The Fish Whisperer

This one isn’t about me, but about my husband. Since a friend and I were witness to it, both of us boobed, I figured it was ok to share here.
We head out on a beautiful south Florida day. No wind, no clouds. My first time fishing in the big pond. I was excited to say the least. We wound up trolling ourselves all the way to Bimini without so much as a bite. So much for a day of fishing.
How could I really complain though. The water was amazing and the company was grand. I announced as we approached the island that we would simply fish our way back home later. We spent the afternoon playing around Bimini and then packed up and began our journey home.
About 4 miles off the coast, we saw birds. Birds, I learned are my friends greatest friend when it comes to fishing. She gets all sorts of excited when she sees them. Especially when they are diving into the water. The funny thing is, they got me excited too because she shared with me her love for the diving birds. Diving birds = FISH! Lines out, we slowed down and suddenly we actually SEE dolphin. A whole school of them. Stop the boat, toss out the rest of the lines and we had fish on literally everywhere. There were only 3 of us on the boat BTW.
As fast as we could drop one line in, we were pulling another out of the water with a fish. They were small, but hell, I didn’t care, I was catching fish in the big pond. At one point, my friend and I each had fish on. Each holding a pole, my friend trying to net one of the two fish so we could get them in the boat when suddenly, a dolphin jumped into our boat. Yes. Right out of the water and onto the deck. My friend and I stopped in mid net and completely were baffled. “Holy crap, the fish are jumping INTO the boat” Until she noticed the line in the jumping fish’s mouth. This one belonged to my hub. Who was quietly fishing off the other side. We look over to see him, rod in hand, staring into the water trying to see under the boat. “Ummm babe, no need to look for it down there. We have it over here with us.”
That was a fishing story to beat all fishing stories. He not only caught them, he trained them to jump into the boat on their own. If only we had left the fish box open, the hard work would have taken care of itself.
Happy Fishing.

Shelah Davis
Head Chick in Charge
www.Queeniesplace.com
"where sarcasm and humor go hand in hand"


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CAPSIZE IT

My name is Zelda and I live in the Florida Keys, this day was a day to remember. A beautiful day down in the Keys as it is in Paradise. A couple of friends and myself set off to do a little dophin fishing. Out pretty far in the shipping lanes where we finally hooked a good one. I founght the dolphin for over an hour until I finally landed it and brought it into to the boat. A 48 pound bull dolphin tucked away in the fish box, one for the trophy wall.

Satisfied with the days catch, it was time to head back in and get cooking. Well as it sometimes happens we couldn't get the boat started, with all the distractions we never looked around us. Coming toward us was a freighter, we got on the radio and tried to call them. Then it was time to shoot some flares, well that didn't work, tried to shoot one across the bow as the freighter came closer and closer. Nothing was happening but all we knew was it was too late for them to turn the freighter now even if they did see us. Grabbed some life vests and put them on made our last frantic call to the coast guard. Jumping in the ocean and starting to swim as far away from the aproaching freighter as we could get.

Closer and closer we were screaming at them and didn't see anyone on deck as the freighter passed the boat so close that it capsized!!! I can tell you it was a scary sight, bad enough our legs were dangling with a couple thousand feet of water under us and now almost run over by a freighter, they wouldn't have even felt a little bump had they hit the boat. All the panic over with, all I could think about was my fish in the fish box, what can I do? I swam up under the boat and unlatched the fish box grabbing my prize dolphin, nearby was a life vest. I put the life vest on my fish so that we were all neatly floating and waiting for our Coast Guard rescuers.

After floating for over an hour the Coast Guard arrived to rescue us, coming over quickly thinking we had a child with us, but it was my fish in a life vest. The officer told us that they wouldn't be able to let me take the fish. I simply told them to forget it, because I am not loosing this fish after all that work, I will swim back. The officer called the boss and we all got rescued.

What happened to the frieghter, well the Coast Guard finally caught up with it in Lousiana, and there was nothing they could do to them. The boat, well the tow service came out and called it a salvage job, for 12 thousand dollars we could have it back. All I know is I have a beautiful trophy on my wall.

MY ROD LUCKY

This is not really a fishing story, but a story about a fishing rod. What you say! Well about 20 years ago I was living in Key Largo and just taking the boat out through Adams Cut, the water was very clear that day and I noticed something on the bottom. Jumping in to retrieve what happened to be a rod and reel. Not too crusty, I began using it, did a little bottom fishing and caught a few fish. After that day I named my rod Lucky.

Years passed and Lucky continued to perform well, the reels broke down and had to be replaced but Lucky was still intact. I went fishing with my husband and we got into a large school of dolphin, frantic as they are, so my husband became, we were fishing 2 and 3 rods at a time. I yelled to my husband "don't you dare use Lucky and put him down" The reason for this is Lucky has a short handle and will fly out of the rod holder. As soon as I could get the words out Lucky flew off the boat. I was too busy with fish on my line to throw my husband over-board, so we continued to fish. Pulling in our lines, fish on, fish on, pulling up the last line and discovered that the line seem to be tangled in another line. This was strange considering we were in over a thousand feet of water. Grabbing the other line and low and behold it was Lucky with a fish on. Gives a new name to Deep Sea Fishing.

Lucky went with me on a charter and since I wasn't really fishing we stood by and watched. A school of dolphin were now around the boat and my green anglers were having a problem. I told the guys you catch these fish with a booger, at the same time I picked up Lucky and threw the line in, no bait, no booger, fish on. Tell me that isn't Lucky.

