Deep Sea Fishing Before the Oil Shows Up.

     On May 6th, I decided to go Deep Sea Fishing. Why is now different then any other time? Well, on April 22, 2010 an oil rig in the gulf coast exploded and sank killing 11 people. However, the tragedy doesn't end there. It has been reported that hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil have been leaking from the site daily. The local paper and news outlets have talked about little else since that day. It's clear that with accident will turn out to be worse than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. It's the topic of every "water cooler" discussion and the look of worry and concern is evident in most faces down here on the Gulf Coast.

     While there are many things that one will be able to do to help after the oil hits our shores, there seems little I can do now. So I decided to "Enjoy it while it lasts" and take a fishing trip out into the gulf. The best part about the whole trip is just doing something with my Dad.

     It all starts out when I hit snooze on the alarm clock. 3am comes early to those that tossed and turned in bed till midnight. I needed to wake at 3am to be at Dad's by 4am, so we could be on the dock by 6am. For the record, there are VERY few things that can get me out of bed before 7am. I'm just not a morning person. I crawl to the shower and once that's over, I'm awake and ready to go. I had packed and set everything out the day before so things are a bit easier in my current state. After a quick breakfast I was out the door and down the road by 3:30am. Driving at 4am makes me almost wish I worked swing shift again. No traffic, no hassle, green lights the whole way.

     Once at my Dad's place, I am told that my bother-in-law Matt will be joining as well as Dave. (one of Dad's friends that I have always liked growing up but don't get to see often because he lives so far away.) This is good news and should make an already good trip great! But as time ticks by.. Matt hasn't made it yet. There is now some doubt as to if we where suppose to pick him up or if he was going to meet us here. So we decide to go pick him up.

     Pulling into his driveway Dave makes the comment "Doesn't seem to be a lot of activity in that house” and unless Matt is getting dressed with night vision goggles, I agree. Not a single light on in the house. Dad gets out and starts banging on doors and windows and returns to the car with the report. He simply states "Yep, Asleep” Now I don't know how they teach this to you in the military but I want to learn, because in about 90 seconds Matt steps into the car looking like it's 2 in the afternoon and just says "sorry, don’t know what happened to the alarm clock” Everyone just shrugs and off we go down the road, southbound to the gulf coast.

     At 5:45am we pull up to Zek's Landing and walk the docks till we find our chartered boat. "Annie Girl" is a 62 foot beast of a boat able to handle 38 guests plus crew. Today it will service only 6 of us, that is, if the last two make it. It's 6am on the nose and we are still missing the last two. We jump on board and the engines fire up. Two large diesel engines roar to life putting the low rumble in your chest that just signifies power. Matt (our CAT mechanic in the family) recognizes and is fully familiar with the engines on board. If it turns out that they both stop working at sea.. Matt could probably fix em both with just paper towels, duct tape and his pocket knife. After looking at the rest of the boat, I doubt this will be needed. This thing is gorgeous, clean, and classy. It looks like a million bucks. (Correction probably looks like closer to two million) Just as we start to step on board, the last two are quickly walking down the dock. They made it, we are ready to go.

     The plan is for us to fish about 30 miles off the coast. I spend the first 20 or so mins watching the water and waves fly by, but I soon realize it will take us a while to get there. As excited as I am.. the gentle rocking of the boat and my lack of sleep convince me to rest now and be awake later when it's time to fish. I'm not sure what happened first, my head hit the pillow or I fell asleep but I was quickly sleeping on one of the couches in the galley.

     I awake to the sound of the engines slowing. We must be close. The deck hands are already prepping the rods and bait as we walk out to the rear deck. A large rod and reel is place in my hands, rigged with 2 circular hooks rigged to a line and a decent size weight. The captain calls over the intercom “Try 60 feet.” Cut up squid is what we are using for bait. I drop the line and let it free fall into the depths of the water for 12 seconds. (About 10 feet per second) It takes about 6 seconds for something to hit that line and I start reeling it in. I wasn’t the only one. Several of us are pulling up a fish within seconds. As the fish breaks the water, I can see it’s a small red snapper. Disappointed, I pull the fish into the boat knowing it’s going right back over the side. Red Snapper is not in season for another month. Every one of those we catch today will go back. After 10 mins it is clear that all we are going to catch in this spot is red snapper, so we pull up the lines and head to a different spot.

