Fish Pier

Well a writer needs to consider her audience, and I can't think of a single one of you Sues,Susans,Suzannes, or Suzies who might be into this,but maybe Harold will relate. Gnatsville,AKA Sebastian Inslet SP was described as a fisherman's paradise. So I left Mark and Gordon to deal with the no see ums (sadly,lacking the necessary materials  we found useful for the strategies we developed camping in Venezuela: a) slather your body in Hawaiian Tropic,so as to drown then; down a bottle of  over the counter available Codeine cough syrup as a nightcap and go to sleep in your now greasy tent. Or b) sleep with your body submerged in the Caribbean,with only your towel wrapped head on the sand) and went off to the big pier that extends into the Atlantic. I had expected to be joining older retirees,enjoying a cigar and the salt breezes,or a father-son duo on a Sunday outing. Whoa! What I entered was a United Nations maelstrom of SERIOUS professionals. Asians,Haitians,Cubans, even what seemed to be a gang-type operation of bait selling,position jockeying,and fish mongering. These guys were reeling in giants: redfish,black drum,sharks,doormat sized flounder.Hooks were flying,with 1/2 lb weights attached . They all had these carts with about 4 rods with various set ups,ice,bait coolers and other accoutrements.Kind of like wheeling your own Sabrette's hot dog cart out there.To the right,in the actual inlet where the surf crashing in from the ocean met the outflow from the river the boat guys were swirling around in circles, working various "holes". It looked like someone had flushed,and all were inevitably going down. So I retreated to the kiddie area more appropriate for my light tackle and level of inexpertise. Except for the kids cast netting for finger mullet to bring out to their bosses out on the big pier,this was a lot calmer. The guy next to me caught 2 fish which he proceeded to beat the hell out of on the concrete. From what I could fathom from his accent,they were something called Southern Star Gazers...so named for the eyes on top of their heads,and possessing the capability to deliver some sort of serious electric jolt if you touched them. Think I'll stick with the no see ums.