So, the customer calls and says "we're a family, two kids aged 6 and 9" the guide responds "no problem, kids are fun to fish with" however, the guide thinks "ok, I'm gonna spend a lotta time untangling lines, ducking flying hooks and if I'm really lucky, the kids will be able to cast far enuf to catch a fish". Well yesterday's charter included untangling and ducking (as most charters do) but it also included two of the sweetest and funniest kids I've ever met. We'll call them S & R (need to protect their identities as I was recently enlightened to the high level of internet child stalking that exists). S & R were ready for fishing, in fact, I felt like they merely tolerated the boat ride as the tedious means to the goal of fishing. It's the dog days of August, no wind, outgoing tide and as always, I'm hoping that the fish feel like being cooperative. I take us to "the spot", everybody is still in the practicing their casts stage of the morning, when R says "I see a feather, maybe that's a sign". We laugh, feather -ha, you need to see the whole bird... when ka-pow, R is hooked up to a nice size striper. Who knew that feathers floating on the water were "a sign". Next we drove around on the bar hoping to find fish balls but only found a lot of skates and pods of sand eels. I succombed to my "follow the leader" fallback position and headed back to where I could see my "friends" casting over one of the "no fish" zones. We call them "no fish" zones because they are where many of the "tourists" fish and who wants to be seen in the tourist zone. Well, one of my fishing mentors was in the "no fish" zone, so I followed. We got some strikes and follows but no hook-ups. Nevertheless, this boat ride was the beginning of the 10, 9, 8... blast-off method of travel where 6 year old S would position himself in a ball underneath the "seat" next to the trash bucket and enjoy the wind-free, low center of gravity comfort of a very cramped space. I guess that S was a bit like a dog that feels safe in its crate. We spent the rest of morning following signs such as feathers, horseshoe crabs, cleaning up the harbor of another errant piece of re-bar (a vestige of the up harbor aqua-culture grants) and when the tide finally changed we found a nice pod of mostly stripers with a few blues mixed in where we completed the "family slam" with every family member catching at least one fish all by themselves. It was a great day, especially when I overheard S asking his mother as they walked away from the ramp, couldn't they please go fishing with the "lady fishing guide" tomorrow as well.
PS: There was a "family" guide trip lesson learned which is no orange-potato chips on the boat. They really do leave quite a mess, sticky and stainy.
PPS: Note to Michael -you see now that the "mommy" fish really aren't around right now. At least I'm finding the juniors. Some say wait til next year and those juniors may become "mommies". We'll see.
PPS: Note to Jay, there were no bikini clad any-bodies on the whale boat that day at the ramp, you were hallucinating. Thanks for all your help!
