It was in the 40's when I woke up and just like that I knew what Randy was talking about, the first cold spell flips the switch. That switch is the flood tide to a low tide fishery. I'm sure it doesn't come to one day, but one thing I can say is from 8-11 am I didn't see one fiddler crab. Fiddler carbs hibernates and the fish know it, so there's no need for them to come up looking for crabs.
With the cold , and the wind blowing from the west, I took the opportunity to scout out a new place. It wasn't like I was going to see anything anyway. This spot looks like a great low tide spot. Relatively easy access and lots of oyster mounds and shelves that could be good on a low tide, especially when it gets cold.
I spent my time looking past the grass and where redfish might school up on the mud. From the areas I was able to get to there's a mix of hard and loose bottoms. It's not as sloppy at the pond where I use the Lowcountry Luge but it close, so each step I take I hold back on the weight transfer.
In my travels around I did find a spot I like, and will remember for next year on those flood tides. It's a bowl that sits off the main river and I can see it filing up like a bathtub before
As I walked around off in the distance I saw something that brought me back home. Many times while standing in the water on the Morrisville side of the Delaware River I would over Trenton and see a plume of smoke. Sometimes I would see light smoke, then hear the sirens, watch as the smoke darkened, and then dissipated after the boys extinguished it.
I surely thought Hilton Head had a good job but in fact the fire was out in Calibogue Sound. It was a boat fire with a lone soul on board that needed to be rescued before the fire.
I went back to the flat where I had spent so much time over the last three months, except for October when we were back home. With the cold snap, weak tide and strong west wind, I didn't have much hope. Besides, I was there way too early on the incoming, but I waited it out, like 90 minutes waited it out.
Finally I stared to see the water through the grass, it was coming. I have seen it on a flood tide where that water pushes in very quickly. You see it, you feel it, and then you have to back step as it gets too deep to see anything. But soon it just stopped, almost at my feet.
It was then I knew it was over, and not only for the day. I'm switching to mid to low tides now. What that'll mean is more trudging through the mud. I'm going to have to lug around the Lowcountry Luge just in case I need it a particular spot. I'm also going to have to figure out some kind of portable leg washing station to keep in the truck. When that gray mud gets on your legs and dries into you hair it sticks like concrete. I've used some baby wipes but they don't clean it, they just move the mud around.
And then it was off to do some work, well not work work, but things that needed to be done. So I grabbed Theresa and hit the first stop which was a Facebook Marketplace pickup.
A guy had a set of step rails for an 07-13 Silverado listed for $100. H said he had all the hardware and when I got there he couldn't find it, and one of the pads was split, but you know me. Rather than buy a new one I'd always rather buy something that needs work, or needs to be rescued. So I left there with them setting me back $30. I ordered the bolts he couldn't find on Amazon for 7 bucks.
And then we hit Goodwill for a drop-off. Below is table that has been in our family since the 1980's. I grew up with that table, and wound up with it, just like the oldest child could. When my parents were downsizing they asked my siblings and I if we wanted. There were no takers and you know me, Rescue Randy, so I had it at the house in Titusville.
We paid to have it wrapped and shipped down with all the other stuff we didn't need. When we got we realized it wouldn't fit so I asked my family back home if anyone wanted it, and again no takers. So rather than suffer through Facebook Marketplace with this one, I just took it over to Goodwill. The young boy who worked was mesmerized but it, especially when I told him it worked. I said, "Bro, I can put it in your car or drive it to your house instead of unloading it?". He passed for a minute before we just carried over the threshold onto the warehouse floor.
Why do I have to put that here? Because, one if my family is trolling they'll get it, you, if you downsize will face the same torturous decisions when it comes to things that unlock the memories in your brain, and three, because it's my party and I'll post if I want to.