To this day Lucky goes on all my fishing trips, my grandson Max is the one who uses Lucky now and he catches far more fish than anyone on the boat. I know that everyone has a favorite lure or rod you call Lucky, but mine really is.

HOOKED ON FISHING

Just another Mother-Daughter day, we head out on the boat, a perfectly beautiful day, but the fishing was not good. I got a call from my brother who was just coming out, I told him that we were heading in and would meet near Fowey Rocks. I told him that the fishing wasn't good, he simply asked if we had beer on the boat. My reply was "no we sure don't". At that point it was apparent to me that we couldn't possibly catch fish because we were missing a key element.

Meeting up with my brother, we approach each other and hand off the beers, both of us with our trolling lines behind us, his line was coming over the top of ours so I had to grab it to untangle it, at the same time he was trying to stop due to my dilemma, the problem with boats are they don't have brakes. Some how I got a hook in the top of my hand, as I was running across the deck I ran out of boat. What do I do? Well the choices were go swimming or pull the hook out of my hand, I took the hook out, with a swift yank, out it came. My daughter was freaked by the whole thing, since I always seem to get into a little jam every time we go out. Well all that out of the way, it was time to resume fishing, our last chance to catch something before going home.

Less than a minute passed my brother still looking on from his boat and our line starts screaming off. There must be something to that beer on the boat theory. Just like that thing with the bananas. All I know is we brought in a beautiful dolphin and happy with our catch we headed in for the day. My brother was not so happy, he told me that we took his fish! How does that work exactly. I reassured him that he did indeed catch something, it was me. That's bigger than anything he ever caught.

THE FLY GODDESS

Joni said...
I am so jealous! I was on the ocean for a Red Snapper Trip off the coast of Texas. The minute I couldn't see land, I was blowing chunks.I laid down for awhile and then got up trying to keep my focus on the horizon. It was a CHOPPY day Argh!I did manage to land one good sized snapper before blowing more chunks.7 hours out to sea and all I could do was sleep, but, I think I would do it again in a Heart beat.LOVE BIG FISH!Fly Goddess
June 9, 2008 8:37 PM

FISH ON AND ON AND ON AND.......

It started before the trip months before, my son Jason's college buddies were constantly making fun of him for hanging out with his mother all the time. So we invited the guys out for a trip we went to Bimini and slammed the fish over there. Lots of variety and good fun.

I get a phone call out of the blue that Doc and Pete would like to go fishing they were in town for a wedding and thought they would book a charter. They didn't mention their best friend Jason wasn't invited. Off we went without Jason, he was busy working that day. It was a holiday so there was a lot of boat traffic, we hooked one or two dolphin, every time we did this a load of boats came over, we were nearly run over twice. Doc said "My favorite number is 27", so we headed out to sea 27 miles off shore, to get away from the boaters that couldn't find their own fish. In the distance I noticed a couple of birds, I followed them with my eyes and noticed they were heading to another group of birds that were actively diving on the surface of the water, we dropped the trolling lines in passed through the area. FISH ON...from that point on we were bringing them in the boat. This was the last day that my commercial fishing licenses was valid. We were so exciting, I was using 3 rods at a time. The guys were on the other side of the boat doing what they could. After some time Doc asked for the net and Pete said "there is fish in it", the boat was covered in blood and the fish filled the boat to our shins. Other boats came by to try to steal the school, none successful. For two hours straight we brought in dolphin, finally exhausted and the fish box full, we left the school to keep growing. By the end of the trip FIIIIIIIIISH OOOOOOON was slow and slurred without any enthusiasum. By the time we got back to the house with our catch Jason was there, and he was pissed. Well, can't forget to mention that his college buddies never made fun of him again for fishing with his Mom.

MOTHERS DAY CELEBRATION

We have a special ritual every year on this day. It's the day for us to go fishing, Myself, daughter and the kids. This particular year the weather was just fantastic and like every other year, there are only a very few boats on the water. In Miami that's amazing, I figure all the guys are stuck home with their wives or taking their moms out to eat. That's why this is the perfect day to be on the water.

My daughter, Monica hadn't yet caught her big dolphin, it seems that both my children have this list, the fish they want to catch, they check it off one at a time. The list will get shorter for Monica this year. It seems like we were trolling for quite awhile, couldn't get out early, the 3 kids are hard to wake up and get ready, but they love it. Anyway, time passed and now lunch time was approaching, I stopped the boat so we could grab something to eat, the trolling lines behind us slack. Monica picked up a piece of cold fried chicken and without even taking her first bite the rod started screaming. Monica still had the piece of chicken in her mouth when she grabbed the rod. The line was still peeling off, I went ahead and pulled in the other line and Monica screamed for the fishing belt. I wrapped it around her and she placed the butt of the rod in. Had to take the chicken out of her mouth too.

Really couldn't tell what we had caught yet, but then a jump and we saw a pretty good sized dolphin. The fight was on, for some odd reason Monica thought she was bringing this fish in quickly. She said "Mom get the gaff", I laughed and said you have some time before we need that. Nearly an hour had passed and Monica was exhausted, finally the fish near the boat, I pulled it in the boat. Monica was so full of excitement for this was her biggest dolphin. Check that off the list.

The dolphin landed on the boat and as you know they bleed like crazy. The kids in the meantime were watching the whole event. The fish jumping around the back of the boat, while I am doing everything I can to get it under control I get slapped by its tail right on the inside of my thigh, ouch! Suddenly Max the youngest one starts crying, and Sam the older, starts to get sick. It never donned on us that the sight of all that blood would bother the kids. Sorry, about that guys.

We caught a few more fish but nothing as memorable as our Mother's Day catch. Till next year.