The abundance of summer

[rayinpenn]

Cool Hand (DS) was leaving for college on Saturday, he asked on Wednesday if we could we go fishing? Thursday the high was set to be in the 90s, too hot for fishing IMHO. Friday it was then that a cool front was slowly settling in high in the 70s. It’s a 1 hour and 40 minute drive to the beach in Cape May. When we moved to Pennsylvania I gave up the 15 minute drive to Hempstead Harbor long ago for a better life for my kids, the Mrs and I. I was a great choice but my fishing addition was for the put aside. However Addiction are always there.

We drove the 1 and 40 minutes hoping the threatening skies and drizzle would keep the crowds down. Traffic jam in the city and its our last Friday had a crowd at the beach. Not horrible, mind you, but a good amount of people. The nicknack shop and burger joint were busy. We waked to the water away from the crowds. The August Ocean was alive with bait and small bluefish but our big poles were too much for the local action. We walked back to the car and brought out the light fishing rods.

Ive been fishing 50+ years I never saw a small shark in the feeding frenzy, not 10 feet from the edge of the water. It was a delight. A few of us stood incredulous at the sight. A few minutes later the several dolphins were out there a ways ...

i think i did good and It was memorable.

 

[RAE]

I'm glad you took your son fishing, Ray. And I think it's pretty cool that he wanted to go fishing with you before he headed back to college. I love to fish, and although my stepkids are long gone, I make an effort to take the two grandsons fishing now, as much as we can. Where we live, we are fishing in freshwater lakes for smaller fish........mostly bluegills and bass, but it's still fishing, and it's still fun. Today, we actually had the two grandsons over to our house for the last fish fry of the season, using fish we caught on our last outing, a couple weeks ago. We ate fried bluegills, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, and talked about how much fun we had catching the fish. It was a good meal. Hopefully, these are the kinds of things they will remember some day when they think of me, and the things we did together way back when.

 

[rayinpenn]

After we arrived home he went out to run an errand and CHs car (my old CRV) decided to develop a pulsing and knocking noise when you turn the wheel. So my wife’s car is now sitting in a college parking lot an hour in a half away. No appointments until Thursday...

 

[pacergal]

sounds like a great day with your son!

 

[Teacher Terry]

I grew up on a lake during the summer and fished everyday with my dad. Great memories!

 

[jazz4cash]

Great story.

 

[Red Badger]

Great story Ray. Thanks for the memory jogger!

I took my adult DS saltwater fishing in April. Not the best of days for fishing, but a memorable road trip. We took our cleaned meager catch to a waterfront restaurant where they pan fried them in cornmeal, then served them with fries and hush puppies. All in, less than $10 a plate. We watched the sun set over the salt marshes while enjoying our hard earned catch. I decided then and there we needed to do this at least 2X per year until God determines otherwise.

 

[Bir48die]

The few years prior to my youngest son moving across the U.S. we would do a couple salmon fishing trips on my boat. It was six or seven hours of just hanging out and talking. One of the last trips he caught a beautiful chinook.

When I visited him this summer we were working on some of his home projects. He mentioned the one thing he really missed were those times. Made me tear right up. You just can’t let opportunities pass because one could end up being the greatest memory ever.