Access; A Ratt's Tale...

[TheRattBoy]

First off, I don't care what color yer skin is or what race you are , as long as you have respect for other people, their property and the enviorment, if you don't, then I got a problem with you...
History, I stumbled onto this south facing spot 6 years ago and instantly fell in love with it.I have spent countless hours there during all types of weather and i'm very proud to say just by looking at where the water is on the docks and which direction it is flowing I know where to stand and what to use, i've pulled fish out of there many times while others just watched.It is my ALL TIME favorite place on the Cape and this is where i've been teaching my 10 yr old son how to surfcast.I've often said if I could only fish one spot all season this would be it.
It is surrounded by multi-million dollar homes and has a resident sticker sign right where you park, this has never been a problem because the police have let it slide for the fishermen.
Three years ago scup fishermen started to invade the place, they would show up in two work vans and 15 (i'm not kidding) guys would get out and bring all their gear to the jetty, not one of them spoke english, or so they said.They would stay there the day keeping everything they caught in 5 gallon pails, no matter the size (flouder, bass).one rare trip one guy spoke some english, I asked him where they were from he told me Lowell, I was surprised and asked how he heard about this spot, he said it was written on the wall of his apt. building with directions, that they were a lot of "fishermen" in his building.By days end they would leave and empty squid boxes , cans and sandwich wrappers was all that was left behind, if they were REAL fishermen nothing would be left.Twice last year one of the police officers told me that someone had taken a dump on the lawn of one of the big $ homes and neighbors were getting upset with the trash.
Well, to speed things up, police are now enforcing the sign, as I got my first ticket ($ 25.00) for parking there (and I picked up the beach trash that morning).I called the town hall to see if they have non-resident stickers, yup , they do.... $200.00 for the season (getting more like the Vinyard every year) BUT, that's a beach sticker, not the same as a resident sticker, won't work.
Now me and all the other guys who fised that spot ,but aren't residents are shut out, so the next time you see someone littering , remind them about closing spots, and if they act like they don't understand or don't care....STEP ON THEIR HEAD!! johnny "tRB"