Some good news in a time of bad news

It seems that most of the news today is bad. Even when one party says the news is good, the other party says it’s bad. Well, this time I have some good news for those of us who enjoy fishing, and if anybody says it’s bad, well, that’s just too bad.

Having fished Indian River Bay for many years and having had a camper at Bay Shores in Ocean View for 17 of those years, I am more than familiar with White’s Creek. The shoaling at the mouth of the creek was so bad when we had our camper that we could watch folks run aground at low tide if they got too close to the day marker. 

In case you didn’t read the article in this newspaper, White’s Creek is finally getting dredged. The dredge work will also go up the Assawoman Canal. With all the new development in the Ocean View area, I am sure there are more boaters and fishermen using these waters than there were back in the 1970s and ’80s when we had our camper at Bay Shores.

During my time there, I ran four boats. I started with a 14-foot tin boat, moved up to a 21-foot Starcraft, then back to another 14-footer, and finally to a 20-foot Bertram. The tin boats I could take almost anywhere and could cut across the bay behind the VFW to South Shore Marina past the Old Duck Blind. With the two larger boats, I had to follow the channel, such as it was, all the way around to the junction buoy and then down to Indian River Inlet, unless it was an east wind high tide.

I don’t recall the fishing being that good in White’s Creek, but many folks used it to get to the better action in Indian River Bay and the ocean through Indian River Inlet. I also recall quite a bit of water skiing and jet skiing that went on in the creek.

No matter what kind of recreational boating you enjoy, the dredging of White’s Creek will make it better. 

Bowers Beach

Another dredging project that will soon get underway is the Murderkill River at Bowers Beach. This has been a serious problem for years, and has made it impossible for boats to get in and out of the harbor at times.

I wish I could tell you when this project will begin, but I don’t have that information at this time.

It does seem as fast as they dredge the river out, it fills back up. This is at least the third time in recent years they have tried to clean it out. I have heard rumors of a jetty, but so far that’s all they are, just rumors.

Indian River Inlet

This is a place that is near and dear to my heart. I fish here more than anywhere else, and the condition of the sidewalks on both the north and south sides is horrible. 

There is $43 million set aside for the Army Corps of Engineers to fix the undercut portion of the northside just north of the bridge. This is my favorite place to fish. Right now, most of the area is either fenced off or marked with orange cones. Younger, more agile anglers have no problem getting around the fence, and even old men such as myself can get around the orange cones.

On the southside, the sidewalk has collapsed and the sand has washed out behind it, making for a dangerous situation. The sidewalk from the parking lot past the sand transfer station has shifted and is dangerous to walk on. I understand the money is now available to fix this situation as well.

I asked about the country going past the debt limit – would this have an effect on the funds to fix all these problems? The answer was no, that money has been passed and signed into law. Now all we have to do is get it working for us.

Ocean Slow Zone

The people who requested a 10-knot speed limit in the ocean to protect right whales have been told no. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard said such a regulation would be impossible to enforce. It would have also been the end of offshore fishing out of Delaware. Not many people would ride six hours each way to fish the Baltimore Canyon.

Bristol Bay

This good news is not in Delaware. It’s in Alaska. 

For years, a company has been trying to get permits to mine copper in the area of Bristol Bay, Alaska. The government finally said no. The tailings from the mining operation would destroy the watershed, and the fish and wildlife that depend on it.