCHES FIRST SLAMMER BLUE IN 1998!!!
Well, I guess it's time to wrap this up.
There's only one more way to measure the success of a boating and fishing
season. It's not the number or the type of fish you caught.
It's how much fun you had. Did you have fun fishing on Kokomo this
year? I hope you had as much fun as I did. If we really think
about the fun factor...it was a really great year!
And just a note of special thanks to those
of you who help clean the boat after a fishing trip. This fat, old
body with bad legs appreciates it.
If all goes well in Florida, I'll see you
next April when we start all over again. Keep in touch through the
winter.
Until your feet hit the deck next year....may
your joys be as deep as the ocean and your troubles as light as its foam.
KOKOMO REPORT - 10/25/98
Date: Tue., 27 Oct. 1998 00:38:52 EST
From: PAPAPABLO@aol.com
AHOY MATES!!!
Well, I think we've had the last fishing
trip of the season I'm sad to say. When both of my little ceramic
heaters don't keep the boat warm enough to sleep on, it's time to quit.
I had to work on Saturday for our annual
foster parent training seminar, so I didn't arrive at the shore until about
6:30 Saturday evening. I went straight to Scott's Bait & Tackle
(a good place to buy a gift certificate for Christmas for any of your fishing
friends...hint, hint) to get some bait.
More importantly, Scott shares information with his customers about
the best fishing spots. Since I live in Pennsylvania and don't hear
the local gossip about where they're biting this week; checking with Scott
is a must each weekend. He is probably responsible for 90% of the
fish we catch; but
don't tell him....if he knew the percentage was that high he might
start charging a fish fee for the information. You know, I'll tell
you where the fish are Paul, if you agree to bring back two keeper fluke
for me! Besides the info, he's a heck of a nice guy and I enjoy shopping
there. I don't know his wife as well, but I wish I knew half as much
about computers as she does. (Thanks, Paul :) MizMo)
Anyway, I knew things have been a little
slow in the river and bays, and I'm not a real striper fisherman (in fact,
I've never caught one). I had a man coming down with his three sons
and a friend and I wanted the kids to catch fish. So, I asked Scott.
He told me to go outside the inlet and
head south toward Wreck Inlet and look for sea gulls feeding on
the minnows in the ocean. I knew what he was getting at; there would
be bluefish underneath, feeding on the same minnows. I bought some
mackerel for bait and went back to the boat.
Well, forgive my lack of faith, Scott.
I sat there in the boat all evening watching a video (Murder at 1600...Wesley
Snipes...I give it 3 1/2 stars) and kept thinking to myself....how does
Scott know there will be birds feeding in that area tomorrow? I mean,
just because they were there yesterday doesn't mean they'll be there tomorrow!
Birds do fly around; they don't just sit in one spot for a week.
Besides that, the minnows move around....and bluefish can swim! If
any one of these three mobile animals decide to leave the area, tomorrow
will be a bust! You know me, the last thing I want to do is disappoint
a child.
So I thought I'd hedge my bet. I
decided to buy some minnows so we could bottom fish if there were no birds
or blues around. Naturally, not wanting to let Scott know about my
unbelief, I went to Clarke's Marine Supply on Sunday morning to buy the
minnows. They were out of them! They don't carry them at this
time of the season!!!! Horrors! I have to go back to Scott's
and
gravel for some minnows just in case...which I did.
That created the next problem. I
bought the last pint of minnows they had. While I was there, with
the bag of minnows still in my hand, a boy about 14 came in and asked for
minnows. My heart wrenched. How could I walk out with these
minnows in my hand knowing this boy would have no minnows to fish with?
I quickly weighed in my mind whether I should give him the minnows I
just bought, or save them for the four boys coming to Kokomo in
about an hour. I picked up the bag of minnows to hand to the boy just as
Scott asked one of his workers to go out and check the traps to gather
more minnows for the boy. Whew! That was close! I walked out
of the store with full confidence that Scott's traps would be loaded with
minnows for the boy to buy. My faith is
getting stronger.
My friends arrived before noon.
Noon isn't the best time to set out on a fishing trip. I prefer 6:00
a.m....but noon was better for their schedule and I never turn down a chance
to fish at any time of the day. I had already prepared the boat and rigged
all the rods with new bluefish hooks...faith still growing. Mark
and his sons Mark Jr., Nick, and T.J. got aboard with their friend Casey.
It was a beautiful crisp, clear day as
we set out down the Bass River. It took the boys a little time to learn
what sea legs are and it was kind of novel, in an evil sort of way, to
watch them try to stand up as the boat rocked or started and stopped.
When we reached Great Bay I let 12 year old
Nick drive a couple of miles across the bay. He did well.
I, of course, make sure there aren't any other boats in the area, then
I go down into the cabin just to see the look on the others' faces when
they all yell out, "Who's driving!"
I took the helm again before we reached
the 139 buoy and snaked Kokomo through Grassy Channel. We only passed
two boats on the way out that afternoon. I thought that was odd.
Then I found them. There were about, give or take a few, six million
boats in the inlet looking for stripers.
Other than the slight pathway they left around the mid-channel markers,
you could easily walk from Long Beach Island to Little Beach by going from
boat to boat without getting your feet wet! Like I said, I'm not
a striper fisherman and I don't understand the thrill. Being that
packed together to maybe (and I mean just maybe) catch one striper is a
little like being stuck in a traffic jam and fighting over a roadkill.
We weaved our way through the traffic and
followed the mid-channels out to the "B" buoy where I turned the helm toward
the south and headed to Wreck Inlet like Scott had advised. I told
the two boys on the flybridge to help me look for birds feeding.
They pointed out a few here and one or two over there; not exactly a feeding
frenzy.
What happened next was incredible.
One of the boys yelled and pointed to some gulls feeding. But I didn't
believe what I saw. Now, I've fished in flocks of feeding gulls before;
maybe a thousand of them one time last year in the inlet. But in
the past I've always seen them feeding in the same
general area maybe covering a hundred yards square. But these
gulls...at least 10,000 of them were all competing to feed in an area maybe
50 feet square! The minnow school must have been small because all
the birds couldn't feed from the school at the same time, so many of them
wait in line above until it was their turn to dive.
It literally looked like a tornado made
of birds had touched down on the surface of the ocean! Add to that
the fact that the minnows were jumping out of the water to escape the blues
and the fact that the blues jumped out of the water to catch the minnows,
and the surface of the ocean was so turbulent at the bottom of the bird
tornado...it really looked like a twister touched down.
Even truer to the twister appearance, the
minnows shortly regrouped and dashed to another place, maybe a hundred
yards away, and the whole frenzy started again...making it look like the
twister was bouncing off the water and touching down at other unpredictable
places. We watched that happen maybe ten or twelve times over the
course of the next hour. It was so remarkable to
watch that I almost didn't feel like fishing!
I hurried, before too many other boats
got close, to get as close to the school as I could and quickly threw in
the lines with mackerel. But the school moved so fast to chase the
minnows that I no sooner killed the engines and the tornado touched down
somewhere else, maybe 200 yards away. We pulled up the lines and
ran down the next touch down.
After doing that 4 or 5 times I gave up.
I simply couldn't move Kokomo as fast as minnows, blues, and birds could
move. I was more concerned with making sure the boys caught some
fish....any fish. I thought we'd better switch to bottom fishing
before we ran out of time.
Only Mark Jr. hadn't switched to a bottom
rig when he hooked the first fish...a straggler from the school, and brought
in a 25" bluefish! Good, I thought, the boys are beginning to catch
fish.
I pulled in a humongous (is that really
a word?) sea robin next. Then Nick brought up an absolutely beautiful
17" fluke! I thought the fluke were pretty much out of the area and
was glad to see what Nick caught. I forget the order of the rest
of the fish, but I eventually picked up two snapper blues about 18" and
Casey brought in a 20" fluke, and Nick added a 30" dogfish shark.
So the box scores look like this:
Mark Jr. - 25" bluefish
Nick - 17" fluke, 30" dogfish shark
Casey - 20" fluke, small skate
Captain - 1 sea robin, 2 snappers
Mark (the Dad) didn't fish but seemed to
have a good time watching his boys and helping out. The youngest,
T.J., isn't crazy about fishing but chose to watch a video in the cabin.
He seemed to enjoy it when I let him take a turn at the helm and he did
it well. He was also our chief bird spotter
and was quick to let us know where they touched down next.
We quit about 4:45 p.m. and headed back
because the boys have to get up for school tomorrow. It was a quiet
ride back to the marina after we passed the six million striper fisherman
again. Nick rode up on the flybridge with me, as T.J. sat in the
other flybridge seat half asleep. Dad, Mark Jr. and Casey relaxed
in the cabin for the almost hour ride back.
Me? I enjoyed the quiet ride back.
It's so nice in the fall when there's not many boats clogging the route
back. But that one question kept nagging me.
The Atlantic Ocean is about 4,000 miles
wide and 12,000 miles long. How does Scott know precisely where the birds
are going to eat today? I mean the first touch down was exactly halfway
between Little Egg Inlet and Wreck Inlet...exactly where he'd said they'd
be!!! How does he know that? Is there like a captain of the
sea gulls who reports to Scott each morning? Or do all
10,000 of them land behind his shop and plan the day as a group?
Maybe Scott was Jonathan Livingston Seagull in another life? Maybe
Mizmo developed a computer program that predicts their future eating habits...or
maybe even put a tracking device on a few of them that relay information
right back to her monitor. I haven't figured out how he does it yet;
and I think its one of
those things you're better off just believing without trying to
figure out how it works.
The only problem is that this is the first
time the boys had done this kind of fishing. They don't know what
an extraordinary sight it was! I can picture young Nick some twenty
years from now taking his own son out in the ocean to fish for the first
time. His son looks up with those trusting
eyes and asks, "Dad, the ocean's so big, how do you know where to
fish?" And Nick
answers without hesitation, "It's easy, son; you just look for the
bird tornadoes!"
The only thing I know for sure is that
four young, landlubber, city boys had a day they'll never forget.
Thanks the help, Scott. (And tell the captain of the sea gulls I
said thanks).
It was such a great day it almost made
it bearable to get back to Bass River Marina and find out there was no
water! I couldn't clean the boat...and I couldn't even shower the
next morning. Turns out they're having trouble with a circuit breaker
on their pump. Looks like I'll be cleaning a lot
next weekend before taking Kokomo to Chestnut Neck Boat Yard for
the winter.
I'm going to Florida on Monday to work
on opening our foster care office in Orlando. When I get back, I'll
send out the last Kokomo Report of the season with all the totals and awards
for the whole season.
Until your feet hit the deck next spring....may
your joys be as deep as
the ocean and you troubles as light as its foam.
It's so sad to be at the marina at this time of year. Each
day I watch them lift more and more boats out of the
water; there's not many people hanging around; the
pool has been closed for months; and I have to turn
the heater on at night. These are terrible, terrible signs
that the season is almost over. Every time they put a
boat up on blocks it's like watching a friend die.
