We were on Mt Desert Island a couple of years ago. I wanted to try surf fishing. I could find no one with any experiences they were willing to share. I couldn't even get any help from anyone at gait and tackle places. Do you know anything about fishing there?

I'm going to crawl out on a limb here. I would think that a right handed reel is made for a person to cast with their right hand, just as a right handed baseball glove is intended to allow a ballplayer to throw with their right hand. Conversely, the right handed fisherman will crank his spinning reel with his left hand, and the right handed ballplayer will catch with his left hand.

This reminds me of my own collection of 300's. My youngest son asked me, out on a lake one day, 'Dad, don't you have any reels that don't make noise?' I never really thought about it. I think all of my spinning reels were pre-silent anti-reverse. The next Christmas the two youngest had pooled their shekels and bought me a new 300. It looks different, but I like it. I also noticed, right away, it rotates the opposite direction.

Hi Ben! My youngest son's name is Ben. He is quite discriminating in his fishing tackle. He would rather fish than eat. My wife would describe me as an indiscriminate collector. I should probably cull the tackle, but I recently took an interest in surf fishing, so I had to expand in that direction. When you have comprehensive interests, the equipment to pursue those interests will be comprehensive also.

I have particularly wanted to fish the mouth of Whitney Drain. I read about it many years ago. Some others have also, and offered that they thought the fishing went down, and never came back. I'm going to try it this spring, I think. One of my sons was asking me about steelhead. We have talked about that spot. We fished the drain when the kids were young, but haven't been back since they grew up. This may be the year.

Hi Guys! I have made two trips, in the last two years, to the ocean (Atlantic). One to Mount Desert Island, and one to the Cape Fear area. I have not really done any, what would be called surf fishing, in the Great Lakes, but I do have plans for it, perhaps this spring. The breakwaters have been of interest to me, but, as I said earlier, the water has been prohibitively high.

My name is Larry. I am from Michigan, and retired. I greatly enjoy fishing of various sorts. I have, most recently, taken an interest in surf fishing. It is Jan. 30, I think, now. I may try to get a little winter steelheading in. Being old, I am reminded to be careful wading. I have also wanted to try some pier fishing off the various breakwaters in Michigan, but the water has generally been a little on the high side.

Hi Larry! I have been interested in striper fishing, as well as surf fishing, in general. We were on the island that makes up the east bank of the Cape Fear River. I think it was last year. Since I retired, and don't have to put dates on everything, I have lost track of time. My wife keeps track of it for me, though. When we were there, they were rebuilding the beach, dredging sand, and whatever. It seemed no one was swimming, fishing, anything. There is a boat ramp at a park on the east side. I caught one fish about 12". That is what I had to show for my weeks work. The locals told us it was dangerous to kayak in the Cape Fear, so we didn't. Other than the weather being nice, it wasn't such a great place to be.

Good Morning Rick! I just spotted your post. We stayed around Cape Fear, I think it will be two years ago in the spring. I had been gearing up (literally) for surf fishing, for about a year. We went to Mount Desert Island the previous fall. I tried surf fishing both places, to no avail. i asked around, at MDI, about surf fishing. No one seemed to know anything about it, even at bait and tackle shops. I found several textbook examples of inlets where the fish should be, but no one is fishing there. In NC, I spent quite a few hours on the beach. The locals were in the process of rebuilding the beaches. I was suspicious that I would catch no fish. I think we may have been there at the wrong time of year, also. I may try to get there again, though the virus may limit travel. We stayed in a house last time. Taking our own camper may allow us to be there this time.

You can put a sleeve over both ends of the break, on the one piece rod. It will change the action a little, but as someone else said, 'it'll fish'. A few years ago, I bought some thirty spinning rod handle/reel seat combinations. The rods had been cut off about 6 or 8 inches above the grip. They are multiple sizes. It's a little late for you to do it for this repair. If you have a decent relationship with a local tackle shop, they may have a pile of rod handles in similar condition, which they may be willing to sell you one of relatively inexpensively. You will need to cut the broken rod slightly above, and below the break, with a cut-off wheel, so as to avoid splitting. This will give you two stable pieces to work with. Measure both sides, then hit the tackle shops that are willing. With seven kids, I've fixed a few rods this way. If you can't get any help, measure the diameter of the two pieces, at the break, and let me know what you need. I'll look through my box, and see if I have anything that will help. Good luck.

H

I went to Mt. Desert Island last year. I asked several folks at tackle shops and bait shops, even at an auto parts store--No one knew anything about surf fishing. I am a real newbie when it comes to surf fishing. I have watched and read an ebook on it. There were several locations on the island that looked like textbook examples of places to fish, but in the ten days I was there, I saw no one. The Maine fisheries pamphlet says to fish off the docks. I did, and caught nothing. My wife strongly implored me to not fish specifically where I wanted to go. The state people seemed to discourage it, to. It seems like the problem is, the women are all more concerned about safety, than catching fish. I may not have caught anything, anyway, but it would have been nice to try.