At Night in the Surf
Published in the 2025 Angler’s Almanac of On The Water.
Accompanied by photos by Joe Klementovich of angler Joe Webster.
I follow the figure in front of me down the beach, a silhouette barely darker than the horizon. I can’t see him well, but I sense his proximity and maintain a close but consistent distance away, which prepares me for the steps that require additional care. Though we both wear headlamps, neither are in use and, in the absence of a clear visual of the beach, my hearing distinguishes the type of ground we’re walking on. I hear his boots softly squish over sand, then crunch and grind on small stones, and then slide and squeak on top of large, seaweed- covered ledges. Then, a new sound: boots entering water. I stop, look up, and realize that we’ve reached our destination. This is where I will fish. At least for now.
I was raised a daytime angler. As a boy, I was taught by my father that when it comes to fishing, one goes to bed early so he can then get up early and catch the morning bite. Staying up for a bite was also in play but concluded promptly at dark for the previously mentioned reason. As I grew older and my fishing gained independence, “early” and “late” stretched into “earlier” and “later” but I still conducted the business part of my angling during daylight. Then I befriended an angler whose approach fell far from my own; an approach based more on feel than feedback, more intuition than imitation, more consciousness than coincidence—an angling approach with higher stakes than simple recreation: night fishing…
