TIGHT LINES
with Andrew Spencer

DUE DILIGENCE

Everybody out there, I'm sure, remembers the column about my neighbor Bea Leger and her dog Sassy. Poor Sassy passed away several weeks ago, and we've all been searching for a new dog for Bea. She's ninety-three - and will be ninetyfour this month - so this can't be just any dog. For obvious reasons, my girlfriend and I, who have been charged with finding the replacement, are looking for a "mature" dog who's somewhat less active than the average Italian greyhound. It takes patience to find the right dog, which is an important fact to remember.

Anyway, one of us - namely Bea - got a little anxious and jumped at the first opportunity to get a new dog. I stopped by the other day to say hello to her and, much to my surprise, Bea was sitting in her living room watching television with her new dog Rusty. Rusty, it seems, had been a plan she'd hatched without telling anyone else. It was kind of deceptive if you ask me, but she didn't. "I wanted to surprise you," she told me. And you can bet your patookiss that she surprised me. It was the same kind of surprise like when you find out you're unexpectedly going to be a father. Of quadruplets. Girl quadruplets.

But it got worse.

Given her age, it's not surprising that Bea is somewhat fragile, especially in terms of her skin. So we've got a fragile woman who bruises easily. Now, just for kicks, let's throw in a nine-week-old puppy who nips and jumps. Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster. But we all tried to put the best face on the whole situation, because Bea was ecstatic with her new family member.

But it got worse.

You see, Bea hadn't done any kind of research on this whole thing. She heard the word "puppy" and lost all capacity for logical reasoning. The puppy's parents even offered to deliver the puppy to Bea's house. And given that she doesn't drive, that was the only way she was getting it. So, again without telling anybody else, she arranged to have Rusty delivered to her house and that was that. There was something about Rusty's appearance, though, that gave me pause. After some consultations with others on the matter, we learned that Rusty wasn't the most appropriate dog for a ninety three-year-old woman. It seems that Rusty was (and continues to be) a pit bull.

That's just about as bad as it gets.

Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not one of those anti-pit bull people. I love all dogs more than most people. And by that ambiguous modification, I mean that I love dogs more than I love most people (no offense, Jill). And that includes Rusty. He was (and continues to be) adorable. However, he also was (and continues to be) a very active little guy, and much more dog than Bea could ever have hoped to handle. Thankfully, Rusty's parents understood the situation and agreed to take him back without any problems. So now Bea is back to her dog-less condition, but she learned a valuable lesson: It's important to learn all you can about the species before you set out. And you know what? The same lesson applies to fishing, too.

How much is that segue in the window?

One of the great things about the off-season, friends and neighbors, is that it gives us all the opportunity to bone-up on our knowledge of the fish in our local waters. All those magazines that

have been sitting around collecting dust waiting to be read? Now you've got the time to be reading them. The same goes for those books about saltwater fishing the Northeast. And windy and rainy days are perfect for sitting around watching fishing shows on TV.

There is a ton of information to be learned from these sources, especially about the ins and outs of specific species. For example, if you want to go fishing for flounder next spring, you're not going to want to head out to the backside of Tuckernuck and start winging a black Bomber around. And, by the same token, if you're itching for stripers, jigging squid along the drop-offs on the east side of Great Point won't be the best technique to employ. And that bonito you pull in next summer with the group of black spots right behind the gills? Don't serve it as sushi, because false albacore, which is a completely different fish, isn't quite the excellent table fare you had hoped. It all gets back to doing your homework, kids. Don't be one of those poor saps next spring who's wondering why he's not catching any fish. There's no time like the wintertime to be doing your research. So get cracking on it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to locate the pet coral snake that Bea thought would be a good companion. She let it out "to give it some fresh air," and now it's loose somewhere in her kitchen.

Tight lines.

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