Wollaston Lake Fishing Adventure

 June 13 our Canadian fishing crew (Shu, Dwayne and Jim) set out on a 16 day fishing trip adventure to Lake Wollaston SK, Canada in Shu's Class A 38' RV.  The trip did not disappoint.  5 days driving each way and 6 days of fishing.

Shore of Lake Huron

Onroad * Scrabble games 

We started off through Canada and went west to Michigan.  First night was spent at Alpena County Long Lake Park

A whitefish 

 which was great.  33$ a night, was right on a lake and very clean.  The next day we finished our drive along Lake Huron.  Lake Huron was interesting as it was not as scenic as I thought.  The shore is shoulder to should with mostly unassuming houses,  There are no docks as the entire beach is public.  Looked very similar to lakes Erie and Ontario.  The crossing of the Mackinac Bridge was definitely breath taking and super cool. The rest of the drive through.  The rest of the day drive to Duluth MN via upper Michigan and Wisconsin was very modest in terms of scenery.

Duluth MN was a big surprise for us.  We had no idea how big the city is and the magnitude of its shipping progress.  Thousands of trains, huge ocean cargo ships, giant grain and coal elevators.  It was also a clean and well kept city.  Lots of stores and breweries. The Duluth Trading Post store was "ok" and definitely should not be the main reason to visit Duluth as there is a lot of other things going on.  We parked the RV in Duluth Conference Center parking lot and used Lift to get around.  We stayed at Indian Point Campground, just outside of Duluth.  Another very clean and affordable RV campsite on a peninsula close to the shore.

Mechanics fixing RV

The next morning we experienced a malfunction with the rear RV slider where it came off the track while it was being pulled in.  We were stressed about this ruining our trip as we all knew service stations are really backed up.  We went to a Camping World outside of Duluth in the AM at their opening.  Unbelievably they were terrific and within the hour they had the problem fixed and we were back on the road.  Just a great, rare, auto repair experience!

We drove from there to Winnipeg South KOA campground just west of Winnipeg, MB.  Typical KOA clean, gravel, and next to a highway and railway.  Next was to Prince Albert where we stayed in a very sketchy fairground in the city.  It had electric and water but there is an obviously serious drug problem in this city.  We saw young people shooting up and lots of drug paraphernalia.  The camping area was littered and definitely felt unsafe.  Needless to say we skipped staying here on the way back.

To this point in our travels I am reflecting that the Mackinac Bridge was really the only sight that was impressive.  Not that the shores of Huron and south of Superior weren't pleasant to the eye, but I would not go back again.  Happy to have seen it for sure.  From Duluth MN to La Ronge SK it is all flat farm land...I mean FLAT...just like the American prairie. We drove 16 hours through this unchanging scenery.

The drive from Prince Albert SK to La Ronge SK is where the geography began to change with more hilly features including pines and birch trees. It also was a dirt road until 60 years ago. La Ronge is where the infamous route 102 dirt road begins and it is 200 miles up this road to our destination Wilderness Family Outfitters.  This was the dustiest and bumpiest road imaginable shared by tractor trailers hauling 2-3 trailers and not so interested in sharing the road with an RV from New York.  Absolutely brutal trek going 5-20 mph due to all the bumps.  This was a true long lonesome highway, but had many great views of lakes in the distance.  Our friend Dwayne assured us that there was a placed called the Lamplighter Inn kilo marker 141 where we could get gas, food, and spend the night.  None of us believed this as there was literally NOTHING for the 180 miles of dirt road to kilo marker 141.  Well, at marker 141 there was a sheet of plywood with hand painted letters "Lamplighter Inn"so we pulled into this driveway to a sandy parking lot the size of 3 football fields.  On one side of the lot was a big beautiful helicopter and very large fuel tanks on the other.  There were three modular home like looking buildings, one of which was the "restaurant" and the others were the "Inn".  Several large semi trucks with multiple trailers were parked in the lot.  We parked on the edge of the lot near the helicopter.

The "Lamplighter Inn" experience is was really makes these adventures special.  This "inn" supports the many miners in the area as does the helicopter.  The people cooking and waiting on us, truckers who were curious to know why we were there, and the helicopter pilot who refused our $200 cash offer for a ride (but gave us tour of the copter in lieu) were all terrific and just salt of the earth people.  This was an unexpected gem and we ended up staying the night there as the remaining 20 miles to the outfitters seemed way too ominous after our brutal first dusty and bumpy 180 miles.  We enjoyed having both dinner and breakfast there.  We filled the gas up and they were kind enough to let us fill the water tanks free of charge.  On the bumpy ride the day before a can of sodas fell on the water tank drain so all our water was gone.

