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PONDERING CORE ESSENCE
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For well over a year, I had planned to take an autumn vacation in New England. Now free from the constraints of the public school calendar and having cleared my work schedule, I could claim a week or ten days in late September without negative effects. Of course, I planned on fishing; but the additional bonuses of seeing and sharing time with loved ones, experiencing favored spots with less competition and finding new spots all appealed. Then again, there was the chance to chase some of fall's "funny fish"; and maybe I'd win the beautiful boat at On the Water's Striperfest 2018! Whatever "plans" I had developed were still pretty ill-formed by the time A and I hit the road on the first day of autumn. Even A's participation was something of a late addition to the trip. There were specific, stated milestones (a couple of days at the Maine homestead, a ballgame in Boston on Tuesday, utilize Uncle M's generosity as host on The Cape for a few days of chasing albacore and be present when my Golden Ticket was pulled for the boat), but the details around these were still a bit fuzzy. Plus, in my mind, these same goals sounded more like "get to Portland on time to get bait and catch Saturday evening's tide, explore Plum Island and find some fish in the surf, recover and rest in Boston with K and A, incur and cure a case of Albie Fever and be present when my Golden Ticket is pulled for the boat!" As for the other logistics, I'd adopted Eisenhower's philosophy along the lines of "Planning is indispensable; but Plans are worthless." That is, I'd thought this all through and I had the gear and means to execute my plan; but I was more than willing to scrap the specifics and adjust along the way, as necessary. There is little in my life that I find more relaxing than my time in Falmouth, Maine. But when there, I am always burning the candle from both ends; I try to catch every dawn and dusk (and that means, in practice, every pre-dawn and post-dusk) since that's when the crepuscular striped bass are vulnerable. In June or July, that can be awfully wearing. I found it to be much more manageable during the shortened days of September. I even had a little time and energy to be mildly sociable, post-fishing, in the evenings! My biggest source of "stress" is often obtaining sufficient bait; but The Tackle Shop's 2018 relocation has reduced that, and they always have taken care of my local bait and tackle needs. And so our first stop upon arriving in Portland was The Tackle Shop. There, Dana reported that there were plenty of bass still available; but obtaining live mackerel might be difficult. I left the shop with some frozen mackerel and a couple of dozen sand-worms, as well as a Smack-it popper and reinforced confidence. Within a couple of hours, I proved to myself that the bass were still available; the fishing details are here at www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing/maine-2018-part-ii. I was fortunate to have arrived during a favorable tide schedule, and the fishing during our stay was decently good. Over the course of the couple of days, I landed 20 stripers. And while the stripers here are rarely large specimens, during 18-plus years of experience on the float, I have refined my tackle to the point that each and every bass I encounter can give a good account for itself, while still providing me the edge in landing them. Like good home cooking, I find this fishing to be familiar, satisfying and satiating. Yet somehow, I never seem to get enough! Now with 36 hours or so to enjoy before the scheduled First Pitch at Fenway, and having caught some fish in the familiar comfort of our New England "home", it was time to explore! A and I casually worked our way down to Newburyport, Massachusetts. The east wind was building and a Nor'easter was in the forecast. The next day's ballgame was certainly in doubt, but so was this day's fishing! Driving down the coast, I assumed it would simply be too rough to fish the east-facing surf of Plum Island. But "Metal Mike" at Surfland Bait and Tackle set me straight. I turned out to be productively happy in the surf (see www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing/massachusetts-north-shore-surf-fishing), while both A and I were super happy with our overnight cottage accommodations at The Blue hotel. While the next day was a fishless, rained-out mess, this was an awesome mini-vacation within our vacation. Who's one to argue with striped bass success, the company of your best friend, watching the Full Moon rise into clear skies over the Atlantic from a hot tub, and breakfast delivered to your doorstep? The Red Sox - Orioles game for September 25 was rained out. That was okay; it gave us more time to spend with our Boston Daughter, K. We enjoyed her company and hospitality and shared some local delicacies. I was momentarily conflicted; the game was rescheduled for the next afternoon. I could stay the extra half-day; but that would be at the cost of my timely arrival in Falmouth, Massachusetts. That lost time would threaten a full day of lost fishing; and my Cape Cod Albie Chase was one of the primary motivations for the trip itself. It turned out to be an easy group decision; I'd skip the game and proceed to The Cape while the girls would attend the game. A and I would somehow re-unite in time for Saturday's Striperfest 2018 festivities. I'll skip right to it; I did not catch a false albacore during my time on The Cape, despite being steered straight by Todd and Christian at Falmouth Bait and Tackle. The specifics are here: (www.numenonfunfishing.com/numenonfunfishing/cape-cod-albie-chase). Much of my available fishing time was very windy and/or rainy, and the locations and tactics were all new to me. Tides were crazily mixed with the full moon and crazy wind. The quarry is highly migratory and their presence is ephemeral. Odds were stacked against my fishing success. In the end, despite not landing my small tuna, I'm not sure I could have had more fun. Let's face it, in my "failure" to land a tunnie, I was outside for long periods of time in bracing conditions. I was fully engaged with the tasks immediately at hand. I witnessed seals, gulls, tuna, bass and blues foraging and at their wildest. I shared time with my interesting uncle; some of my passion might have even rubbed off on him. I befriended strangers on similar quests. I learned a lot. I accumulated a lot of information for current and future utilization. I enjoyed my gear. I didn't have a single, meaningful tackle failure. I had everything I really needed, including waders and top-quality rain gear. I caught drag-pulling fish on top-waters! I had some near misses and I even had my chance; my tuna was defeated and at my feet! I simply didn't hold it. This was no failure! Any one of these three areas offers a lifetime of fishing possibility. I'd tried to cram it all into a week; and I'd done pretty well doing so. The week had been filled with modest fishing success and a bunch of new experiences. These were all modest (striper on a Diawa SP Minnow; striper from heavy surf; bass and blues on Hogy epoxy jigs; repeated albacore refusals), but in the long run, they are all meaningful. I'd been legitimately in the game for the entire week; and all these learning moments, if remembered, would help me stay in the game on future trips. All of this had been executed without any real problems! Any of the things that could have gone wrong (car failure, gear failure, slips, trips and falls, minor viruses) simply did not; and for that I am grateful. Meanwhile, there were many tangible things that went right! My gear selection (and my ability to supplement this gear smartly, courtesy of local expertise) was spot on. I found the right shops to dispense pertinent advice. I had fish in front of me during every session. Heck, the food was good throughout the trip, and I even enjoyed all the driving. I was very pleased with the performance of this LL Bean Travel Series rod paired with my Shimano Stradic 4000 reel. Filled with 15-pound Spiderwire Stealth Braid, I could launch my Hogy epoxy jigs (here, shown supplemented with a few Crippled Herring, Deadly Dicks and surface tension lures) as far as anybody on the pier. Reaching the fish was NOT my problem! Finally; I did not win the boat at Striperfest! I am still, somehow, mildly surprised at this outcome (at least in my heart, if not fully in my brain.) I did win a beautiful pair of Costa sunglasses, and I left with a couple of new lures in my bag. It was a fun, unique experience, and I suspect that I shall return. And, I am somehow filled with hope that the family who did win the boat will enjoy it and use it wisely. The winning family had a young, teenaged boy; and I remember how my life was changed for the better when my father came home with a shiny new boat. If it works out half as well for that young boy as it has for me (40 years or more, later!), then he's going to be all right! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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Steve LachanceVia Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Michigan and now, back to New England! Archives
June 2024
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