Fishing.........

I love to go on fishing trips, but I do not necessarily think its a waste of time nor do I get upset if I catch nothing. I view fishing as a chance to get outdoors on the water for a few hours of respite. Its a great way to relax and just talk with your partner. I never go fishing alone. When Dad was alive, we would take out our licenses and fish every summer at Round Lake in Orange County. We rarely caught anything except maybe a Brown Trout or Sunnys and maybe a Perch or two. It was great just to sit back and relax and catch up with him.

One summer we were fishing at Rockland Lake and Dad caught a Sunny ( a tiny one) He pulled it out of the water holding the line and gave the poor fish a "Oh Good Grief", kind of look. As he was getting ready to toss him back, a fellow from another boat asked us how the fishing was. Dad, held up the Sunny no bigger than the palm of his hand and said not a word. The guy just started laughing and said "Well, fish is fish!" I've never forgotten that. Another time, we went fishing with my daughter Angela. Her fishing outfit consisted of coveralls, sandals and a NY Yankees baseball cap. She caught a Sunny. I wanted to take a photo of her with the Sunny. She held the line with the poor fish dangling like a Christmas tree ornament. As I snapped the photo, the Sunny wiggled and Angela screamed, nearly jumping over the side. It really startled Dad whom I thought was going to have a heart attack.

Another fishing excursion I particularly remember was on a party boat with a bunch of guys from work at the IBM Building. We brought tons of food and cases upon cases of beer. I don't think we caught a thing but we sure had a blast.

The last time I went fishing was the summer my oldest son got married. He and I went on a party boat out of Captree. Now, I never win anything. I am usually very unlucky that way. When we shoved off, if you wanted to be elible to win a prize for the biggest fish, you contributed to a piece of the pot. I did for the heck of it thinking, "that's money I'll never see again." Some time later we cut engines and drifted. Everyone threw their lines overboard and within minutes I caught a huge, huge Fluke. It turned out to be the biggest fish of the day and I won the pot and a hat from the Fishing boat. That was another beautiful day; out with my son in the sun....And we were fishing pretty close to Fire Island Light House which was my last duty station in the Coast Guard.

So I love fshing but really I love the cammaradery that accompanies it and the outdoors, sea sir, sun ,etc. better.