It was summertime, the year was 1966, and I was 14, when a fellow riverrat and friend of mine offered me a job on his Dad's shrimp boat. He didn't have to ask twice. I was in. After much preparation, we headed out for two weeks, some 400 miles into the southern Gulf of Mexico. We left out of Ft. Myers, Florida, and motored southwest for two days. Once we got out to the shrimping grounds, we would trawl for shrimp all night and were supposed to sleep during the day, but I found it nearly impossible to sleep. Instead, as daylight approached, the Captain would find me a good rocky area and anchor the boat, and I would fish off of the stern during the day when everyone else was fast asleep. For me this was heaven. I used squid for bait that I would gather from the nets the night before. I fished almost every day and during those two weeks, I completely filled one ice bin, with a mixed bag, with everything from Grouper and Snapper, to Kingfish. The highpoint of the trip was catching a Kingfish, that after being gutted, weighed in at 62 lbs. I had hung a small snapper and was reeling him up fast. The King was apparently up under the 90 foot boat, in the shade. When I got the Snapper within about 20 feet of the boat the Kingfish shot out like a bullet and nailed the Snapper. I wasn't expecting that. He hit so hard and so fast that it almost literally pulled me off the back of that boat. I had to sit down on the deck and put both feet up on the transom in order to fight the fish and keep from being yanked overboard. At times, some of his "smokin" runs were so hard and fast, that the only thing touching the boat would be my feet on the transom. After about a half hour battle, I finally subdued the fish. I don't know who was more tired. I had never fought anything as tough as that fish before. Being that I was out there by myself, the Captain and his son both sleeping, I had to hold the rod in one hand and shoot him with a 22 rifle with the other, in order to calm him down enough to be able to drag him up onto the deck of the boat. When I finally got him up and safely on the deck, we both just laid there side by side staring at each other. My Mom met me at the docks and took a photo when we got back to port. (It's in my album). I truly had the time of my life that summer. It was an experience that I'll never forget, and some of the best fishing that I have ever done or will probably ever do again. Definitely the best fishing trip that I've had in the last 50 years.
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