There is a great song out now called “Shallow” performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the movie, “A Star is Born.”
As the lyrics go, “We’re far from the shallow, now.”
In Myrtle Beach last weekend and overlooking the ocean from our 6thfloor condo, I might advise fellow fishermen not to go too far from the shallow, now.
In the shallows are lots of fish.
The waves were behaving themselves late that afternoon, with gentle breakers about 100 feet off the beach on a sand bar, then again right on the beach. In between – in this 100 feet – was a sluice, not deep, but a trough so to speak. The first thing that got my attention were several shimmering schools of minnows flitting across the surface, not 20 feet from the beach. I saw them move back and forth, occasionally skipping across as if under attack. They were. Soon I saw the reason. A two-pound speckled trout ripped through the school and up into air, splashing as he ascended.
This being mere footsteps from the shore.
How often do surf fishermen get a running start with a 13-foot rod and send 3-ounces of weight hurtling into space to reach deeper water, when right at their feet, in the shallows, are bragging size speckled trout, flounder and puppy drum.
Remember the shallows, now.