Deep Sea Fishing

I co-worker and I were talking about fishing today, and I related the story of my deep-sea fishing experience. While it was fresh in my mind, I thought I'd put it here on my blog...

One summer I went "deep sea" fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. The trip out made a lot of people sick. I though it was great! The ocean/sea is beautiful. It was a day tour, and I caught mainly scrub fish while everybody else was catching grouper. Right before we left to head back, I thought I had gotten hooked on the bottom... Now I've been fishing a lot in lakes, rivers, creeks around here. I assumed it was a log--sometimes that happens and you have to cut your line. I reeled and reeled. It took me a couple minutes to remember where I was. It was the middle of the Gulf of Mexico...no trees or logs for miles around. Could it be coral or something? It was about that time that I did see something in the water. It LOOKED like a big log...

I kept brining in my line, finally the "log" surfaced and rolled over--it was a huge fish! It looked like a cat fish...it had the "whiskers" out the side of it's head. So, rod bending nearly in half, I brought it aboard the boat. I was about ready to bend down and get the hook out when the fellow working on the boat yelled at me "wait for me--don't touch that!" He had on steel mesh gloves. He stepped on its head and removed the hook. In doing this, I could see row upon row of teeth!! It was a nurse-shark! He said likely it would have taken a couple fingers from me. Alas, it was against "regulations" to keep the shark, so he threw it back in. And me, without a camera on this trip... Biggest fish this city-boy will ever catch!