Actually, it's worse. At least your friend goes to heaven
(hopefully), but a boat just sits there all winter and
oxidizes! Worse yet, when I was fishing this morning
in the inlet, I saw a flock of geese flying south! And the
worst of all signs that my fishing season is almost
over is the fishermen! No one fishes the old summer
spots anymore! Every single boat I saw today was
hovering around striped bass hot spots! Those guys
will cut holes in the ice to catch a striper; but it's too
cold for me! Of course, it means the weekly KOKOMO
REPORTS will stop in just a few weeks. We have two
special issues coming up at the end of the season, the
last of which is the synopsis of the whole season. I'll
tell you the total number of fish we all caught on
Kokomo, how many of each type, who caught the
most, biggest, and all that stuff. Now, back to the
weekend. I spent most of Friday evening and all day
Saturday cleaning the boat because a couple who is
interested in buying her was coming on Sunday for a
test drive. She looked good. I even steam cleaned the
carpets and cleaned nooks and crannies I haven't
cleaned all season. In between chores I chatted with
my neighbors Bob and Terry, but otherwise kept
pretty busy. The test drive went well. The couple was
early showing up but I was ready. I took them down
into Great Bay and let the guy drive her a little. They
seemed real interested and said they would talk about
it and e-mail an offer to me. I'm kind of skeptical about
these things and I'll believe it when I see their money.
I'll keep you posted. My friend Eric came down about
4:00 p.m. on Sunday which is unusually early for him.
He usually comes down about 1:00 in the morning for
some reason or another. This time, it was actually still
daylight! We went up to Scott's to buy our bait right
away since Scott closes at 5:00 on Sundays. We had a
nice chat with Scott and his lovely wife, partner, and
webmaster, Maureen; though she's known to
fishermen all over the world as MizMo (her screen
name). Scott very correctly advised us that it would be
rough on Monday in the ocean since the wind was
from the northeast. Unfortunately, there's not a lot
happening in the bay that excites me right now. I'll
explain more about that later, for the readers who are
landlubbers. We bought our minnows and squid
(forgetting that I still had squid in the freezer leftover
from last week) and took the bait back to the boat.
Then Eric and I went up to the Dynasty Diner in
Tuckerton for dinner. Not exactly a five-star restaurant,
but reasonably priced. When we finished, I was
surprised to find it was still light out, since I'm used to
Eric coming down so late. We had plenty of time to
enjoy that evening before turning in. So, what should
we do? We decided to hit a couple of buckets of golf
balls at the driving range! They were closed already
but were kind enough to open it up and let us play.
Now, I can't speak for Eric, but it was the first time in
29 years that I have hit a golf ball with a driver. I knew I
was going to be embarrassed but so what? How do I
know it's been exactly 29 years since I hit a golf ball
with a driver? Actually, it was 29 years ago last June
the 5th. It was my very first car date and I was 16...I'll
give you the short version...took Linda to miniature
golf, driving range, movie, and ice cream....by the time I
got the nerve to kiss her good night I would be late
getting home...didn't care...kissed her and floated back
to the car two feet off the ground....even the car (Dad's
Chevy) never touched the ground on the way
home...was 15 minutes late...parents grounded me for
30 days...didn't care....would do it all over again except
she went in the Air Force and I never saw her again.
Anyway, Eric and I go back 25 years so I can't get too
embarrassed. I hit them way to the left, and way to the
right...and some of them looked like ground balls in a
baseball game, mostly going up the third base line.
One or two went straight and far...and they'll probably
be the only ones I remember. We got back to the
marina after dark and there were very few people
there. Eric and I decided to walk around and look at
the boat names. I've already started thinking about a
name for my next boat...what do you think of
this....Earl. Don't like it? How about 'Knot Cheap'?
How about a name that explains how I can afford
it..like 'Wifeless' or 'Childless?' I even thought of some
that are a little longer, like "Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost."
How would this look on the back of my next
boat..."Stay Back, I Don't Have Brakes"? You're
right...I'll probably stick with KOKOMO. (Where you
want to go to get away from it all) Anyway, since there
was no one around the marina it was kind of spooky.
Like sleeping at a haunted house. So we decided to
have fun. The poor security guard drives around all
night in a 4-cylinder car that sounds like a riding lawn
mower. Since we were the only ones there Sunday
night, he just followed us around. He didn't have
anyone else to watch! We kind of felt sorry for him; so
every time he drove past us, we ran to another picnic
table and sat down real fast. I figured he would feel
better if he believed there was actually a lot of people
there. By the way, remember in last week's Kokomo
Report I told you about my friend Jose dropping the
cat into the water at the marina? Well, the cat's okay! I
saw it again on Sunday night; in fact we petted it at
one of the picnic tables. I don't think swimming
bothered her too much, except I did notice a little water
sprayed out of her ears whenever she shook her head.
We finally went to bed about 11:00 p.m. and set the
alarm for 7:00 a.m. since I couldn't buy gas till 8:00
a.m. anyway. I usually leave to go fishing a lot earlier. I
like to pull out before the crack of dawn. Well, not too
early; it's painful to watch dawn crack. Except that day
in May when I ran aground, we left before dawn
cracked...I guess you could say it was just stretch
marks in the sky, but not actually cracked. Anyway, we
went to the fuel dock and I spoke in Spanish with one
of the staff from Cuba. It's fun discussing Cuban
politics in Spanish at a fuel dock right after dawn
cracks wide open. Then we were off on a breezy day.
Think back. Do you remember what kind of day the
weatherman promised us for Monday? I always check
5 weather stations before going out in the ocean and
they all said 72 degrees and sunny. Well, they were
wrong!!! We hadn't gone far down the Bass River
when we could see there wasn't going to be any
sunshine! And it never even came close to 72 degrees.
By the time we reached Great Bay I knew it would be a
gloomy day since I couldn't see Atlantic City at all.
When we slowed down to go through the dogleg I
radioed to a captain out in the ocean for a report. The
answer came back, "Bumpy and windy, captain." I
knew the wind was from the northeast and I knew that
is the worst direction for the wind to come from. It
makes a sloppy chop, and it gets behind the swells
and pushes them bigger. Westerly breezes, not winds,
are best. They tend to cause resistance for the waves
and flatten them a little. Of course, wind from any
direction is no good if its too fast. Okay. So its going to
be choppy, but why not 'peek outside' and see for
ourselves! After all, the guy that answered my radio
call was out there! We bounced through the inlet up to
the D buoy when I decided it was just a little too
choppy. Being the captain, and responsible for
everyone's safety, I made the decision to turn around
and fish in the inlet. Honest, I wasn't influenced by
Eric's grip on the railing. I've seen white knuckles
before. But now I have to tell prospective buyers that
Silvertons came with flattened and bent railings on the
fly bridge. He didn't seem to mind when I put on my life
jacket; though he never budged. We went back to the
area of the G buoy. Most striper fishermen fish near
the shore. I don't fish for stripers so I can't really tell
you why. I always figured the water temperature is
colder now and they want to be close to shore in case
they fall in the water. Or maybe their wives won't let
them spend much on gas now that they have to buy
the kids all their back-to-school clothes. For whatever
reason, there was a dozen boats drifting close to
shore at the south end of LBI. Being courteous, I
stayed about a hundred yards away from them and
drifted from roughly the middle of the inlet back up
toward the old Coast Guard station. I thought most of
the fluke had left the area since I've only heard about a
few being picked up here and there. Mostly weakfish
and croakers have been getting all the attention lately.
But on the first drift (in that deep hole) I picked up a
fluke that was keeper size! Well, we obviously decided
to try that again. We picked up a couple short flukes
and Eric insisted on bringing in some traditional sea
robins. When he had our first drift without catching a
fish, I decided it was time to try somewhere else. We
basically had three options. 1) Drift again in the inlet, 2)
go over to Pebble Beach area, or 3) 'peek outside'
again and see if its any better. I decided to peek
outside again. No the wind direction hadn't changed.
And the skies looked absolutely ominous. The
ominous-ness...what is the noun form of 'ominous?'
Ominosity? Ominosis? The skies were darker than I've
ever seen them out there, and we could see a storm off
on the horizon, presumably heading away from us out
to sea. We eased our way out the inlet and actually
saw two or three twenty- footers out there! (boats...not
waves) They're crazier than us! At least Kokomo is 31
feet...not that size matter in a rough sea. (If you haven't
read a book called THE PERFECT STORM....buy it and
read it!) The same weather guys that lied about the
sunshine also lied about the size of the waves. They
said 3-footers but 4 was more like it with a triple play of
5-footers every now and then. We went out past the LE
buoy and stopped about halfway between the LE
buoy and Atomic Lump. We would drift fast but I
wanted to keep the LE buoy in sight at all times. I
wasn't sure we'd find anything on a day like that. The
very few captains that were talking on channel 9
mentioned only 2 sand sharks and a short thrill with a
school of blues under some birds. Not exactly great
reports. I was surprised again! We drifted roughly the
same path 3 times and picked up several fluke each
time! They were hitting pretty good although we
caught about 3 shorts (mostly 14 inches) for every one
keeper. I was just pleased with how consistently they
were hitting. It never got boring that's for sure! Several
times the waves hit so hard it knocked us down on the
deck hard; and when we came to, there was another
fish on the line! It was certainly the roughest fishing
trip of the season. I'm glad I didn't have anyone with
me who is prone to seasickness! It would have been a
dead sure thing. I took some pictures of the sky when I
was able to stand. I was a little concerned about
coming through the inlet on the way back. Waves from
the northeast would hit the Kokomo on the starboard
side or starboard stern, neither of which is very
comfortable. I wanted to stay out longer, hoping it
would get better; but Eric eventually made me go back
in and yelled at me for whimpering about my Mommy.
When we actually reached the inlet, it wasn't as bad as
I had imagined. Very few white caps and we just took
our time. By the time we had turned left at the G buoy
into the inter coastal waterway we were feeling safer.
We rounded the dogleg at Tow Island and felt
downright good about our trip. By the time we reached
Great Bay we were outright cocky. Yeah, we did it...and
we caught fish! For those of you who remember the
Kokomo Report from Columbus Day last year...it was
nothing like that today! Last year it was flat as a
pancake and Eric and I set four records for Kokomo in
that one day....speed (26 knots), number of fish in one
day (27...which was broken this year), number of
species in one day (6...tied this year but not beat), and
largest sea bass (15 inches; we caught four of
them..again, tied this year but not broken). The only
record we set today was 'roughest fishing trip of the
year.' Our total count for the day was 17 fish.....14 fluke
(four keepers) and 3 sea robins. And we only fished
about 3 hours. Not bad for 3 hours. The box scores
look like this: Eric...3 sea robins, 3 short fluke, and one
fluke at 15.75 inches. Captain....7 short fluke....one
keeper fluke at 15.5 inches and two at 16 inches. We
don't count shellfish, but I also picked up a spider crab
and a sea snail. I hope you've enjoyed the reports this
year. Don't look for one next week since I'm going to
the Annapolis Boat Show instead of to Kokomo. I do
plan to fish on the 24th if Kokomo isn't sold. I plan to
take her out of the water on the 31st, unless I have a
hot prospect for a buyer. So, until your feet hit the
deck next time....may your joys be as deep as the
ocean and your troubles as light as its foam.
