�On the Road Again

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Eastern
Location: Eastern Shore

Today I couldn�t help but think of that Willie Nelson tune �On the Road Again�; as I turned the steering wheel south on Route 13 and headed to Crisfield and Pocomoke on the lower eastern shore. My first stop was a tackle shop just off Route 13 in a little town called Eden just south of Salisbury and there I met up with Lou Ann Hitch and after explaining the new Fishing Challenge Awards entry system I was able to catch up on all the latest local fishing news. Several anglers came in while I was there to purchase bloodworms and much of the talk centered around the excellent white perch fishing in the Nanticoke River near Sharptown and on the Wicomico River.

Next stop was Crisfield and the first thing I noticed was all the activity in the boat yards where work boats were getting the new season work over. Watermen take pride in their boats and of course rely on them to allow captain and crew to work on the water and keep to keep them all safe. Work boats here, have female names like Barbara Ann or Rebecca Lynn and are always painted white. The local marine hardware stores were doing a brisk business in marine supplies and locals where outside the luncheonettes discussing the coming season. The town was waking up after a winters sleep and it was a locals only type of crowd since it is still too early for the summer tourists. I spoke to several captains and most are worried about the current economics and whether they�ll have a good crab season. Charter boat captains had the same worries about customers coming to fish and whether the croakers and spot will show up in good numbers this year. I met up with brothers Joe and John Asanovich in a local boatyard as they were busy hooking up a new behemoth looking engine for their headboat the Barbara Ann-III. Even recreational boaters could be seen pulling the canvas back for the first time to get started with getting �her� ready for the water. Boat yards can be a magical place in the spring; just bubbling with anticipation and promise.

Perhaps my most interesting stop in Crisfield was at Dave�s RV and Tackle Shop where Dave was sitting at a table making large Parachutes and bucktails for the local captains. Dave�s shop was a real step back in time where one could find everything from a rototiller to a hot dog and a fishing rod all in the same place. We sat around an old Formica table strewn with errant nylon, deer hair and cigarette butts talking about a number of subjects ranging from muskrat trapping, trolling for big striped bass, and snapping turtles to Dave�s ambition to clean and organize his shop. Personally, I liked it just the way it was.