Make Fishing Fun

Fishing is fun or it's supposed to be right? Many times we lose sight of this and we become more focused on filling a cooler or hitting a target species. How often have you heard of guys running around burning gas looking for a single dolphin or Tarpon and in the meantime they miss the fun and excitement of fishing in general, the thrill of the catch and the enjoyment of the release to catch again some day. I got to experience this first hand the other day, and looking back realized some of the best days fishing haven't always been the ones where the cooler was full at the end of the day. We headed out of PC the other day in search of reported Tarpon along the beaches. After finding bait and seeing a few boats also in the hunt we began our trek down the coastline in search of the silver king. After about a half hour of searching we noticed the water erupt with fury and the distance tell tale signs of splashes and silver flashes. We powered up and set ourselves up for a great approach only to notice as we closed in that we were not dealing with Tarpon, we had the Atlantic Bonita or Common Bonito stirring the water like large tuna. So we figured what the heck we got out the lighter spinning rods and began to toss baits and lures into the inferno and just like that...WHAM fish on, ZZZZZZZZZZZ fish on, and the hook ups came in 3's the deck looked like a well oiled ballet company with guys shuffling around and ducking and dodging lines and poles. We landed 3 and chased another group down and the same ensued. It was like we were kids again catching brim with spit and old bread on your first zebco rod. We laughed as each of us took turns hooking into drag screamers and then muscling them up to the deck to be released to fight again, well most of them got released....some found the cooler to be used as bottom and trolling baits, and then the man in the grey suit came and collected taxes on a few as well. All and all the day was a blast we did not ever find any Tarpon that were hungry, we did stumble upon a few later in the afternoon but they seemed to just be rolling to occupy time, and the sharks were too numerous to even let the bait out to entice a silver king bite.We fished hard but more importantly we had fun, we enjoyed just simply the basic thrill of catching fish and the sounds of screaming drag and the fury of feeding fish. So the next time you hit the water and things don't go as planned or your not finding the specific fish you may have set out on, fishing is still supposed to be fun and catching anything is still better then getting skunked. It's the little things we take for granted that we must turn back to at times to remember just how much fun and what we really are out on the water for. Remember " A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at WORK!!!" Keep your lines wet and tight... Josh