So… I ran into an old friend down at the Cove Inn Coffee Shoppe last month. “Old friend” meaning that I’ve known him for a really really long time and he ain’t getting’ no younger! That place is one of the few in town that hasn’t changed a lick in 50 years. I had other business that day, so we didn’t chat too long. But the visit sure brought back a lot of memories. I thought about fishing back in the day with the neighborhood kids. And, then… I thought about fishing today.
When I get ready for a trip on the water these days, it starts with a visit to myfwc.com to see what’s legal to catch and keep this month. You know – what’s in season, bag limits, slot sizes, measure by fork or by tail? Little details that can get your boat confiscated if you don’t know them. The little plastic placards don’t work anymore, because it seems that every time the Commissioners meet, regulations change. It’s best just to go to the web, and get the latest info. But I digress… What are we going fishing for? How many people are coming? Are we inshore or offshore? Artificial lures or live bait? Are we bottom fishing? Trolling the new reefs? Do I need a bait bucket, a cast net, or a fresh supply of subiki’s? What about circle hooks, bait rods, beach rods, boat rods, trolling rods, and “Big Ugly” for when the goliath grouper come around? Seems like it’s three or four trips from the truck to the boat at each end of the trip!
The memories triggered by running into Mo at the Coffee Shoppe included jumping on my bike as a kid, and riding down to the beach at sun-up with nothing more than my Hurricane spinning rod and a box of snitch hooks in the pocket of my cut-off blue jeans.
I could tell what the water was going to be like by the way the wind felt on my face as I headed west on my old Schwinn Stingray with the Troxell seat. I always hoped for one of those “glassy” days where the sky and the water were indistinguishable on the horizon. Clouds of bait lined the beaches and the sand would be deserted.
You walked out into the water about shin deep, as the sun was clearing the horizon, and lobbed the bare snitch hook out into a bait cloud. The clear water was warm on your skin and the bait would scatter around where the hook landed. You waited until the hole around your line closed back up again, and gave a swift tug. 90% of the time, you had a struggling shiner on the hook. Bring it in, and cast it out past the bait cloud, and “whammo!” Might be a snook, a big jack, a trout, or – heck – anything! Most days we could catch more Spanish mackeral than we could carry back home. No special rigs, no fancy lures, no tackle bag to lug up the beach. Just “fishin!”
Times sure have changed. I tell those old stories to kids these days and they look at me the way I used to look at my elders talking about walking to and from school, up-hill both ways, in the snow – all year long! As “beach rats”, we came up during a special time – no mall, no video games, very few condos on the beach. We had little league, the beach, and the woods. And that’s all we needed.
I know there will be a few folks reading this article who’ll remember a day or two themselves – standing in the warm surf, casting a snitch-hook out into the Gulf at sunrise – in a much simpler Naples.
Captain Jim Kalvin is a Florida native, a USCG Licensed 100 Ton Master, a local marine contractor, and a grass-roots advocate for recreational boaters. He is available to speak to your group on a variety of boating topics – he can be reached at 239-280-6054, or by emailing james.kalvin61@gmail.com .