The Middle Aged Man and the Sea

The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea

Captain Dean Panos of Double DD Charters and Me, March 21, 2013

So now that you know something about my motivation for this blog, it is time to move onto my first big adventure on this year-long quest.  Here are the photos from my first adventure and Hemingway goal -- to catch a Billfish in the same waters that Papa used to fish. I think Papa himself must have been watching, and assisting from above, because we succeeded more than my wildest expectations. Indeed, it was probably the most successful fishing trip of my life, and I have already had more than my share.

In was March of 2013, and we were headed to Miami on Spring Break. I found Double D Charters where else -- online at www.doubledcharters.com . It appeared from his fishing logs that this man was serious about his Sailfish -- my main goal -- and not knowing many fishermen locally, I took my chances. His rates were reasonable too -- I discovered later he was much cheaper than the bigger boats, but he was also much more successful. I booked a whole day for my wife, twin 13 year old daughters, and me.  It would be off the coast of Miami.

On Board the SS Double D -- You Can Make Out a View of the Miami Beach Skyline

Part of this experience, of course, is to read along with Papa Hemingway as I experience the things he wrote about. "Old Man And the Sea" is perhaps his most celebrated story. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature for this short story, originally published in Life Magazine. It also featured his greatest loves and themes: fishing, struggle, life, death, endurance, joy, and tragedy. I have read this short story at least three times, not counting school. I read it again before this trip. I also read a compilation of his greatest fishing tales in a book recently published by his publisher "Hemingway on Fishing".

I planned my reading to finish the night before our scheduled fishing trip. The last chapter in the book is -- of course -- The Old Man and the Sea. You may know this story about Santiago, the old fisherman out at sea struggling to catch the Blue Marlin -- a Giant of fish -- and then the tragedy of his fight with the sharks as he navigated back to land with this fish strapped to the side of his small boat.  Great Blue Marlin like Santiago's don't much exist anymore in these waters -- all fished out. However, the conservation efforts Hemingway himself helped begin have done much to help the Bill fish make a come back. Catch and Release is now the mantra, not the big hanging fish on the peer that we are used to seeing from Papa's day. I had decided that the Sailfish would be my best chance for getting close to the Hemingway experience.

Our Spring Break Week was amazing, We stayed with my sister-in-law Carolyn Adams (who mentioned my weird "thing" for Hemingway - laughing). My daughters are certified divers (no not the resort certification, the real thing), and so we had two days of diving, We also had our beach days at South Beach (interesting people watching to say the least). We experienced the Florida Everglades National Park form one end to the other. We had experienced Key West the year before, and ran out of time before getting another chance to run down there again. Our stay the year before at the Southernmost Hotel was a lot of fun. We rode our bikes to all the Hemingway haunts, especially the Hemingway house, and we drank one to Papa at both Captain Tony's (the original Sloppy Joe's) and at the current location of Sloppy Joe's. We ate amazing oysters and saw the sunsets. 

We are going back, but right now... at this moment...the night before the big fishing trip... the day that would kick-off My Year with Hemingway with a bang or a whimper, was upon me. And I was very nervous. Eating Cuban food at a great place in Homestead the night before, I read the fish report for that week. It was not good. The food was great but I was not hungry. My stomach was in sailor's knots.

I could not sleep. Finally, though, I read the last line of the book. The part where Santiago leaves his skiff on the Cuban shore and goes home to his bed. With that I finally drifted off. 

Before dawn the next morning, we packed up the rented Prius and headed for the Double D Docks in North Miami. We made it, having to drive from Homestead, about 15 minutes late. I realized fast that this Captain was all business. Captain Dean Panos is a trained Marine Biologist, having moved to Miami from his native New York some 30 years earlier. He still had the accent. The sun was still resting below the horizon as we motored out of the docks past the numerous Miami water front homes. It was cold. We were not prepared for cold weather on Spring Break in Florida. As you can see from the mate above, they were. It went from cold to very hot and sunny later in the day. For now, though, we were hoping to see that sun to warm our bones.

After a brisk ride out to the large light house-looking dikes off shore, we threw out some rods with about ten hooks each and caught our bait fish for the day. They were actually a lot of fun as I handed one pole each to my daughters.. landing four or five of the shiny small fish at a time. We put them in the live well to meet their fate later.

We then headed out to deeper water and to get positioned to "move with the sailfish".  On the way the mate and I sighted a brown splash on one of the waves, and the mate yelled and stomped his feet to get the skipper's attention to stop so we could cast into the wave. It was our first sighting of a Sailfish. 

These beautiful Billfish like to migrate past the Florida coast from February through May or June, heading South. They like to surf the top crests of the waves in schools, searching for fish to stun with their bill before eating them. They use their massive sail not to navigate but to impress prey. When it gets angry the fish goes from a very amazing purple to a chocolate milkshake brown. Where you see one, there are many nearby.

We cast into the crashing waves, but alas it was futile. Was this my only chance of the day? Or was it a sign that it would be a great day? The wind caused the boat to crash and list, but fortunately we had all taken our sea-sick pills that morning. 

At this point, the skipper stopped the boat and began to rig up two kites -- yes kites. Kite fishing is the most popular way to catch sailfish. One kite is flying off each side of the boat. Three lines attached to rods on the boat are also attached to the kite line, allowing the bait (live fish tied with a rubber band just above the hook but not through the hook) to dangle just above the Sailfish as it surfs the crests. The trick is to keep your floaters and bait right at the surface. It is harder than it sounds -- the winds cause your kite and your lines to constantly shift, so you are constantly letting line out and back in, adjusting the line so that your bait remains right in the perfect zone. Fishing this way makes it possible to catch more than one or two sailfish at a time (yes that would happen once or twice).

