Last night, my buddy Mike asked me if I wanted to join him for some outer sandbar fishing off Pine Point (ferry beach) at 4:30 in the morning. All the reasons were there to come up with every excuse in the book, but I said yes. I definately made the right decision although at 4:30am you would have thought otherwise. The rain was pouring from the sky and it was pitch black. I poured a big cup of coffee and got in my car. We meet up in the parking lot and walk down the seamingly endless beach. After drudging through the water and fighting the heavy currents we finally get to a spot off the sandbar and cast our lines. WHAM! I was on to something big. I was down to my backing in seconds and I knew I had a nice one. It felt so good to feel the brute strength of a bigger fish on my rod, as opposed, to the little hyperactive tugs from the schoolies. This fish was hooked, he was pissed and he was not going to come in without a fight. I let him run and I had all the room in the world to work with. No obstacles, just me and that fish and crystal clear water between us. I finally brought him in, then released him and took a deep breathe while letting that memory burn itself into my brain. Then, believe it or not, I throw my line back into the water and WHAM. Another beauty. Same deal and this fish definately solidified the memories. Mike and I were the only two guys on the sand bar and the Ocean seamed to be all ours. We caught fish after fish and we enjoyed and appreciated every moment of the morning. My grandmother always told me the ocean is a force that needs to be respected. All my days of commercial fishing and sport fishing have proved her words of wisdom to be true. The ocean is a force that can turn on you in a second, and many men have died because they took her forces for granted. Today was a fantastic fishing day, but also a reminder of my grandmother and her words of wisdom. Mike and I got caught up in all the action. We were far out on the sand bar and the sand bar was quickly dissapearing. We had to get back to main land and our path for doing so was vanishing. Heavy tides are nothing to fool with and we really should have come in 15 minutes earlier than we did. Luckily for us, the ocean only gave us a slap on the wrist. Both Mike and I had no choice but to deal with the discomfort of cold ocean water pouring inside our waters. The path to the main land was deep and we go soaked, but we made it in. So whenever your on the sandbar and catching alot of fish and wondering if you have time for one more fish. The answer should always be no.
