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More Fishing and Boating

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• Seaworthy: Start the season right

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It’s early morning. The streets are empty, save the newspaper delivery guy zooming around firing your morning news through the open window of his truck. And here I am, en route to the marina to buy my shrimp for a morning charter.

At the same ungodly hour, on the other coast, there is a father rousing up his three sons for a fishing trip planned for this morning here in the backwaters of our southwestern paradise.

Long way to go for a fishing trip, but these guys have done it many times. In quiet moments, I’ve asked “Why? Isn’t there anything closer to home?” and the answer always goes something like “It’s so hectic and crowded over here and so nice and laid back over there.”

Amen! That’s why most of us are here.

So with their long journey to the “fishing hole”, you naturally feel a special urge to deliver, a good, if not a great fishing experience, to the family each time out.

You want to make sure, that on their long trip back home they are basking in the glow of a fishing trip that was well worth that early morning effort.

And that’s where the story begins.

On the first couple of trips, a few years back, we experienced conditions and timing that delivered banner results as measured by the number and variety of keeper fish residing in the cooler as we made our way back to the dock.

Each time, as we neared the dock, Dad would light up an agonizingly aromatic cigar and ring up “the Mrs.” on the cell phone to deliver a blow by blow fishing report —most of which dealt with how many of these and how many of those were in the cooler and how they could be prepared for the table.

After two or three trips, with impeccable timing and luck delivering similar results they were S.P.O.I.L.E.D.

Telling them how fortunate they were on the great catches and that they should also look at the sport and excitement of the trip to measure the success of the venture went in one ear and out the other.

Then, on one late fall outing, the day of atonement arrived. It was that time of the year that the mackerel action nearshore was spectacular with fish on every cast and as many as you wanted. But that morning the winds were howling and sea conditions looked like the lead in to Victory at Sea —we weren’t going there, so the backwaters were our domain for the day.

It was a strong tide that morning and we started our trip working tipped jigs in the pass. Looking for pompano, we worked the mid range depths without a tad of luck —on the pompano that is. But we did have a terrific strike on every cast from tenacious ladyfish that were wall to wall in the flooding waters of the pass.

Now, since ladyfish were not table fare, the longer we went with the ladyfish action, the more antsy Dad became. This was not putting fish in the box and that’s what their fishing trips were all about.

So off we went to the backwaters and the wonderful world of snapper, sheepshead, redfish and drum et al. We went to the el primo spots; one’s that almost always produce especially on the incoming tide.

We fished our hearts out with just about every rig in the tackle box. We were coming up with nice catches of snapper and early season sheepshead —all of which were exactly an inch short of keeper size. It’s as if the fish knew.

The time was running on and Dad’s frustration grew. The boys, too, were tiring of the wimpy fight put up by what they now named “snaplets” and “lambheads”. Creative, huh?

We had gotten the same results on five good backwater spots when Dad and I had a heart to heart. “This is a tough fishing day, for whatever reason, and your table fare is probably going to be non existent. What say we salvage the day for the boys with some fun fishing?”

Dad reluctantly agreed —remember his definition of fishing success was a tub of filets; just having fun was not in his piscatorial vocabulary.

We announced to the kids that we were having a ladyfish contest. There would be a ten dollar prize for the most ladyfish caught and released and an equal prize for the biggest ladyfish.

And back to Capri Pass we went with a new excitement aboard and within minutes the first ladyfish was squirming and cavorting by the boat. We used small white jigs with just a speck of bait and the barb smushed down. Without the barb, the ladyfish pretty much released themselves boatside.

Dad was the scorekeeper and I was the baiter and unhooker when needed. The action was totally non-stop as the reels squealed. The fish were flying everywhere and Dad was trying to keep up with the accounting.

We even had a two minute warning as the contest came to a close and the winners were announced —as things usually go, the youngest of the three boys had won both prizes and sat there smiling like the Cheshire Cat as we headed for home.

There were no calls to the “Mrs.” with a fishing report that day. And even the cigar went unlit. But the real victory occurred as we made our farewells.

The oldest boy, as a spokesman for his siblings, blurted, “Captain, that’s the best time we ever had on a fishing trip! It was really fun! Can we do that the next time?”

“Sure, son! Be glad to set it up, if your Dad gives an OK.”

Just sort of looked at Dad, who nodded and asked directions to the closest fish market. He sensed that fishing would be just for fun from now on.

•••

Name: Atlantic Spadefish

In season: Usually found in warmer water; spring and summer.

Florida Regulations: None.

Habitat: Found backwater and nearshore. Moves in schools and can be sightfished especially in clear water. Gives a nice fight on light tackle. Mistakenly called an angelfish.

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Capt. Bill Walsh owns an established Marco Island charter fishing business and holds a current U.S. Coast Guard license. Send comments or questions to dawnpatrolcharters@compuserve.com.