Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
I was looking through the social media pages tonight and I saw that my good friend Jenn went fishing with her family and some friends for her birthday. Apparently the fish didn’t realize it was her birthday and failed to come to the party. Jenn didn’t focus on that though. Her post was about good music, laughter, tasty eats (and drinks!) and sharing the day with her favorite people out on the ocean. She topped the night off at Micky Fins for a birthday dinner (even more tasty eats and drinks!!). That’s a pretty darned good birthday if I do say so myself.
Her post made me think about some other days on the water that were memorable, even if the fishing, or catching, wasn’t up to par.
About thirteen years ago I was fishing with my wife Jen and my buddy Robby. It was Christmas time and the rockfish had been biting like crazy, maybe a mile off the beach. There was a ton of bait out there and the marine mammals were patrolling the coast to capitalize on the situation. If you could find the baitfish you would find the rockfish. One of the easiest ways to find the baitfish was to look for the telltale spouting of the whales that were feeding on them. Robby and I had been out several days that week and we had loaded up on stripers using that exact technique. My wife is a school teacher, and school had just let out for the holiday, so this particular day was her first shot at catching some Christmas rockfish. As luck would have it, the bait, the whales and the rock were all MIA. It was cold and we were ready to call it quits. Then Robby spied a whale. I was in the bow of his boat and Jen was sitting next to him at the helm. Let me tell you this, Robby is one heck of a boat handler and he ain’t afraid to put the coals to it, especially when a fish is involved. We took off at darn near full throttle heading towards the spot where he saw the whale. When we arrived at the spot a few minutes later there was a slick on the water but the whale was nowhere to be seen. Robby slowed the boat down and he and I were scanning the water in front of us looking for the whale. Then I heard the scream. It was a noise I had never heard come out of my wife before. I turned around in time to see her climbing up Robby’s back while still screaming. She found the whale. Its tail was going back into the water about ten feet off the side of the boat. Forty or so feet of whale had rolled on the surface right next to our 18 foot boat. When the tail hit the water it rocked the boat. I don’t think we ever caught a rockfish that day, but I will never forget that banshee like scream or the look on Jen’s face as that tail was going back into the water. I guess I won’t forget the look on Robby’s face either as my wife was climbing him like a tree!
Then there was the time my old mate Joey came down to Venezuela to fish with me for a week. The marlin fishing had been pretty good that particular week, but the night time marina drinking was even better. Anniversario Rum was more than affordable at around six bucks per bottle and there was definitely no shortage of it being consumed on a nightly basis. I am thinking it was probably the third night of Joey being there when I heard him having a drunken Spanglish conversation with my Venezuelan crew member Gigi. Let me tell you this, Joey is a character when he is sober. Add some alcohol to him and he is a walking, breathing comedy store. He was very animatedly explaining to Gigi that it didn’t matter how many marlin we were catching each day. He wanted to catch Pez Espada! (swordfish). After listening to Joey brag about his swordfishing prowess for about a half hour, Gigi was drunk enough to agree to take Joey on a night time sword hunt in our ten foot inflatable tender. They took a rod and reel, a squid, and a bottle of rum and set off out of the harbor at Casa Margullia. For those of you not familiar with Venezuela, it is a rough water fishery. The swell really rolls in the cut coming into the harbor. The swordfishing grounds are about twenty miles from the harbor, and Gigi was driving that little inflatable tender like Robby chasing a whale. I am not sure how far they got. I could barely hear the whine of the outboard motor as the boat launched through the waves, but I could hear Joey yelling, “NO MAS PEZ ESPADA!!!” A few minutes later they were back at Casa Margullia. The rod and reel and the squid bait were put away. And Joey was putting away more Anniversario!
There is just something about wetting a line. Chasing a fish. Riding in a boat. Hiding from a whale or holding on for dear life when chasing swordfish in the dark. Just like my friend Jenn having a great birthday with good music and company. The world becomes a little bit of a better place.
I am thinking more people need to wet a line right now. Get some salt air in their lungs. Maybe head to the local pond and harass the bass and the turtles. Heck with it, grab a bottle of rum and go off looking for the Loch Ness Monster even (well in this area I guess Chessie is more likely).
The world is a crazy place at the moment. Stay safe out there my friends. Enjoy good company and be thankful for the little things. Even if the fish don’t bite…
