It was the 1990s, and both Ray and I were only in our 50s...young enough to wanna be on the water every chance we had, even if it was cold enough for ice to freeze in the guides on our rods. We just didn't care back then.
Many were the day when I would be at West Neck, getting my rig ready to launch, when Ray, in that familiar big Bronco, would come wheelin' into the parking lot, with his boat in tow. Ray owned a roofing company in Virginia Beach, and if he had a couple hours between jobs or whatever, he wouldn't hesitate to make a beeline for West Neck. He'd quickly drop his boat in the water, take off, fish a while, return, and be headed out of the parking lot in what often seemed like a flash.
Ray wasn't one to let a little ice put the kibosh on a fishing opportunity. On many an occasion, he and I would arrive at the West Neck launch ramp about the same time. We usually took turns going first and breaking a path through the channel to the main creek for the other one. And if we happened to bump into each other on the water before one of us called it quits for the day, we always compared notes on how the fishing had gone.
One of Ray's best friends was Dewey Mullins, who, while running the service department for Princess Anne Marine, rigged the Winner bass boat that Ray bought and spent so much time in on the water. As Dewey often would tell the story, he had a difficult time getting Ray to understand the necessity of running his boat hard once in a while.
It seems that, for some time, Ray handled his new boat with kid gloves, and as a result, the motor would get to needing a tune-up. Dewey would take care of the problem and hand the boat back to Ray, reiterating what he had said about opening up the throttle occasionally.
In due time, Ray finally got the message, and then it became a matter of "Katy, bar the door!" Anytime you heard an outboard screaming through the twists and turns in West Neck Creek, you usually could bet Ray was at the helm. You might say he had found the thrill afforded by a wide-open throttle.
Ray's bass-fishing prowess on the local scene was well-documented. It was good enough to earn him a whole series of segments on WTKR-TV Channel 3 back in the '90s. He consistently demonstrated that he knew where to find 'em and how to catch 'em.
And his angling skills weren't limited only to freshwater. As his nephew, Chuck Hardy, Jr., explained, "We spent many fall and spring days and nights down on Hatteras surf fishing together. He was pretty much the best uncle and fishing mentor a young boy ever could have asked for," continued Chuck. "It's because of Uncle Ray that my dad and I still fish out of West Neck to this day."
When Ray passed on June 6, 1998, at the age of 59, some of his ashes were spread on his favorite spots in West Neck Creek, and the rest were spread at The Point on Hatteras. His daughter, Emma, recalled that she never caught a bass in all of her fishing adventures with her dad while he was alive. She noted, however, "After we spread his ashes, I caught a bass in one of his favorite West Neck spots."
Ray was a regular patron of West Neck Marina for a lot of years, dating back to the days when it was run by the original owner, Bill Brown. I've always considered it a distinct privilege to have known Ray and to have swapped fishin' stories with him on many occasions.
This story, as well as the original version of it, which I published back in November 2014, was made possible by the help of Ray's nephew, Chuck Hardy, Jr., and his daughter, Emma.
Incidentally, if you would like to watch the videos I mentioned in the beginning, here are the links to them:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWxfhGgm6DE
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a3xKLt_-hI
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXGnbeN9QIQ
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