I scoped out an area centered around where my day-time profession took me. I had a huge amount of work to do, I anticipated it taking me at least 9.5 hours of work, so I hustled my butt off. No breaks, no coffee, no lunch... just constant work. I've always worked my hardest when I give myself a personal incentive. Growing up it was do your homework, then you can go ride your bike, in college it was do your schoolwork then go hang with your friends, at work it has been get quality work done and then go fishing.
I finished what I needed to get done in 7.5 hours, 2 hours under schedule and honestly I felt bad not going back to the office but I had put in 19 hours on Monday and 14 on Tuesday, so working around 40 by Wednesday helped make the call to just go do what I intended to do after a "full" day of work. So I pulled up google maps on my phone to navigate some LIS shoreline and intercepting rivers/creeks. I drove across two bridges and saw nothing appealing, no signs of bait, no birds. I zoomed out in the map and noticed I should not have made a left turn as the road I had been on came extremely close to the river flowing into the sound, and then an added bonus was I saw a green block (town/state park of some sort) on the map where the road dead-ended on the river before it meets the sound. I stopped at a small gravel turn-off where a brook was flowing into the river and peered over the two parapet walls to try and spot bait. Nothing doing, but I did see some circling terns and some cormorants. Got back in the truck, and headed for the park. I saw road construction ahead and almost turned around, but a Flagger was waving me through and I turned into a town owned park with a sign that read town resident sticker required. I parked anyways since it is still pre-memorial day, and the truck could pass as a construction vehicle. Got out, and walked down the road towards the river where there was additional signage but no required vehicle pass. I did a ten minute circle of the area, witnessed a handful of birds poised for surface action both south and north of the dock I was on.
As I approached 9 o'clock on my circle I saw a red GMC SUV parked in the no-parking hashed lines of the dock area. Window down, an older gentleman was sitting in the driver's seat, I said "You wouldn't happen to have a kayak or canoe I could borrow, would you?" He laughed and said, "No, but if you are looking for bass, lot's of guys have been catching them for weeks and one guy last week got a 40" bass." Within a minute, he flung open his door and the ultimate bullshitting session had begun. Two fisherman talking about fishing careers, one new (me) and one old. The conversation I had with "Bob" was one of the best I've had in my life, I maybe said a dozen sentances in two and half hours. What I learned in that time was overwhelming. I will attempt to summarize... "Bob" is a staple on this dock, he is more a part of the scenery than the dock's sights are. He has not only seen the area change, but worked there for the majority of his life. He is a retired Navy man, who was exposed to incredible amounts of asbestos during his career with the military and came into a good amount of money because of this. He is humble, he knows how much he knows and as it may not be much in his own opinion it was some of the most interesting history, jokes, fishing, poaching, and local knowledge I've ever heard. "Bob" has visitors everyday. In two and half hours, "Bob" had nearly ten different visitors and knew another six enough to say "Hi" to and wave as they approached the parking area.
Our first in-person visitor was a newbie, I felt I had already established a life-long friendship in the 40 minutes before, so this random guy was a newbie. The Noob came over to us and said, "I was told to check this place out between the High and Low tides, but I guess I missed that." "Bob" said, " I was just telling Matt, this is Matt, I'm 'Bob', (Hand shakes) that if you are going to fish this place take that corner or don't fish it." "In sixty years of fishing this place myself, I can count on one hand how many fish have come off the other corner." "You want to be in THAT corner, and cast towards the second house over there, ahead of that point." "But this place fills up quick when the fish are here." "During the summer all of New Haven is here, I keep telling the cops when they come that the seagulls can't even understand you because they only speak Spanish." "You can fish here all night, until someone makes a noise, all these houses call-in the first noise that wakes them up." "The fishermen are quiet, they don't cause the problems, but the first firecracker to go off brings in the cops and a they throw everyone out." We now had three in our BS'n group and then had yet another visitor, this time an older woman maybe in her early sixties who pulled up in her little car with her mother sitting shotgun.
Without a hello, she was out of her car and talking to all of us at once. Bob was rolling his eyes as the new comer was telling us that she was taking motorcycle classes as a school for her license. Bob said, "Motorcycle classes!" "Heck I've got two bikes, I'll go get one for you if you promise to drive into a tree." We all burst out laughing, while Bob added, "And I'll pay for the gas." The Lady leaned in and said, "I've known Bob all my life." Noob and the woman began talking about bikes and the driving school as he had done the same years ago, Bob took this diversion to tell me that he couldn't stand the woman and that she was nuts. I couldn't help agreeing a little bit as she was so short I couldn't imagine her being able to hold up a bike, but I settled on eccentric rather than nuts. The entertainment did not die down for another half an hour with Bob and the woman constantly drilling each other with snide remarks and comebacks like it was a full-time job. After a while the woman's mother, still sitting in the car knocked on the window and motioned to get going.
The woman introduced herself as she decided to go and Noob took the opportunity to do the same. Noob stopped short of his truck and turned as said, "Hey Bob, I picked up a couple rods at a tag-sale would you mind taking a look at them." Bob agreed and Noob brought over two rods and two reels. Bob kindly lied through his teeth and said, "Yes these might work." Noob said he was just looking to get some gear and not spend too much as he hadn't fished in years. After he left, Bob turned to me and said, "I don't even know what that stuff was?" "I didn't know fischer-price made toys that big." I laughed and Bob said, "I'm a penn man myself, and Lamiglas..." He continued, "If you have a chuck of bunker around 4 ounces and another 4 ounces of lead to hold the bait in that current, you need a stiff rod... big gear." "You can't just lob something out there, it won't hit the mark."
After another set of visitors and some poaching stories, a small electric-gas hybrid car rolled up the dock road. Bob, seeing this immediately stopped all conversation and retreated to his car. He emerged with an envelop and two compact discs. The man in the car hung up his cell phone, and asked Bob, "How'd you make out after I left?" Bob said with his hand out to one side, "You shouldn't have left when you did, it only got better." "After you left, my girlfriend is talking to a two star and I'm snapping pictures right there in front of him." "And the back of the parade, was just beautiful.... the horses, oh it was just perfect." As Bob carried on his conversation, I was trying to decipher the dialog to try and figure out exactly what they were talking about. I knew it had something to do with the military but wasn't sure exactly what. Bob noticed the puzzled look on my face, and told me that he was invited to the inauguration of the new class at West Point. He continued, "After the students left, I noticed some blacked out SUVs pull up and I readied the camera." "Four men in black suits and dark framed glasses got out and I knew I was in for a treat, these guys were badass." "A one star got out and I thought to myself, wow, I've never been in front of any stars before." "Then a two star gets out and that's the one who was talking to my girlfriend." "Then a few minutes pass and another set of cars pull up, and a three gets out and I think I've died and gone to heaven." "Then I see a four star general, and that's when I noticed they're carrying the footballs." "Here I am, some no-name Navy nothing, standing in front of Military royalty taking their pictures." Bob's girlfriend had called in both his and her reservation and sent in a letter with the number of guests followed by the words Retired Navy, Bob mused that they might have mistaken it to mean Naval Academy and that once you are retired military you are all considered equal. He said it was like they rolled out the red carpet for him that day, and said that he received the most beautiful letter thanking him for the pictures as they had not had a photographer for the event. It also included an invitation to come back anytime and to call ahead when doing so.
Bob's next visitors were of a local fishing crew and as his attention shifted to them, I told him it was a pleasure meeting him and that I would see him again on my next visit. He said, I'll be here. I walked up the road to my truck knowing I had not even taken a cast, but also knowing that my experience far surpassed my expectations.
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