Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
For some reason they’ve been visiting Delmarva more than ever this early season, usually 2-4 days at a time, then they leave for a short while, only to return for another long weekend or sometimes pop in for a surprise visit during the week. Since mid-May they’ve been around so much that some folks are beginning to think of them as locals. But they aren’t locals, they just breeze into down, disrupt things for a few days and move on. The worst of them usually come from the northeast but recently we’ve had some bad ones from the south, and there’s no “wall” that will keep these “bad hombres” out. Even before they arrive, just the report that they’re coming has many folks upset. And then they arrive, with all their gusto, rattling doors, tipping over trash cans, throwing sand on the beach and saltwater in boater’s faces. Look-out Delmarva, the strong-gusty winds have come-a-calling!
For three days last week the wind absolutely howled out of the south. Besides that the weather was beautiful with warm days and clear skies. Real pretty unless you wanted to fish offshore, and then “forgetaboutit”! With 6-foot seas kicked-up by the little-breeze, most fishermen opted to stay at the dock (at least the sane ones did) where conditions were a lot healthier for both man and vessel.
On the days when so many folks were looking forward to going fishing, but our friend Mother Nature said, “Nope, not for a few days”, you can bet that there are a lot of somber faces around the docks on frustrated fishermen looking for something to do. So there I was, early one morning last week sitting in my truck watching the marina flags trying to rip themselves off their poles as sand blew across the parking lot and seagulls (that also should have been out fishing) huddled behind the lea of some tall buildings for any kind of relief from the breeze they could get. Since I couldn’t fish I was about to head home to initiate my own “Plan-B”, which involved me shoving a lawn mower around the weed patch I call a yard, when a couple walked past my truck. Along their way, I overheard the man comment. “This lousy wind! What’s it good for besides messing-up everyone’s plans?” As they hustled away I wanted to jump out of the truck and tell them what “I” thought the wind was good for, but about that time the lady’s hat blew off sending the man running across the parking lot trying to catch it before it bounced into the water behind a couple of charter boats. Noting that, I didn’t figure my comments would be very well received, so I left the couple to their own thoughts on the matter.
If things hadn’t gone so awry I would have mentioned to the couple that hey - thanks to the wind they now have the chance to slip over to one of the diners and have a leisurely breakfast without fear of yacking it up 30-miles offshore. That’s gotta be a plus! Then it occurred to me that if frustrated anglers would just slow down and think about it, they’d probably be able to take these blow-days with a lot less aggravation by realizing that there’s even more good that comes from windy days than just a chance to fill up on flapjacks and scrapple.
Maybe the biggest plus is the troublemaking waves that the wind produces in the first place. Besides keeping us off the water, those big, rolling, white-capping, rumbling, pound your boat and splash you in the face waves are actually good for the marine environment by aerating the upper water column, helping to produce up-wellings that bring nutrients to the surface and getting water moving in areas that might otherwise tend to become stagnant. And just as this is healthy for the water, it’s obviously healthy for the critters that live in it, including the very fish we all wish we could be fishing for on the blustery days when we can’t.
Windy days also give anglers the opportunity to get a lot of work done on their boats and tackle that might otherwise be left undone until there is a major malfunction at a critical time. Hey, with some big tournaments coming up you can’t be too prepared for the competition! And of course, a windy day in the middle of the season creates a great opportunity for anglers to “give it a break” for once and spend a little quality time at home with the family.
Getting back to what’s “good for the fish”. Ever think about how nice it would be if they could stock the ocean with farm-raised fish in the same way they do with freshwater ponds, streams, lakes and rivers? Imagine if a couple times a year a BIG truck pulled up on the beach and released thousands of tuna, dolphin, sharks, bluefish, sea bass, flounder and every other popular gamefish right out into the ocean. If you think about it, minus the big truck, isn’t that kinda-sorta what happens when nobody can get out and fish? I mean, on a given good-weather weekend, if “X” amount of fish would normally meet their fate in the bottom of anglers coolers, couldn’t one say that if no one gets out to fish for 2 to 3 days, that it’s the same as if the ocean was suddenly re-stocked with that same amount of fish? Therefore, when the weather moderates and folks finally get back out on the water, there’s going to be that many more fish out there that wouldn’t have been if the wind never blew.
OK, I know such rationalization teeters on the kind of philosophical mumbo-jumbo that I for one absolutely hate to engage in, but hey, if it helps to make someone feel a little bit better about missing a couple days of fishing – what the heck. I know it worked for me last week as I followed my favorite lawnmower around the yard!
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
