What sport have I never talked about? I think that may be the sport of fishing. Why not? Well, for starters, I don’t watch it on TV. Maybe this is because I’ve only been fishing one time in my whole life. Well, that would change on my son’s Spring Break this year, which is the main reason I’m playing catch up here. Let’s talk about fish.
The only time I went fishing was after freshman year in High School. My theology teacher, who just happened to go to the Church that I went to growing up, rewarded the top point getting students in each of his classes with a boat ride on Lake Michigan. I loved his class. We read the heck out of the Bible; he constantly quizzed us, gave us plenty of opportunities to get points. When he added them all up at the end of the year, I was tops in my class, which meant I was going fishing… for the first time in my life! I caught a salmon. Man, when I took that fish home, gave it to my dad, who wrapped that bad boy up in foil, and put it on the grill… one of the best fish meals I’ve ever had. Right from the lake, onto the grill, and into my stomach; it was delicious. That was it though… no mas… until now.
We went down to Florida for Spring Break, and spent the first half of it in the Keys. I had never been down to the Keys, so I was super excited; I wouldn’t be disappointed. We ate a lot of seafood, chilled by the pool, walked around Doral Street in Key West; great times. But we did have to do “something”… We talked about parasailing, jet skiing, and snorkeling, but ended up getting on a boat to go fishing; I couldn’t wait. This would be my son’s first time, and of course, my second. They drove about an hour and a half out there, before we dropped anchor. Problem is, we were riding through some bad weather, very windy, rainy… and although I’ve never been in the North Atlantic, I felt like that’s where we were… rough, rough ride. Half the boat was sick, including all of us; my son was turning green. Thankfully, he pushed through, and ended up catching his first fish; he was stoked… and then went back and laid down. We couldn’t keep the one he caught, just like the 5 or so that I caught; almost had a snapper that qualified, but nope… we didn’t come away with our lunch, and unfortunately, lost most of our breakfast overboard, which for me, included frosted donuts and a Corona…
It was an experience we’ll never forget, that’s for sure. I hope this won’t steer my son from going out again some day; not sure my wife will though… haha. We all couldn’t wait to be back on land, and decided against seafood for our lunch that day. We kept our feet on the ground the rest of the trip, but yeah… fishing… maybe I won’t wait 30+ years to do it again; after battling through the sickness, it was fun.
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