In 1972, age 7: It looks like the fish got the best of me
on this day.
May/June 2019 GASPARILLA ISLAND 75
We all wore matching hot pink fishing shirts
with white tops, and our talented team member
Lynn made us all some great pink and white
polka-dotted hair bows. Of course we couldn’t
forget the “I Love Mom” anchor tattoos on our
forearms to complete the outfit, given to us all at
the Ladies Day party the evening before. Once
dressed and assembled on deck, we took a
photograph with our captain and headed out to
the Pass with the other 39 boats in the
tournament.
Think about it. That’s at least five people per
boat, equaling more than 200 people out fishing
in one small area for three straight hours. This
number does not even include the judge and
media boats, as well as their passengers. Pretty
crazy when you really count up the numbers in
your head, and see the small area we were fishing
in.
Heading out to the pass, the excitement began
to rise as we shared waves and hellos with the
other passing teams of ladies in their boats. Some
we knew, some we didn’t, but we all headed to
this famed spot to bring home the winning fish.
It was a fairly cloudy afternoon, which actually
made for perfect weather for our fishing trip. Not
too hot, not too cold, and no bright sun beating
down upon us. The boats all maneuvered around
the Pass to find their first spot, and the starting
buzzer sounded over the radio. The tournament
had begun.
First up at the chairs were myself and Lynn.
With two chairs and four ladies, we each took
turns rotating in clockwise sequence,
approximately 20 minutes per sitting so we each
would get a turn “at bat.” Seeing as all of us had
been out tarpon fishing in the past, the captain’s
lecture was pretty short on the “do’s and don’ts”
of tarpon fishing. Then it was lines in the water.
Captain Chad had quite an array of bait in his
wells for our trip, and chose to start us out with
some squirrelfish, a small baitfish caught in local
waters for fishing tarpon. I was impressed with
the captain’s choice of bait, for they seemed to
be the “squirreliest” squirrel fish I had ever fished
with. This gave me my first glimmer of hope.
Good, live, feisty bait to fish with. We would
certainly catch something with these little guys.
But as we four ladies rotated our way through
the two fishing chairs for the next two-plus
hours, it seemed as though even the liveliest of
bait fish did not do the trick. I think at one point
we tried a tarpon crab or two, but still no luck. We
had a nibble here and a nibble there, and Caroline
even brought up a small 12-inch grouper to which
we released, but by just before 7 p.m.
Still no tarpon for this team.
I admit, my expectations started to fade for
catching more and more with each turn at the chair,
and still no fish caught. Watching the boats around us
pulling in their fish, hearing over the radio of the fish
being caught, and watching the huge pods of tarpon
rolling all over the Pass right around us ... my hopes
were diminished and I started thinking that this might
not be the night, either.
But when fishing for tarpon or any other fish, I have
come to realize it’s still a fun time. So the
disappointment wasn’t all that catastrophic. We had
a good time taking turns fishing, a great captain who
was right on top of things, yummy food and
beverages (as always) and fun and crazy conversation
and laughs with my fellow anglers.
Then it came. My last chance in the chair ended up
being at about 6:55 p.m. We knew we wouldn’t each
get a full 20 minutes in the chair this time around,
because the tournament stopped at 7:30 p.m. We
had to decide who the last two ladies would be to
fish. My co-workers, the sweethearts they are, said I
had to occupy one of the chairs. Lynn took the other.
The captain came and baited our lines and in the
water they went.