They call it “fishing” , and not “catching” for a reason….probably to do with my meager skill set, something I’m sure I share with the majority of folks that go fishing.

Tides, sun, moon, stars, solunar tables, proper color, match the hatch, proper presentation, water temperature, the list goes on and on for the things that affect if you are going to eat some blackened fish, or some Taco Bell…

But every once in a while, you get it all right….

You can be elbow-to-elbow with other fisherman, and yet for some reason, only YOU are catching them. Or, no matter what bait you throw in, you catch a fish, or better still, you limit out in a matter of minutes, leaving PLENTY of time to run it in your fishing buddies’ faces that you can go home now, you’ve limited out.

I’ve had a LOT of days where I get skunked. But sometimes I have my shining moment of glory…

Not long after moving to Florida, and having discovered snook fishing, while I lived in an efficiency apartment (close to the ocean) with a girlfriend, I made a promise to myself to fish every night of the fall snook season.

Some night’s I only put in 20 minutes. Other nights, I’d fish for 4-5 hours, getting only a couple hours of sleep before work. Most nights a I got skunked. But there was this one night….

I was one of about 25 people fishing the catwalk under the bridge at the Jensen Beach Causeway, now since remodeled and FAR different to fish. Nobody was catching mush of anything, nothing new, I’ve seen it many nights before. A few casts in, I caught my first snook. Sweet! Undersized, or “short”, as we called it. Releasing it, a few asts later, I caught a second. This continued for me for almost two hours. Every few casts, I hook a fish, each just short of legal, at the time 24 inches, but fun none the less. Nobody else catching anything. The stars were aligned and shining on me alone!

At one point, I had just hooked another and brought it over the rail, I had to step out of position to get the fish unhooked. Turning my back on the spot, a guy smoking an obnoxious cigar stepped over and took my place. Bad form!

But not missing a beat, I moved to where he was just fishing, and on the second cast, hooked and landed yet another fish. Looking at the spot-stealer, I held up the fish and said “Looks like they are here too!” Hey left less than ten minutes later 🙂

I caught 28 snook that night. Of them, the 26th fish was a legal fish, part of the reason I left not long after (FHB Tip # 5, remember?). It was a very memorable night. But there were probably 2 skunked nights for every fish I caught that one night over the rest of that season. Putting in the time teaches you many things, humility and patience among them. Well, at least patience….

Some of my better fishing days have been captured in photos. I’m hoping to add to these, sooner rather than later, because as therapeutic as fishing can be, catching is better!

Here’s to hoping I have more good pictures tomorrow…

Peace

db