HOOKED ON FISHING
My Dad and I often fished from the gulf beaches in Florida. It was our habit to wade into the surf and cast our lures. On a calm day we could go in up to our waist. Once in the water our method was to side step as we cast. This meant that we could end up long distances from our starting point so it was impractical to take along additional rods or tackle boxes. My Dad wore a hat to which he appended extra lures and leaders. I wore cut off jeans and kept leaders in my pocket and an extra mirror lure hooked to the waist of my jeans. This is a mistake.
One calm day we arrived at the beach at first light. My Dad reached the water?s edge a few minutes ahead of me and saw, about a hundred yards down the beach, white water flashing where baitfish were trying to escape predators beneath. That?s where he went.
I was held up because I was rigging my new invention ? a mirror lure trailing a speck rig. A speck rig consists of two lightweight lures hanging eighteen inches apart. I had frequently caught two at a time with this rig. I reasoned that if I tied a speck rig to the gang hook at the tail of a heavier mirror lure I could not only cast farther but possibly catch three at a time. Not all of my ideas were brilliant when I was eighteen (nor yet) but surely this one was a winner.
Walking down to the water I saw bait fish erupt right in front of me. I waded in up to my waist and on my first cast got a hit. Then I got another hit and thought I felt a third. I could see fish flashing and knew they were Hardtail. Hardtail are small, inedible, and generally a nuisance. They are also fast and powerful and can be fun to catch if nothing else is happening. Better yet, more often than not, they manage to wiggle off your hook so you don?t have the bother of removing them.
In this instance, however, they did not unhook themselves. When I reeled them in I discovered that I had two on the speck rig and one on the mirror lure. Success! It didn?t matter that they were only Hardtail.
I stuck the rod under my right arm so that both hands were free to remove the fish. I grabbed the line and pulled the head of the mirror lure to my right hand. Then I used my left hand to remove the first fish from the hook. That was my objective anyway. The two fish hooked on the speck rig were still in the water and continuing to do battle. The combination of the fish thrashing around in the water and the fish flopping around on the mirror lure caused a hook on the mirror lure to suddenly and painfully go all the way through the webbing between the thumb and forefinger on my right hand. I let out a yelp and jerked and then let out another yelp as the mirror lure flipped around and two hooks went deep into the back of my hand. I had just graduated from Navy boot camp where I had been required to take an advanced course in the vocabulary and sentence structure of cursing. I was a poor student and did not master the language. Or so I thought. Having those three fish yanking those hooks around in my hand led me to discover that I had a full arsenal of ammunition and I let fly. The air turned blue, the sky darkened, lightening crashed, and thunder roared.
You won?t believe what happened next but I was there and can attest to it. All of the baitfish in the gulf moved in to surround me. With them they brought more Hardtail than had ever gathered in one place before. One of them grabbed the mirror lure that I had hooked into my jeans and tried to run off with it. Fortunately two prongs of a gang hook were jerked deep into my side and it couldn?t get away. Immediately I was distracted from the problems I was having with the hooks in my right hand. With my left hand I reached down to grab the thrashing fish at my side. I grabbed part fish and part lure. Two prongs of a gang hook sank deep into my palm. My left hand was now hooked to my side and to a thrashing fish. I wanted my Mama.
I turned and headed for the beach yelling to my Dad who was a hundred yards away. He turned and waved. I yelled again and he waved again. Finally he figured out that I wasn?t just being friendly and came running up the beach. He immediately took the fish off of the hooks. If you think that it was a relief to have those flopping fish removed you are correct. We walked back to the car and got the pliers. Dad said, ?Son, I don?t know where to start.? I convinced him that it wasn?t really important where he started. The important thing was to start. I was a bloody mess by the time he cut those barbs off and removed the hooks.
We walked down to the beach so I could wash away the blood. Instinctively my Dad picked up our rods and took them with us. I walked out and eased myself down into a sitting position and put my hands in the water. The saltwater immediately soothed my wounds in a manner that made me forget my previous problems.
Suddenly the water in front of us erupted. My Dad helped me rig my rod and we headed into the water. We caught some of the biggest specks either of us had ever caught.
I learned a good lesson that day. Big specks are a lot more fun to catch
than Hardtail.
