June 19, 2021 – Schools Out for Summer, a Strike Out for the K.O.B. – Ocean County

Good sports.

I got a bonus day off this Monday thanks to the new national holiday, and it just so happened that the boy finished school AND my sister had a house for the week on LBI.  My brother-in-law Ben wanted to take his one fishing trip per year with us, and I would like to say that I put him on a crazy fluke bite, but I can’t.  I reserved a boat in Beach Haven with easy access to my old stomping grounds, back when I was the “King of the Bay” (more on that below), and I served as a low-rent charter for four hours.  Those four hours happened to fall between 1:30 to 5:30 PM with a falling tide and a North wind working in tandem for some solid 2 to 3 MPH drifts!  I don’t think poor Ben could sense bottom even with three ounces.  The water was dirty too following a couple days of South wind (the best, yeah?) even though it had turned North that morning and then a foggy Northeast around 4 PM—a little too late, yo.  The boy landed the only fish close to a keeper, one of only three short fluke, along with a sandshark.  I hooked a skate—at that drift speed, let’s face it, I snagged a skate—demonstrating the jigging technique for Ben.  He got to reel in a spinning… I want to say fish?  I believe Tami was pregnant with our son some 16 years ago, and we were staying at a place that Ward and I rented with friends for several years on the island.  She woke up and recounted a dream where a little boy—let’s say it was the future boy on the boat today—spotted me and said, “I know you!  You’re the King of the Bay!”  She even made me a craft project that still hangs in the powder room of our house that I got a chuckle about on Tuesday morning.  Man, my then-unborn son should have picked better heroes!  Ask Uncle Ben about my prowess as a fishing guide!  It was still a nice couple of days with family, albeit a little breezy and a lot of work and money, all mine, for a nostalgic boat ride over my old honey holes on Monday.

Perhaps he had my gift for sarcasm even then?