My Fishing Buddy

Matt came down for the long New Year's weekend for our Second Annual Sailfish Event. Look at the smile on my handsome son. Look at the terror in the eyes of that sailfish (and note the ramora on its side). The top photo is the first fish of the marathon, caught by Matt's brother-in-law Ryan Fitzpatrick who joined us with his girlfriend Julie Wise for three of the four fishing days. You can also see that the weather went from glorious to grueling. After Matt caught his fish, he and I were very happy to come in and sit in our favorite restaurant for a cup of hot she-crab soup. It was COLD out there.

Matt is one incredible fisherman. From the time he was 2 years old and held a fishing pole, he has loved the sport. By the time he was 5, he knew everything about sharks. He has his Captain's license, and that is not easy to obtain. It requires a great deal of study and many, many hours on the water. We call him Capt. Ahab (lovingly) because when the fishing gets hot, he changes from his usually laid back demeanor into a man with a mission - ordering and directing the occupants of the boat. Lines need reeled in, spaces need cleared, the boat needs driven. As he says, fishing is hours of quiet contemplation time interrupted by madness. But his barking orders helps us catch fish. Like the fictional character, he has a quest for whatever fish species he is targeting. He likes bonefish on the flats, dolphin in the summer and sailfish in the winter. All require a hunt. I credit my father who instilled the love of fishing in me and my brother, Tom and was passed on to Matt. I am so proud at how he has grown up into such a great, competent, smart, fun, and wonderful loving son, husband and father. I love going fishing with him.

Sail fishing is two fold. First you have to catch the live bait. We are out on the coral reef early, throw out a chum bag and wait for the ballyhoo to show up. Then, we try to fill the bait well with three or four dozen, all caught on tiny hair hooks. Being out on the crystal clear aqua water and seeing all the sea life on the reef is a treat in itself. Sometimes Matt will throw a cast net if we are getting impatient but he is a purist and feels the ballyhoo are too stressed that way. There is often a bit of anxiety involved about making bait. Sometimes we have to move to several spots due to currents. Or the bait is skittish if a barracuda is lurking nearby, or they can be just not hungry. But, usually we fill the well, untie from the buoy and away we go - not too far on the outside of the reef and troll those live baits slowly behind the boat so they swim along.

The first sail we caught was within minutes of hitting the deeper water. We opened the bait well and the pump had failed causing half of the bait fish to die. We quickly decided to run back to the reef and try and catch some more when Matt yelled that a sail fish was free jumping alongside of the boat, perhaps 50 feet off. We hustled a few of the remaining live baits on and chucked some dead ones over for chum and within 5 minutes had the above beauty on and a nice 45 minute fight to get it to the boat, photo taken, back in the water to revive and on its way to create chaos for another fisherman. Ryan did a great job and Matt ran the boat. Julie and I just stood around enjoying the splendid show. It's not a matter of just reeling a sail in. It requires the use of the boat to chase the fish because he swims, pulls out all the line, does aerobatics on top of the water and generally gets your heart pumping. You reel in and he takes the line out. Can be exhausting, exhilarating, and maddening if you lose him after a long battle.

Unfortunately we had to end such a promising day early because the bait well did croak. Back to the dock for repairs and back at it the next day. Of course we did manage to relive the story over and over while enjoying the Rose Bowl. Although the weather deteriorated over the course of the weekend, our spirits did not and even when not catching fish, we saw sea turtles, a porpoise and today, a large shark. And, we enjoyed the company of our new fishing buddies, Ryan and Julie. As they say, there are no bad days of fishing.