I hope you knew someone would rain on your parade when it comes to Mr. Daignault, so it might as well be me.
Yes, his first book has some poignant moments such as his daughter being overcome by fumes and crying alone after his son was gone off to serve in the Coast Guard when he found his surf belt.
Of all the books, this one is the only one to read as all the following are just revised versions of the first in most ways with a tid bit more inserted here and there.
One would think that in reading his tomes that Frank was all alone on the beach and the only one catching fish. Not so and tough to do figuring that each day/night your main buggy was surrounded (especially on the race) with 30 or more others parked five feet across from each other and most of those had chase vehicles too.
Mr. Daignault was an avowed rule breaker, not in the sense of catching bass but with a total disregard for the rules set up by the Chatham/Orleans parks depts. who ran and do run Nauset and the Cape Cod National Seashore. The result of his recklessness is still being felt today and he was a major factor in the "gestapo" like tactics that the rangers had to implement in order to keep him and others that would follow his lead from further rule breaking, which at the time were far less stringent than they are today as to where and when we can go places. Plainly put he had to get out of Dodge as the heat was coming down and it settled on the rest of us after he abandoned the place 20 years ago and hasn't been back since.
Funny, now that he has been gone the rangers are no where near as aggresive as they once were.
I especially enjoyed his take on "discovering Balston Beach". HA what a crock. He actually was tipped off to the success of another commercial (true commercial that is one that made his entire year's pay off of the beach, remember, Mr. and Mrs. D had day jobs teaching and still got checks, had health insurance and all from that while on summer vacation he only fished "commercially" two months of the year, weekends from mid May through the end of June when school let out and some weekends in September. He wasn't any different than any plumber or carpenter making a few bucks on the side).
His friend Little Paulie found this other guy, who still lives on the Cape today and sold way more than Frank ever did in poundage, and told Daignault. So Frank actually was an interloper cashing in on someone elses discovery.
If you talk with any of the hardcores who still lay a track in the soft sands of the outer Cape and ask they will tell you.
As for secrecy and being tight lipped Mr. D has spilled his guts in his books for money and just about everyone who was on the beach then knew where everybody was fishing and what they were taking form the suds.
Embelished truths sell books. No wonder he has to resort to a forum on a New Jersey based website. His credibility up here wouldn't support one on a NE site. With him it's always been "it's all about me".
If Jesus was fishing the beach back then and commanded all the bass to come to the shore and eat anything thrown at them and Mr. D. came along the story would end up with the Jesus part being somehow left out or reported as Hearsay not to be believed.
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