The One That Got Away

Grass Roots Essays

Date: March 06, 2008 at 22:36:47
From: Joey, [c-71-192-80-103.hsd1.ma.comcast.net]
Subject: The One That Got Away

There are an immence number of fish stories in the hearts an minds of all of us who love this way of life. It always seems like the stories of the ones that get away can be the most awe inspireing. There is something about the absoulute unknown about how big that fish we had really was. They are the true legends of the deep that were meant to stay there for one reason or another.
My father was the first person to show me into a world I would never leave and always strive to come back to. His one story of the one that got away was of a huge tuna and I asked him to tell it to me about a hundred times after he had told it to me the first time. I thought that maybe just maybe a time warp would have occured and on the time he told the story again he would have landed it. My eyes would grow every telling moment and I would feel the same disappointment at the end. He would too. I couldn't even think about what he was feeling but his eyes were sad and mystified when he finished....
It all began when a freind of his at the marina wanted my dad to go out with him on his boat to show him how to catch a tuna. My dad gladly accepted his invitation and also helped him prepare his tackle by dying his lines and making some leaders and basically gave the guy a rundown on the basics. A few days after they would depart the dock on this guys Egg Harborbor named the Fine Print out of Sciuate Harbor at dawn. They set up on the famed stellwagon bank and began chumming. The crew had no idea what to expect as they were according to dad not very seriuos fisherman besides himself and his brother Anthony. My uncle was more of a read the paper and jig cod kind of guy. But my dad was a fisherman everything about him his heart and insticts were all in the right spot. George the owner of the boat probaly was really excited to be able to begin his days tuna fishing.
At some point in the day they hooked up and the Crew elected to put a fourteen year old kid in the chair. He did not have a clue about what he was about to encounter. There on the other end of the line was a one of the most magnificant creatures to ever swim. An elusive refined predator with the prowess and power of no other fish. They had fought the fish for several hours and no one would even leave the flybridge because they were either afraid of the fish or maybe my dad who was working tirelessly to land this tuna by ordering the captain about where to steer and instructing the kid on how to fight this great fish. When the fish finally got up on the surface they had discovered it was being chased by two brown sharks and that further added to the fishes rambunxiousness. "The fish was totally bleeping crazy," Dad yelled excidedly. Dad said when he first saw the fish it was the biggest tuna he or anyone else had ever seen, he would stretch his arms out all the way to decribe the length of the dorsal fin. I would listen on in pure amazement. "That fish Joe would have been on the cover of sports illustrated,"he would say." "It would have shattered every record in the book!!" He would exclaim to further convince me. I beleived him.
After the fish had come up to the tramsom a few times dad could not get a gaff in him and he always said if he'd had one other guy on the boat wth experience they would have landed this monster, which he beleived to be 1400 pounds or more which broke the line on a trim tab.. Then there was a pause, and dad hoolered for the captain to get back on the ball and try for another one. Nobody wanted to do it. They wanted to go home. But dad had insisted becasuse he was a bulldog like that anyway. They had no choice. "You got to be there when the fish are there Joe," is what he would say. They were there that day and within fifteen minutes they hooked up again. This time my uncle was in the chair and they landed a 700 pound tuna in short order. My dad had breathed new life into the captain and crew except for himself who really was the only one who knew what they lost. I don't know what happened to The Fine Print or the kid who laid every bit of his might into that fish. I do know one thing for sure and that is that the birth of a great fish story occured on that boat almost thirty years ago and it will live on in my mind for eternity. I miss listening to that story and I miss it more than alot of great things my dad had to say but that one was epic.

Posted with TalkShop version 2.71-8

[Previous Message] [Next Message]

Follow Ups:

Re: The One That Got Away Joey 07-Mar-2008 14:22:45 (0)

Re: The One That Got Away ken 07-Mar-2008 09:57:03 (0)

[ Grass Roots Essays ] [ FAQ ]