AHOY MATES!
I know its
not quite fishing season back home; but I kind of miss it, and
I miss writing the KOKOMO REPORTS,
so
I took a day to go fishing!
As you
may know, I've been spending a lot of time in Florida lately to
open a new office for our foster
child agency; I know, its tough, but somebody has to do it. So the
weather has been a balmy 77 degrees most days and I decided to take advantage
of it. Besides, I had
worked twelve days straight and
needed the break.
My Administrative
Specialist and good friend Eric is with me for this
trip, and fishing is always better
when you do it with a friend.
But how?
That was the big question. KOKOMO is still up on blocks at
Chestnut Neck Boat Yard in New Jersey.
Since I'll probably be here a lot in the foreseeable future; maybe I should
buy a boat down here so I can fish whenever I want. But then I'd
have to buy all the charts and learn the good fishing spots and even how
to catch the kinds of fish they have here. They're certainly different
from what I'm used to. Maybe I should rent a small boat for just
the two of us. Or maybe I should charter a boat with captain for
the two of us. It's expensive, but you usually have a
good trip.
I finally
decided to simply go out on a party boat. It's about fifteen
years since I've been on a party
boat; its not my favorite way to fish, but
why not? I hardly even remember
what its like to fish on a party boat, its
been so long. I'm staying
in Orlando and took a ride a few weeks ago to get brochures from party
boats in Port Canaveral, about 45 minutes to the east. I read
over the brochures and picked one called the
OCEAN OBSESSION II.
I called
the office to make a reservation on Thursday and the woman told me they
canceled Thursday's trip due to seven-foot swells in the ocean. She
was quick to add that they caught a lot of blackfin tuna on Wednesday,
as a selling point. As for Friday, the day we wanted to
go, she just didn't know. The captain
was watching the weather closely and they hoped the ocean would lay down
soon, but there was no way of knowing for sure. One thing nagged
at me. If they have seven foot swells today, the ocean will be churned
up and the fishing won't be that good tomorrow. But then again, when
will I have time to try it again? Let's go for it!
I woke
up at 5:15 a.m. (haven't done that in months) and called the
marina right away, hoping to find
out if the ocean laid down or if the trip
was canceled. I got their
recording but no information about the trip. We
decided to drive the 45 minutes
to Port Canaveral and find out for sure.
We left
my apartment in Orlando about 6:30 a.m. while it was still dark.
We headed east on the Beeline Expressway
and started to see the sun rise by the time we reached the Econlockhatchee
River. It was easy sailing with the 70 m.p.h. speed limit and very
little traffic. We crossed the Indian River causeway and then the
Banana River before making a
left into the port area. There were
a few large cruise ships at dock like the
Disney cruise ship with Mickey painted
on the stacks; and the cruise ship
called the Big Red Boat which is
basically a big red boat!
The Ocean
Obsession II was dwarfed by the cruise ships. Our boat was a mere
65-feet long, designed to be a party boat. It was very clean, with
a nice cabin with tables and padded benches, complete with a cook and free
drinks. It held a total of 60 fishermen with about 50 on board last
Friday. I was hoping for a smaller crowd and a little more
elbow room, but oh well.
Eric and
I paid our $60 each (including breakfast and lunch and rod
rental) and got on board.
We stood on the starboard side and looked out over a marina full of pilings,
with a lazy pelican resting atop each one.
Occasionally, a pelican would spread
his (her?) wings to take in some of the morning warmth from the sun.
I was a
little nervous when I heard a guy down in the engine room call
down some of the mates. He
was unhappy about something in the engine room but I never found out what.
It was a twin diesel boat that had a lot of pep even with 50 men on board.
I only know that they had the
starboard engine running for a good
20 minutes before they got the port side engine to start; and when it did
it spewed out a fair amount of smoke for a minute or so.
We
left only about ten minutes behind schedule and it felt good to be
moving on the water again!
My gosh I miss KOKOMO in the winter. But there were signs all over
that this wasn't KOKOMO and it certainly wasn't New Jersey. First
of all, there's no booze aboard KOKOMO, and there's no CAUTION: MANATEE
ZONE signs in New Jersey; at least none that
I've ever seen.
We were
in the ocean in ten minutes flat, but it took another 75 minutes
or so to reach our first fishing
spot; the spot where they caught the blackfin tuna on Wednesday.
We dropped
in our lines and I was the first man to pull up a fish, in
only about 30 seconds! Unfortunately,
it wasn't a tuna, in fact, it wasn't
even edible. Let's pause here
for a minute.
I don't have
to tell you fishermen that we have strange names for fish.
I mean, I understand why we don't
go around calling fish by their latin genre names like TUNNUS DI FISHUS
or FISHUS GOODUS TO
EATUS; but you'd think we could
at least agree on calling a fish by the same name worldwide. For
example, one fish is called a dolphin fish in
Florida, and the same fish is called
a mahi-mahi in Hawaii, and the same fish is called a dorado in Mexico and
Central America. We even do the same thing locally. Is it a
weakfish or a sea trout? Is it summer flounder or fluke? It
sure
confuses things.
Anyway,
the first fish of the day that I brought up was called a 'lizard
fish' by the mates. I had
never seen one before. It was about 15 inches
long, light green in color, very
small almost unnoticeable fins, and a
triangle shaped mouth. Remember
in the old days when you would open your beer can or soda can with that
metal can opener we used
to call a 'church key?' Well, this
fish's mouth looked like it would make
the same size and shape triangle
hole if he decided to take a bite out of
something. I didn't let him
have the chance and threw him overboard.
The other
unfortunate thing about catching the lizard fish is that it was
the last fish I caught all day!!!
Blamed it on the churned up waters; no one
caught much. In fact, all
50 men combined caught a total of only ten keepers and about ten throwbacks.
That's only a total of 20 fish all day for 50 men. Not a good day at all!
The other
fish caught weren't that exciting except I had never seen any
of them in New Jersey. There
were blackfin tuna which looked basically like a yellowfin except the fins
were black! Hey, there's a fish's name that makes sense! Then
there were some groupers which is a popular fish on menus down here.
I don't know how they get their name. Maybe you can't catch them
when you fish alone; only when you're in a group. Or
maybe they swim in groups, being
too dumb to travel in schools. I don't know.
One guy
caught two small red fish about a foot long each and the mate
called them "beeliners." I
don't know why, and the mate didn't either; but
we're sure it doesn't have anything
to do with the Beeline Expressway. They weren't edible and were released.
The guy
that won the pool caught a huge, 25-pound red snapper! It was
beautiful in color and size.
There were also some smaller red snappers caught that looked like they
would fit better on a dinner plate.
I saw another
fish that was a mystery but there was no mate around at the time and the
guy that caught it didn't know what it was either. I can only describe
it as being the size and almost as ugly as an oyster cracker except it
had a lot of spine-like fins.
One guy
caught a 3-foot nursing shark which they put back after cutting
the line and letting him keep the
hook as a souvenir. And one 'trigger fish'
was brought aboard. I don't
know if they're edible or not, but the guy kept
it.
So the box scores
for the day look like: 4 blackfin tuna, 4 groupers, 1
huge red snapper, and 1 trigger
fish. They were the keepers. The ones that went back included
three small red snappers (20" minimum size to keep them), 3 small groupers,
the nursing shark, 2 bonito, and
another lizard fish.
A pretty
stinky day for fishing, but a gorgeous day to be out on the
water! The woman at the booth
selling the tickets when we arrived said,
"We've got 3-13's out there now
but its going to get rough later." She was
wrong, they were more like 2-8's
and it never did get rougher. For those of
you who don't fish, the first number
is the height of the swells and the
second number is the period (number
of seconds from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next). So,
a 3-13 tells you the waves are 3 feet high and they're coming 13 seconds
apart. Generally, an 'average' swell should be 1.75 times the height.
So for example, a 4-7 is
'average' whatever 'average' means;
because 4 (feet high) times 1.75 = 7 (seconds in between). No charge
for the math lesson.
I guess
the best thing that came out of the day was that, after fifteen
years, I remembered why I started
buying my own boats. I don't like fishing on party boats! The
line tangles were a mess, especially when someone hooked a tuna.
And we tripped over extra gear the regular
customers brought; as if they were
going out on a two-month swordfish trip. One guy (a really annoying guy)
actually brought his own homemade livewell and live bait, complete with
a car battery to power the circulating pump. And there were the guys
who had too many beers and stumbled into me blaming it on a wave saying,
"Wow, that was a big one! Believe me, it wasn't any more than 2-feet
high just like all there others. The only thing higher than two feet
was the guy with the twelfth beer in his hand. And, of course, the
fun thing about fishing with obsessive beer drinking strangers is that
one (or more) of them always treats us to a
show of what he had for breakfast
and blames it on seasickness. On Friday it was a man about 110 years
old who barfed over the starboard side right after lunch.
Yeah, it's
all coming back to me now. I remember fishing on party boats
in the old days. I like owning
my own boat. KOKOMO may be 21 years old and imperfect, but she's
mine.
So if you
own a boat, stop whining about the payments, the gas expense, the insurance,
and the slip rent. Just enjoy her! There's no better way to go!
The next time I get down to Chestnut Neck, I'm
going to walk up to that 31-foot
hunk of fiberglas and give her a big hug on
the bow.
I have
to spend a lot of time in Florida yet; but I'm going to do my best
to be home on weekends for boating
season come late April. I'll start sending the KOKOMO REPORTS every
week about the first of May
for those who want them. Let me
know if you want to be on my e-mailing list.
Until your
feet hit the deck next time, pray for calm seas and gentle
breezes.
CAPTAIN PAUL
I know what
you're thinking. "Is it boating season already? It was 38
degrees last Monday!"
Yes.
It's boating season. In fact, its boating season all year round
if you've got the grit, time, and
money for stuff like bubblers, indoor
storage, and battery-operated heated
long johns. Or better yet, spend the
winter in a warmer climate where
boating is a year round thing. That too, of
course, takes money and time...but
a little less grit.
I had the
good fortune to do just that this winter. Unfortunately, I
didn't have as much time to fish
as I had hoped, but you can read about the
one time in February that I was
able to get out on a charter boat from Port
Canaveral, Florida by looking for
the KOKOMO REPORT dated 2/21/99 on the
website for Scott's Bait &Tackle
at http://www.scottsbt.com .
Hopefully, I
can get a sportfishing trip from
Key West in this fall.