We waited. We made small talk. But this skipper was all business, no small talk. He was on the job. The mate and I talked nervously, not saying what we were both thinking (will this be the good day, or another flat day like the several days before)?  That is the hardest time of any fishing or hunting trip.... or wildlife viewing trip. I remember how relieved my hostess was when I finally got my view of a real Kodiak Brown Bear, while he was fishing and eating Salmon in an Alaska stream. My goal for that trip had been to see one... something that is rare. She made no promises... and it was such a sweet payoff when we saw one.

BAM! I saw a flash of brown and the bait go down! Was this it? Yes! The mate says it is and I begin to reel him in, determined not to lose him. Here was my chance. All I had to do was keep him on the line. Since we were doing catch and release, the goal is to get the leader to the boat so the mate can release him. It is against the law to land him on a boat and then release him, because they lose the important slime needed to survive in the ocean. If we had landed him on the boat we would have to go ahead and kill him -- something I had no desire to do.

This fish gave me a fight unlike any other. My back hurt, my brow was sweating, my injured shoulder was screaming. There was no belt to place the pole in -- this was free style. I was beginning to get some idea of what Santiago had to endure as an old man, with a much larger fish. My respect for Santiago was growing. But I had to land -- to catch -- this Sailfish. Judging from the fishing reports that week, this might be my only chance... so I reeled that fish and worked that fish like it was the last fish I could ever catch.

Finally, the skipper and the mate have him boat side just long enough to measure him next to the rule that is painted on the side for catch and release record keeping. He was 7 1/2 feet and about 80 pounds of Sailfish.  

I understood what Hemingway meant in "Islands in the Stream" about building a love and respect for a fish that you have struggled so hard to catch. He revisits this theme and broadens it with Santiago. The man and the fish respect and even love each other. I loved this beautiful fish. However, almost as if to say "I am having the last word" my beautiful fish broke the line just as we were releasing him anyway. "I am going on my own terms" he seemed to be saying. 

But I had my first Sailfish, and he was a beauty.  I felt a rush of adrenalin that felt better than any drug or drink or pretty much anything I can describe. I did it. Even better, I felt the pain and the struggle of the fish and the pain and struggle in my back as well. 

Turns out, while he was the biggest of the day, he was not the only one. We went on to catch seven more, four for me, one for Sissy, and two for Virginia and one for Caroline. We also caught several Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi), a King Fish, and a Baracuda. We kept the Mahi Mahi for eating. The girls caught their first fish... and we could not wait to have fresh Mahi Mahi back at Aunt Carolyn's grill!

On the way back into port, tired but exuberant, sun burned but feeling no pain, the skipper broke out a large celebratory cigar, and I joined him. He put out seven flags, four blue for me and three pink for the girls and one white one because I guess he was out of pink. It was a way of telling all the other boats and all the people watching us headed in that we had a banner day. 

Indeed we had. I had been repeatedly asking Captain Panos -- our serious all business and no play skipper -- if we were going to "rank" a mention on the fishing report for that day. Each time he said "not yet, we need to catch another one." I could not imagine a more successful day. What would it take?

At one point we had two fish on the line at one time. One of my Sailfish was even tagged with an orange tag. I would later learn from the certificate I received congratulating me and marking this catch that only 3% of all Billfish fishermen ever catch a tagged Billfish. I felt like I was now in an elite group of fishermen. The skipper -- a trained Marine Biologist -- removed the tag with a long stick and then retagged him on his sail. Later we would find that this fish had gained about 20 pounds and was returning to the same area at the same time of the year as when he had first been tagged. This information gained from the tag will help marine biologists learn more about the Sailfish migration and eating patterns, among other things. 

That information -- from my tagged Sailfish -- will in turn help them develop game regulations and strategies that will allow this remarkable and beautiful fish to thrive one again in Hemingway's old fishing grounds. I was proud of this most of all.

Surely, this day would make the Fishing Report, right? IT seemed oddly very important to me suddenly. It would mark this for the history books where it belonged. It would make this remarkable day official. It would be a formal way to memorialize this day. I showed up, I fought, struggled, felt pain, love, victory, loss (two got away), and -- most of all -- I felt an interesting and deep feeling of companionship and mutual respect for these beautiful purple and blue creatures of the deep sea that were my sparing partners.  I was living the dream... I was turning the often negative energy of a Middle Age Crisis into a positive awareness of how to live in the moment. This, I think, is the ultimate lesson of my experience as a Middle Aged Man and the Sea.

My quest was off to a great start.

Oh, did he ever mention us in the fishing report? Well of course he did. Turns out we were his best fishing day of the entire month. I think we have to give thanks to Papa. Read it here: http://www.doubledcharters.com/reports/index.php?rid=253

Thank you Hem... I know you had to be part of this. 

The first of four Sailfish I caught was 7 1/5 feet long, about the same size as this Sailfish being held by Earnest Hemingway in this photo taken with his wife Pauline and used for the cover photo for my friend's great new book about Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline Pfieffer, who was from the Piggott, Arkansas Pfieffer family. I would love to have had this picture with my fish, but I wanted to release him more. The bottom line is the catching anyway, if you are a real sportsman. Go buy this book and read it here http://www.amazon.com/Unbelievable-Happiness-Final-Sorrow-Hemingway-Pfeiffer/dp/1557289743