My reflection on routes 102 and 905 are that they are for trucks only.

Jim with a nice one

 We wouldn't bring an RV.  Not only was the road terrible but all the dust filled the lower compartments so all our luggage and tackle were covered in thick dust.  The scenery is beautiful.  You definitely have to pay attention as some trucks were flying and fish tailing all over.  If we did the RV thing again we would leave it at Prince Albert and rent a truck.

Upon arrival at Wilderness Family Outfitters we were immediately greeted by Brian and his wonderful family.  The lay out was a series of well kept cabins, a lodge and fish cleaning hut serrated by finely groomed stone pathways and handsome landscaping.  Located in a  protected cove where they're about ten boats on a well constructed dock.  The boats were terrific.  25 HP electric starter outboard with a live well, depth finder/GPS and comfortable boats seats.  By far the nicest boats I have ever been provided by a Canadian outfitter.  Our modern cabin was beautiful with drinkable water, hot shower and great view of the bay.

Cory our guide

We had originally reserved two guides for the next day, but Brian advised a bad weather front was due to come in and that we might have a better experience using the guides that afternoon.  Corry, Brian's son, was our guide.  Nice young man who was extremely helpful in getting us oriented to the lake.  A big challenge was the lake level was down over three feet so causing the appearance of many hazardous rocks through the lake.  His orientation helped us avoiding these prop busters all week.

All the fish caught with our guides were in 4' deep or less water.  I caught a 37" pike casting an orange colored Mepps bucktail and a 30" pike with an 8' musky bait.  Both caught up against the shore.

Dwayne with a beauty

I have been to northern Canadian fishing trips for over 20 years.  The rule of thumb for lures on these trips was to use big metal in-line spinners...we call them Christmas trees. Wollaston was NOT about metal, rather it was about crank baits. The 37" pike caught on a Mepps proved to be an anomaly. Shu caught a beautiful 44" pike on a large crank bait. We even caught a 16 inch white fish on a crank bait.  To catch walleye that were legally small enough to keep we used ultralight tackle and jigs.90% of the walleye we caught were over the minimum size limit of 21".  This was fine as the little guys were outstanding eaters.  We had plenty of walleye and lake trout to make for spectacular shore lunches.  Lake Wollaston has some terrific beaches for shore lunches and the outfitter even provides locations with fire pits around the lake.

Two of our six days were impacted by bad weather.  The second day we were there the wind was blowing 20+mph from the north making it impossible to get out of the cove.  So we fished a little in the cove, caught some walleye, and returned to the cabin for an afternoon of Scrabble.

Waiting the storm out

The other day had us caught in a violent lightening storm in a part of the lake known as The Narrows about an hour boat ride from the outfitters.  The wind kicked up to 30+ with incredible sheets of rain.  We anchored in a small cove, close to shore and out of the wind.  We were in the cove for about an hour and the four of us were recalling our high school science classes regarding lightening and metal boats.  If we headed back to the outfitters we would be in open water  for most the trip.  Dwayne was counting the seconds between flash and boom, which was calming when he would count 5-6 seconds, but when the count only went as high as 1 second  I think there was a lot of private praying that took place.  After an hour we determined that the danger poised by hypothermia was rising such that if we didn't get shelter it would be more dangerous to us than lightening.  We hugged the shoreline of the Narrows for only half a mile when a large bolt of lightening hit the hill immediately in front of us to which we immediately put into shore to refocus.   After 20 minutes it seemed to lighten up and we made the 1 hour boat ride back to the outfitters.  It was a very unnerving ride as once we got into the open water we could see that the lake was surrounded by large thunder clouds and the distant lightening displays were ominous.  Well, we made it back in piece, soaked to the bone, but being able to immediately take a hot shower after such an event was an incredible benefit of this outfitter.

The balance of the week was spent doing a lot of trolling and exploring the nooks and crannies of the vast shoreline of Wollaston.  Many places were over 20' deep only 5' off shore making trolling very scenic, albeit I bet I lost $200 worth of crank baits on snags involving reels whose drag settings were not working.