Speaking
of sportfishing trips, a colleague of mine was telling me about
his recent trip to Costa Rico.
Sounds like a great place to go if you like
big game. He got caught out
in a storm and the captain had to keep them out
a few extra hours because the swells
were too big to approach land. Tough
luck, huh? He and his two
sons hooked 21 sailfish along with a variety of
smaller fish like Dorado (Spanish
name for dolphin fish), barracuda, pez cafe
(Spanish for "brown fish" and is
sleek like a barracuda, only brown), and the
like.
Well, I've
been following Scott's (and Mizmo's) reports on the 'Net and
not too long ago there was nary
a sign of the mackerel, so I arranged with my
winter marina for a launch date
of 4/30/99. That gave me about two weekends
to get KOKOMO ready. Then,
almost all of a sudden, the mackerel started
popping up in Cape May, and now
are all the way up to the Little Egg
Inlet...which makes me feel like
I'm launching the boat a week or two late.
As you
know, the blues follow that school of mackerel north and wind up
in the bays not long after the mackerel
appear. Quite literally, the first
blue could be caught any day now
in Great Bay. I just have to hope they hang
around long enough till I can pull
of
my first fishing trip on Mother's Day
weekend. It's a lot easier
to find them in the bay (and a lot less gas,
too!).
I usually
make one trip down to Chestnut Neck Boat Yard during the
winter just to check on KOKOMO.
But this year I didn't have time for even
one trip. I spent most of
the winter in Florida getting a brand new foster
child agency off the ground.
I'm pleased to report that OPEN DOOR SOCIAL
SERVICES OF FLORIDA is now operating
from our new office in Orlando. It was
a tough winter (never saw a single
flake of snow!) but someone had to do it.
The plan is to open the next one
in Puerto Rico in the fall; then back to
Florida for two more; possibly in
the Keys and St. Petersburg.
So, not
having seen Kokomo since November 2 of last year, I wasn't sure
what to expect. What kind
of shape would she be in? How much cleaning or
repairs will I have to do?
Are two weekends going to be enough time?
I hate
the long drive (3 hours) to the boat, especially the part through
Philly. Today was no different
than any other trip to the shore. The
traffic on the Schuykill Expressway
was slow. No reason mind you, just slow.
No accident, no construction.
I think the people who live in Philly just
drive slowly on the Schuylkill as
kind of like a time-honored tradition. If
you wind down your window, you can
generally hear a nervous wife yell at her
husband something like, "Hold it
Ralph, we're on the Schuykill....SLOW DOWN!"
Or maybe its just the city's
way of getting even with suburbanites who are
too smart to live there. I
don't know. There just wasn't any reason today.
Sometimes when the traffic slows
down in the country its because someone got
out of their pick-up truck to grab
a roadkill for dinner, but what kind of
roadkills do they have in the city?
Two-foot rats? Come on people, if
you're going to slow down on the
Schuykill you can at least have a reason!
Even rubbernecking is better than
nothing!
Finally
I got the City of Slow Expressways behind me and crossed the Ben
Franklin bridge into the Garden
State. No offense Garden State, but Camden
isn't exactly a flowering bed of
roses; but at least the traffic moves!
Every mile after that gets easier.
I look for the sand alongside the road
which becomes more and more apparent
the closer I get to the shore.
Incidentally, did you know New Jersey
was deposited there by the Ice Age and
wasn't likely an original part of
the U.S.? We're glad its there now,
though; otherwise all of our boats
would be parked out at sea about 60 miles
off the coast of Philadelphia!
Finally,
the coveted turn from route 72 onto route 563! Now I feel like
I'm at the shore! Scrub pines
a plenty...and the cranberry bogs are full!
The first
order of business was to pay Bass River the balance of my 1999
slip rent of $1,790 (not to mention
the $250 deposit last November). Wow!
That takes a bite out of a week's
pay!
I really
felt like I was getting a late start when I saw all the hustle
and bustle at Bass River.
My gosh, there was work being done all over the
place. Sanding here, painting
there, waxing everywhere! And I would venture
to say that some of it was being
done by the actual boat owner!
I paid
my money and got out of there as fast as I could; before anyone
could see the tears it brought to
my eyes to part with that kind of dough. I
made a quick trip up to Sheltered
Cove Marina to say hello to my friend Frank
who was working on his charter boat,
the Trailbuster. He always catches more
fish than me and seems to know right
where they are. I figure if I hang out
at his boat once in a while he'll
let something slip that'll give me a
clue...but he never does.
From there
I drove down route 9 and over the Mullica River bridge (I
always enjoy that view) to Chestnut
Neck. When I rounded the exit ramp I
couldn't be sure which boat was
Kokomo since many of them still have the
shrink-wrapping on. I went
straight to the office and was greeted by the
ever-lovely Marianne and Violet.
They arranged to have the shrink wrapping
removed from the boat so I could
get started.
I really
wanted mostly to assess what needs to be done. I plan on
spending the weekend there next
weekend. And as I pulled up behind her I was
reminded of an old feeling.
Remember when you were dating and the girl
always looked so nice every time
you went out? Then one day, on the spur of
the moment, you decided to stop
by her house unexpectedly. There she was,
the same girl, but wearing old clothes
to work around the house, no make-up,
her hair isn't done, and her socks
don't match. Maybe she has a smudge of
dirt on her left cheek that she
was unaware of; and she's embarrassed that
you just popped in. That's
when you decide if you're really in love. You
either see through all of that and
still hear the music; or you turn and run
and go screaming into the night
and are found days later sitting on your bed
holding your favorite blanket and
mumbling incoherently, something about life
being unfair.
That's
the feeling I got when I pulled in front of Kokomo after a
five-month absence. She's
disheveled, dirty, and needs a shine....but she's
still my baby!
I started
by loosening the railing on the flybridge. I filled in some
screw holes with fiberglas putty
which I'll drill next week after the putty
hardens. I'm the worst person
with fiberglas putty. I get more on me than
the boat; but at least I can rob
a bank now because all my fingerprints are
filled in!
After that
I used some stainless steel cleaner on the railings and helm,
and decided to take the helm seat
home to rebuild it. Underneath all that
foam rubber is a piece of marine
plywood, which I found out cracks if you
lean too far back in the seat while
watching your friends fish (especially if
you weigh in at 243 pounds).
I installed the bimini and flybridge cover and
did a few odds and ends inside.
I checked
out the hull and was pleased to find there's not one single
barnacle on her belly. That's
one of the advantages of being at Bass River
where the water is pretty low in
salt. It only needs some scraping and
bottom paint, and new zincs of course.
Also, I decided she needed a good
shine but I don't have the time
to do it myself. Marianne graciously offered
to get some estimates for me so
she'll have a shine like never before.
I quit
working about 6:00 p.m. and took a leisurely stroll down to the
water where Chestnut Neck is having
some new pilings and docks put in and
just enjoyed the view for a few
minutes. I'm as anxious as you are to get
out there again. It's not
good enough to simply enjoy the view. I want to
hear the rev of the engines and
feel both throttles in my hand! I want to
look back and find that one of the
lines has popped out of the outrigger! I
want to renew my summertime friendships.
I want to see the smiles on the
faces of my friends when they hook
a big one (or a small one on a slow day).
I want to catch the first fish of
the day and have my friends think I know
some secret that they don't know.
I want to sleep on board during a windy
night when Mother Nature rocks me
to sleep. I want to sneak down to the boat
on Thursday night and let my secretary
e-mail some work to me on Friday
morning (which I'll ignore till
Monday). I want to stick my hand into a
fresh bucket of minnows. I
want to get up at 5:00 in the morning and pay
lots of money for gas....well, let's
not go too far. But I'm ready!
I'll remind
you of a few things that I always do with the first issue of
the KOKOMO REPORT. First,
I hate getting junk e-mail; so there's no hard
feelings if you send me a message
to request your name be removed from my
e-mail list! Also, I'd be
glad to add anyone's name to the list if you have
a friend who likes fishing. Secondly,
I hate bugging my friends to go fishing
with me every week. Nobody
needs a pesty friend who bugs you to go fishing
when you'd rather stay home and
mow the lawn, paint the garage, or practice
saying, "Yes, dear...yes, dear"
as you clean the house. So if you want to go
fishing this season, YOU have to
contact me to arrange a date! That way I
won't feel like I'm imposing on
you. The best way is to e-mail me.
Generally,
I fish every Saturday starting May 8th except for the first
Saturday in June when I'll be in
Cancun. For those of you who don't like to
fish (booo...hiss!) I sometimes
do little cruises on Sunday mornings.
I know
these reports are a lot more fun to read after the fishing has
started, but I wanted you to know
we're close. So, get excited...and start
thinking of all the excuses you'll
need for the little woman so she'll let
you come! (They always know
something is up when you mow the lawn on
Thursday night!)
So, until
your feet hit the deck next time...pray for calm seas.
Captain
Finally.... the moment
we've all been waiting for! Old Man Winter has laid down to rest and spring
moves in with abandon. For a boater or fisherman that means a few weekends
of work on the boat to get her ready... and then... spring launch!!!
For those of you who
read these reports who don't own boats, it must be difficult to understand
the significance of spring launch. Don't make the mistake of thinking its
simply putting a boat in the water. Its so much more. It's a re-birth of
a fisherman's spirit! It's a rejuvenation of a body of bones that has grown
tired with the complacency of winter. Its the unabashed indulgence of a
deeply rooted passion...no...obssession.
An interesting lesson.
A man on my staff was telling me today about the birth of his two children.
For the first one, he was really excited about the notion of becoming a
father for the first time. You can imagine all the enthusiasm. He went
to birthing classes with his wife, read all the books and pamphlets he
could find. Even read a book called What to Expect When You're Expecting
and called it the Bible. He said his wife practiced breathing at home.
Being childless, I didn't know anyone had to practice breathing. He practiced
"coaching" methods...I guess that means he stood there with a catcher's
mitt, punching his fist in the pouch and repeating, "Put in here, baby."
But that was the first child.
His second child was
nothing new. He had gone through it once before. So the enthusiasm wasn't
the same. He didn't coach; he waited outside the room. Now, he's thinking
about his third child and figures he'll just work that day and stop by
the hospital when he's done at the office at 5:00 p.m. Who knows? By the
time his fourth child comes along he'll probably just send his wife a postcard.
But spring launch
is different. After suffering the grief last fall of putting the boat to
rest, we nurture the embryo of next spring's launch for an interminable
six months. Sorry ladies, we couldn't last for nine! Then early March always
surprises us with just a teaser of two or three warm days and we suddenly
lurch into birthing position, just to realize its only false labor pains.
Finally, after April seems like the longest month in the year, our due
date arrives!
So spring launch is
more like giving birth to your firstborn every single spring! Well,
I guess that's a happier thought for men than it is for women. But the
genders do share that same emotion after birth. Climbing into the helm
seat for the first time at spring launch is very similar to the feeling
a mother has when she holds that tiny, smelly, pink, newborn in her arms
for the first time and offers a sigh of relief that the ordeal is finally
over.
