Fishing America
About the time I drove onto Chincoteague Island from the north, I was met with a strong east wind blowing across the bay. I had several fish as targets along with shark, crabs, and clams. A calm morning fishing in MD had me ready for my evening trip.
After checking in early at the Comfort Suites that had it’s own marina, Tim Walch picked me up “curbside” where the back yard of the hotel met the water in his home-modified bay boat. I could tell he was concerned of what the wind would do to our fishing.
I immediately told him to do what he does for the circumstance and not worry. Weather is one of the things we cannot control. I do not like to cancel because of travelling on a schedule with daily appointments and reservations (if it creates no danger).
As we hit the bay, the east wind hit it harder. There wasn’t a storm, just a steady blow serving as a constant reminder of that old cliche’ “when the wind blows from the east you catch the least.” These fish had lockjaw on the evening of Thursday the 12th.
I am not superstitious but couldn’t help but think about the next day. I had a morning trip and one for the evening scheduled with Tim for Friday the 13th. After getting skunked on Thursday the 12th, I didn’t need any bad luck built in from the calendar.
Friday the 13th looked about as promising as those kids chances at Camp Crystal Lake when we took on the east wind again. After this new beginning didn’t boat any fish Tim took me to a mud flat where he showed me how to get Quahogg Clam.
Tim gave me a pair of throwaway socks to use without shoes in order to wade through this almost submerged flat where the clams hide a few inches under the mud. I slowly walked through the mud and allowed my feet to seek the clams.
That’s the method - take a step, let your feet sink slowly until the soles of them feel the contact of what feels like a round smooth stone. That’s how you find the clam. Then put it in the clam bucket. No strings, no hooks, no bait, no shoes, no problem.
As I done this I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the method for thousands of years. Probably so (maybe without socks). Occasionally my feet found the clams along with sticks and old clam shells. This was really different and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
After letting my feet do the finding I “harvested” 35 clams. After I washed my muddy feet we went and ran Tim’s crab traps and caught 25 of them. Those little rascals sure like to pinch. I guess that’s one of their limited ways to show expression in life.
After one of them found new blood in my finger, we went back to my hotel where Tim instructed me how to transport the clams home. We had already put them in a bucket of water for prompting them to spit out the mud inside them.
He said, “you can’t haul them home in water or they will drown.” This struck me funny hearing that a clam could drown. So I vented one of my ice chest and filled it halfway with ice while I laughed thinking about saving clams from drowning.
The ride back to Texas with clam on ice had to be managed with occasional new ice and draining the water to prevent their premature doom. I didn’t figure the blue crabs would survive the trip that still had a TN stop remaining so Tim took them home.
I watched the forecast over lunch as I anticipated Friday the 13th Part 2. Also during my lunch hour I checked out of my first hotel and into the second which was almost next door and also had it’s own marina. Not to change my luck but by booking design.
Both hotels were really nice. This second one was the Marina Bay Hotel & Suites of the Ascend Collection. I recommend both of them and would like to thank the Comfort Suites for allowing me to put those big ice chests of fish in their giant freezer.
My afternoon fish hunt that seemed more like a witch hunt wrote my final chapter of this day on the water. At times throughout the day the wind calmed but never changed directions producing not much more than a view of the bay.
With just ten minutes left on my charter clock, I caught and boated a shark that Tim identified as a dusky. I appropriately named my dusky shark Jason on this special date. It was small for a shark but those things are so strong and very hard to hold.
After a few pictures with this writhing, wiggling thing on the final Friday of my trip, I intentionally turned him loose in the direction of Manhattan. Living on a schedule, I didn’t have time for part three, but Tim was the X-factor finding the water that gave up Jason. Jason lives only because of the law that protected him from me.
When I got back to Texas I read a little about steaming clams but I wasn’t confident that I could do them right and was distracted by other things to do. I gave them to my next door neighbors John and Beth Stuart Pierce. John said they were very good.
I booked my trip with Tim through www.fishingbooker.com where his business Chincoteague Bay Adventures is listed. After Fishing America from this beautiful Island and remembering the east wind, I can truly say I had a blast.
STATE #25 - VIRGINIA
JULY 2018 - CHINCOTEAGUE BAY (ATLANTIC OCEAN)
SPECIES CAUGHT - Quahogg Clam, Blue Crab, Dusky Shark