Robin's Reports

9/2/06 It' Ain't Easy Being Green


I love Kermit the Frog, but that definitely is not what this post is about. Our family went fishing today, but we did not go catching. The fishing report is short. We only caught 4 bait fish - lost 1 to a kingfish that snapped a weakened wire. Lost 1 to a 7 ft shark. Lost another to ??. Never knew that we lost the 4th. Trolling seemed pointless, so Jack bottom fished on 8A (78.4 deg water) while I sabiki'd up some baby blk sea bass and an octopus (see pic). No keepers were caught. We had a nice ride home.


Ok...... that was the report, but here's the green story: Ernesto churned up the Atlantic so the water is what we call 'dirty'. We never saw pretty blue water and it definitely was not clean.
It was GREEN. Light green to dark green and everything inbetween. Green water equates to poor visibility and poor fishing. When we arrived back at the docks, a man asked how we did as he was trying to decide to fish on Sunday or not. We said, "Slow". He replied, "Everybody else said the same thing." Ahhh, there's comfort that it wasn't just us. We haven't come home skunked in several trips.

Secondly, not only was the water green, but it was 2-3 ft short wave period with a nice wind wave in there. That equates to my big boy turning green after having a few nice months of no seasickness. Oh I felt so badly for him. It is one of those helpless mommy moments. I must say that I had my fill of feeling green too, only without the relief of a good 'chumming of the waters'. Once a good case of seasickness gets into one's system, nothing will cure it but heading in to land. We were fortunate to have fished the 8A reef which is only 10 miles or so away from our Port. It was a quick trip back in by 1:30pm. Jack even took a small detour up the beach for a last scan for debris in hopes of catching a tripletail to fill the dinner plate.

The loading at the ramp wasn't bad for a holiday weekend. Sometimes it is good enough to cut your losses, save the gas and bait and head in before the crowds show up prior to the afternoon t-storms. (Btw, it is storming finally, at 6:15.) One man came up to Jack and told him that he was a lucky man (green with envy). Jack quickly replied that he knew that already. We talked for a few minutes with the man and his relatives about how his wife won't even get on the water much less go fishing or hook up the trailer. Poor woman! She doesn't know what fun she is missing.

I have one more part to this story but it has nothing to do with being green. For a short while, I shared a moment of time on top of the cuddy cabin with my 7 yo son. We sat looking at the beautiful spotted dolphins that came to say hello. Then, we were followed by a seagull for over several minutes. He has slept through the boring couple hours of 'nothing' and had woken up for the best parts of the trip - seeing the octopus, dolphin and seagull. I whispered in his ear that I was sorry that we got skunked today and he didn't get to fish. He quickly replied back to me, "Oh mommy, YOU didn't get skunked at all! You caught an octopus." Sometimes I've got to give up the dream of a tournament winning catch of a fish and see the simple beauty of the ocean like a 7yo. It humbled me and made me feel selfish for seeing this as any less of a trip than the times I come home with a huge cobia or personal best red snapper. He was right. I didn't get skunked. I was blessed with another day with my family, another safe day on the water and a chance to see something new in life.

Happy Fishing and Exploring the Ocean,
Robin