Tidelines – August 2, 2012
Regular readers know that in addition to Fisherman’s Post Newspaper, I also teach English at Cape Fear Community College. I bring this up in this week’s Tidelines column because with the start of August I can no longer deny that summer (for me, at least) is coming to an end.
And when you start counting down the days until the end of summer (thirteen left as I write this article on July 31), you start to place more pressure on the days you have left. That has been my mentality this past week—make some fishing memories—as I try to fit in some fishing trips before I am back in the classroom looking out the window.
The problem, though, is that it seems the more pressure you put on a fishing trip, the more apt you are to be disappointed. And it also seems that when you get out on the water on a whim, you’re often pleasantly surprised. This past week both proved to be true.
First the disappointment (but the disappointment will ultimately have a happy ending).
I’ve been wanting to fish with Capt. Dave Gardner, of the head boat Vonda Kay, since he brought a boat to Wrightsville Beach this summer. He’s still in Topsail, but he now has a second boat at the docks beside Motts Channel Seafood. Fisherman’s Post is very familiar with the full day trips on the Vonda Kay (those of you on the yearly “Fish Post Day on the Vonda Kay” should email me about the 2012 date and reserve your seat), but we’ve yet to join Dave on one of his half days.
I was set to go on a Wednesday morning, so on the Tuesday before I went by Tex’s Tackle to buy my frozen Boston mackerel and have the guys “remind” me how to tie some bottom rigs (I’m not sure how many times they will continue to “remind” me before they refuse to tie any more, but apparently that day hasn’t come yet).
Since my offshore days this summer have been few, I went to bed excited that the next day I would have a rod in my hands bending under the fight of a grouper determined to return to his rock, and at the end of the day I would leave the Vonda Kay with a cooler full of assorted bottomfish.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday morning the trip was called off due to a mix of weather and not having enough people. Despite all the plans, my highs plunged into disappointment. The happy ending, though? We’ve rescheduled with Dave for this week on both a half day and a full day, and the full day coincides with my birthday. I think a full day grouper trip to celebrate a birthday will erase that Wednesday morning’s disappointment.
Now the whim.
Earlier in the week, as we all know, coastal North Carolina was in the midst of a strong heat wave. At the end of work on a hot summer day, the temptation is often to do nothing, such as sit on the couch and stay inside in the air conditioning. Tony (A&M Screenprinting), Hank (Mann & Waters Insurance) and I, though, fought the end-of-the-work-day laziness and decided around 3:00 to meet at the docks around 5:00 to sneak in a quick offshore run to some flounder haunts.
Nothing at five miles except sharks. Nothing at seven miles except sharks. Then at 10 miles, at the second location (the first had sharks) we finally found the flounder. The bite was a typical offshore flounder bite: they hit bucktails and Carolina rigs aggressively, the fish were thick, and all (except for one) were keepers.
Not only did we enjoy a typical offshore flounder bite and land several quality fish, most of them in the last 30 minutes of light, but the trip also produced the typical banter that accompanies buddies on a fishing trip. Those of you who know Tony should ask him why he thinks that Sbarro, the mall pizza place, makes bucktails. And those of you that know Hank should ask him why “Horny Hanks” is an appropriate nickname for pinfish that bother your bait.
Our trip together almost didn’t happen, and that would have been a mistake. So apply a little “carpe diem” or whatever you need to do, but my advice is to take advantage of any opportunity to get out on the water, especially the chance fishing trip, because looking out the window is not the best view.
