Going Fishing
22 April 2013 | Biscayne Bay, FL
Clavo
While cruising the high seas on the Fille I figured I should take up fishing. I have cast out a few lines over the years, but with very little success and no knowledge of how to correct my misfortune. Since I currently have both time and a boat at my disposal, my fish slaying fantasies seem plausible. So I headed over to our preferred marine store, Crook and Crook, where a super knowledgeable associate helped me rig up a good beginner’s setup. I ended up with a spinner, a conventional, a gaff, a pair of pole holders and an assortment of lures. It appears to be an adequate start for my modest angling abilities.
Our first couple of trips out proved to be pretty uneventful, on the fishing front. I lost one of my dolphin lures to what I am presuming was a barracuda bite. I consoled myself in the fact that even though I didn’t land a fish on the boat, at least one was paying attention to my lures below the surface. The experience did, however, illuminate the fact that I was going to have to get proficient in rigging some tackle.
Fortunately for me, our marina, like most, is full of interesting characters. Our good friend Dave had just introduced me to a fishing captain buddy of his by the name of Sig. He turns out to be an ex-NHL player from Indiana turned sport fisherman, who is now running a charter outfit off of Pier 7. He told me he’d teach me how to rig up some lures in exchange for a 6-pack of bud light. It seemed like a fair trade. Now this guy has an ego bigger than most, which is not my usual cup of tea, but was willing to share enough insight to justify spending an afternoon gleaning some info out of him. He taught me my namesake knot, the nail knot, for attaching hooks and the miracle loop for attaching my lures to the steel leaders rigged on my line. All in all I learned quite a bit about fishing and also how not to behave.
Because we were approaching the weekend and work on the boat was coming to a momentary halt, we decided to head south for a couple of days. That’s when I landed my first two fish of the trip. We were trolling at about 6-7 knots with roughly 150-200ft of line out and a spoon lure on the end. Both fish I got appeared to be small jacks, not worth keeping unless starving to death, but nonetheless good for my morale. I guess you got to crawl be fore you can ball! I look forward to the blog post I write when I start landing some fish worth eating.