Basically, we didn't do much fishing at Deal Island for a few years. Lots of crabbing but not too much fishing. I was busy, had started a family, and was cash-strapped. Mom had passed away in 1984 and Dad had hooked up with another woman about a year later, so he didn't take the time to obtain and maintain another big boat. Things started to pick back up again for us fishing-wise in the mid 1990's. Dad had discovered that there was some pretty good fishing in the creek back behind Deal Island, a body of water which separates the island from the main land and which leads out to the Manokin River. There is a lot of shallow water back there, but a carefully followed path will lead you to a narrow creek which meanders through the marsh and which features some deep holes, some up to 20 feet deep. And because the tide runs strong through this creek, the fish use it to travel, and you can catch them coming and going. So, a 14 ft jon-boat, a 9.9 hp engine, an anchor and a depth finder is all you need. After Dad introduced me to this new fishing hole, "The Gut" as we called it, it really became clear to me the importance of tides. Specifically, I discovered that back in The Gut, the tide ran too hard about 75% of the time for the fish to slow down and feed. It didn't seem to matter too much what time of day you fished, so mid-day was as good as morning or evening, but I realized that you needed to time fishing efforts with the tides. Specifically, the time to fish was about 90-120 minutes before and after peak high or low tide. And, this pattern persisted for quite awhile, really throughout the entire decade. It was all about the tide. And with the emergence of the internet, accurate tide charts became readily available. Dad never understood how it timed it so well, but he came to accept that I knew the best times to fish, and so we used this information to our advantage.
As time went on, the sea trout became fewer and fewer, and the croaker became increasingly more numerous. Rockfish were also a frequent visitor to The Gut, and at times we found white perch and spot on the ends of our lines. By the end of the decade, sea trout had become uncommon, making up perhaps 10-20% of the catch, almost the inverse of the trout-croaker ratio of the decade before. While this was distressing, I found the croaker also a fun fish to catch, and pretty enjoyable to eat as well. My kids got into the act, and my daughter and oldest son would make the trip with me from Frederick to fish back behind Deal Island. My daughter Kara developed a taste for croaker which persists to this day, and although she no longer enjoys going fishing, she will sit down with me and eat pounds of fried croaker fillets. In 1998, I accepted a job in Millsboro, Delaware, at which I was particularly delighted since it was was only a 60-minute drive to Deal Island. Now I could escape to my property on short notice, and return after only a short time away fishing rather than an entire weekend. This would be the beginning of where I am now in my fishing efforts.
The next major change came in 2000. The Shack had begun to deteriorate rather dramatically. The really bad spots were the roof and floor at the rear of the building- they were literally falling to earth and weren't really even repairable. A couple of years prior, my brother, sister, and Dad had bought a used camper and brought it down to the lot to stay in. Since I was of the mindset that The Shack was still serviceable, I declined to chip in and take part in the camper. My family, yes my own flash and blood, locked me out of the camper for a number of years. However, my Dad, who had been obsessing about the condition of the camper for a number of years now, finally took it upon himself to have the fire department burn it down, so that we "wouldn't have to deal with it ourselves later". I didn't agree but he prevailed. The Shack, which we had enjoyed for 20 years, was now gone. My dear family finally softened and decided to let me stay in the camper which sat on my own property. Actually, my Dad had to pay my brother and sister off, to "cover my share". Whatever. I was now back in business, although I missed The Shack dearly. I had some great times there, it would a book to tell you of all of them. There were a number of parties there during college years, one of which I brought my entire ichthyology class (20+ people) in for an overnighter. There were many parties there with some of the locals, some of my friends from Bel Air, some from WVU. I'll post some pics, but when you see those just remember that we were young and crazy. The focus has evolved to fishing (and crabbing).
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