Story 1: The one that got away

I have visited Key West, Florida many times times. It’s a great place to get drunk, indulge in anything with a key lime, visit Hemingway’s haunts, and watch amazing sunsets. It also has some terrific fishing. A few years ago, my brother Bruce and I went there with some former girlfriends.  After a day of drinks and snorkeling off a catamaran, we decided it was time to try our luck at catching dinner.

Jackie Mason once said there is no bigger schmuck than a Jew on a boat. Well, there were four of us now trying to prove him wrong. In the past, when my brother and I were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, we had once attempted to obtain a meal by fishing from the shore, but it was to no avail. After catching our lines on rocks a few times we simply gave up. This time we were going to get it right.

Things started to get interesting from the start of the fishing trip. We were in the back of the boat watching another passenger fight it out with a fish.  The fisherman fought hard, the deckhand gave directions, and suddenly a fish came onto the deck, or should I say half a fish. 

“That’s a barracuda.” Someone exclaimed.

There was no mistaking the fish with several rows of sharp teeth. Apparently, something bigger than the barracuda probably a shark had bitten it in half while it was on the line. 

“That’s why we all need to keep trying,”  Bruce remarked.   “Because that one’s only good for 1/2 a sandwich.”

So try we did. In the end, we were successful in catching a few groupers.  What was great was that if you brought any fish back to the dock, a local restaurant would cook it up for you. When we returned to shore, my brother went to get his fish from the pile.

Bruce started to pick up his catch when all of a sudden he felt something pulling back. Looking up at him was a large white pelican with beady blood-red eyes holding half of the fish in it’s gaping mouth. Bruce however (Much like a Hobbit) never misses a meal and was undeterred. He was absolutely not going to let his lunch get away, and thus began a vicious tug of war with the bird, or as I like to call it, “The war at the Florida shore.”

Back and forth they went. Bruce would pull with all his might as if it was his last meal, but the pelican pulled back relentlessly. This went on for what seemed like an hour, but finally, Bruce sighed and decided it wasn’t worth it and let the fish go. The pelican smiled in it’s own way, swallowed the fish whole, and flew away into one of those beautiful Key West sunsets. 

Bruce looked disappointed or maybe just famished, so to make it up for his setback, I shared my catch with him and our two female friends.  Over dinner I remarked, “I guess there are plenty of fish in the sea after all.” and with that we all laughed and dug in.  

Life Lesson 1:  It’s often been said that,”Give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish he’ll eat for a lifetime.” I would like to add that struggling to get a fish can make you strong or teach you too, and that a man who has good supportive friends during challenging times will probably never starve either. Unless he bites off more than he can chew.