Exotic Fishing

After discussing our life with dogs, let me switch to fishing. We bought a condominium years ago while I had my Medical practice in Franklin Park. Having a condo in Fort Lauderdale, FL we made a lot of winter trips for R&R. These were short periods, like five or six days, and our friends knew about them. Once a very good priest friend of ours was down there at the same time. Now Father Bill stopped by the condo,and asked if he and I could go deep sea fishing. He said that he had never had been fishing before, so this would be an adventure. The charter fishing boats work this way. The charter captains take you out for a few hours on a larger boat that holds about 6 or 7 fishermen, and they furnish everything. All the tackle, all the bait, all the set-ups and everything are supplied. So all you have to do is hold the fishing pole that is given to you. The town just North of Fort Lauderdale had a harbor where these charter boats would sail out from. The next morning, Father Bill and I were on boat fishing way offshore, in the Atlantic Ocean. There were a few fishes being caught, but Father did not catch any. Later on the skipper said it was time to return to the harbor, so the skipper turned the boat around and started back. In just a few minutes, Father Bill's pole bent way down, and he started reeling a BIG fish. It jumped out of the water, did the "tail walk" and the skipper announced that it was a sail fish.The skipper then had to turn the boat back out to sea in order to play this BIG fish.

So after about 15 minutes, Father got the fish alongside the boat. Now the skipper said that this fish has to be released or it had to be mounted. I was busy telling Father Bill to say he would have it mounted. He asked, "what would he do with it if it was mounted", he was a priest, afterall, and a trophy sailfish might not go over real well back at the rectory. I felt like I was the devil, tempting the priest keep the trophy. I told him that I could put it on a wall back in my office, and I would pay the expense. This was a large fish, over 7 feet long with a large dorsal fin about 2 feet high. We were able to have a picture taken of us and all the fish caught that day including the sail fish, when we got back to the harbor.

When the mounted fish arrived about a month later, we were really excited! The crate was really large because the mounting board had to be larger than the fish. Fortunately, I had a large wall in the reception area that was the perfect size to display the fish. It looked so impressive! We had the picture taken at the harbor hanging right below the fish. Father Bill was so proud of his first time fishing success that he would bring many people to see it.

Many people came through my offices and could view this mounting. One day the temptation was too great. I got to the office and noticed that father's fish was stolen by some pranksters. I found out about ten years later, what really had happened.

It was a regular day at the office, and I recieved a letter with the return address of a seminary. In the letter was the following story. The writer introduced himself, and said that he was a seminary student, and he had to tell me something. He began confessing that he had stolen the fish years earlier and he had used it to play a trick on someone he knew, that had owned a pool. He stole the fish and threw it into the pool! Imagine waking up to a 7 foot long sailfish in your swimming pool! I laughed out loud and continued reading. He mentioned that he needed to confess his transgressions, as part of his advancement in the seminary. I never answered his letter.

Another fish story next. Stay tuned.