Capt. JJ
12-12-2020, 08:04 PM
Hi folks...been a long time since Ive had anything to report in Mongerville, but finally, after several years of doing anything-but-fishing, it was time to make a return to the land of the monger and make fishing great again.
Was pleasantly surprised get a last minute invite from Steve, aka Kwai Chang Caine to fill in on his charter today, and I only had one thing in my mind that I needed to catch to complete my life's mission; my "white whale" if you will: In all my years on the Monger Ive caught fluke, sea bass, striped bass, ling, cod, porgies and tog...hell, even a lobster, but I have never caught the elusive, and difficult to catch Squalus Acanthias. So rare are these fish that they are endangered, and if a person is fortunate enough to catch one, it must be gently revived, and released immediately.
Arrived at the boat at zero dark insanity-thirty, and as Captain Jerry walked up to the slip, I asked him as politely as I could: "Jerry...will today finally be the day? Do I even have a 1 in a million chance of catching a squalus? I knew I was in luck when he smiled at me and said, "Boyko.....today might be your day, my friend. I will do my utmost to catch you not only one, but possibly even two."
Tears ran down the cheek (little did I know this would not be the last time tears would fill my eyes today, for even now as my wife is cooking onions in our kitchen, my eyes are tearing once again!).
The boat quickly filled with, what I would like to say was, an all-star cast of semi-professional fishing mavens that included Bradley Cooper, Fast Eddie, Mike, NJDave, GDUBS, and Hollywood Mike. Id like to say that, but for those of you who have fished with this group you know thats stretching the very fiber of sanity. But I digress....
We pulled out the inlet, and turned right ...setting sail for our final destination some several hundred miles away in Fort Meyers Florida. 40 minutes later Jerry pulled up short of our final destination by roughly 700 miles, and as daylight broke through the haze and fog he anchored the boat on what we hoped were readings of a stray Squalus or two.
Jerry......did not disappoint, for barely moments after the anchors came tight, I felt the persistent pull of a fish and after a lengthy fight of several seconds, managed my very first Squalus Acanthias. Sean, our mate, gently removed the still-fighting fish from my line, and after taking numerous pictures of me holding my first Squalus, and measuring it for IGFA certification, he held it over the side of the boat and ran it back and forth in the water until he felt certain of its safe release.
I yelled out, "Mission Accomplished!", but little did I know that Captain Jerry had learned well from his mentors, and he had several tricks up his sleeve, as he made several moves and, lo and behold, each stop offered up any number of the Acanthias to the eager group. MY heart filled with joy knowing that, once again, Jerry did not dissappoint, and how he managed to find these rare denizens of the deep I'll never know. Suffice to say every man who ventured out with him today could live life to the fullest in these troubling covid-times by knowing they had caught these trophies.
Of course, each fish was released to swim another day, and there was the occasional interruption of our quest by the trash fish known as tog. These fish Jerry insisted we kill so as not to pollute the ocean with more scavengers of the depths and help retain the pristine waters for even more Squalus in years to come... in the per chance that some day.....some distant day in the far-off future, they would once again be removed from the endangered list and fill our oceans.
One can only hope.
I know Captain Jerry has started a new campaign to raise funds for these fish called "Save the Squalus", and if you would like to donate to it he is accepting Paypal.
Would like to once again thank everyone who came with me on this visionquest, and of curse the Monger crew for making fishing great again.
No fluke, young children, bad jokes, baby seals, orphan whales, aliens, former members of the rock band Culture Club, Pfizer scientists, Hunter Biden, and especially GDUBS was harmed in the making of this charter.
Tight Lines!
JJ
Was pleasantly surprised get a last minute invite from Steve, aka Kwai Chang Caine to fill in on his charter today, and I only had one thing in my mind that I needed to catch to complete my life's mission; my "white whale" if you will: In all my years on the Monger Ive caught fluke, sea bass, striped bass, ling, cod, porgies and tog...hell, even a lobster, but I have never caught the elusive, and difficult to catch Squalus Acanthias. So rare are these fish that they are endangered, and if a person is fortunate enough to catch one, it must be gently revived, and released immediately.
Arrived at the boat at zero dark insanity-thirty, and as Captain Jerry walked up to the slip, I asked him as politely as I could: "Jerry...will today finally be the day? Do I even have a 1 in a million chance of catching a squalus? I knew I was in luck when he smiled at me and said, "Boyko.....today might be your day, my friend. I will do my utmost to catch you not only one, but possibly even two."
Tears ran down the cheek (little did I know this would not be the last time tears would fill my eyes today, for even now as my wife is cooking onions in our kitchen, my eyes are tearing once again!).
The boat quickly filled with, what I would like to say was, an all-star cast of semi-professional fishing mavens that included Bradley Cooper, Fast Eddie, Mike, NJDave, GDUBS, and Hollywood Mike. Id like to say that, but for those of you who have fished with this group you know thats stretching the very fiber of sanity. But I digress....
We pulled out the inlet, and turned right ...setting sail for our final destination some several hundred miles away in Fort Meyers Florida. 40 minutes later Jerry pulled up short of our final destination by roughly 700 miles, and as daylight broke through the haze and fog he anchored the boat on what we hoped were readings of a stray Squalus or two.
Jerry......did not disappoint, for barely moments after the anchors came tight, I felt the persistent pull of a fish and after a lengthy fight of several seconds, managed my very first Squalus Acanthias. Sean, our mate, gently removed the still-fighting fish from my line, and after taking numerous pictures of me holding my first Squalus, and measuring it for IGFA certification, he held it over the side of the boat and ran it back and forth in the water until he felt certain of its safe release.
I yelled out, "Mission Accomplished!", but little did I know that Captain Jerry had learned well from his mentors, and he had several tricks up his sleeve, as he made several moves and, lo and behold, each stop offered up any number of the Acanthias to the eager group. MY heart filled with joy knowing that, once again, Jerry did not dissappoint, and how he managed to find these rare denizens of the deep I'll never know. Suffice to say every man who ventured out with him today could live life to the fullest in these troubling covid-times by knowing they had caught these trophies.
Of course, each fish was released to swim another day, and there was the occasional interruption of our quest by the trash fish known as tog. These fish Jerry insisted we kill so as not to pollute the ocean with more scavengers of the depths and help retain the pristine waters for even more Squalus in years to come... in the per chance that some day.....some distant day in the far-off future, they would once again be removed from the endangered list and fill our oceans.
One can only hope.
I know Captain Jerry has started a new campaign to raise funds for these fish called "Save the Squalus", and if you would like to donate to it he is accepting Paypal.
Would like to once again thank everyone who came with me on this visionquest, and of curse the Monger crew for making fishing great again.
No fluke, young children, bad jokes, baby seals, orphan whales, aliens, former members of the rock band Culture Club, Pfizer scientists, Hunter Biden, and especially GDUBS was harmed in the making of this charter.
Tight Lines!
JJ