Too funny. I come up from your neck o' the woods and my buddies were harassing me the whole way up about how early I got them going. When we got to Merideth, all of a sudden we started seeing boats in trailers but nobody launching in Merideth and nobody at Sheps (guess they were going to Center Harbor). When we launched Sheps was guiet as I've ever seen it (so I got some more ribbing). Cold ride out into the upper Broads in an open side console. I started putting lines out 1 minute after "shooting time" (29 minutes before sunrise) and the picture of our boating our first fish looked like it was midnight out there. We had 3 in the boat before the sun peaked over the trees...so that quieted the peanut gallery.
The ramp was much busier when we pulled out around 2 and the parking lot pretty full. I've never backed down the right ramp (the one closest to Sheps). I heard that the right ramp is private and belongs to Sheps where as the left one is town owned. Sheps collects $20 for each so I think the only difference is who maintains the ramp. Shallow ramps though, I have to get my back tires in the water to load my boat and I only have a 16 footer. Makes for interesting loading when I'm alone.
I'll keep my eye out for you at the ramp in the future if that is your usual ramp. At this point, it is the ramp I will use 90% of the rest of the season. Our derby rental is just up the road on the other side of Merideth Neck.