Wollaston Lake is a barbless hook lake.  In fact we even got pulled over by two SK Conservation Officers who checked or lures to make sure they were bent down, which they were.  The problem arose when they asked for licenses we had them on our phones but did not realize they weren't physically on our phones rather they were in the "cloud" and without cell service are unable to access them.  Fortunately the officers call us in to their dispatch via a satellite phone who confirmed we had licenses.  We got off with a verbal warning and lesson learned.

The week went fast and we all agreed this was the best outfitter experience any of us ever had.  Brian and his entire extended family that operate the lodge are just the nicest people.  They were always friendly and others who took advantage of their meal plans raved about the cooking.  They have several friendly dogs at the lodge, of them, named Ranger, was warned to us by Brian upon our arrival that if we gave him any treats he would be ours for the week....lol sure as shit, first night he got a piece of hotdog from the grill and he stayed on our deck for the week LMAO...he was terrific!

Bragging Board in Lodge

The journey home was highlighted by driving the northern shore of Lake Superior starting in Duluth MN via Thunder Bay and Sault St. Marie .  We read a lot about this being one of the most scenic drives in North America.  Here is my take.  To get the full experience you need to stop at the opportunities for short hikes to see beautiful waterfalls, difficult in a 38' RV.  From strictly an RV roadside view perspective the drive from Thunder Bay eastward was absolutely breathtaking.  We were surprised as the literature suggested it was Duluth to Thunder Bay that was the scenic route.  It is not that it is not pleasing to the eye, it just is a lot more about commercial opportunities versus East of Thunder Bay where there is only cliffs, trees, and breathtaking views.  We stopped in Thunder Bay and it definitely looked tired and depressed compared to Duluth.  We drove by homeless camps in the center of the city and the buildings looked "tired".

An Absolute Must Stop!!!!

2600 miles there and 2600 miles back.  Great trip.  Definitely would go back and would definitely do the drive along the northern shore of Lake Superior.  Once home it took 3 of us 10 hours to remove all the dust from the compartments and 5200 miles of squashed bugs off the body of the RV.

Roadside view of Lake Superior

Spring Fishing 2023 Perch, Trout, and Salmon

 Early April saw crazy warm weather.  Temperatures were in the 80s for over a week.  Perfect for staying relatively warm fishing on the freezing cold Keuka, Cayuga, and Lake Ontario.

I have been able to get out 5 times this month with close friends and family.  Our first trip was on our 24' Grady White fishing for perch on Keuka Lake.  As this blog has shown we have had banner outings early April on this lake for perch.....like keeping 50 over 12" per group outing....historically.  Well Keuka is a different lake to day than days of ole.  It is well documented about the challenges of this lake with struggling alewives populations and unsuccessful (so far) reintroduction of ciscoes to the lake.  We fished 8 hours....Branchport, the fork, and Hammondsport.  Not only did we not get a perch bite, but we never even saw a perch or minnow in the crystal clear water.  In years past you could see large clouds of minnows and schools of perch.  We inadvertently caught three small lake trout.  Fun to catch on a perch rig, but not very big.  When I cleaned them I found nothing in their stomachs.

Fortunately the next four outings were extremely successful.  Trip number 2 saw us on Cayuga Lake fishing for perch.  As is typical this time of year there were a PILE of boats all bunched up around two spots on the north end of the lake.  They were crushing dinks but we fish for the 12"+ perch so we actively looked for such fish.  We found them in 20' of water, while the masses were all fishing 10-14'.  Interesting observation that perch minnows were found in the perch we cleaned.  I thought only pike were cannibalistic....who knew?!

Huge Cisco

Released Lake Trout

Third trip had us hunting brown trout on Lake Ontario.  April is the hot time to catch brown trout in shallow water.  We launched out of Charlotte and headed east about ten miles to get away from all the other boats.  While it was warm inshore, it was 42 degrees on the water.  We caught four brown trout, a small mouth bass, and a big cisco.  All the fish were gorging on minnows and gobies. 

We thought the cisco was actually a whitefish, but after referencing the internet we determined it to be a cisco.  The trout made for an incredible dinner.

The fourth trip saw Dave, Shu and I return to Cayuga Lake.  This time the fish were in 18 feet of water and we crushed em!  We got our bait from Daves Bait & Tackle near Auburn which is a favorite of ours.  This time I saved the carcasses of 12 perch to make fish broth from and then used the broth to make Caldo de pescado.

