Thanks for all the nice replies, everyone! What I'm happiest about is that I'm learning to hunt IN the ocean. It took a while for me to build up the confidence to head out into Daytona's waves to do my searching. My buddies, DR and Stirling, have been great at helping me discern the best areas to expend my energy; the Atlantic's waves can be pretty brutal and exhausting! Over the past few weeks, we've noticed a sort of calm "bay" that has developed just west of the sandbars at low tide. The sandbar breaks up the waves before they have a chance to reach the shore. The peaceful bay area is a whole lot more gentle to hunt than the same area when the waves are crashing and smacking into you. Many of the Daytona water hunters have been doing really well in this area; there's been a lot of posts here to attest to it. I'm just lucky enough to be one of them; to have access to America's Most Famous Beach and the time and the equipment to take advantage of it. I have to say that I enjoy nearly every minute of it; except perhaps for the 1/10th of a second when I stepped on a stingray yesterday. (I had no idea I could move so fast!)
P.S. - And yes, DR, I washed my purty new car as soon as I got home!
Ruth