In the spirit of top 10 lists that are always popping up, and especially those top 10 lists created by Wayne and Garth during their Saturday Night Live run (and even more especially the movie), here are David’s list of the top 10 island fishing dangers (‘cha, as if…). If you are older, then this is like a David Letterman top 10 list. Just like the dangers of the fire swamp from the movie “The Princess Bride”, these dangers are real and can be a real challenge to overcome some days. There are R.O.U.S.’s (Rodents Of Unusual Size) on the island, but they did not make the top 10 list (and Westley did not think they existed until one jumped on him and chewed into his shoulder…). If I lost you on “The Princess Bride” references, then go immediately and watch the movie as it is in the top 10 quotable movies of all time (and the proper response is “As you wish”)!
Number 10 – Body Trauma
If you follow sports at all, you will often see stars treating their nagging injuries all season long. They play through the pain, but they certainly seem to spend a lot of time in the ice bath, whirlpool, riding a bike on the sidelines to keep loose, etc. Since they play or practice every day, the accumulation of body stress takes its toll on even the elite athlete with access to multi-million dollar facilities and medical staff. Since Jason and I are in that same league of elite athletic specimens, and since we fish almost every day, you can imagine that we suffer from similar maladies. Ever stub your toe on a jagged rock sticking up just out of the sand? Climbing up and down on docks and rocks, dragging snook out from near pilings at odd angles, flipping a jig over and over, casting lures against the beach breeze, setting the hook with quick snaps of the wrist. All this takes a toll on a body and leads to soreness, tendonitis, cuts, bruises, and other trauma which remind me that we are not as young as we used to be. A special thanks to my friend and co-worker “Handsome Don” in reminding me that the issues I am facing sound like I am getting along in years.
Number 9 – Airplanes
Wait, what, airplanes? I thought you were fishing, like in water? Well, yes we do have to watch out for airplanes at times. The island has an active grass runway for island owned private planes to take off and land. One of the fishing areas is at the end of the airstrip, out in the grass flats. When planes come in for landings, they are just a few feet above the water, and with winds blowing around, being that close to the wheels of a plane is just something to avoid if possible. In fact, a few years ago a pilot died landing his plane when a load of tile he was transporting shifted just before landing and he ended up crashing in the water a hundred feet or so from the shore. Just about the place where a fisherman might stand casting to the sea trout.
Number 8 – Hooks
As I have documented in a previous blog entry titled Is There a Doctor in the House? there is always the danger of ending up with a hook of some type embedded in you somewhere. Jason and I are usually mindful of each other as we work in close quarters on the same dock or are walking behind one another while fishing to avoid catching each other with our lures when casting. Sometimes attempted hook sets or a fighting fish which lets go of the lure, and with the tension of a bent rod, sends the danger our way in a hurry. There are times when the bullet dodging skills from “The Matrix” come in play. Flying hooks coming in at high speed keeps our ducking and weaving skills sharp. Self-preservation is a strong motivator – gee I did not know you could move so quick…
Number 7 – Bugs
Well as we move into the hot and wet season on the island, we have been reminded that this tropical zone is an ideal breeding ground for various types of pests, especially the ones that set out to withdraw all of the blood that exists in your body, or spit their acid on your skin to try to get their next meal. Mosquitoes and no-see-ums (black gnat, sand fly, evil no-good-for-nothing) are the chief enemy of the fisherman. Any night without a stiff breeze sets the battle zone. Once we hit the beach, there can be such a biting and painful frenzy that we just say, “you know, it is just not worth it” and leave right away. Even with repellant, oils, napalm, atomic blasts, these creatures out-multiply and survive to hunt their prey and make outdoor life miserable at times.
Number 6 – Wild Animals
While I would classify mosquitoes as wild animals (big, tenacious, blood suckers) there are other wild animals that us fisherman need to be on the lookout for while fishing on the island. The most present and frequent adversary from the wild kingdom are birds. Both osprey and pelicans keep a keen eye on our fishing, and will attempt to swoop in for a quick and easy meal at our expense. In the last few months, I have watched two different battles where Jason has had a fish on and had an osprey swoop down and latch onto the hooked fish, attempting to fly away with it while Jason fought back in a tug of war. Just the other day, the pelican that was floating nearby while we were trout fishing decided to make a stab at a fish Jason was fighting. It is startling when, focused on landing a fish, you do not see the large bird coming in and suddenly “splash” there he is trying to snitch your fish. There are also bobcats on the island. Jason has had time where he was keeping a fish for a friend, leaving it on the beach for a time while he continued fishing, only to see a bobcat come and grab the fish and leave with a dinner to go.