     Somewhere between the first and second location the first mate does something I was dreading might happen. When checking out the boat I saw really nice speakers placed all over the boat, inside, outside on the deck, in the galley.. Everywhere. Now, I love music, and I like a lot of different types, but I wasn’t looking forward to listening to someone else’s music. I’d rather have none at all and just enjoy the water, sun and fish. The first song that comes on is a country song and my worst fear of this trip is now reality… listening to country music for the next 6 hours and nowhere to run away from it.

     I haven’t listened to country music since the end of high school. Music for me creates and retains memories. Strange as it sounds, I can tell you where, when and who I was with the last time I heard a given song.. every song no matter how long ago. I learned to use it as a memory trick when I was very young to memorize things I needed to remember. I would sing a song in my head, recount the things I needed to remember as I sung it, then recite the song later when I needed to remember whatever it was I needed to recall.

     I stopped listening to country music because I didn’t want to recall to the front of my memory what was going on the last time I heard those songs. Not that anything bad happened. That’s not really it. Hard to explain, but it’s like watching those times on a screen and.. well that was a long time ago with a different set of friends (that I miss) and people that I haven’t seen in over 18 years. It’s going to make me sad and miss them all over again.

     And it does. 2nd song is one I remember from those days, as is the 3rd and frankly ALL the rest of them too. But something happened that I didn’t expect. Instead of it making my sad, it makes me very happy. It was like flipping through your high school yearbook or photo album and saying “remember when we…” and smiling at the good memories. Yes.. Some of those songs still reminded me of a few sad days.. but most of them made me smile and I was reminded just how much I enjoyed country music. After the 6th song, I found myself hoping they don’t turn off the music or change it.. and they didn’t. Alan Jackson, George Strait, Brooks and Dunn, that whole time period of “good country” that came out in the 90’s was all they played and I loved it.

     At the second location things are better. We start pulling up Vermilion Snapper. These we can keep. Though they are small, they are plentiful and we soon have a dozen or more of these. We also catch a few Triggerfish. The Triggerfish generally taste better than anything else we are likely to catch today. After I have hauled in about 10 fish of my own, I drop my line back in only to be surprised by a large pull on my line. This is the strongest pull I’ve had all day and I know it’s something big. Two hands on the pole where not enough to safely keep it in my hands, so I brace the pole on the side of the boat along with my hip and let the fish fight a few moments. Letting the pole bend all the way down to the water, I’m still shocked at how strong this fish is. After fighting with it for a few mins I finally get it to the surface. It’s large, but it’s another red snapper. *sigh* It’s going back. It’s a great looking fish, probably 20 pounds or more. In a month it will get caught again and make someone really happy. After catching a few more under that size we head off to another location and catch more Tiggerfish and Vermilion Snapper, tossing back anything else.

     All too soon, it’s time to go back. 30 miles off shore takes us over an hour to get back. The captain expertly maneuvers the 62 foot ship into the slip. The fish are cleaned and flayed. We are complimented on our haul by the local fishermen and the meat is packed in ice for the trip home. I sure did enjoy the trip, had a lot of fun and have enough fish to enjoy at the dinner table for quite some time. I’m glad I had a chance to go and best of all, enjoy it with my father and brother-in-law.





Today's Three Tidbits:

The song stuck in my head today: "Who's Cheatin' Who" by Alan Jackson

The interesting person I met/worked with/interfaced with today: Nick, First Mate on the "Annie Girl"

The book I’m reading today: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (thanks Kit, I love it so far)