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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">First Catch </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> By</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Leonard Tuchyner</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">My cane fishing pole quivered in my hands, as it extended
just above the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Gulf</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType> inlet, off <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">St. Petersburg</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Beach</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> in 1956.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A thin wire reached from its tip to
dangle eighteen feet into the onrushing tidal waters, weighted down by its
miniature needle-sharp, three-pronged grappling hook. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">The thirty-yard channel formed between the small sandbar
and mainland was boiling with jumping, dashing mullet that rode in with the
land-bound gushing water.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They were
so thick I imagined walking on their undulating backs. I counted to thirty,
allowing my heavy steel line and grappling hook to lie still in the warm
Gulf-of-Mexico water. Then, with all my strength, I pulled the tip of my pole
high in the air, bracing my muscles and body weight against that of the giant
bamboo rod and water resistance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>My
iron hook slid upwards, swiftly, until it jerked almost to a stop. I struggled
to keep the hook moving upwards, until it breached the surface, with a
foot-and-a-half desperate fish, pierced and held by the points and barbs.
Holding my prize high, I stepped backward across the gravely, sandy beach until
my mullet was dangling over dry land. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I was ecstatic. This was my first snag ever.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 3">
</SPAN>====</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I had emigrated from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New Jersey</st1:place></st1:State> only two days prior.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>My father had taken a job in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:State> a few months
earlier and scouted out a place for us to live, until we could find more
permanent housing. It was a tiny place, a block away from a short causeway
connecting <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">St. Petersburg</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Beach</st1:PlaceType> to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">St. <st1:City
w:st="on">Petersburg</st1:City></st1:place></st1:City>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was the kind of place that people
might rent for a week or two for vacation dwelling, if they did not have much
disposable income. It had its problems. For example, the kitchen sink habitually
vomited up sewage. It housed the four of us, my younger sister, my
sixteen-year-old-self, Mom and my Dad. We moved there just after I finished my
junior year of high school. I don’t remember much more about the place, because
I hardly spent any time there.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Just over
the causeway was a fishing supply shack. Fishing was something I’d always wanted
to do but didn’t have the slightest idea of how to go about it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’d had a few float fishing experiences
when, as a small kid, I accompanied my uncle and cousins who occasionally went
on half-day fishing excursions. I was only allowed to use a drop line, and the
only fish I ever caught was a sea robin, which is good for almost nothing as far
as human dining is concerned.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But
here in that fishing shack, which I discovered the first day of arrival, was a
fascinating, exciting world of bubbling minnow vats, frozen shrimp and squid,
and all kinds of paraphernalia, the most impressive of which was a number of
giant<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>cane poles rigged with
grappling hooks and all. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“How do these things work?” I asked.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Not much to it,” a skinny wiry man answered. “Just put
it in the water, and pull im up.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Don’t you need bait?”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Nope. Just drop im in, and pull im up. Mullet don’t take
to no bait, you know.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I looked at him vacant-eyed.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Look here, son. Them prongs grabs the mullet underneath,
when ya drags it up. Bingo! Yer gots yaself a fish.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“They good to eat?</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Yer damn right they’s good to eat. These is West Coast
mullet. Not like them off the <st1:place
w:st="on">Atlantic</st1:place>.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“How much are these fishing poles?”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Two bucks.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Where’s a good place to fish around here?”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Just keep on going two blocks down the street and ya’ll
come to a concrete seawall. But ya best wait ‘til the tide comes in. That’s when
they comes in with it.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I thanked him and left, because I didn’t have any money
of my own, and I’d have to get it from my parents. But that turned out not to be
a problem. They were glad that I found something to occupy myself with.
</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Right after lunch, I was back at the Fishing Bait and
Tackle Shack buying my impressive big bamboo pole all rigged up. I headed right
down to the seawall, never mind that the tide wasn’t due for another two hours.
Never mind that I hadn’t actually been down to the seawall before. I was going
to get the feel of this baby, even if there weren’t any fish to catch. I arrived
at the Gulf, just where the fish shack man said it would be, and there were
three men and a woman with rods and reels, dangling their feet over the edge of
the concrete seawall. They were all pulling in fish.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I felt out of place with my ostentatious
equipment, so I just watched for a while. Eventually, I couldn’t hold my horses
any longer and overcame my shyness, swinging my grappling hook out into the
estuary. I felt foolish and awkward and didn’t really expect to catch anything,
which I didn’t. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Eventually, as high tide came due, two men with setups
like mine arrived and took their places along the wall. My spirits rose. At
least I wasn’t going to be the only fool. A third arrival captured my
attention.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From my sixteen-year-old
perspective he was an old man. In retrospect he could have been sixty to eighty
ears old. He was thin and sinewy, but what impressed me the most was the
oven-baked color and texture of his leathery skin. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It wasn’t the dark brown or black of an
African American, but unmistakably Caucasian. He carried a bucket and a big rod
with an open-faced casting reel. At the end of his line was a grappling hook
just like mine, only it was one-fifth the size. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As he walked by, a few fishermen greeted
him.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Hi,Tolley. Is it a good day for mullet?”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Always good day, Sam. You ready go home yet?”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Pretty much. One more grunt and I’ll have enough for a
week of fish dinners.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Then what you do, Sam? No excuse left to
fish.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Shhh!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Don’t
let Ruth hear you. She’s already saying she’s getting tired of finding different
ways to fix fish.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">“Never too much fish. Not for good Greek like
me.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">The banter ended in chuckles, and the old man set out a
lawn chair and waited. By the time ten minutes had passed, his body perked up.
“Here they come, Sam.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I stared in the direction that the old man was watching
and noticed that the mouth of the inlet was becoming inundated with schools of
fish.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Old Tolley flicked his rod
smoothly and effortlessly. I watched the tiny grappling hook sail just past the
stream of rushing, jumping mullet. Almost as soon as it hit the water, the old
man whipped his rod shoreward, and the tip bent in a bow as if something had
grabbed the line and wouldn’t let go. Tolley played the gaffed fish, steadily
bringing it towards shore. As he pulled the squirming mullet out of the water,
Sam said, “Snagged that one right in the gills.”</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">That’s when I decided I’d better get my hooks back in the
water. Three jerks later I got my catch. It was a kind of excitement that only a
kid can feel with his first catch.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Over the next three weeks, I was at my place on the
seawall almost every day. I became a regular tide savant. Tolley wasn’t there
every day, but most of the time. He caught what he needed and then went home. I
loved seeing him sail his three-pronged hook deftly to just the right spot in
the school and make a hit. He rarely waited a cast, so he never stayed very
long. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I was too shy to try to make his acquaintance, but even
though I didn’t have the words for it, I knew I was in the presence of a master.
</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Eventually, I was inspired to get my own casting rod and
reel. I never tried snagging fish with it, but I learned to hunt with bait. One
night I caught so many red-mouthed grunts I could barely lift them. I hadn’t
learned to respect life enough to take just what I needed. Not at sixteen. If
I’d had the courage to try to befriend the old Greek, maybe I would
have.</FONT></P></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>