In the perch bellies

Yesterday we traveled to Hamlin NY to fish for trout on Lake Ontario west of Rochester.  This time Jessica joined Dave and I.  First trolling line set out hooked a king salmon in the first 5 minutes and in 10 feet of water.  We ended up keeping this king and two brown trout.

Jessica with a king salmon and brown trout

Floodwood Lake 2022, Air Cochrane Ontario Canada

It was nice to finally return to Northern Ontario after a several year hiatus due to Covid.  It was particularly nice as I was with veteran fishermen and good friends Shu, Jim and Dwayne.  We broke the ten hour drive north into two parts.  The first leg had us spend the night at North Bay Ontario.  Over the years we have found to terrific places to eat....Wacky Wings and The Crown and Beaver ....both have very eclectic menus and excellent food.  Over the years we have taken pictures with the large black bear in Wacky Wings.  A real gem we discovered this trip was Billy Bob's Bait & Tackle in North Bay.  I have been in a LOT of tackle stores in my life and this is a great tackle shop.  The had the best homemade Musky lures I have ever seen.  They also have a separate display where local kids sell BIG metal bucktails that they made for a local fund raiser.  We picked up a 1/2 flat (250) of night crawlers which were perfect for our trip.

The second leg is spent in Cochrane Ontario.  We made two new discoveries in Cochrane.  The 49th Parallel was a great sports bar restaurant.  Owner Mike is a terrific and I hope we see him again.  The staff was very personable and made for a nice time.  Thanks to Mike's recommendation we discovered an awesome breakfast diner located in the train station called The Railway Cafe where the food was a perfect precursor to the upcoming 6 days eating in the bush.

Once at the Air Cochrane air base we found a packed parking lot.  Apparently they were not able to fly the previous two days due to weather so they were backed up.  I have been to Air Cochrane dating back to 2000 and have observed the many administration changes at the base.  I have to say that Cory, Pilot John and the rest of their team are really on their game.  The whole payment, weigh-in, and plane loading was the smoothest and most professional to date.  I remember when there was no weigh-in, safety talk, life jackets, etc....very different this time around.

So Floodwood Lake....we spent 6 days here and it really is a tale of two entities, the lake and the cabin.

In terms of the lake, it is relatively small.  You could troll the entire shoreline probably two-three times in a day.  The topo map is not accurate....For example, I marked holes of 60' where the map said is was 20' deep.  The walleye fishing was exceptional with lengths up to 30" being caught.  In fact it was difficult to catch enough walleye under 18 inches to cook for a meal as they were all too big.  Typical to other local lakes jigs and spoons worked well consistently on the walleye.  I also found maribou jigs in any color worked well.

The pike we caught never surpassed the 30" mark which was very surprising to us.  We fished hard for pike and we caught plenty, but nothing big.  In fact we caught lots of big walleyes on huge spoons and spinnerbaits.  Weird that the walleye were bigger then the pike! Consequently we probably will not return to this lake.

The second aspect of the Floodwood Lake experience was the cabin.  Now Air Cochrane has always been about "roughing it" and it compliments the whole bush experience.  This facility needed attention. One wall was detached from the floor.  The door would not shut so we made interior/exterior levers.  It got down into the 40's and we needed firewood for the fireplace.  The wood provided were 20"-24" in diameter, loaded with knots, and took 30 swings with a shitty axe to split them.  The outhouse is tilted, full and sinking. There is a deep sag in the floor immediately upon entering the camp which caused many a dance to avoid falling.  

Two of the three motors did not work so fortunately we had rented a satellite phone to call in for help.  Pilot John promptly came out and got them going.  We rented the phone just to be precautious about medical type of incidents.  If we had not rented the phone we would have been down to 1 boat with 4 guys for a week.  Moral, always rent a sat phone.

One morning it was really blowing 20-30 mph winds.  We were in the cabin laying in our bunks listening to music, I was reading a great book, when all of a sudden an ear-popping crash happened that sounded like a direct lighting hit on the cabin.  A tree fell on the roof and smashed two of the ceiling joists.  A large part of the tree fell where Shu had been standing just minutes earlier on the edge of Whizz Lake.  After the crash there was lots of jokes around who would have/ have not pulled Shu out of  this lake had he been hit.

Saw lots of beavers, loons and eagles.  The lake bustles with wildlife.  The weather varied from 80 degree blue-bird days to 40 degree driving wind and rain.  Thankfully the mayflies had not hatched yet. The black flies and mosquitoes were as terrible as ever.  Albeit we had great success using Thermocells to keep the bugs out of the cabin.  They are so much better than the traditional coils.