Kokomo was reborn...I
mean launched, two weekends ago, so last Saturday was my first chance to
do some actual fishing. I was alone for the weekend and anxious to renew
my old skills that had laid dormant all winter. Yes, I had put on a few
pounds over the winter (does 22 count as 'few'?), and my medical problem
with my legs is getting gradually worse, but I had more than enough enthusiasm
to make up for any shortcomings.
I bought my bait on
Friday night at Scott's Bait & Tackle. I figured two mackerel would
bring in enough blues to give me one heck of a good time for one day. Besides,
I have a tackle box full of lures and spoons and hairy things in case I
run out of mackerel.
I woke up at 6:00
a.m. I had pictured this to be a perfect day. I mean, I had imagined all
winter that the first trip would be absolutely magnificent. But when I
went outside the cabin for the first time in the morning there was this
heavy layer of fog. Not the kind of mist that sometimes rises off the cool
water. This was weather related heavy duty outright fog!
I made a quick run
up to Wawa for ice and something to eat and was disappointed the whole
way to Tuckerton. The thought kept going through my mind...will it be safe
to go out on the bay in a fog like this? Use your head, Paul...don't let
your enthusiasm override common sense.
When I finished in
Wawa I took a ride down Green Street to the end. There's a county park
there right at the bay. I got out of the car for a minute to look out over
the bay and assess the fog situation better. After all, I rationalized,
I can't make a good decision based on 'road fog' when maybe the 'bay fog'
wasn't as bad!
It was just as bad.
I couldn't see more than a hundred feet out into the bay. There were no
silhouettes of other boats out there. Common sense began creeping in. I
stood there staring out over the water and my heart began to sink...oh
no....another false labor pain! I really shouldn't go out. Not one other
boat was in view; I wouldn't be able to see anything out there!
And then, like a dove
descending from Heaven, I heard the distinct sound of a boat motor coming
closer! Or was it like only a mirage, except in my ears instead of my eyes?
No! It was a boat!! Hooray!! There's someone else out there who doesn't
have any more common sense than I do!
Then gradually he
came into view. It was one of those crab guys who goes around every morning
checking his crab pots. Well, heck, that didn't quite count as a vote of
confidence. I mean, those guys do this every day. They could drive their
boats from float to float in their sleep; fog is nothing to them. They
live here. I live in central Pennsylvania; we don't even have a bay!
At that point I decided
to head back to the marina and hope the fog miraculously lifts in the next
five minutes. Well, it could happen! But it didn't. I decided to drive
Kokomo slowly down the Bass River and take a peek into the Mullica. If
it was bad I could always turn back.
To make a long story
short, it wasn't that bad. I used my radar most of the day to be sure,
and wrote down some key compass readings, and just took my time. The fog
came and went well into the afternoon, but it was bearable.
I drifted off of Pebble
Beach first. No luck; not even a nibble. I listened to channel 9 on the
radio and no one seemed to be doing great in the morning except one guy
in Grassy Channel who caught 6 blues. I still had most of the day ahead
of me and kept wondering what kind of fish would be the first one brought
aboard Kokomo this season. Hopefully, a nice 33 inch bluefish.
I moved to the 139
buoy and had no luck there either. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I
mean, it had been three hours now; certainly I should have caught something
by now. Maybe I forgot something over the winter. Maybe my skills melted
away with the snow. Maybe I'm overlooking something really basic. No, I
double-checked. There was bait on each hook.
I heard my friend
Frank on the radio talking to a friend of his. Frank is a charter boat
captain who was out on his first trip of the season, too. From what I gathered,
he was trolling in the inlet and catching a few blues here and there but
not really killing them. Why not, I thought. Catching a few is better than
nothing. And the fog situation was getting better.
So I headed out to
the inlet. Have you ever trolled a 31 foot boat alone? It's not easy. I
put the outriggers down and had to run back to the bridge before the lines
went under the boat. I was dragging a green tube with a strip of mackerel
on one line, and spoon with a strip of mackerel on the other.
I drove circle around
the inlet for an hour and a half without a hit. I spoke to Frank on the
radio and he would tell me when he was hitting them, but when I got to
that same spot a few minutes later they were gone. Then Frank would hit
them again. No surprise. I always figured professional charter boat captains
have some kind of fish intuition. They always seem to do better than us
amateurs. They must have some kind of deal with the fish.
I eventually got frustrated
and put the outriggers back up and went back into Grassy Channel. There
was a bunch (herd? group? flock?) of small boats at the east end of Grassy
Channel and I didn't want to get too close to them. Kokomo catches a lot
of breeze broadside and tends to drift faster than a small boat so it messes
up everyone. Its better when the whole fleet (fleet isn't right) drifts
at the same speed.
Finally, after five
hours, a rod began that happy dance! A fish! I knew from the rod action
that it wasn't a bluefish. I was hoping it wasn't a fluke because it would
break my heart to throw it back in. And it didn't take long to pull up
a sea robin. Not exactly what I had hoped for as my first fish of the season...but
after five hours, I was glad to see it.
I no sooner through
the sea robin back in the water (at 1:30) when the fog rolled back in along
with some ominous looking clouds. The 139 buoy had been in view, but now
I couldn't see any buoy, or any boats for that matter. Back to the radar!
I decided to work
my way back toward the marina little by little. A prospective buyer for
Kokomo was supposed to meet me at the dock at 5:00 and I wanted to get
back early to clean her up a little. (They never showed up!)
So I headed back to
Great bay and did a little drifting on the other side of 139 with no luck.
Then I headed to the mouth of the Mullica River and the fog lifted once
again. It got a little breezy and I had a good drift going up the river.
On my first drift
up, being disappointed at catching so little, I finally got another hit!
You know how a bluefish
almost always tries to run with the bait? They usually try to go in the
opposite direction from you but can't because of the tension on your line;
so they end up going to your left and right, back and forth trying to break
free and run. Well, this little fellow (guessing 20 inches) must not have
read the bluefish manual for fighting fishermen. As soon as he took the
bait he jumped out of the water and was heading straight at me! I was frantic
to take up the slack in the line so he couldn't spit the hook...but I can't
wind the crank as fast as he can jump...and he did it a second time! Finally,
when he was only about ten feet from the boat he started going left and
right and I got him right next to the port side. I reached for the net
with my right hand and he spit the hook and disappeared! Darn! I meant
to sharpen those points on my hooks!
I started to get really
disappointed. I wanted a bluefish so badly! But I still had some time so
I tried two or three more drifts, but never did find them again. My guess
is that there is a young bluefish out there at this very moment writing
a new chapter for the bluefish manual about how to spit a hook.
I called it a day
and went back to the marina. One lousy sea robin. I didn't feel too bad
from what I overheard on the radio. No one seemed to be catching a lot;
or at least, they weren't talking about it. But when I got back to the
dock it was another story. Everyone there was talking about the guys who
caught 21 blues this morning. Then there was the children's bluefish tournament
at Chestnut Neck Boat Yard and even kids could catch them better than me.
So what? Not everyday
can be a fishing bonanza. I never claimed to be one of those guys who has
a fishing show on TV. Besides, did you ever notice how they piece film
clips together of those guys? They seem like they're always catching fish,
but in reality it could be hours, maybe even days or weeks, in between
the fish they catch. They just cut the film and piece it together again.
I just claim to have
fun. That's all. And as long as I'm having fun, I'm going to keep giving
birth to my firstborn every spring.
Only one thing still
nags me a little. Every year I have a bluefishing contest with my best
friend, his son, and my nephew. We set the date for next Saturday (May
15th). I was hoping that today would have been like practice for me; that
I'd have a little bit of an edge over them because I caught a lot of blues
today; but it didn't happen. Now I have to go into our annual contest,
we call it The Tontine, even with them. I haven't caught anything but one
lousy sea robin and a blue that got away (I know, it sounds like a fish
story). We have a trophy that we pass around each year to the winner. We
even have written rules to be fair to everyone. And I don't mind giving
up the trophy (I won last year), well, I mind a little, but there's something
worse.
Along with winning
the trophy goes the appropriate bragging rights that lasts for a whole
year! That's the killer!
It's not too bad if
Eric wins. His wife hates the trophy and banished it to the downstairs
family room when Eric first wanted it placed in the living room. Besides,
he's a humble kind of guy that doesn't brag much. Now Dan, is another story.
In the entire five years he has yet to win the trophy. He's a more outgoing,
unhumble, assertive reflection of his father. I have this terrible feeling
that he has five years worth of bragging penned up inside just dying to
get out. And my nephew Neil has won in the past, and his bragging was fair...but
much more subtle. He's a lot of fun to fish with; but long after the contest
I can picture myself trying to be helpful and making a suggestion while
we're fishing. And I can see that look in his eyes and know what he's thinking.
"Why are you giving me advice Uncle Paul...the
trophy is at my house this year!" He may or may not actually
say it; but I know he's thinking it. And well, the bragging rights do go
with the trophy.
I'll let you know
how the contest turns out in the next KOKOMO REPORT. Until then, pray for
calm seas and good times on the water.
CAPTAIN
KOKOMO REPORT - 5/15/99
AHOY MATES!!
