It has been reported that the first Thanksgiving feast probably consisted of much more seafood than is now the tradition. If that is so, I doubt very highly that the pilgrims were using fly tackle in the surf. It is the most problem-plauged endevor and fisher can undertake.

Of greatest difficulty is management of the many feet of slack line which has been "stripped" in after casting. Most smart fly fishers use a "stripping basket" which is basically a milk crate-sized basket strapped around one's waist into which stripped line may be piled. I have never been accused of being a smart fisherman and much of my effort today was spent un-weaving fantastic knots from around my feet, peices of kelp and assorted bits of flotsum.

Fortunately, surfperch seem to have little regard for IQ and they were in good numbers up and down the beach between 7:00 and 8:30. My new 7wt handled nicely - much easier to cast weighted surf flies with than the 5wt I'd previously used -and the sinking line kept my offerings down in the strike zone. I lost count of how many fish I caught, but it had to be more than two!

Also, forgot to brind my camera, but if you can picture a bunch of hand-sized perch with a few wingnut-sized fatties thrown in to make it interesting, you'll have an idea of the photos I would have posted.

Flie of choice was a rust-colored wooly bugger with barbell eyes and red tinsel, tied to match a MORF hatch.