My Dad the Fisherman
By Donald Jones
My dad loved to fish. He and his friends would go out fishing sometimes all night. On one occasion my dad went out with one of his fishing buddies, and he caught a 30lbs snapper. With the snapper, flopping around in the boat my dad’s friend said to my dad as a dare “Top that one old buddy.” About that time my dad got a hit on his line. The fish began to pull the boat out toward the bay. At first he thought it might be a shark because something that could pull the boat had to be big. The fish found a ledge to go under and tried to shake the line till it would break on the rough coral. Dad had heard about a fish that was notorious for going under that reef and getting loose so he had put an extra long steel leader on his line. He and that fish fought for an hour when it finally came out from under that reef and went out into open water where they brought it to the surface. When they got it next to the boat they found that they had snapper that turned out to weigh 70lbs. Now it might be thought to be just another fish tail but I remember that early morning when my dad woke me up to show off his pride and joy at my bed room door. At first I thought it had to be a dream. The big eyes and mouth full of teeth were enormous. They sent me scurrying under my covers. When I got up that morning I ask dad if I really did see a fish last night and he said go look in the freezer. I opened the lid and there on top of everything lay one of the biggest fish heads I have ever seen. He saved it to give to our maid. The Cuban people like fish heads they make soup with them. I also learned that if my dad tells a fish story it would be wise to believe him when it comes to his fish stories. He really does not exaggerate.