You can't wait for a perfect day to go fishing! You take the weather you get and deal with it the best you can. Today was kind of a special fishing trip. I fish by myself most of the time; but really enjoy it when friends can come down. Being from central PA, its not always easy for my friends to get away. It's a three hour ride for most of us, especially when traffic is backed up in Philly. Of course, some of us are speed demons and make it in 2 hours and 17 minutes, but not me. Five years ago my friend Eric, his son Dan, and a friend Neil, and I decided to have an annual bluefishing contest. We bought a trophy and wrote some rules. We call it the Tontine. We look forward to it each year. We've tried different times during the fishing season, but recently decided its best in May when the blues are in the bay. It saves gas and saves time looking for the fish. But, like all fishing trips, it has had its ups and downs over the years. Sometimes the fish just aren't where they were yesterday. Sometimes, no matter how good the information you have is, the blues just don't cooperate. And sometimes the weather doesn't either. Last year we had a wonderful trip. Perfect weather, and we sat off Pebble Beach and caught seven slammers. The contest was neck in neck all day, with several of us having the lead or a shot at winning at some point during the day. There was a tie for number of blues, and I won the trophy by virtue of our rule that says we add together the total number of inches to break a tie. My fish totaled 99 inches and the second runner up totaled 93 inches. I was looking forward to the same kind of competitive day again this year. But it didn't happen. The first problem is deciding where to fish. Remember, I don't live at the shore. I don't hear the latest gossip about where they're biting. And like I said, fish move and the gossip isn't always right. Fortunately, boats move too; so I don't mind trying a few places to find them. Beyond the gossip is all the 'scientific' explanations for catching fish. I figure most fishermen fall into one of three basic categories. There's the weather guys. They seem to know where the fish are going to eat according to what kind of day it is. "If its windy, the fish go deep to avoid the chop so you have to fish in the deeper holes or out in the ocean." "If its cloudy they'll eat all day because they can't tell when its morning or afternoon." "If it's a perfectly sunny day, they eat before 10:00 a.m. except on Fridays." The second group is the lunar/tidal guys. They think the fish eat because of the phase of the moon and the tides. "It's a full moon so they'll eat later at night." "There's no moon tonight so they won't eat after breakfast." "This kind of fish bites best two hours before the high tide." My favorites are the ones that narrow it down only to the broadest terms. "They eat on the incoming tide" or "that kind eats on the outgoing tide." Heck, every minute of the day is either an incoming or outgoing tide! Can't you just picture the captain of a bluefish school blowing a whistle and yelling "Okay fellows, the tide is changing...stop eating!" The last group is the time-of-day guys. "You gotta be out there at 5:00 a.m. or you miss all the action." I guess getting out there at 4:59 a.m. would be a waste of time. And of course, getting out there at 5:01 a.m. would be too late. This theory makes a little more sense since most of the fish I've caught over the years were wearing a Timex. I hate it when the wristband gets caught in the net. Fortunately for me, I don't put a lot of stock in any of the "scientific" methods for predicting where and when the fish will bite. It doesn't upset me if I catch a fish on the wrong tide, or at the wrong time of day, or in the wrong place. And I don't mind looking for them. That's why boats have motors. I guess I take the term 'recreational fisherman' too far. I fish for fun. That's all. After five days in the office I'm ready for a change of scenery and a change in activity. Fortunately, I don't fish for a living; and since I don't eat fish it takes a lot of pressure off of me. I fish for fun. That takes us back to the Tontine trip on Saturday. Above all, we look for fun. After that, we look for bluefish. Never saw a bluefish on Saturday, but had a lot of fun just the same; so I figure it was a pretty good day. We set out about 6:50 a.m. and went straight out to the 139 buoy. We drifted four or five times without a hit. I decided to move down into shallower water and anchored about a hundred yards south of the 135 buoy. It was a windy day and I didn't want to take any chances of drifted aground. We were in about seven feet of water but Kokomo draws 3 feet and that was close enough for me. Eric caught the first fish...a 21-inch skate. Ugly things, but not quite as bad as an oyster cracker. Well, that instantly put him in the lead for the trophy. Now the contest was on. Everyone started fishing more seriously since we suddenly felt we were behind the leader and had to make up some ground. It didn't take Eric long before he brought in his second skate, stretching his lead. Bear in mind, according to our rules, "other" fish only count if no one catches a bluefish all day. But the contest has been won before without a single bluefish, so we all wanted to keep up with him in the 'other' category. Secretly, we all hoped to catch a bluefish to negate his entire catch of 'other' fish. A few minutes later, I pulled in an absolutely beautiful 22 1/2 inch fluke! Unfortunately, I had caught it on my 'unofficial' rod. The rules say only one rod per man; but since there is a short season for fluke this year I decided to fish a second rod also; but anything on my second rod couldn't count for the contest. It didn't matter, I was just glad to catch such a beautiful fluke. I then caught a skate of my own on my official rod, but it dried up after that. We eventually moved to the area off the West side of the old fish factory where I had a pretty good run of fluke...four more...all on my 'unofficial' rod! We did six or seven drifts there and had a good time; although I was still losing the contest 2 to 1. All I needed was one bluefish to 'trump' Eric's two skates and take the lead. I kept trying. I should have noted that there's a slight age difference between the four of us. Eric and I are thirtysomething....okay...fortysomething; but Dan is 19 and Neil is 17. We kind of started this whole thing five years ago to introduce the boys to saltwater fishing when they were young. While we were drifting off the fish factory I noticed we were a couple of people short. I thought Dan and Neil had gone in the cabin to get warmer on this blustery day, but it didn't take long for them to fall asleep! As you know, teenagers can't control their social life. Remember being young and feeling invincible? They stayed up late despite the fact they had to get up at 3:00 a.m. to drive to the shore and couldn't handle it. So they slept the last three hours which was fine with me. It narrowed the competition down between just Eric and I. However, I do hope they stay awake for the whole day sometime. It has a direct impact on how many fish one catches. We figured we had time to try one more spot and moved into the mouth of the Mullica River about 4:00 p.m. We did two drifts without a bite and the biting realization hit me that I'd have to admit Eric won! I wouldn't have felt so bad giving up the trophy (we pass the same one around each year) if he had beat me with bluefish, but skates! I should mention the other four fluke I caught were all shorts. Two were 15 inches and two were 14.5 inches. But I was happy because I had a nice 22.5-inch fluke in the box. Eric was happy because he won the trophy. And I can only guess Dan and Neil were happy because they caught up on their sleep in time to go home and enjoy another late night of social life. Like I said to them before, they just don't make men like they used to. There will be bluefish on board Kokomo some other day. And I'll look forward to the Tontine again next year. It was fun. That's all that matters. I'm a true believer in that old saying, "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at the office." But my favorite comes from a plaque I saw on a head boat in Lewes, Delaware some years ago. It read, "God does not subtract from your allotted time the time you spend fishing." I hope that's true. That means he'll have to add four or five years to my life. I just hope I'm not sitting up in Heaven someday talking to God about fishing. I might admit to him that I didn't catch as many as I could have; and He might answer, "Why do you think I sent you all those guys to teach you about the tides and the moon and the time of day to catch fish?" I should mention Dan and Neil are graduating from high school this year and we wish them well in their college efforts. I hope they can stay awake during class. I'll be fishing the next two Saturdays. I hope to hear from a friend or two to join me. I'll be in Florida and Cancun the first two weeks of June, but back to fishing on June 12th. Until your feet hit the deck next time, pray for calm seas and good times on the water.
CAPTAIN
AHOY MATES!!!
Why do you go fishing? An interesting question with a lot of answers.
Most of us would think
the answer is, "To catch fish."
Not so. Commercial fishermen fish to catch fish. It's how they
support their families. No fish, no pay.
The recreational fisherman is a whole other animal. Sometimes we
fish to catch fish because they taste good. Sometimes we fish so
we can brag to our fishing friends about how many fish we caught or how
big they were.
Sometimes we fish
for a change of scenery; it does us good to get out of the office and do
something totally unrelated to our job. Sometimes we fish just to
enjoy the day with friends or family. Sometimes it doesn't even matter
if
we catch fish.
We simply enjoy the total experience of being out on the water on day off.
Saturday was one of those kinds of days. It was a remarkably beautiful
and pleasant day. Warm just to the point of being comfortable, with
just the gentlest of breezes caressing your face. After the windy
tirade of the previous Saturday, it was a welcome gift.
I arrived at Kokomo on Friday and immediately took her over to Chestnut
Neck for gas. She drank $100 without so much as a hiccup. I
like the people at Chestnut Neck. I never met people more agreeable
to work with and more
knowledgeable about
my boat. The only problem with the trip was the gnats.
I have to explain that they always catch me by surprise. I no sooner
popped the canvas off Kokomo when they homed in on me like flies on a cowpie.
I swear they have radar and can see me coming from miles away; I think
they
know as soon as I
cross the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Now I'm not just complaining about bugs. We have bugs in Pennsylvania,
too. But the gnats over here don't bite. The New Jersey breed
is something different. I call them ATTACK GNATS.
There must have been over a hundred of those little buggers on each arm
while I was pumping the gas at Chestnut Neck. I kept switching hands
on the nozzle so I could swat at those little beasts. Even worse,
they seem to take
particular pleasure
in biting my bald spot. So, when I paid for the gas inside I decided
to buy a hat to protect my head...which Violet gave me free of charge;
partially because she's a genuinely nice person and partially
because she probably
felt sorry for men with bald spots during attack gnat season.
When I got back to Bass River Marina I stayed inside with the door closed
as much as I could.
I've noticed in my four years at the shore that sometimes the attack gnats
are bad some days, and not so bad the next day. Other times, they're
bad for days or weeks on end. Finally, their season ends, only to
be replaced by the dreaded green head fly...which bites worse.
That led to my dilemma. My two good friends, Bob and Pat Judy were
coming on Saturday morning to fish. Should I tell them about the
attack gnats? I was looking forward to their company more than the
fishing; and if I told them about the gnats they might change their mind
and reschedule. If I didn't tell them, they would be unprepared and
be eaten alive.
I finally decided to let them decide for themselves. I left a message
on their phone machine telling them about the gnats and giving them the
chance to back out or buy bug spray and come down. Bob called later
to let me know they were coming. I'm still not sure he realizes what
a brave decision that was.
We set out at 7:00 a.m. and went out to Grassy Channel looking for some
fluke. We passed the 135 buoy and turned right heading toward the
South. I took Kokomo very slowly once I left the channel and watched
until the
depthfinder went down
to 3 feet of water below my keel. The drift took us roughly parallel
to Grassy Channel and at almost low tide and little breeze the drift was
slow and relaxing.
Bob and his lovely wife Pat brought lawn chairs with them and we sat in
the cockpit and I just enjoyed their company. It didn't take long
before Bob had the first hit which turned out to be a 25-inch weakfish.
The little
stinker had spun around
and had the line wrapped around his head an in his gills, which made a
nice bloody display on the deck. We put him in the box.
Not much later, Pat brought in a skate which we promptly put back in the
bay. The drifts were almost an hour long and at a leisurely pace.
We sat back again and waited for the next dancing rod to jolt us into action.
It never happened again. That was it. TWO FISH! Oh my
gosh! What a terrible day for the records! To make matters
worse, I forgot to bring in the minnow bucket when we left and later looked
back just to see the rope dragging behind the boat! And it was full
of minnows! My guess is that someone fishing in Grassy Channel on
Saturday found my yellow plastic minnow bucket and had a good day of fishing
while we persevered with just squid. Somehow I suspect we would have
caught a lot more fish if I hadn't lost the minnows. I mean, sometimes
you can just look into a minnow bucket and tell these minnows are going
to catch fish! They look lucky. Anyway, if anyone talks to
Scotts Bait & Tackle this week, tell Scott to save a minnow bucket
for me. I'll be there on Friday to pick it up. (Can you weld
a rope to a
plastic minnow bucket?)
We later went to the Northwest side of the fish factory with no luck.
Tried our luck at the mouth of the Mullica with no success, and finally
went back to the marina about 2:30 p.m.
I tried to look at the good side. I didn't have to clean any fish!
Sometimes I have to clean fish for two hours when I get back. Today
would be easy. Bob cleans his own fish and I just hose down the boat.
But the real catch of the day is that I got to spend an absolutely gorgeous
day drifting on the water and catching up with old friends. Well,
they're not old; I just mean the friendship goes back over twenty years.
I only get to see them once or twice a year so I enjoyed the time we had
just drifting and talking.
