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Date: Black Cloud with a Silver Lining
Title: Sept 19
Date: 19 Sep 2005
Time: 15:16:40 -0400
Black Cloud with a Silver Lining Normally, with these Woods ‘N Water stories, I try and keep things light hearted with a how to tip if you read carefully. The stories are fun to write, for me, because they let me recount a great trip or happy time and, hopefully, that pleasant moment is reflected well in words so that you enjoy reading it. Frankly, when I’m writing, I imagine somebody taking a few minutes, in their plumbed single seat library, before going to a job they really don’t like and reading the ‘offshore adventure’. And if during that time, the words manage to catch them up in a good time and it brings a smile or a good thought then I was successful. This is the first time a story hasn’t bubbled out of my brain. For days I’ve been trying to think of something to write, but nothing comes to me. I know why. I am worried about things. The grouper closure coming this November and December, two excellent grouper fishing months, has me apprehensive as to what I’m going to do for an income during the closure. The simple answer is fish for a different fish, right? Sounds good but here’s the twist. Red snapper season closes in November and the pelagic fish like kingfish, Spanish mackerel and cobia are all exiting stage south. To boot, this has been a poor year for catching amberjack. I don’t foresee a brief fall appearance of AJ’s to help save the day either. Grouper and grunts are about all that is left to catch in the late fall and winter. Grouper are the ‘meat and potato’ fish for the charter business in this neck of the woods. If grouper aren’t apart of the offshore equation then most folks would rather not go. I understand that completely. If the closure would have happened in the summer there would have been other fish to play with or, here in Steinhatchee, scallop charters would to help make ends meet. The November and December closure shuts out many other options. Furthermore, the two months after the closure, January and February, aren’t much to look forward too. The grouper fishing can be fantastic in mid winter but weather is the problem. Cold fronts march through every seven to ten days. We lose better than half our charters due to poor weather and that is considerable when business isn’t that strong to begin with. It boils down to the two month closure being an effective four month shut down. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind if the closure occurred in January and February because it is cold and I really don’t want to go in the first place. Does anyone ever think about things like that or is haphazardness a kind of management plan I’ve never heard of? I’m bothered when something that affects so many people is poorly thought through. Unless you’re Amish, you’ve had to notice fuel prices have rocketed. The cost of fuel, combined with the reduced grouper bag limit have put fresh caught grouper at $100/pound. “Honey, I was going grouper fishing today but I changed my mind and bought this 72 inch plasma TV instead. I saved $763.13 based on what it would cost me to go fishing!” Last week I actually punched up another waypoint on the GPS, looked at the mileage to get there and thought that’s a $50 round trip. I don’t like thinking in those terms but it is real. The cost of conducting business must be passed on to the consumer. That means the price of charter fishing is going up. I don’t want to raise prices because I want the average Joe to be able to afford a day off and go fishing. I don’t want offshore fishing to be a sport for the wealthy. I’m bothered when simple things begin to fall out of the grasp of the average working American. On a positive note, yesterday I took a party offshore and we stumbled into a grouper rally that was so good I felt like I was fishing last week. You know the old adage “You should have been here last week, the fish were really biting”. Apparently, we had stepped back in time. Little B and I worked double time to keep up with the six anglers. Every bait let down morphed into a grouper within minutes of touching the bottom. It was somewhat of a relief when the limit was met. The moon was full, the tide was running hard, the seas were calm and the grouper were rowdy. It was a dream bite. The same thing happened with red and mango snapper. The first guy to put down a bait was reeling in a pretty red delight before the last guy was baited up. Red snapper were snapping up cut sardines on the bottom and mango snapper were picking off free lined baby pinfish off the stern. The trip was turning out to be a perfect day. Jeff said “the only thing that could make this any better is a big cobia”. Literally, within a minute a misidentified shark followed up a red snapper. Little B tossed a couple of handfuls of cut sardines into the water as I pitched a large pigfish amongst the chum. With the reel in free spool, I could feel with my thumb the wiggle of the pigfish. Wiggle, wiggle, fast wiggle, faster wiggle, frantic wiggle, panic, wide spread panic, and thump stillness. The line moved heavy, I put the reel in gear and set the hook into a railroad tie with a rocket booster. Line peeled off the reel at a goodly pace. John, to my left, somehow broke my focus. “Can I have it? Can I have it!? Oh, let me have it!!” I looked at him with a similar look only a women can make during child birth. The look that says I’m kind of busy with something at the moment that translates into all languages. But I saw his face beaded up with sweat, his eyes wild and wide open. His look was a cross between a severely constipated Basset hound and a serial killer. It unsettled me. “Here, you have the baby” and I handed him my pole. Fifteen minutes of smooth give and take and John lead the cobia to where Little B could stick it with the gaff. A great gaff shot right under the chin. The fish weighed out at 41 pounds. It was solid fish to end the day. I needed that big cobia, I needed that fish rally, I needed that crew and their kind words. It’s things like that that keep you going when the future seems a little dim. I’m thankful for the good times. I hope they keep on coming. Thanks for taking the time to read. Take care of yourself and your tackle. Capt B Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley. ANON