aging fisherman

Getting old with Fishing addiction I’m not that old yet – pushing 60 is not that old. However, it won’t ever get confused with being young – even to most older folks. Being married during this aging process makes the whole experience much more bearable. There are hiccups that should be avoided however. A few years ago, I was on one of the open party boats out of Port San Luis. We were fishing somewhere around Diablo – when I started to get uncomfortable. I don’t usually get seasick – so I didn’t know what the hell it was. As time went on, I got progressively more uncomfortable – and the sensation started to switch to pain. Pain in the lower abdomen. A short while later, I curled up in a fetal position and couldn’t move. Captain Sal called PSL Harbor Patrol – who promptly came out in their overpowered inflatable and picked me up. Back at PSL – an ambulance was waiting for me. This is the first time I had ever ridden in an ambulance. At the hospital, they found out I was passing a kidney stone. Had no idea passing a kidney stone could be this debilitating – and painful. My wife Pam comes into the ER and what’s the first thing I say to her? ‘Honey, I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to go fishing anymore!!!’. As the undaunted king of afterthought, I have had many regrets about that one. More recently, I have suffered torn retinas in both eyes. Until recently, a ‘floater’ was something I saw in the toilet. Well, a few months ago, the ophthalmologist found a torn retina and floaters in my left eye - now I am the proud owner of a right eye with ‘floaters’. The ophthalmologist says it is a relatively common occurrence – as we get older. What next? The recent movie – ‘The Bucket List’ makes more and more sense as I get older. The part where Jack Nicholson’s character says – ‘There are three things you learn as you get older – never trust a fart, never waste a hardon and never pass up a bathroom’. Well, the question of trusting gas as gaseous without solids is not as age-related as all of that. I am convinced most if not all folks shit their pants. They just don’t all admit to it. I freely admit to it now. So, really it is the admitting part that is related to age – not the shitting your pants part. Doesn’t seem that long ago, that I would wake up in the middle of the night with a piss-hardon and dang if I could bend it to be able to pee in the toilet. I would end up peeing in the shower – that way, I wouldn’t have to wait for eventual pliability. Now, despite the condition – it is pliable enough to bend in a downward direction. And yes, if there is an available bathroom – I ask myself more than once, ‘do I need to go?’. And more times than not, I go in anyway – you know, the ‘hearing water makes you want to go’ thing – and somehow, the proximity makes me want to go anyway. So what does all this have to do with fishing? Not much I guess. I just repowered my boat with a nice Honda outboard – and here I sit, in front of the computer typing this….not able to go because I just had surgery to repair my second retinal tear. Joy.

Barge fishing in the late 60's, early 70's

There's not much for barge fishing these days. Matter of fact, there may not be any left....that I know of anyway. When I first started fishing in California in 1963 there was a lot of barges. My dad used to take me to Malibu Pier to fish. I remember being envious of the guys with long rods that used to fish for halibut. My tackle was an outfit from Thrifty drug store. A Roddy combo sufficient to catch perch. In fishing from the pier, I would hear the announcement over the PA - 'the Way We Goooo!' I think that was the name of the ferry boat taking anglers out to the barge - 'Star of Malibu'. After telling my dad how much I just had to go fishing on the barge - he took me out there. While I don't have any detailed memories of the fishing, I do remember hooking large bonito. By the time I went to the barge - I had a Tuna King rod and an Optimo reel. Thrifty Drug Store used to carry fishing stuff - the line was this bright blue line. I wish I had pictures. I used to also go to Payne's Sporting Goods on Redondo Beach Boulevard. There was a guy named Jerry working there that fished everywhere. I also used to go to Yo's. All via a skateboard I made in Mr. Creasy's wood shop at Peary Junior High School. By the late 60's I was fishing a lot. At Pierpoint Landing, there was a barge tied up at the end of the docks - 'Davey's Locker' or something like that. Matter of fact, I think it was parked by Dearden's Fish Market. Lots of tomcod and bonito, and lots of fun. I also fished a lot in King Harbor (Redondo Beach) - riding my Schwinn Stingray from Gardena. The bonito fishing was awesome in the harbor. I'm almost positive there were three (3) barges you can fish from Redondo. The Sacramento, California and danged if I can remember the third one. There were two ferry boats taking anglers to and between the barges - Cutty Sark and Voyager. I think the Voyager is still at Redondo. Fishing on the bottom you could catch these slimy icky things called black cod. Man, if I only knew. I love eating those things today. Quite the delicacy. The Sacramento was the nicest barge - I think it was a converted gambling ship - so there was lots of shady areas to fish from. The other two were all open - so on hot days, you got cooked. I didn't really catch anything particularly interesting - bonito, mackeral, various rockfish. I remember hearing about bluefin tuna being caught - but never saw one. The only tuna I saw were on the half day boats out of Redondo. That was a lot of fun. Barge fishing was fun - but once I discovered fishing from open party boats, I did not fish much from barges. I think there were a lot of barges to the south - Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and even further south. I recently got a book describing barge fishing in California. I think I caught the tail end of this type of fishing. I wonder how they would do now?

Another long trip for the books

It's been a few weeks, but I had the privilege of going on another long trip. I finally got to go fishing with my old friend Brian, on his boat American Angler. The boat was as described by Randy on the Star. It was identical - sans a few details. There are no heads downstairs. I don't know why I wake up multiple times to pee when I'm on a boat. Doesn't happen when I'm at home - only on the boats. I have to think about that one. At any rate, the lack of a bathroom downstairs was a thorn. I am relatively convinced that at least some of the passengers pee in the sink. I find it hard to believe I am the center of the universe on this issue - and so the next time I am on this boat, into the sink it's going to go. The weather stunk the whole trip. The way down was only reasonable because we were going with the weather. The only reasonable weather was when we were in the anchorage area of Clarion - for dinner and sleep, and the last two days of travel before we were back at the dock. The fishing in the zone was in lumpy weather. But the fishing was good. We had four and a half days to fish - this was a 12 day trip. Once we dialed in the big fish bite to be around 4 in the morning - I promptly hooked one big fish each morning. I hooked four - and handed off one. I put three big fish in the holds - along with another seven from 100 to 160 lbs., along with a couple of hoo. Good fishing. I now have twelve big fish for the last three trips. The odds are now stacked against me for big fish on future trips. I cannot possibly keep catching big fish at this rate. 4, 5 and 3. Wow. The crew was awesome. As I suspected, Brian had assembled the best crew. Nobody had to tell any of them to do anything. They all knew exactly what to do. Every night at dinner, Brian would give everyone an update on what the fleet was doing. Brian turned into one of the deckhands whenever we were fishing. The only time he was a captain was when he was running the boat to and from the fishing zone. My partner Mark did not go on this trip. But I am certain he would have agreed that the experience would have been one of the better ones. Henceforth, I think the long trips are now down to two boats - Star and the Angler. At some point, I would like to go on the Excel and Indy. But until they get their RSW fish dialed in, it will be tough going on the big boats. By chance, I shared the stateroom with an old friend, Tom. Tom was a deckhand working with Brian about the same time I was working on the Mustang. Tom had gotten off the boats - and established himself at a very prominent BMW dealership and is doing well. He's been going on one long trip a year - similar to what I'm doing. The only thing missing - was a big fish (200+ lber). I was fortunate enough to be able to help him reach that goal. Should have seen his face. He couldn't stop staring at the fish - nor could he wipe the smile off his face. Classic. I'll write a more detailed report later on this trip.