After we cleaned up Bob and Pat took me out to dinner which was a gracious
offer since I obviously didn't produce much fish to make their day special.
I can only hope they'll come down again and we'll have better luck.
On Saturday evening I was working at my laptop on the boat (always searching
the Net for a new boat) when the thunderstorms started to roll in.
I shut down the laptop and got ready for bed. I love to sleep on
Kokomo when
its windy. It
rocks me to sleep like a baby's cradle.
I'll be there again next weekend to do a little work on the boat (isn't
there always work to be done on a boat?) and to fish a little by myself.
I'll be skipping the weekend of June 5 since I'll be in Cancun, Mexico
that
weekend; but plan
to be back for the weekend of the 12th.
Just so you know, I'm still getting calls from people interested in buying
Kokomo. I don't know if and when she'll sell. But to be on
the safe side; if you want to get a fishing trip in you'd better make it
sooner rather than later.
Sea you next week, and hopefully I'll have more fish to tell you about.
So, until your feet hit the deck next time, pray for calm seas and good
times on the water.
CAPTAIN
KOKOMO REPORT - 5/31/99
AHOY MATES!!!
You may want to print this out. I
fished twice and I've changed the size of the print to make it easier for
you to read.
With my trip to Florida and Cancun and
coming up tomorrow, I thought I'd better let you know how the weekend turned
out before I take off. Don't look for a report next weekend, unless
I decide to fish off the sunny coast of
Cancun. I did that once, but I don't think this time of year
is really the best. Maybe I'll plan a trip in the fall when the sails
are running.
I went down to KOKOMO (where you want to go to
get away from it all) on Friday afternoon looking forward to the beautiful
weather the weatherman promised, and I also wanted to catch some fluke
for my Dad. He lives in the
Poconos and doesn't get down to fish as much as I'd like.
He does enjoy eating my catch, though, so I try to put some fluke in the
freezer for him each season.
I had heard the fluke are biting in Grassy
Channel still, but I've had trouble the last couple of weeks with seaweed
covering my bait all the time. usually have good luck on the
West side of the fish factory too; but I catch mostly shorts there.
I think it must be some kind of natural hatchery in that area because I've
seen so many shorts compared to keepers, even down
to fluke only 8 inches long.
Just in case you weren't aware, I work in an
office and have worked most evenings for the last 17 years. That's
a long way of saying I'm not really an early morning person, except for
fishing. Consequently, I start most fishing trips at 7:00 a.m. with
an occasional exception of 6:00 a.m. I don't know why, maybe because
of the report I wrote two weeks ago (see Scott's
website at: http://www.scottsbt.com and click on KOKOMO REPORT
for May 17), but I decided to go a little earlier than usual. Since
I was alone this weekend I didn't have to impose on friends to get up extra
early. I decided to get up at 4:00 a.m. (Wow!) and leave at 5:00
a.m. That's not so unusual for the average fisherman; but like I
said, I work in an office.
To digress a little, I'm not exactly the
homebody type. Being single, I don't eat at home much, I travel a
lot for my job, and well, I just don't get a major kick out of hanging
around the house doing chores. True, I don't have beautiful flower
gardens, there's grass growing up through the stones in my driveway, and
it took me over two years to get around to building a deck;
but I like my life.
I have a friendly debate going with two
men at my office Jack and Eric. They both have beautiful homes in
the suburbs with absolutely gorgeous flower gardens, no grass growing in
their driveways, and their decks have been finished for years. They
don't just live typical suburban lives; they are obsessed with it.
They enjoy talks about mulch! And their favorite thing,
get this, is to mow the lawn! They get such large smiles on
their faces when they talk about it. Like, I've worked hard all week,
I can't wait to mow the lawn this weekend! I call it "suburban opium";
an addiction to a routine lifestyle that forbids adventure.
Jack recently announced, "There's nothing
like a good mow!" Well, that may (or may not) be true. I don't
know. I pay someone to mow my lawn so I can be free on weekends.
I may not appreciate the smell of a good mow job;
or the joy of having mulch jammed under my fingernails; but then,
Jack has never seen the sunset from Mallory Square in Key west; and Eric
has never pulled in a fish off the coast of Mexico.
I'm not being judgmental mind you; to each
his own. I'm glad they're happy with their weeding and feeding.
Its just not me.
So, I do my thing. I arrived Friday
and bought my bait at Scott's Bait & Tackle as I usually do.
I mentioned to Scott that I really wanted to fish "outside" in the ocean.
I'm tired of the seaweed and more bothered by the attack gnats. I
also knew it would be crowded in the bay on this holiday weekend.
Scott told me there hasn't been much info about the fish "outside"
and that, if I went, I would be the guinea pig. I figured
its only fair since someone else went first last year and provided the
information for me; it's my turn to be the guinea pig.
I got up at 4:00 a.m. as planned on Saturday
morning and was ready to leave the dock by 4:55 a.m. I tried to be
quiet so I wouldn't disturb my neighbors; well, as quiet as starting twin
Marine Power 350's can be. I slowly slipped KOKOMO out of her slip
and didn't see anyone else awake at Bass River Marina. I turned past
the fueless dock and passed those Fiberglas
temptations (new Vikings--get thee behind me Satan) and entered
the beginning of Bass River where I was finally out of the no wake zone.
I slid the throttles up smoothly to 3200
r.p.m. and felt KOKOMO lift up on plane under me. The sun wasn't
yet up so I used my radar to guide me and halfway down the river I could
see a faint glow of a remarkable red just beginning to ooze up over the
horizon where the sun would eventually appear.
With nary a ripple in the water, a full
tank of gas, the silhouette of a seagull, and the warm breeze on my face
you can only get when perched on a flybridge...I'm sorry Jack; you're wrong!
THIS is better than a good mow! No contest! Not even in the
same league! I'm glad I paid that boy to mow the lawn!
I only passed two small boats in the mouth
of the Mullica and crossed Great Bay with only a little difficulty seeing
the 139 buoy through the morning mist. The sunrise was brighter now
as I turned into Grassy Channel to learn that I had it all to myself; at
least for a little while.
I decided to make a quick stop since no
one was there to crowd me and see if I could find a fluke or two.
I turned hard right about 100 yards past the 135 buoy and eased my way
into a nice spot to start. I fished for only about 45 minutes and
got frustrated with the seaweed and caught only one skate! That's
enough. Back to the original plan.
I snaked my way around Tow Island only
to find the inlet was as calm as I've ever seen it. The marine forecast
called for waves two feet or less so I was expecting two-footers.
Not a problem, I was just expecting them. I learned the hard way
to be careful how you interpret those marine forecasts. When they
say, for example, 4-6 footers...expect them to be six feet! Always
take the high number as gospel. If you can handle them, the small
number doesn't matter.
Anyway, I expected two footers but the
ocean was almost flat; not even one-footers. Wow! Smooth sailing
all the way. I set the Loran to get me to Little Egg reef and turned
the boat to 94 degrees and set out at full cruising speed (19 knots) with
only the mildest quartering sea on the starboard side.
At this point I still wondered if there
were any fish out there at this time of year; especially since my goal
was to put some fluke in the freezer for Dad and Jean. But it didn't
matter much at the moment; it was just such a remarkable day and an ocean
that was as kind as could be. I decided I would enjoy this special
day with or without fish.
Did you ever notice how we Americans kind
of rate our adjectives? We have a way of saying something in degrees.
For example, something can be big...or it can be gigantic...or it can be
monstrous...or it can be gargantuan! Each word is different; each
meaning bigger than the word before. We all might use different words
to do it, but we all do it. Another example is the way we describe
someone of the opposite sex. A blind date is 'nice' but your girlfriend
is 'pretty', but by the time she's your
wife she is 'beautiful.' A girl you wish would go out with
you is 'gorgeous' but a gorgeous girl who is dating someone bigger than
you is a 'knockout.' You see, its all beauty, we just express it
in different degrees.
That's a long way of saying its hard to
describe Saturday. It wasn't a 'nice' day or even a 'beautiful' day.
It was more than a gorgeous day. I mean, every possible factor was
just perfect. My highest adjective for a day is 'glorious.'
It was a glorious day! I couldn't have asked for a better day if
I had custom ordered one.
By now the sun was actually peeking above
the horizon and it causes that bright shimmering on the ocean. You
boaters will know how its kind of broad at the horizon and narrows down
to a point in front of your boat. Well, my course of 94 degrees kept
me riding right up the right side of that sunlight all the way to Little
Egg reef. It was an easy course to steer as long as
the sun kept shining!
When I arrived at Little Egg reef there
were about four other boats there; somewhat scattered. I picked a
spot on the other side of them and turned broadside to the only gentle
breeze.
I baited four rods, some with squid and
minnows and some with mackerel strips and minnows. Since there was
little breeze, the drift was a little slower than I like, but a little
drift is better than none.
To make a long story short...I caught fifteen
fish and quit at 11:30 a.m.! Each drift was about an hour, and the
action was consistent although the species weren't. I did, however,
catch 5 fluke with two of them keepers. I was happy. Everything
went well. It was the kind of day when you wish your father was along
to kind of pay him back for all the good times you had
when he took you fishing as a child. It was glorious.
Rather than give you the blow by blow this time,
I jotted down the time each fish was caught:
6:50 - skate (Grassy
Channel)
8:10 - sea robin
8:20 - fluke - 10"
8:45 - skate
8:50 - sand shark - 28"
9:05 - fluke - 19"
9:20 - tog - 17"
9:36 - skate
9:50 - sand shark - 38"
9:50 - fluke - 14 1/2"
10:00 - fluke - 17"
10:30 - skate
10:40 - fluke - 14"
11:00 - sand shark -
32"
11: 10 - sand shark -
28"
At 11:30 I decided I had enough and started
back for the marina. Bass River was having a picnic starting at 2:00.
After paying my $2,200 for slip rent I didn't want to miss out on my two
free hot dogs! Besides, it was a three-day weekend and I could fish
again tomorrow.
The ride back over the ocean was just as
nice at 19 knots again. But wow, weaving through Grassy Channel and
Great Bay was like dancing through a minefield. I never saw so many
boats! Not even on a holiday weekend! I think Scott's website
is getting the information out too well; I saw boats from as far away as
South America! And I counted them...over 12 quadrillion boats on
my way back (counting the four at Little Egg reef and two at the Atomic
Lump).
Now I'm not going to belabor this point;
I know we all have equal rights to our waterways, and I defend everyone's
right to use them responsibly, BUT...why do some of them drift across the
narrowest part of the channel? Don't they know bigger boats can't
go around them, especially at low tide? And they never budge; they
don't even look guilty. I certainly wouldn't sit
between the 139 and the next red buoy if I saw the Black Whale coming!
I think its a 'we were here first' attitude; but its the channel!
Its the highway through the shallow water for boats that need more water.
If I ever get the chance to talk to one of those twice-a-year fishing guys,
I'm going to ask them just one question. "Do you let your children
play in the middle
of the street?"
