How Did You Get Into Fishing?

[Pennsy Guy]

It was 1944, I was 7 and my dad took me on a party boat out of Atl. City wreck fishing. One guy on the other side of the boat got seasick and caught a lot of ribbing. I remember someone saying he was chumming--I asked my dad if he thought I should chum---That made everybody laugh...What did I, a kid on his first fishing trip, know?

Didn't fish again 'til I was 11 or 12..had a split bamboo boat pole and also a bamboo surf rod. Spinning reel for the surf rod was a "Beachcomber" made by the Lionel train Corp..

My parents wintered in the Keys then and I'd wade the flats for bonefish or use the Boston Whaler to fish the reef around Aligator Light. I remember anchoring on the reef's edge, looking through a glass bottom bucket at the edge. It always amazed me at the abrupt drop-off into deep water, a 13' boat with the bow in 40' and the stern in 1000'..it scared me also, and I think that was good.
My mom and dad well both cremated and we spread their ashes in the gulf stream off of aligator Light as they wished.

Didn't do anything after that as I moved to Pennsy until maybe 20 years ago when my then boss took me out on the Queen Mary for day blues, didn't catch anything so we went out again at night and did catch 'em. Fished on her the next year and then I met Muldune and went out on the Gambler for blues. He convinced me to try a tuna trip..didn't take much convincing..and I fell in love with that and have been doing tuna, blues, stripers and fluke with Bobby and the crew ever since. I'll tell you, when I can't do the tuna trips anymore, or the inshore trips, just spread my ashes in the Hudson Canyon 'cause I won't be living!!!!!!!!!!

Who knows, maybe I'll meet up with my parents in the stream.

Chucky