In December of 2013, I was on vacation in Florida from Canada and went fishing for the very first time. I was terrified in the beginning, having zero experience with saltwater life or the ocean itself. A friend and I went out on kayaks on a perfectly calm and sunny day, yet still I was white-knuckling the paddle. I was sure that once we put the shrimp in the water, every gnarled-toothed shark in the ocean would be sent into a feeding frenzy in the dark unknown depths below us. As it turned out, we survived. I had a wonderful day and hooked up on a fat blue fish, which dragged me around for a few moments in the kayak. The fish was released, but I was hooked for life.
Back in Canada, in the middle of winter, I found myself obsessing over fishing photos on the web. I could no longer handle my separation anxiety, so I decided I would move to Florida.
Three months later, I packed up my bags and drove myself to Sarasota. I spent a week fishing all day, everyday. I met many wonderful anglers who were very helpful and eager to show me the tricks of the trade. I was so moved by the lovely response that I received from the fishing community that I began to wonder if I might be able to make a living fishing.
I started calling inshore fishing charters and was laughed off on every call “I’m a one man show” was the most common response, usually stated in a tone highlighting my naivety. I was not deterred however; I simply took this to mean I would have to call bigger boats.
My next call was to Captain Jason of bad habit sport fishing charters. I promptly explained that I had no experience but that I was ready to learn all that I could, and break my back in the process. He agreed to give me a chance.
Later that week I was at the boat at 5:00 am for my very first day. With my Captain and another mate, who was there to train me, we got the boat ready and set off.
By 7:00 am we picked up the 6 enthusiastic clients and began our day. We drove out for what seemed like hours and maybe it was. “Have you ever been sea-sick?!” Captain Jason shouted back to me. “No, sir” I responded, thinking in that I had never even been on a boat to get sick from. I didn’t even know the difference between port and starboard and here I was on a boat with 8 men, headed out into the middle of the unknown. What had I gotten myself into? I had been forthcoming about my inexperience, but had not confessed to anyone my deep fear of the ocean. I was absolutely terrified.
Hours and many miles later, it was time for my real test, the dreaded anchor. I was warned that this would be the hardest part of my job and told that I would likely fail. With the sea legs of a fawn on ice, I shimmied up the side of the boat with the other mate to drop the anchor. It seemed simple enough but I could not stand on the bow without falling and shaking from pure fear and adrenaline. I let the anchor go with my hands so tight on the rope that it burned me and started bleeding instantly.
I watched yard after yard of rope get sucked into the depths knowing I would be the one to haul it back up in a few minutes.
After fishing for a while, filling my wounded hands with fish guts, the time had come to pull anchor. We went back up to the bow and I watched the mate lean way over the front to attach the anchor ball. As he struggled with it I thought to myself that I would never be able to do that. With all the adrenaline how would I ever be able to dangle myself over the bow like that? I swallowed my fear, grabbed the rope and started hauling. 100+ft of rope, 30 ft. of chain and a 30-pound anchor later, I had done it!
We returned to the back of the boat and as I huffed and puffed I turned to the other mate and said “how long are we out for today?” Surprised that I had not been informed how long our shift was, he told me “10 hours” I thought, crap, I had better get something to eat. I went below and grabbed some beef jerky and a banana. When I came back up everyone was freaking out and saying “Throw that banana overboard right now”. I asked, “Is that a joke?” and they responded, “Captain says lose the banana, you had better toss it”. Feeling like the audience in the final scene of titanic, I watched my precious nutrient filled banana sink into the water and out of sight. Lesson #850, Bananas are bad luck on a fishing boat.
Around 5:00 pm we arrived back at the dock to clean all the fish we had caught. We had a Limit of amberjack, a limit of grouper and a few other fish in our medley so we rolled them onto the dock. We had attracted a large group of people in absolute awe of our haul. It was a pretty cool feeling only enhanced by the relief of having survived a day of chasing my dream and battling my fears.
We dropped off our clients at the boat ramp where I received a mixed goodbye consisting of “Good job today”, “Hope to see you again in the future”, and “Come to your senses and quit”
This served only to reinforce how badass I was and I couldn’t have smiled bigger. I will never quit.
It has been a year and a half since that day and I now travel the world working on boats. People always ask me how I got to where I am now and this is the story. Big thanks to Captain Jason Sherrill for giving me my first break in this industry.
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