A while back, I wrote a column about how lucky we are to live in the Cape Region, where we have access to such good fishing and hunting. While we give thanks for that this Thanksgiving, perhaps we should reflect on why we have all those open spaces along the beach and in the woods and fields.
While we don’t always agree with everything they do, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, through its Fish and Wildlife and Parks and Recreation divisions, keeps the beaches open and enforces the laws that protect our fish and game. In the Department of Agriculture, the Delaware Forest Service allows us to hunt on all that public land.
Back when we were trying to get the saltwater fishing license, one argument against the bill was the fish are there for free, so why should we have to pay to catch them? Because, while the fish may be there for free, if you don’t have any access to the water, it’s darn hard to catch them. As we promised when the bill was written and passed, the funds generated by the license would be spent on fishing projects, and so they have been. I know because I sit on the advisory committee that handles that money.
Thanksgiving is a good time to give thanks for the good people who work for all of us fishermen and hunters. The ones who patrol the waters and land looking for poachers who steal our fish and wildlife. The ones who come out in the evening to run public hearings, which I am sorry to say very few recreational fishermen ever attend. Even the bean counters, who wouldn’t know a sea bass from a striped bass. They believe the Marine Recreational Information Program numbers are accurate, a subject on which we are in constant disagreement. Give thanks even for them, with an added prayer for their enlightenment.
We all have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. At my age, just being alive is the big one. Adding a few thoughts for the folks who keep our beaches, waters and woods open for hunting, fishing, bird watching and all other outdoor activities just seems right.
Tog tournament
Lewes Harbour Marina owner Bill Swords announced the winners of the tog tournament that ended Nov. 20. In first place was Capt. Brent Weist with a 15.9-pound tog. In second place was Tyrone Waters with his 12.85-pounder. In third place was Capt. Weist again, this time with a 9.68-pound tog.
Bill said he has plans to make a few changes to the tournament next year to make it more competitive. He will also be working this winter on the shop. He hopes to put a new deck on the first floor and turn the second floor into a boat-supply store. The shop will be closing at the end of the year and reopening in March.
Saltwater Fly Anglers
If you think back to last Sunday when the temperature was in the 40s and the wind was blowing a gale, that’s the day the Saltwater Fly Anglers of Delaware had its Pickerel Contest. I know most of these folks, and I always considered them reasonably intelligent. I’m not saying you would have to be nuts to go fishing on a day like that, but it certainly would help.
In any case, six two-person teams did show up, and when the day was through, Loretta Smith and Roy Miller came out on top. Loretta had a 23-inch pickerel and Roy had one that measured 22 inches. According to Loretta, the fish didn’t begin to bite until the last two hours of the six-hour event. In second place was the team of Bill O’Conner and Terry Peach. In third was the duo of Ron Smith and Jim DiDonato. Congratulations to all the winners.
Tradition
My traditions for Thanksgiving began with hunting rabbits behind my house at 11 Wistar St. in Claymont where I-495 now runs. After I got out of the Navy in 1964, that continued until I was asked as a guest by Capt. Ben Betts to hunt on Jimmy Snow’s farm in Smyrna. The next year, Capt. Ben asked if I could fill my own pit, and from then until I moved to Virginia Beach in 1989, I hunted geese every Thanksgiving morning.
My son Roger got a job as a mate on the Beverly B out of Lynnhaven Inlet, and we fished every Thanksgiving morning on his boat. We caught our two-fish limit of rockfish every year and enjoyed the company of the same folks who became our Thanksgiving fishing family.
Since my return to Delaware in 2000, my traditions have been some surf-fishing and a few head boat trips. The geese and the rockfish are gone, but Macy’s still has its parade, and poor old Detroit still has its football game. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