Great trip with lots of laughs.  Other than missing family, it was great being off the grid for a week.

Campbell's Bay Northern Lake Champlain Vermont

Covid 19 really has thrown a wrench in our annual fishing trip plans. We have not been able to get into Canada for the last two years. So in an attempt to find the next best thing I spent several months researching and landed on this rural location call Campbell's Campground. We had a very narrow timeframe for fishing as Charlie had a week off transitioing from his Boston internship to his new placement at ECMC in Buffalo. Jake had to come to the Northeast for his friend KT's bachelor party so fortunately it all worked out. They had the same week available and Campbell's had vacancy. Our great friend Mr. Wilkes and a couple of his friends, also terrific people, were able to rent a cabin next to ours which worked out perfectly. We had ordered a cord of wood for the week, not anticipating that it was going to over 90 degrees every day, ugh! Needless to say we left a lot of wood behind. We had rented a couple small 12' fishing boats with 9.9 motors. I had made 4 homemade boat seats for these boats as I learned long ago how tough it is on the back to fish on bench seats for a week. Jake & Charlie were in one boat, Shu and I in the other.     a

 The first night we headed North, chasing some bad intelligence, and went to the 3 mouths of the Missisquoi River. All we found was 4' of water and a TON of reeds completely sealing these mouths. We also accidently crossed into Canada. The next day we went out into the Missisquoi Bay fishing for Northern Pike. I lost 4 fish and one was a 30+" pike. It was very frustrating. My usually dependable Abu Garcia round reel and St. Croix rod were letting me down as the new braid line kept breaking. There must have been a faulty rod tip that was shredding the new line. We then went down to the Missisquoi Bay Bridge and anchored. We ended up spending a lot of time under this bridge as it cast a large shadow which saved us during the 90+ degree days all week. On the east side we caught a lot of beautiful sunfish. They made for excellent fresh fish tacos!!! On the west side we caught a bunch of 3-5lb smallmouth. After the first day we determined the small fishing boats were not sufficient for this large body of water. Fortunately Campbell's had fishing pontoon boats available with 65 horse motors. This proved to be the ticket. The first day with this boat we meandered down the Alburgh Passage. By this time Matt and Ben were able to join us making for 6 fisherman in the boat. We trolled large stick baits and spinner baits without a bite. The floating weeds were tough and difficult to keep a clean lure in the water. We went to the infamous Carry Bay where caught several small bass. While in this bay Matt pointed out an eagle flying overhead with a fish in his beak. It landed in a nearby nest that immediately set off an incredibly loud chorus of awaiting hungry eaglets. Very cool. We saw eagles throughout our trip. From there we cut westward by Pelot's Point into the bigger water, heading south of Townes Reef into 140-160' of water. We marked a ton of fish on the bottom and saved way points for a return visit. The next morning we drove the 1 hour 15 mile boat ride to these saved way points. We found these terrific screen markings we could not get a nibble. We jigged all the classic trout and salmon vertical jigs. Shu and I would take turns keeping the boat heading into the 10 mph winds so as to allow the group to get their baits to the bottom. The general concensus was that there had been a glowing full moon the night before and that is what kept them so tight lipped. It was so hot that we spent two afternoons anchored in Maquam Bay. This bay was very shallow, sandy, and no weeds. We threw our lawn chairs in the lake and enjoyed several hours cooling off. Enjoyed this campground and lake very much.

Cayuga Perch Event

 Dave, Shu and I spent a full day on Cayuga Lake this week.  In the north end of the lake there is a spot inn about 11-20' feet of water where the perch fisherman congregate.  We avoid this crowd and use the fish finder to help us find the schools of fish.  

Recently we have come to understand what represents schools of perch look like on the fish finder screen.  They do not look life the traditional hooks, rather the screen looks like a rippled carpet on the bottom.

We probably caught 200 fish and kept 72.  Our rule is to keep perch in the 10"-14" size.  Anything outside this slot is released.  A new favorite bait store we have found is Dave's Bait and Tackle.  The owner is extremely knowledgeable and sells quality bait.

That night we enjoyed a driveway perch fry with all my girls, the Flanagans and Shu.  Looks like crappie fishing is our next adventure.

Couple of Good Days on Cayuga

Nice perch Jess!

