Several years ago, on a family vacation to the beach in the Gulf of Mexico, I joined my husband for a pleasure ride in his newly purchased rather used ocean fishing boat. He and some other family members jointly purchased a 24-foot center console fishing boat.
The boat would normally reside closer to the Atlantic coast but we were graced with taking her out for his first voyage with her in the beautiful Gulf waters. At this point in time, I had not yet been bitten by the fishing bug and enjoyed sitting on the beach while my husband enjoyed fishing.
On the last day of our trip, my husband offered to take me for a short pleasure ride in our newly purchased boat. I love to boat ride even in our local lakes but a boat ride in the ocean seemed even more appealing.
So, we got up early in the morning, swung by the drive thru for a sausage biscuit and headed on down to the boat ramp.
Once we launched the boat, we cruised down the bay slowly where we could enjoy the glistening waters and watch and listen to the sounds of sea gulls.
I noticed that my husband seemed to be passing the time of the slow ride with a few casts around the boat docks. He was catching some kind of small fish which he saved in the live well. It was then that I realized I had been hoodwinked—he was planning to fish and not just take a joy ride.
My husband is an avid fisherman and rarely gets close to a body of water without throwing at least a few casts.
So, this didn’t come as a big surprise. Once he caught a sufficient amount of bait fish, we headed out to his favorite fishing spot of the week, a few miles off the coast. It was a nice choppy ride out there but the temperature was warm so the wind from the ride was nice.
One thing I like about riding is the breeze. I’m a little heat sensitive when we’re sitting still.
Now, I was thinking this trip was going to be a couple of hours. Four hours into the trip and the last two and half hours spent sitting still in the heat, I am ready to go.
Only one problem, my husband has still not caught the BIG ONE! Well, I try to handle my troubles, even the small ones, by prayer. Therefore, I threw up a prayer that he would hurry up and catch a fish that would meet the criteria of the BIG ONE!
My husband hands me his rod to hold while he baits another rod that he is going to cast off the back of the boat. While I am holding the rod, I feel a big tug on the line! A tug big enough to lunge me forward!
I thought I was going into the water but my husband grabbed his arm around my waist to hold me in the boat while holding the end of the rod with his other arm. The rod was bent down into the water and I could barely crack it to wind it in, this had to be the BIG ONE! I wouldn’t let my husband help me wind it because this was going to be my catch!
Finally, I reel it in close enough to the boat for us to see, it’s a 3-and-a-half, maybe a four-foot Shark! I heard my husband say cut the line!
Now, if we were on the beach and someone hollered ‘shark,’ I would be the first one out of the water. But, something in my brain went haywire because I didn’t want to cut the line. This was my catch!
Of course, I was going to expect my husband to get him off the line and I really wasn’t thinking about his teeth. Well, the line broke and he got away before we were able to come to an agreement to cut the line. In hindsight this was, no doubt, for the best.
It was the adrenaline rush of this catch that caused me to get bit by the fishing bug. We have since gone deep sea fishing and thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of the catch together.