My Dad and I often fished from the gulf beaches in Florida. It was our habit to wade into the surf and cast our lures. On a calm day we could go in up to our waist. Once in the water our method was to side step as we cast. This meant that we could end up long distances from our starting point so it was impractical to take along additional rods or tackle boxes. My Dad wore a hat to which he appended extra lures and leaders. I wore cut off jeans and kept leaders in my pocket and an extra mirror lure hooked to the waist of my jeans. This is a mistake.
One calm day we arrived at the beach at first light. My Dad reached the water?s edge a few minutes ahead of me and saw, about a hundred yards down the beach, white water flashing where baitfish were trying to escape predators beneath. That?s where he went.
I was held up because I was rigging my new invention ? a mirror lure trailing a speck rig. A speck rig consists of two lightweight lures hanging eighteen inches apart. I had frequently caught two at a time with this rig. I reasoned that if I tied a speck rig to the gang hook at the tail of a heavier mirror lure I could not only cast farther but possibly catch three at a time. Not all of my ideas were brilliant when I was eighteen (nor yet) but surely this one was a winner.
Walking down to the water I saw bait fish erupt right in front of me. I waded in up to my waist and on my first cast got a hit. Then I got another hit and thought I felt a third. I could see fish flashing and knew they were Hardtail. Hardtail are small, inedible, and generally a nuisance. They are also fast and powerful and can be fun to catch if nothing else is happening. Better yet, more often than not, they manage to wiggle off your hook so you don?t have the bother of removing them.
In this instance, however, they did not unhook themselves. When I reeled them in I discovered that I had two on the speck rig and one on the mirror lure. Success! It didn?t matter that they were only Hardtail.
I stuck the rod under my right arm so that both hands were free to remove the fish. I grabbed the line and pulled the head of the mirror lure to my right hand. Then I used my left hand to remove the first fish from the hook. That was my objective anyway. The two fish hooked on the speck rig were still in the water and continuing to do battle. The combination of the fish thrashing around in the water and the fish flopping around on the mirror lure caused a hook on the mirror lure to suddenly and painfully go all the way through the webbing between the thumb and forefinger on my right hand. I let out a yelp and jerked and then let out another yelp as the mirror lure flipped around and two hooks went deep into the back of my hand. I had just graduated from Navy boot camp where I had been required to take an advanced course in the vocabulary and sentence structure of cursing. I was a poor student and did not master the language. Or so I thought. Having those three fish yanking those hooks around in my hand led me to discover that I had a full arsenal of ammunition and I let fly. The air turned blue, the sky darkened, lightening crashed, and thunder roared.
You won?t believe what happened next but I was there and can attest to it. All of the baitfish in the gulf moved in to surround me. With them they brought more Hardtail than had ever gathered in one place before. One of them grabbed the mirror lure that I had hooked into my jeans and tried to run off with it. Fortunately two prongs of a gang hook were jerked deep into my side and it couldn?t get away. Immediately I was distracted from the problems I was having with the hooks in my right hand. With my left hand I reached down to grab the thrashing fish at my side. I grabbed part fish and part lure. Two prongs of a gang hook sank deep into my palm. My left hand was now hooked to my side and to a thrashing fish. I wanted my Mama.
I turned and headed for the beach yelling to my Dad who was a hundred yards away. He turned and waved. I yelled again and he waved again. Finally he figured out that I wasn?t just being friendly and came running up the beach. He immediately took the fish off of the hooks. If you think that it was a relief to have those flopping fish removed you are correct. We walked back to the car and got the pliers. Dad said, ?Son, I don?t know where to start.? I convinced him that it wasn?t really important where he started. The important thing was to start. I was a bloody mess by the time he cut those barbs off and removed the hooks.
We walked down to the beach so I could wash away the blood. Instinctively my Dad picked up our rods and took them with us. I walked out and eased myself down into a sitting position and put my hands in the water. The saltwater immediately soothed my wounds in a manner that made me forget my previous problems.
Suddenly the water in front of us erupted. My Dad helped me rig my rod and we headed into the water. We caught some of the biggest specks either of us had ever caught.
I learned a good lesson that day. Big specks are a lot more fun to catch
than Hardtail.
