04/16/2026
Want to hear a cool story from the point last evening? And no it doesn’t involve Pompano, it’s an old pic for attention. So yesterday I quit work a little early and drove down south to try to catch me a drum. It was about 5pm when I started and after a few drifts with no bites I took a break and was standing up on the beach watching the big schools busting bait on the outer shoal and laughing at us on the beach. They were catching a few pups down on the tip so I looked and saw Jake walking up the beach from down that way. I noticed a few things that seemed strange as he got closer. Firstly, I noticed he had a big spinning rod and reel in his hand. I know Lee used to do that some and then there’s Kevin and Big Ed but anyway. And if that wasn’t strange enough I saw that he also had his normal drum rod in the other hand. Now occasionally some people are known to break the rules and fish two rods on the pier, but you rarely see it on the point. I think mostly because sand spikes are against the law on the point and you really need a spike to fish two rods. Anyways, he walks up to me and hands me the spinner and says it looks like one you built. It does look familiar but I immediately check to see if it has my decal on there. That’s really the only way to know for sure these days as there’s a lot that are getting pretty close. He told me he had snagged some line at the tip and when he pulled it in the spinning rod and reel were on the other end. I took it up to my truck and took a couple of pics and sent them to my wife back home to see if we could find the owner. It didn’t look like it had been in the water for more than a day or two so I was hoping maybe they were still around and I could get it back to them before I headed back up the beach. I went and made a couple more drifts and caught the same that I had caught earlier so figured I go check my phone to see if she had found out anything. Sure enough, a sales order with the description, April 5, 2023 pickup date, and the customer’s name. Wait, Johnny? He was just at the house yesterday picking up a new rod so I figured he was still around. I messaged him to tell him I thought I had his rod and he ended up being up the beach towards the hook a little ways. Turns out that’s where he had lost the rod a couple hours earlier. I told him where I was and he walked down to the point and I handed him his rod with reel, rig, and sinker still attached. Jake walked over and we both told him thanks and everyone lived happily ever after. Well not really because there wasn’t any drum caught before I left at dark but we’ll take what we can get these days. Just one more reason to shop local.