When I arrived at the marina I hosed down
the boat and began cleaning my two keeper fluke. I didn't keep the
tog because I had never caught one before and didn't know anyone who ate
them. While I was cleaning the fish, a guy with a camera came up
to me and explained he was writing a story about the marina and wanted
my permission to take my picture cleaning fish. He works for the
Islander, whatever that is. I thought about it for a while because
I don't like publicity. I've had my share for my job and every story
was inaccurate. I come here to get away from it all, not to get in
the papers. I thought if I gave a long pause he would go away, but
he didn't. Finally, I agreed to get it over with and just cleaned
my fish; I didn't want
to say anything he could misquote. He asked my name
and left. If any of you readers are locals at the shore and happen
to see the story about Bass River Marina, save me a copy since I don't
think they sell the Islander in Reading, PA.
Well, I got my two free hot dogs and settled
down in the boat to watch a video my friend Kathy suggested. Its
called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I knew we had different
tastes in movies, but I watched it anyway.
Kinky. I give it only two stars.
I woke up early Sunday and decided to go
fishing again. Right out to Little Egg reef again. Seas were
even calmer...but no breeze at all for a drift! That hurt.
Didn't cover much territory.
I'll rush the stats since its getting late
and I have to pack for my trip tomorrow.
I caught 4 skates at Little Egg Reef.
Got tired of skates and went in toward the beach between the white and
red towers just to check out the fishfinder. Nothing there.
Went to Atomic lump and caught 4 more skates. I was a little frustrated.
Its been a long time since I've had an eight skate day. Decided to
head inside around noon.
Just for fun, I stopped at the West side
of the fish factory and drifted slowly for about 45 minutes without a bite;
only seaweed. I decided to head in soon and threw all my bait overboard
in little pieces like chum. Then let all the minnows go (they always
look so happy when I set them free). You're right. As soon
as I was out of bait I hit two flukes within five minutes! Fortunately,
they were both shorts so I didn't feel too bad. But I did learn...never
throw out your bait until you get back to the marina! I pulled in
my remaining two lines before I caught a keeper size fluke; then I would
really feel dumb!
So Sunday turned out to be eight skates
and two short fluke. I toyed with the idea of fishing again Monday
but I had a lot to do at home before I go away.
I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend
as much as I did. Since I don't eat fish, they're all fun to catch
for me! Twenty-five fish in two days and two keeper fluke for Dad.
It was glorious!
Until your feet hit the deck next time...pray
for calm seas and good
times on the water...with a little more breeze for the drift next
time!
CAPTAIN
KOKOMO REPORT - 6/20/99
AHOY MATES!!!
After a week in Florida, a week in Cancun,
and another week in Florida...I was really ready to enjoy Kokomo again!
Florida is nice, but I go there for business
trips. It would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to go to the office
every day. Of course, it helps that the office has palm trees in
the front yard.
The weather was beautiful the first week
in Orlando, but often rained during the second week. I did, however,
squeeze in a trip to the new park at Universal Studios called "Islands
of Adventure" and it was okay. It just
opened last month and its worth the money if you get a chance to
go there.
Cancun was more fun since it was a vacation
and not a business trip. I wasn't crazy about the little puddle-jumper
I had to take from Orlando to Miami. It was a Saab Turbo-prop 306.
Right! I never heard of them either. It held about 20 people
and the pilot had a long white scarf around his neck and kept mumbling
something about the Red Baron.
Then I switched planes in Miami and took
a Boeing 727 for the one-hour flight to Cancun. Remember, I grew
up in a Boeing home. My dad worked there for 25 years so I was brought
up believing Boeing aircraft are the best. It was a nice flight but
I would make one suggestion to any Boeing engineers that may be reading
this. I don't like the noise it makes when the landing gear goes
up or down! It sounds like the bottom is falling out of the plane
and I mentally prepared to free fall into shark infested waters off of
Cuba. Nervous flyers don't need to hear any loud clunking sounds.
The worst part of my six flights during
this last trip was the last one. I was finally finished and ready
to go home and go fishing. Last Thursday I boarded a Boeing 737 at
the Orlando airport with my Administrative Specialist, Eric, for the short
trip to Philly. Everything seemed fine. We taxiied out toward
the runway when the plane stopped all of a sudden.
The captain (not a good captain, like a boat
captain who takes you out in the water for fishing and fun. This
was the mean kind of captain who takes you 30,000 feet in the sky in a
metal death tube with thousands of pounds of highly flammable fuel while
there's lightning dancing all around up there) came on the P.A. system
and announced that the airport was closed because of violent thunderstorms
in the area. To make a long story short; we sat on the plane near
the runway for two and a half hours before we finally took off!
We just sat there out in the open during
a major thunderstorm! Did I tell you that Florida is the number one
state in America for deaths by lightning? I did pretty good for about
two hours, then my claustrophobia
started to set in. Fortunately, my friend Eric von Shubert
is a stern, serious, German type who gave me slight looks of disapproval
(you know the kind your grandmother gave you if you got too close to the
cookie jar) each
time my emotions started to get out of hand. I thought about
asking the flight attendant to let me out. I didn't mind walking
back to the building from out there in the lightning; at least if I got
struck I wouldn't be sitting on 10,000 pounds of gasoline.
It was a bumpy ride home. And after
more than five hours on that plane I was even glad to see Philadelphia.
After two business weeks, a week without
speaking English, and five hours on a plane; I was anxious to relax on
Kokomo more than ever.
I didn't arrive at the marina until 10:00
Friday night. It took me a while to set things up and to chat with
friends and I went to bed about midnight. I decided, after all that
happened the last couple of weeks, to sleep in and the fish would just
have to wait for me.
Even when I'm out of state I check Scott's
Bait & Tackle website every night. I'm not sure why; it just
makes me feel closer to home to know what's going on in my home waters.
Lo and behold, I read a wonderful report on
Brown Tide that was researched and written by Maureen, lovely wife
of the fishing industry magnate, Scott. The article was so convincing
that I decided not even to bother fishing in the bay. Problem was,
the predictions
for the wave heights was a little hairy. They predicted 3-4
footers, not really big, but I expected the wind from the east northeast
to make them a really sloppy chop.
So I was stuck...where should I fish?
I got up at 8:00 a.m. and was in Scott's Bait shop before 9:00 to buy my
traditional squid and minnows. Scott always has the best minnows
in town; but now he's got this really neat squid,
too. It's already pre-cleaned...no head, no guts...and really
easy to work with. It looks like the kind a restaurant would serve
as calamari, but even a fancy Italian name for wouldn't change the fact
that it tastes like squid.
I started out of Bass River shortly after
9:00 a.m., still not sure
where I was going to fish. I wanted to see the brown tide
for myself; after all, maybe it went away by now. It didn't.
It was just like Mizmo described. Crossing Great Bay was like driving
through a sea of Ovaltine. I
hoped that perhaps in deeper water, like that in front of the old
Coast Guard station would be less effected by the brown tide. I paused
when I got there and the water did look a little better than the shallower
areas. But what
the heck; whhile I'm here, why not ask about the ocean conditions.
I picked up the radio and asked for an
ocean report. A captain came back to me with "1 to 3-footers and
beautiful." What a great surprise since I was expecting 3-4-footers
and choppy. That settled that real quick. I'm
going outside.
Even the three-footers were only occasional;
and they were all so far apart that it made for a real comfortable ride
out to my favorite reef, Little Egg reef. I got there not surprised
to see about a hundred boats all
taking advantage of the beautiful day on the sea. For those
who don't know, Little Egg reef is about 4.5 miles out at 94 degrees from
the LE buoy.
I arrived at the reef about 10:15 a.m.
and no sooner put my first line in when I saw that telltale sign there
are sea bass in the area. You know that very rapid jerk on the tip
of your rod when a sea bass steals your
minnow but doesn't take the hook. I knew right away what happened.
I set up my other rods, then went back to number one to replace the minnow.
Most often, they don't steal the squid strip, just the minnow. Maybe
they would eat the squid too if we called it calamari. Nah, they're
not as dumb as us.
My first drift was a relatively short one
since I like to take some time to analyze the other boats. I parked
right in the middle of them and I like to see which way we're going to
drift; check out who's drifting and who's
trolling; and listen to the radio about what they're catching.
So on my first drift I caught only one fluke which was short.
I then did three good, hour long drifts
that brought in a good number of fish. I like to catch fluke for
the freezer, but catching anything makes the day more fun. In the
end I took home three sea bass.
It was an absolutely beautiful (not glorious)
day. I got a little sun, enjoyed the relaxation after my travels,
caught a total of sixteen fish, and was glad for good seas and no brown
tide.
Even the ride back in was great.
I quit about 2:00 p.m. and cruised back to LE buoy at 18 knots, through
the inlet, snaked through Grassy Channel, across Great Bay and was halfway
up the Bass River before I had to
lower my throttles. I can't remember when the last time was
that I was able to go all the way back in at cruising speed. There
just weren't very many boats out at 3:00 and the water was calm.
I was cleaning the sea bass back in my
slip when the yardmaster walked by. He mentioned it was like deja
vu seeing me clean my fish when he had just moments before seen my picture
in the Islander newspaper cleaning my
fish. I forgot all about that. Does anyone have an old
copy (I think June 4 issue) of the Islander? I'd like a copy of my
picture for my scrapbook but they don't sell the Islander in Orlando or
Cancun so I wasn't able to get one.
I cleaned the boat, had some dinner, and
settled down in the cabin to watch a new video The Ghost and the Darkness.
I give it 2 1/2 stars.
Hoping for a nice day Sunday, I awakened to rain
and left for home earlier than planned.
So here's the box scores for Saturday at
Little Egg reef:
4 fluke (all short)
3 sea bass @ 12, 13,
14 inches
1 sea robin
2 sand sharks @ 30 and
38 inches
6 skates
A final thought. Did you ever wonder
if those government bureaucrats are going about fish management all wrong?
Instead of limiting the size and seasons on good fish; why don't they offer
a bounty for junkfish? You know, pay us $2 for every skate or sea
robin we take out of the ocean. That would allow more food for the
good fish and they'll grow faster! Besides, we can always feed the
junkfish to cats or use it for fertilizer.
Don't have many future plans for fishing
trips, although I'm expecting my Dad, my friend Eric, and my Mexican 'son'
Armando all to fish with me at different times in July.
Also, it has taken years to finally get
my friend Diane (Eric's wife) to agree to go out on the boat! We're
planning on watching fireworks from Kokomo. She got seasick twice
and doesn't ever want to get on another boat
but I talked her into it. So, can any of you locals e-mail
me if you hear which day the fireworks are going to be in Beach Haven?
Any other ideas? Are there any better places to watch them from a
boat?
Send e-mail to PapaPablo@aol.com
So, until your feet hit the deck next time, pray
for calm seas and enough rain (not on Saturdays) to flush that brown tide
out of the bay.
Captain
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