BOYS BECOMING MEN

ABOUT THE TRIP

Every now and then we get the chance to host young adults and children on one of our charters.  I must admit that I find myself looking forward to those trips because, well, kids say the darnedest things.  Often the youngest members of the party are content with catching a smallish fish (a pinfish will do just fine) and watching it swim around in a bucket of water for much of the day before releasing it back into the wild.  The adults then become relatively free to attend to their own fishing while keeping one eye on the young developing ichthyologist.

But not so on a recent trip. On this particular outing we had a group of 4 kids under the age of 12 with a couple of fathers in tow.  As it turns out, the trip was the brainchild of the youngest member of the party at 5 years old.  Apparently, he told his father that he wanted to catch a grouper and so the trip was on.  Cousins were invited and suitable day “before the beginning of baseball season” was chosen for the outing.

And what a hoot the outing was.  The boys, all 4 of them, were well behaved and focused on the task at hand.  On the first drop we caught a grouper.  Same with the second third and so on.  Now when describing these trips with young anglers, we tend to focus on the number of fish caught and the species.  Size, not so much.  But any time you get a combination of red and gag groupers coming over the rail it can be said that a good time was had by all without any exaggeration.

As sometimes happens, the hot grouper bite slowed down after a while and we moved to a couple of different spots with mixed results.  So, back to the original spot on the way home and…..the sabikis came out.  Yep, those little bait catching rigs that are often the cause of so much physical and mental pain for even the most experienced anglers were called upon to be part of the grand finale for the day.  It is often said that you can’t help but laugh when you hear a baby laugh.  Well let me tell you, you cannot help but smile when you see the big smile on a 8-year-old’s face when he brings 4 or 5 fish at time onto the boat.  And all 4 of them got it done.  It just gets no better than that.

LESSONS LEARNED

The Coast Guard has strict rules about life jackets and children.  PFDs (personal flotation devices) must be worn by children on a boat that is underway.  We are required to carry the offshore PFDs classified as Type I and we needed four child sized PFDs that day.  Because the fathers were diligent, they let me know ahead of time so that I could be prepared and, consequently, did not have to delay the trip for a trip home to collect the appropriate gear.  Because our guests were wearing not just life jackets, but the right life jackets, we were able to smile and wave at the Coast Guard vessel we passed on the way in.  Otherwise we would have found ourselves trying to explain, in vain, why we were not following the rules.  Especially rules meant to ensure the safety of our youngest passengers.

ON THE HORIZON

The grouper and snapper activity has been good lately.  True, there has not been much fishing pressure on them because of the windy weather, but recent activity bodes well for the spring season.  The lack of a devastating red tide bloom in recent months should also contribute to an outstanding bite as the waters warm over the next several months.