Tidelines – May 30, 2013
This issue comes on the cusp of Fisherman’s Post’s first flounder event of 2013, the Ocean Isle Inshore Challenge on May 31-June 1 at the Ocean Isle Fishing Center, so I made a point this past week to get in a little flounder fishing myself before watching everyone else come to our Saturday weigh-in to show off their biggest flatfish of the day.
Tony and Mikey were my hosts for this flounder trip, and I told them the night before that any fishing trip I go on is potential fodder for my Tidelines column. They brushed my warning aside and told me to meet them at Whiskey Creek at 6:00 am with a couple of spinning rods and what I wanted to eat and drink.
You may have heard the aphorism, “History belongs to the winners.” I don’t know about being a winner, but I do own a fishing newspaper and write a column in it every issue. So as far as I’m concerned, the history of that particular day on the water with Tony and Mikey belongs to me, and the following is my version, a version that conveniently makes me look much better.
It wasn’t me, in my version, that showed up hungover that morning. It was Mikey, and Mikey’s (not mine) biggest symptom seemed to be a lack of coordination. The way I remember the day, it wasn’t me that stumbled and bumbled around on Tony’s boat all day in the ocean. It was Mikey that had trouble, trouble while standing on the bow with the boat anchored, and even more trouble trying to step down from the bow or guiding himself around the console.
Of course it was Mikey, according to me, that didn’t bring any water with him on the boat, perhaps the one item he needed more than anything else that day, and it was me that had to share my water supply with him (not the other way around). And Mikey may have forgotten water, but he didn’t forget his energy supplement that he mixes with water. He remembered that supplement—he just didn’t remember to bring enough to share with anyone else.
Everyone knows you can’t have too many bucktails when you go offshore for flounder, so you should always bring more than you think you need. In my convenient version of our flounder fishing day, it was Mikey that didn’t follow this basic rule. Sure, he had a couple of 2 oz. Spro bucktails, but after losing both rather quickly on a wreck we were fishing, Mikey had to “borrow” bucktails from me. Those of you that fish with Spro bucktails know that each time a friend asks you to “borrow” a bucktail, it’s like asking for $5.00. Mikey owes me at least $10.00, and not the other way around.
In my version of that day, it wasn’t me that would cast right on top of someone if they hooked a flounder. It wasn’t me that would cast to an area even if it cut off the other two guys from working productive water. Instead, I was the guy that caught the biggest and the most fish. I was the anchor man, I was the net man, and we were fishing my numbers.
Even better, from now on I’m going to say that I had to remove the hooks from Mikey’s flounder and put them in the livewell.
Finally, it was Mikey, in my version, that had to go in a little early so that he could go to a “dad”chelor party for one of his friends that was expecting a baby soon. It wasn’t me that had to go buy diapers at a grocery store as soon as we got back to have a present to take to his friend Mark’s house for a baby-themed guy party. It was Mikey. Mikey was that guy. Not me.
It’s well known that everything you read is true, so since you’ve read it here it must be true. If Mikey (or Tony) disagrees with my recollection of the day’s events, then I encourage them to start their own fishing newspaper and then write a Tidelines column where they can offer a rebuttal.
Anyone want to take me fishing this week? I’ll talk about our trip in Tidelines. I’m great to have on the boat, just ask Mikey.
