What It Takes

Living on a barrier island which has become somewhat of a not-so-well-kept-secret, I have the pleasure to meet a lot of different people. Most are vacationers from various areas of the U.S. just staying for a few days here on the Island with the hopes of enjoying a few days on the beach or by the pool, sipping something cool under an umbrella (or a drink with an umbrella). Some bring a casual desire for fishing and have no idea what to do about how to scratch that itch here on the island. I have to admit, while I do try to give them some good advice, I usually steer clear of the bait-flinger crowd. Some are guests in our rental house, and when we get to know them a bit, they have sometimes even expressed a keen desire to catch a shark and check an item off the bucket list. I can certainly get behind that and have helped guide them to shark nirvana.  However, there are only a select few that I cross paths with that possess the qualities that might qualify them as potential Snook Brothers.

This past week we hosted Mark and Donnitta Goodman in our guest house. Mark is a Pastor and a Fire Chaplain for five local area Fire Districts. Donnitta is a firecracker and clearly the better half, on the go and involved in many worthy projects and supporting her husband and church family. Our invitation was offered with some apprehension as when we host people with the intent to allow them to rest and relax, we are always careful not to somehow present any pressure to associate with us. This is particularly a challenge for pastor couples as they are used to being, well, pastorly (looking out for their flock, giving, loving, caring for others, etc.)  If the idea is to offer our guests rest and refreshment, then we cannot allow ourselves to be party to the temptation to see us as people to have to see, socialize with, perform for, or disrupt the precious quiet alone time that is available. We made it clear to Mark and Donnitta before they came that they were free to be and do what they wanted without any expectations from us. Then Donnitta mentioned that Mark liked to fish. Hmmmmm, we will see about that.

Part of the information we provided to our guests was a link to our rental house website. I had pointed out the various parts that might be of interest to view so they would know what the house was like and what the island offered. You know whet the appetite and alleviate the concern we were offering them a stay at the Roach Motel. I also threw in a link to the Snook Brothers fishing blog in case Mark was interested in some cool fishing stories. You can never tell who might be interested in such raw tales about rough and rowdy fishing adventures.

Casual fisherpeople (that is my gender neutral term for a person who fishes) do not qualify to be called Snook Brothers (which I realize is not really very gender neutral, but oh well, I try). Since this is the case, I guess I should outline the way I go about making this determination. Of course my determination process, like the [Pirate] Code of the Order of the Brethren, is more like guidelines than actual rules (You can reference Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl for more on that joke). Anyway, I have listed the guidelines and evaluation of Mark below. You will have to read on to see my final determination.

• Must be interested in going fishing at any point and time if the conditions are right
  √   They had just arrived and got things settled in, when I looked at the tide chart and saw that the perfect trout tide combined with the right time of day were at hand. Mark, any interest in going fishing. I think we can catch some trout. “Yep, I will go get ready” was the response.
• Must know how to use an open faced reel
  √  Now this one is usually a simple one to evaluate. Either a person grabs the pole and reel and holds it properly, or they hold the reel upside down (open face reels are held face toward the water, not up toward the sky like on some silly auto insurance commercial – still can’t let those type things go). In Mark’s case, he asked if he could reverse the side the handle is on. Now that is legitimate, but unexpected. Open face reels are designed for this, so it was no problem, and did indicate experience with open face reels (although did create a slight breach of etiquette by using the wrong hand).
• Must be resilient to environmental adversity
  √  We fished almost every evening that followed, and were faced with mosquito’s, no-see-ums, tracked across razor sharp shells, rain, and even hung around through a spectacular lightening show. Never a complaint or a request to pack it in. I did offer, but those offers were met with “not unless you are ready to go”.
• Must be able to stay out fishing for extended periods of time without mindless chatter
  √  Now unless you are a real fisherman can you really get so far into the zone that small talk is not only unwanted it is actually annoying. Now if you want to talk about the task at hand, then that is a completely different matter. Talk time happens later when the coffee is in a cup and the fishing poles are put away. Mark passed with flying colors. I thought he must have been mad at me at some point, but I determined it was just laser fish focus.
• Must be willing and able to drink coffee after fishing, even if it is a bit late in the evening
  √  No trouble here. Dessert and coffee were a nightly event. Now some might say “Well, I probably shouldn’t as I might not sleep” or “I am not a coffee drinker, thanks”. Not Mark, clearly a coffee fan.
• Must not squeal like a little girl when catching fish (at least not out loud)
  √  A Snook Brother must behave like they have caught a fish before. Now, don’t get me wrong, proper excitement and satisfaction is always necessary. C’mon man, act like you have been there before. Not one squeal from Mark (not one I heard anyway).
• Must never hold the fish at arm’s length toward the camera to make it look larger, ever
  √  While it is a curious phenomenon that Snook seem to shrink when you take pictures of them, a real fisherman must resist the temptation to push the fish closer to the camera so as to deceive the photo viewer that the fish was bigger than it actually was. Just check out the size of those fingers holding the fish. Kind of larger than normal there buddy? Mark behaved himself and simply presented the fish in their natural state. I wouldn’t have taken the picture anyway, so I guess that was motivation enough.
• Must have natural smile when posing for fish pictures
  √  Well, I will let you judge this one for yourself from the title picture of this post. No worries there, wouldn’t you say?

After spending a week on/in the water with Mark Goodman, and with the power vested in me, I hereby declare him a Snook Brother. I guess that was anticlimactic after all the check marks above. However, my authority is rarely exercised, so I must do so when I can. I guess there is some intoxicating lure of absolute authority. Forgive me.

David