Poor Decisions and High School Adventures

Poor decisions are a big part of growing up. I’ve made more than I care to admit.

It still happens from time to time, but I have gotten much better… ish.

This story comes from my high school days, a prime time for being thoughtless.

It all began with too many Busch Lites at a party.

My buddy and I discussed ditching school and heading to the Keys to chase some bonefish.

Unfortunately (for her), my girlfriend was listening to our conversation and invited herself along.

Heading to Marathon Key

I have no problem taking significant others fishing, as long as they don’t complain.

And to squash any notions that I am a sexist, my wife was my main fishing partner before we had kids.

Anyway, the three of us hopped into my buddy’s 1979 Ford Bronco with the boat in tow and headed down to Marathon Key.

I can still remember every detail of that day. It was late August, and the weather was sub-par for sight fishing.

The sun was playing peekaboo with the clouds, making it less than optimal for sight fishing.

However, it was better than school.

The Fishing Adventure

We launched the boat and headed out to our spot.

My girlfriend didn’t fish and had no intentions of doing so.

She wanted to get a tan and hang with me for some reason.

My buddy and I were going over our plan of attack, and I was pissed that I forgot my permit rod.

My friend assured me that there was no permit at this spot and I should chill out.

Consequently, we decided I would pole the boat first, and my buddy was on deck.

The Catch

The boat came off plane, and I motored towards the spot.

Once we got closer, I killed the motor and began polling towards the island.

The flat we were fishing in was a nice mix of seagrass and coral.

Within two minutes of coming off plane, I saw no less than 40 tailing permit feeding like crazy.

They were working the rocks along the shoreline with their tails out of the water, making one hell of a ruckus.

I told my buddy where to cast, and he let it rip.

The shrimp landed exactly where it needed to be, and he hooked up almost immediately.

I was very stoked and nervous all at the same time.

The outfit he was fishing with was an old 6′ fiberglass rod and an older Penn open-faced reel loaded with 10 lb test mono.

Not something you would want to fight a permit with.

The Chase

The fish took some serious line, so my buddy jumped out of the boat and started chasing him.

The water was about knee to thigh deep, so it wasn’t too big of a deal.

We staked the boat up, told my girlfriend I’d be right back, and hopped in to help my friend.

I grabbed a rod on the way out, just in case.

I caught up with my buddy, and this fish was working him.

Any gains he made were almost instantly lost when the fish took another run.

Every minute that went by, we got further from the boat.

There were times when my buddy was in chest-deep water with the rod held high over his head.

I can still see my buddy fighting his fish in gorgeous blue-green water with the Seven Mile Bridge in the background.

The Return

It took almost forty-five minutes to land this fish.

It was a stud. We made sure the fish was good to go and released it.

By now, we were on the opposite side of the island, and the boat (and my girlfriend) were out of sight.

So I did what any good boyfriend would do and continued fishing.

It was late afternoon now, and the sun was blazing.

My buddy and I walked around the entire island, fishing our way back to the boat.

Total time away, 2 hours.

As we made it to the boat, we were hooting and hollering, full of excitement.

I looked up to see my girlfriend sitting on the cooler seat, and she was glowing!

Maybe glowing isn’t descriptive enough.

She was purple!

I’m talking Barney the dinosaur purple.

She skipped all the shades of red and went straight to purple.

The Aftermath

To be honest, I thought she was going to be super pissed.

Surprisingly, she was calm and enjoying herself.

I mean, she may have been upset, but sometimes I’m a little slow on picking up on things like that.

I asked her if she was okay, and she said yes.

So, I gave my buddy the “oh shit” look, and we packed up and headed back to the dock and then home.

On the way back to the dock, my girlfriend informed my buddy and me that “those fish you were chasing were all around the boat after you left

.” Talk about a kick in the nuts!

On the trek back home, we celebrated by playing “Up on Cripple Creek” by The Band on repeat the entire ride home.

Life was good!

By

Capt. Vince Bini