prize catch
Last week I drove down to Jekyll Island with my best friend Clare to get in some beach time at the lower Atlantic. My family vacationed at St. Simon's, across the sound, for most of childhood and into my early adult life so it's a place full of great memories. The lower Atlantic beaches have their own smell, completely different than the Gulf -- a mixture of salt and sea plant life -- one of the best smells in the world to me, like baby's hair or homemade bread baking.
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The second night we were there we ventured down to the public pier, across the street from the Jekyll Island campground were we were staying. Our friends Paul and Carrie McGrann and their two kids had just gotten there and the kids, never having seen the Atlantic before, were pretty amazed with the nighttime sea life. Dylan, 14, and Codi Jane, 11, were the first to see the small sharks coming in to feed in very shallow waters below the pier and I thought why not drop a line down in their swarming circle. To actually land the shark was no minor fete as I had to pull him about 30 feet up. A local man of the sea we later nicknamed "The Dude" helped us get the hook out and later gave us some pointers on fishing setups.
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The locals said this variety is called an Atlantic Sharpnose and while this one is young, they only grow to a be a few feet long. Just a few minutes after this photo was taken we threw this guy back and immediately Codi caught the next shark. The look on her face, a mixture of fear and thrill, was something I wish had been captured on camera. I know it's a moment she'll never forget, nor will I.
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As a group we caught some interested fish -- croaker, spade fish, some gnarly looking missing link-type thing called a blow toad and whiting. The next morning the guy fishing next to me caught a variety of small Hammerhead shark called a Bonnet head. The man, a sturdy middle-age fellow, fought the shark for about 10 minutes before he landed it. At one point I helped, afraid the fish was going to wrap itself around one of the pier's pylons.
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It's not the slick commercial, condo-wridden, sugar sand beaches and crystal clear water of the Gulf thank goodness. The Atlantic really is an amazing and abundant sea and one we all have a new appreciation for having fished it for a few days.
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