Bourne is sort of Cape Cod's flyover territory for a lot of tourists, but not for the fishermen. Bourne is Fisherman Nirvana.
Bourne is the only town touching both Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay... although to be quite honest, we're not 100% sure that Plymouth doesn't make contact with the upper reaches of the body of water that is Buzzards Bay. That's something for a future article.
You can also cut between those two bays via the Cape Cod Canal, another fishy factor favoring Bourne. This canal, which runs for 5 miles or so, is a fisherman's destination in itself.
Bourne is the home of legendary fisherman Stan Gibbs. He was the uberfisher who designed many of the basic lures that every fishing supplier copies today. His reputation among scholars of salt water fishing lures is similar to the reputation Karl Marx has among Communists. He has his own statue in town, and his legend is everywhere. If you heard the story about someone fishing a cap off of a yachtsmen's head, that was Gibbs. If you hear about a guy who can cast all the way across the Cape Cod Canal, that was also Gibbs.
No matter how you slice it, Bourne is a fisherman's paradise. You can cast from anywhere in town and stand a chance of catching some sort of fish.
It is the repeatedly stated opinion of this column that Bourne should attempt to cash in on all of these factors and exploit the Angler Potential of their numerous and potentially lucrative fishing hot spots.
This could be accomplished via simple things (advertising in the right places, better access, and so forth) and complicated things (construction of fishing piers, etc...) that might pay off if done properly.
I'm not the Answer Man when it comes to how this should be done. There's a reason I am not running Bourne, and instead seemed to have peaked at writing articles about how the town can profit from things like fisherman conventions.
Speaking of which...
The Salt Water Lures Collectors Club is having their annual convention in Bourne this week. Friday is a members-only affair, but they will be open to the public from 8 AM to 3 PM on Saturday.
You can come in and see the top of the line in salt water fishing lures. You can buy, sell or trade. You can also Gawk, which isn't a bad thing to do whenever you are in a room full of experts. If you live on Cape Cod, you should probably try to have some working knowledge of angler-type stuff. If you fish here, you may as well fish with excellent gear.
I mean, you can go down to the ol' fishing hole with some shoddy rubber lure that you got at Wal-Mart if you're not serious about catching fish. There's a reason that they put sandwich shops on the way home from fishing holes.
Orrrrr, you can ante up and get the good ish. These guys (and girls, fish are tasty and fun to catch for both genders) don't mess around. While I am not a member of the Salt Water Lures Collectors Club, it stands to reason that you don't join up to hock junk to people who will know better/be able to spot junk.
The show is happening at the Trowbridge Tavern and Canal Club. The Trow is an excellent place to have dinner, and is a fine spot to fortify yourself with some Fisherman Fuel before heading downstairs to gawk at the goods.
See you there!