Number 5 – Things in the Dark
Most of our fishing is done in low light or dark conditions. We move along the beach, over docks, over rocks, and from place to place barefooted without using our headlamps in many cases. There are lots of things in the dark that can cause issues. The tide brings in things and leaves them on the beach. Sharp shells, sticks poking up out of the sand, wounded sea birds, dead fish, and other debris can make for some challenging situations. One night while we were walking down the beach in route to the next snook spot, Jason reacted in pain. When we turned on the headlamp, he found that a white bone was sticking out of the end of his big toe. As he tried to pull it out, he found it was actually barbed and not coming out easily. With a yank he removed it with great pain and exclamation. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a salt water catfish skeleton that he had run into, and in just the right angle to drive the sharp dorsal spine into his toe.
Number 4 – Things in the Water
When one is wading up to one’s armpits in the ocean, particularly as the sun begins to set (don’t try this at home kids), the island fisherman’s spidy-senses must be on high alert. With one eye on the fishing at hand, the other needs to be scanning the water for shadows, water movement, or other indicators of threats to life and limb. However, even with the best one-eyed scanning we encounter scary things in the water. Of course the old seaweed floating under the water and wrapping around your leg is the most common. With the tide moving, stuff is floating by and can catch you unaware, feeling like all manner of something has touched your leg. Stepping on a stingray is a lovely thing – soft, slippery, squishy thing under your bare foot. Fortunately, most times they just scurry away leaving you jumping. Having a monster manatee suddenly swim by three feet in front of you when you did not see the approach can make you wee your fishing shorts. There is always the concern about sharks. We see them occasionally when we are in the water, but fortunately they quickly scurry away when the see us.
Number 3 – Pelican Poop
There is not a more pungent or unpleasant smell than puddles of pelican poop on the docks. It is an unfortunate truth of dock fishing that you will step in fresh pelican poop. And by fresh, I do not mean like a summer breeze, I mean like a wet thick plateful of pelican pudding. Even the dried variety is still powerful enough to keep your nose wanting to be removed to avoid the ammonia funk. Now the true measure of my commitment to use barnacles to catch sheep’s head was the day when I lay down on the dock in dried pelican poop to scrape the barnacles off the piling below. I did successfully get the bait and used them to catch sheep’s head, just like the YouTube guy showed me, but I am certain there was a better way to get those barnacles.
Number 2 – Catfish Slime
Salt water catfish, and more precisely the Gafftopsail catfish, have a unique ability to generate great quantities of slime so sticky and nasty, that we dread catching them. Usually we encounter them while shark fishing. It is a mystery to me how a catfish can manage to put a coating of slime three feet up a leader line that is so clingy that it must be removed by hand (no slapping the line in the water to remove this stuff). If you are old enough to remember the product “Slime” that came in a little bucket for kids to play with, make believe there was snot coming from their nose and throwing it on their buddy, well that is the kind of stuff we are talking about here. There is just something very nasty about this stuff, and having to work so hard to clean it up gives it a high rank on my list of dangers.
And the Number 1 Island Fishing Danger is…. Snook Thumb
This one is a controversial entry as Jason would say it is not a danger to the fisherman, but a badge of honor, showing accomplishment
and success in catching and handling many snook. Snook have very fine teeth that are much like a bass or catfish (yuck). Those sand paper-like teeth can scrape the skin on the thumb when a fisherman handles the snook. Lipping (holding the fish with a thumb in their mouth and the rest of the hand under their jaw) is the preferred way to handle snook as they have very shark gill plates that can cut like a scalpel. Once a few snook are thrashing around with your thumb in their mouth, the top layers of skin are scraped and shredded. The damaged thumbs are known to us as “snook thumb”. Apparently, even in sign language, the word for snook is a thumb stuck out between a closed hand (just google “snook thumb images” and see).
And there you have it, the top 10 dangers for island fisherman. I know the blog entries make island fishing seem so fun and care free. But just know that we are bearing a great burden, at great personal risk, and suffering tirelessly to bring you those stories of the island life. Well, maybe it is not that bad really. It is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. It might as well be us!
David