 Last week I got to spend two days on Cayuga Lake with Dave, Jessica, and Jake.  We launched out of Dean's Cove and fished primarily in that area.  Near the large dead tree on the west shore were the usual 500 boats sitting on an acre of water perch fishing.  I can't stand fishing in tight quarters, especially on a big lake.  We stayed away and brought home 38 perch over 12 inches.  Jessica caught a gigantic perch!  The next day we caught 9 beautiful lake trout in 2 hours.  We caught them jigging in 156 feet of water where we had located a large bait ball of alewives.  I know they were alewives as when I cleaned the fish there were literally 15-20 alewives in each of their stomachs.  

Team Effort

The quality of the lake trout are immensely better in Cayuga Lake than Keuka Lake.  I am sure the demise of the alewives population on Keuka Lake is to blame.  I have only ever found ONE alewive in a Keuka Lake Trout.  I usually find perch minnows or shiners.

We ventured up to the mud lock area looking for crappie, but at 50 degrees the water temperature was still too cold for them.

Jigged up a nice trout

Emerald Coast Pompano Chasing

 

PVC Rod Holders

In February I spent a good deal of time reading about the fishing along the Emerald Coast near Fort Walton/Destin area.  Lots out there about the legendary pompano runs in March-May.  I learned a

was essential to easily move a lot of equipment along the sandy surf (cooler, chair, bait, rods, etc...) and that the cart needed to have BIG wheels.  Tracy and I bought a cheap surf cart for $100 than replaced the tires with 12 inch sand wheels. We added some PVC racks and it came out terrific.  I also enjoyed spending cold February making surf rod holders complete with cutting boards and drink holders.  

The "Boys"

Dawn on Navarre Beach

On the long drive to Crestview from Honeoye Falls I enjoyed listening to two infamous pompano fisherman Larry "fisherman" Finch and Matthew Isbell "Bama Beach Bum" .  I learned a lot from both of these guys.  I learned that Sand Fleas are the best bait and use with a 1/0 circle hook.  Walmart sells a cheap crab rake and fleas can be raked in the sand.  Tracy was excellent at raking fleas in the surf, albeit they were much smaller than the ones bought at a bait store.

A brief review of the two bait stores I visited in Florida.  Emerald Bait and Tackle had the best live sand fleas.  However, they were often out of live sand fleas and I learned to call ahead before driving there.  They also sold me Fish Gum and Fish Bites which are popular artificial scent baits.  I only caught 1 fish on these baits, the rest were on sand fleas.  Half-Hitch Bait Shop in Navarre was the other bait shop which I mistakenly thought had live sand fleas.  They did not, only frozen ones.  However there was a gentleman who I think was either the manager or owner was super helpful on advice on when and where "Joe-Q Public" could surf fish.

The two areas we fished on were Okaloosa Island and Navarre Beach. Okaloosa island is lined with high rise hotels, however there is public access to the beach in between every 4-6 hotels.  Each access has clean bathrooms and outdoor showers.  The challenge is the beach is lined with beach chairs and umbrellas so it is impossible to fish on sunny days unless you get there early and setup your rod holders to mark off your area.  The life guards tell swimmers to back away if they get within 50' of your line, which they do all the time.  It is so funny to me how many people do get there are some sharp hooks on the end the fishing lines they choose to swim next too.  I caught 4 bull red fish drum.  Only one fell into the slot limit at 27" and I had to let the others go.  Jake and I also had our licenses and gear checked over by a FWC Officer.  We were all legal and we thanked him for his professionalism.

Okaloosa Island

Navarre Beach is the better place to go to avoid swimmers, but you have to get there before dawn if you want to get a good spot.  This beach also has clean bathrooms and outdoor showers.  At this beach I was continually surprised by the number of fisherman who setup within 20 feet of my rod holders.  There is a huge beach and I guess they are novice fisherman ignorant of the protocols of surf fishing. Most of the pompano were caught here.

Other thoughts....We cooked the pompano and red fish whole on the grill.  They were delicious!!! Tracy and I enjoyed playing backgammon on the beach while fishing.  I read a lot about high tide being the best time to fish, but truthfully I caught the pompano at both high and low tides. I also caught fish on Fish Gum, Fish Bites, frozen and live sand fleas.  The water temperature was unusually cold due to their tough winter which delayed the "run" till probably late April.  I can't wait to do this again next year.