DAY 7: Fishing with Captain Doug....My day on the High Seas

Well if I thought that getting up at 5:00 am to walk along the beach  was early, then getting up at 4:00am to spend a day fishing was way way early. But this was a day that I had been waiting for since I first planned this trip. A day of deep sea fishing with my friend Doug Hinson. Doug owns the same type of business as I, but in Charleston and we have been friends for about 15 years or so and interestingly he was the first person that I told of this month long sojourn. While sitting in a bar in Houston I told him what I had planned and as Kramer would do on the old Seinfeld episodes Doug shook his head and said "You just blew my mind!" But as I flushed out this plan to him Doug gave me an invitation to go deep sea fishing with him if my trip took me to Charleston and I looked forward to this day with him. We all gathered at the dock at 5:00am in the still of the morning. Our "crew" consisted of Doug and I, his sister and her two friends, Claymont who is a customer of Doug's, and Scott who runs Doug's boat and his friend and apprentice Aaron. We boarded the boat and set off out of the harbor with Doug, Claymont and I up on the bridge. Kelly, one of Doug's sisters friends asked if she could ride out in the bow and Doug said "Sure" though everyone thought her nuts. This was to be a two and a half our ride 60 miles out into the ocean against the waves and sure to be bouncy. Off we went and all was well, life was good. A beautiful sunrise was our treat about an hour out and having taken my Dramamine the night before as instructed I was doing pretty good. Up in the bridge talking with Doug it was fun. Deep Sea fishing is a passion of his and you could see that he would rather be doing this than anything else in the world. And this day Doug said that we had "friendly water".


But about an hour and and a half in I started to feel just a little queasy so I went down the ladder from the bridge to the deck below and inside the cabin where others were sitting. Sitting down in a chair the "motion of the ocean" hit me like a ton of bricks and as the motion sickness took over I began sweating from parts of my body that I didn't even know could sweat. I was miserable and at this point the last place in the world that I wanted to be was on this boat......and i still had about eleven more hours on it. Groan. Now feeling violently ill, I tried to stand up to get to the bathroom when Scott came in the cabin door and said "Hey Bill, why don't you come out here on the fishing deck and get some air" and he led me to the deck saying "have a seat up here" but instead I just slumped to the floor of the deck....and white knuckled. Throughout the balance of the next hour I gave back to the sea what little breakfast I had eaten along with the Mountain Dew and Water given to me to "settle my stomach". I was a hot mess. Finally we arrived at the destination, a ledge 55 miles off the coast and the boat slowed to a stop as Scott and Aaron began setting and casting the lines. I sat there and watched as they put about 8 or 10 lines in the water and some other lures to attract the fish's attention. And we slowly went back and forth over the ledge in our efforts to catch the fish. With the boat having slowed and the activity, I now at least felt coherent though far from okay.

Suddenly the one reel whirled and Scott yelled "Fish On" and the deck took on a hubbub of activity as Scott and Aaron began quickly clearing the other lines. "Bill, get in the Fighting Chair!" yelled Scott and I looked at him with incredulity. ME in the Fighting Chair for the First Fish?!? But then I thought, what the heck I had spent the better part of the morning chumming over the side drawing the fish to the boat it should be me. So I hopped in the chair and the reel that the fish was on was placed between my legs. With minimal instruction I set to reeling, then pulling up. Reeling then pulling up. To the encouragement and cheers of my boat mates I reeled the fish in....about a twenty pound dolphin. A good start. And relinquishing the chair I went back to my seat on the corner and promptly threw up again. Go figure.

A bit later another "Fish On" and this time Claymont hopped in the Fighting Chair and reeled in a bull dolphin.

As the morning progressed I drank some more water and eat some crackers and fruit and my slow road to recovery was coming along. It was beautiful out there in the ocean. The water a cobalt blue churned up with the white wake of the boat. Just absolutely stunning.  Random things would drift by the boat. A pallet. A Mylar balloon with a smiley face (which Doug took as a good omen). I pulled in another dolphin and one of Doug's sisters friends pulled one in as well. And the afternoon had turned enjoyable after a really rough beginning. We saw a sailfish but he skirted by and a few others. A silly seagull chased our one hook and provided some amusement.

Then at one point Scott and I found ourselves the only two people on the fishing deck  when suddenly the reel whirled. "Fish On!" yelled Scott "and I think we got a big one! Bill, in the chair!" So I hopped in the chair once more. "It's a Billfish!" whooped Scott and I thought how nice of them to name a species of fish after me after only catching two, but a "billfish" a fish with a bill or beak (swordfish, marlin, sailfish) is the prize catch and the whole boat came alive with shouting and yelling. "It's a White Marlin". And as I looked out at the sea behind the boat just like on television the fish jumped up out of the water spun around and slammed back in ........then up again, another spin and back into the water. Taking line it swam and swam with us in chase. "Reel him in Bill. Reel him in" and i began to fight the fish reeling in and him taking line, reeling in and him taking line, with Capt'n Doug in pursuit. Yee haw. In and out we chased him, my right arm now killing me from all the cranking and at one point I wanted to give up the chair but Scott and Aaron wouldn't hear of it. "This one's yours, bring him in" they shouted  encouragement and for the next hour I fought this fish.....finally, finally....getting him up to the boat.  We wouldn't bring him on board. Too special of a fish. After a picture or two or three to show that we had indeed caught him.....we released him back to the sea. Everyone on the boat was in high spirits, none more than me. And Doug, now down on the fishing deck, said "This calls for a beer to celebrate" and this person who hours earlier was clinging to life cracked open his first beer of the day in celebration. (NOTE: Never underestimate the medicinal value of a beer)

Our day of fishing now about done, we began to wrap up and head back in. Feeling pretty good now I had a chance to sit on the deck and just watch all that was going on as we made the two hour trip back in. Scott and Aaron cleaned the equipment and put it away. Nice young men, Scott and Aaron. Aaron just graduated from The Citadel and has joined the Marines. He goes to office school in December so he is helping run these charters with Scott who is a flat out pro at this. These two guys were great. We passed Fort Sumter on the way back in to Charleston and as the boat began to slow, Scott came over with a flag of a white marlin which he attached to the mast and told me to run it up. It is a big deal to these folks to catch a billfish and as they arrive back in they run up the mast what they have caught for other fishermen on the docks to see. I was glad to be to do this. Quite the honor. We arrived back at the dock and the cleaning began. Everything including the fish. A great day out at sea. Thank you Doug for this great day. What a good friend you are.