THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412010200
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 23 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Tight Lines
SOURCE: Ford Reid
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
I know people who are convinced that there has never been a fish caught in the surf.
Not one.
These are, generally, otherwise intelligent people. They believe that men landed on the moon and that there are politicians, a couple, anyway, who are truly concerned about the nation's well being, but they cannot imagine that it is possible to toss a lure or bait into the ocean and bring back a fish.
Most of them have been fishing with me.
All right, I tell them, we all have bad days. Not even the greatest of anglers catch fish each and every time that they wet a line.
Many of them began as innocents who believed everything they saw on television or read in the outdoors magazines.
Those guys - the television personalities and the writers - always catch fish. In fact, they make it look sooo easy that it seems it would be harder not to catch fish.
I try to tell them that fishing is hard work, but they do not listen. They continue to think that they ought to be able to buzz down to the beach, drive out to Cape Point and land a 50-pound drum and a couple of 20-pound bluefish before lunch. Even if there is a gale blowing from the southwest and the water is the color of Mexican coffee.
When they don't hook into a monster 20 minutes after arriving, they begin to think that the whole thing is a farce, that no one ever catches fish in the surf.
They overlook what every serious surf fisherman knows. The trick is to spend a lot of time on the beach.
Be in the right place at the right time.
Not that that is all guesswork. Far from it. Tide, season and especially weather are very important. So is an ability to read the water, to imagine what is under the surface that might attract fish.
The first thing is to know how all of those factors affect surf fishing. The next is to be able to get to the surf when the right conditions occur.
Of course, it takes a lot of experience to pull any of that off. We call it ``paying your dues.''
Any day now, the telephone calls will start. Friends and relatives from around the eastern half of the country will have the same questions.
``When will the big bluefish be running?'' Or, ``When should I come to catch a drum, a really big one, I mean?''
I tell all of them the same thing.
``Come tomorrow, stay through Christmas and your chances might be pretty good, if you're feeling lucky.''
That always gets a laugh, followed by, ``No, really, when should I come?''
Over the years, some of them have gotten lucky and had great fishing for the few days that they were here.
The others keep thinking that it can't be done. But, God bless 'em, they do keep trying and one day it will catch up with them. by CNB