"Pop" and Jack

[Honey Hole]

Seems Lee's "Daddy Pop" story has stirred a few of us into action... here's a quick one about "Pop".

"Pop" was a waterman his whole life, eventually moving on to tugboating when I was 5 years old in 1969. But his true love was fishing, even more than that was fishing with his family. I spent countless summer days on the Eastern Shore in the town of Oyster, holding onto his shirt tail as hard as I could.

This is one of my favorite memories:

It was 1974, I was 10 years old and had just returned from a 20 day run with my Grandfather aboard the tugboat Martha M for NBC Towing, traveling from Norfolk to Baltimore and Philly... a trip all us kids got to take when we turned 10.

The evening we returned my Grandfather's cousin (Capt. Jack Brady) comes by and asks if we want to go Tarpon fishing in the morning, that he had bait and that the tide'd get right not long after the sun rises.

It was next to impossible to sleep that night... the alarm clock just wouldn't sound, no matter how much I wanted it to. The wind was calm and the skeeters ate us up as we boarded the boat and idled out of the harbor; we were glad to break out on plane to keep the biting SOBs off us for a bit. I remember the winding ride through the marshes in darkness, and the sight of the sun breaking the horizon not long after we got set up inside New Inlet. I spent the morning catching spot/croaker to be used for baits, while Jack and "Pop" fished those live and cut baits. I remember being startled as a Tarpon rolled near the boat... wanting so badly to hook one, and at the same time being just a little scared of the same thing.

It was a long, brutally hot, mosquito/green head fly fighting morning. I remember Pop rolling up his pant legs and long underwear (which he wore 12 months a year), and commenting on how his legs hadn't seen sunlight in 20 years... and later on how badly they'd burned. The RC colas and potted meat/saltines were going down good... too good. And it resulted in the only time I've been sea sick, which seemed to bring some sort of joy to Jack and my Pop. I still say it was the potted meat and 90 degree day, NOT the sea that made me do a bit of chumming.

As the tide started to fall, forcing the fish off the flats... the line started ripping off Pops reel. We'd caught a lot of large skates and sharks (which Jack was happy to carve up so they'd not be a bother anymore)... but this was different... faster... MUCH faster. Pop put the real in gear and waited for the line to come tight. And when it did, the water exploded, sending a Silver King skyward. Silver body glistening in the sunlight, I swear I could hear it's gill plates rattleing as it tried to skake the hook free. I was in awe, pointing and jumping... my Grandfather turning to tell me, "It ain't time for that".

14 incredible jumps, and 30 minutes later, the fish was boatside... laying peacefully on it's side. Jack reaches over, slipping a gaff in the fish's mouth and his other hand under it's gill plate... all in one motion, lifting the fish from the water. I remember him asking Pop if he wanted to hold him, and my Grandfather replying, "What the hell for?". Jack slipped him back in the water, then walked to the bow to pull anchor as if nothing had happened.

There was a squawl pushing on us, and we busted out of the inlet skipping across the tops of the seas in Jack's 20' Chincoteague Scow. Coolers flying, chairs busting as the rain stung our faces and lightning cracked around us. I remember looking over at my Pop and him asking if I'd had fun as we both held onto the gunnals trying to stay in the boat....

That was 35 years ago, and the memories are as if it happened yesterday. So the answer to Pop's "Did you have fun?" is "HELL YES"! I didn't know it at the time, but I'd been on the water with two of the best Tarpon fishermen in the area... Wish like hell for just one more day with the two of them.

Capt. Charlie "Nook" Moore - "Pop"
This was in 1963, his first Tarpon and the 12th recorded on hook and line in the state of VA (or so I'm told)

[HOLWACHAGOT]

I am so glad Lee got you in the mood to type...get back to it and don't stop till I tell you to. Great Stuff Brother! Tarpon in VA ain't impossible...but getting one without a skeeter bite or a greenhead damn near is. Thanks for this Al.
Holwachagot

[gottaflylee]

I'm speechless, I mean WOW, I was fishing with you guys. Great story. I am so thankful that you guys are taking the tiime to share your past with us. I love reading other peoples "little pieces of history" of their lives. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us...

[Flooringman]

You are a great story teller. Keep it up. Thanks for sharing a great adventure.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Another thing many people will not be able to appreciate (especially Tarpon fisherman from other locales), is just how difficult these fish are to hook, much less land up here off the Virginia Barrier Islands. There just aren't a whole lot of people that have ever seen a VA Tarpon, much less caught them on multiple occasions.
BTW, is there any form of canned meat you don't eat? The deck on the boat is still slick from the boys vienna sausage feast a year ago. I would hate to think how many spam samwiches you have devoured.
Holwachagot

[Honey Hole]

Geoff - You're right, the VA Tarpon is a helluva challenge. I've jumped off 7 over the past few years, just can't get one to the boat.

As for canned meats... ain't much that's better than a can of steak (vienna sausages); this is one of them:


The next story: Pop's brother, Herman "Hard Head" Moore... Uncle Buddy to me.

[WAHOONBOX]

MY MY MY.........

"It was next to impossible to sleep that night..."

HOW MANY OF US CAN CLAIM THIS EXPERIENCE AS A KID...?

HELL I GO THROUGH THIS SLEEPLESS IN MOREHEAD CITY THING TODAY AS AN ADULT MUCH LESS AS A KID!

I HAVE BEEN READING SFC FOR ....LET ME THINK...UHHH...50 MONTHS NOW....AND I AM CEASED TO BE AMAZED AT WHAT TALENT WE HAVE HERE WHEN IT COMES TO THE QUILL...

LEE....THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING TO YOU ABOUT THE OTHER DAY...HOW INFLUENTIAL YOU ARE AS A MAN, CAPTAIN AND WRITER TO THE WORLD

HONEY HOLE SAYS YOU INSPIRED HIM AND OTHERS TO WRITE.....WRITE WRITE & WRITE!! IT REALLY AIN'T ALL THAT HARD TO DO WHEN ONE BRINGS IT FROM THE HEART


NOW BACK TO HONEY'S WORLD EPIC DAY....I AM CONFUSED OR MAYBE I SHOULD SAY MISSING SOMETHING WHEN YOUR GRANDFATHER SAID "I was in awe, pointing and jumping... my Grandfather turning to tell me, "It ain't time for that".

WHAT DID GRANDAD MEAN HERE?It ain't time for that


GREAT STORY.....HELL YOU GOT ME SCRATCHING SKEETER BITES AT MY KEYBOARD AND IT'S 28 DEGREES OUTSIDE!
"The wind was calm and the skeeters ate us up...."




NICE........STANDING BY FOR EPIC EL DUECE-O

[Honey Hole]

Box - thanks for the kind words... I'm sure you know EXACTLY what Pop meant (and that maybe those same words have crossed your lips a time or two)!

[SeaBiscuit]

Beautifully told, thanks Honey Hole. May we have another?......Please!
SeaBiscuit