Cabela's Is Coming To Delaware

It was recently announced that the outdoor superstore mega-giant Cabela's is planning on opening a free-standing store at the Christiana Mall sometime in 2014.  Reading the initial announcement, I was excited.  I mean who wouldn't be?  I would now have an awesome outdoor store within a 15 minute drive of my house instead of the hour and a half it takes me to drive to the Cabela's in Hamburg or the Bass Pro in Arundel.  Where else can you go and buy anything ever made in camo,

 see some awesome animal mounts,

check out their aquariums

and then have lunch without ever leaving the building?

But then I got to thinking.  What is going to happen to the independent stores that we as an area and I as a consumer depend on now for our goods?  Will people continue to justify visiting the smaller shops that may not have what they want in stock when they can go to Cabela's and get what they want and maybe even for a lower price?  I know that I will continue to visit the independent shops that kept me going before Cabela's was around and will hopefully continue to co-exist with Cabela's in the future.  It is up to you to continue to visit your local independently owned stores and continue to give them your business.  Just remember who was there for you when you starting out in your endeavor and didn't know anything about the sport.  Who showed you the different equipment available and what your different options were?  When you wanted to tie that fly you bought at the fly shop on vacation who helped you come up with what materials were needed to replicate that fly and the steps required to tie the fly?  When you wanted information on a local (or not so local) stream who gave you advice (location, flies, directions) when you asked?

Keep visiting your local, independently owned shops.  When they are gone because everyone visited the big box store, they aren't going to come back.

One final shout-out to Terry Peach owner of A Marblehead Fly Fisher in Centreville, DE, my local fly shop.  Terry has always gone above and beyond for me whether it was tying supplies, supplies for on the stream, equipment, and lessons.

 

http://www.amarbleheadflyfisher.com/

Vacation in Lewes

After attending to some business on Friday, I loaded up my truck and headed south to Lewes to meet up with my wife and daughter who were already at the beach house with my father-in-law and brother-in-law.  We went out and had dinner when I arrived and made plans for fishing the next day.  My father-in-law had his 17' Sea Pro Center Console with him and we had plans to put a hurting on the flounder.  The catching had already started Friday morning when BIL caught a keeper flounder.  With that fish in the fridge, we headed out Saturday morning to add to it.  I managed to put a keeper in the boat Saturday at about 22". 

Posing with the Captain who put me on the fish.  Thanks Chi-Chi Bobriquez!

We fried those fish up along with a keeper sea trout for a delicious dinner Saturday night.

Sunday I headed out with my wife and a buddy and his nephew on a head boat for some drinking and fishing.  Not too much to report.  I was way outfished by my wife and my buddy's nephew...I didn't even put a keeper anything in the boat.  I caught a dogfish and a short sea bass.  My wife caught a mess of croaker.

Tuesday we headed out again early and found some nice keeper flounder.  My BIL and I were both able to boat two keepers each measuring around 19-20".

Thanks to Chi-Chi Bobriquez for captaining the boat for us so we could catch so many great fish.  We had two great meals of fried flounder and I have a nice bag of flounder in the freezer for another meal. 

Costa Del Mar Blackfin 580P

I had been looking around for new sunglasses, I wanted something I could wear everyday but also use for fishing.  After trying on most every pair offered under the sun and finding nothing that would fit my unusually large melon, I tried on my brother-in-law's Blackfins.  That was a mistake, because they fit.  And the optical clarity they provided was awesome!  After trying them on, I knew I needed to have a pair for myself.  So I did my research on the lenses options available and settled on the 580P in Amber.  The frame color wasn't even a choice as I had decided long ago my next glasses would be tortoise shell.  So this is what my glasses look like.

I have tried these glasses out running the trotline for crabs in a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay and I was able to see deep down in the river as the trotline was being retrieved.  I have used these glasses fishing for trout on a limestone stream and I have been able to see trout lurking all over the place.  I have used these glasses driving around town and I'm disappointed when I go inside because I take my glasses off and I'm stuck with what my eyes really see.  No matter the application, these glasses make everything clearer.  I have no trouble cutting glare when I'm in my truck, when I'm on the boat, when I'm wading a stream.  These glasses are the shiznit!

Also, the frame has some sort of rubberization where it comes in contact with your face that gets tacky when you sweat.  This means glasses that don't slip around all over your face.

I haven't been surf fishing yet (that's coming soon), so I want to see how these glasses respond under the different conditions I can throw at them there.

Allen Fly Fishing Trout Reels on Clearance

Allen Fly Fishing is having a clearance sale to blow out the remaining stock of their Trout Reels.  Check it out before they are gone!

Video Wednesday - Fly Fishing NJ for Striped Bass in the NJ Surf

Thanks to Shell E. Caris for posting this video to YouTube for us to enjoy!


Shell E. is a guide who specializes in surf casting with fly or light tackle and he catches giant striped bass.  Check him out!

Happy Independence Day!

July 4, 1776, the day the Second Constitutional Congress gave a big ol' FU to England.  Enjoy celebrating however you choose, just be safe.

Delaware Seashore State Park - Sunday

After my buddy's birthday party on Saturday, we loaded up the truck and headed further south on Route 1 to the Delaware Seashore State Park for some fishing, suntanning, and playing in the ocean on Sunday.  I don't think exact location matters too much since the nature of saltwater fishing is that is changes with tide, wind, moon phase, how much air pressure is in your tires, etc.

We aired down in the lot, maneuvered around the SUV stuck on the access ramp (air down before going out next time) and found an opening between two trucks that wouldn't crowd out either of them.  I hate being crowded out, head further up or down the beach and there will be an opening for you, otherwise you should have gotten up earlier.

I got the rods set up while my wife set up the beach stuff.  My daughter made a beeline for the water as usual.  Since I was going to target kingfish and croaker, I decided to go with a hi/lo rig baited with bloodworms on one hook and squid strips on the other until I was able to get things dialed in.

Action started out hot, as I was casting out to where the breakers were forming and reeling in slowly.  I hit two kingfish right off the bat and thought things were going to get epic in a hurry.  But as the slack low tide turned and started to come in, the action slowed down.  I had two hits that I missed that felt like more kingfish, but I will never know as I was unable to set the hook.

We had a great day on the sand.  The wind was ENE so that kept things cooler and kept the bugs at bay.  My wife got some reading done and my daughter played in the surf and we built a small sand castle together.  At the end of the day, everyone was happy.