Gene The Machine...3/29

[Capt Josh]

Above all else i am thankful for the fact that i have perhaps the most amazing women in the world as my closest friend...and loving wife...

Our personal journey and history together could fill at least two volumes...particularly regarding what to and what NOT to do at least as far as it pertains to discovering...and later maintaining...love in the deepest sense of the word...

And while Cath's and my journey together is far from over...it has gone on long enough for me to reach a certain level of maturity where i've begun to ponder just what would happen if one of us dissapeared for good...and while i don't think dwelling on thoughts such as these is a particularly uplifting practice...i do believe it is necessary to at least think about what life would be like without her...in order to prepare ourselves for what will eventually happen...and perhaps more importantly to allow us further appreciation of those times we've had...and those to come...

It is with all this in mind that i took Gene...a 69 year old offshore fishing widow...hunting tunas the other day...

I don't know how Gene lost her husband...i didn't ask...but from what brief stories she did pass onto me i know darn well the man could fish...and while the two likely shared many passions together fishing and boating were two very important connections in their life...and they pursued these endeavors passionately...

I am sure that since Gene's husband passed away her fishing opportunities have slowed somewhat...i can't prove that...but the way she looked forward to heading offshore and the spark in her eyes when she told me her stories or listened to mine gave me the feeling that above all else...this girl needed to go fishing again...and that is precisely what we did...

Our first day on the water together left a lot to be desired...we went wide right away looking for action as i had 5 guests plus Gene aboard and desperately hoped for an early school of porpoise and tunas to break the ice...

Despite my best efforts and nearly 8 hrs of trolling i couldn't find a fish and was forced to return inshore looking for something to bend a rod...find something we did but once again the shanks dogged us as we hooked fish but promptly lost them all...even Gene hooked up a small sailfish right off the surf line but that too came unbuttoned after a brief tussel...

Well somedays are like that...big fat hairy pills of deflated ego to swallow...and i'll be the first to admit that i was pretty down in the dumps as it had been literally months since i've had to endure a proper skunking...

I thought for sure no one would want to go fishing the next day given our performance...and when the phone rang here at the house later that night i was convinced it was the boss ringing to tell me to get the dive gear ready for manana...

Imagine my surprise then when i picked up the receiver and heard an all to familiar voice greeting me on the other end...

"Well hello there skipper..." Gene said..."Want to do it again tomorrow?"

I liked Gene before she said this...but when i heard the optimism in her voice and listened carefully to the forthcoming story about how her and her husband were skunked the first 3 times they took out their boat i think a little bit of me fell in love with her...at least in a platonic sense...

Gene showed up the following morning with Eckhardt...another would-be angler from the day before...and with a contagiously positive attitude from yours truly we embarked upon another day...i don't know why...but something inside me told me there was something special waiting for us out there...something we probably weren't prepared for...at least not emotionally...

Forget the porpoise hunting, i thought as i headed offshore...today we do it old school...

First pass down the ridge and a solid 100#er demolishes the kite bait...Largo is trying to do too many things at once and manages to tip wrap the rod and snapcracklePOP the fish is gone before we know what's happened...

OK...i thought...strange i'm not even yelling...but let's roll with it....out goes another bait and sure enough...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ goes a solid hookup...the mojo was different today...

Gene and Eckhardt traded fat mid-size tunas for the better part of the morning...the action was fantastic and they both landed some nice fish...including new personal bests for both of them...we were happy...check that...we were elated....and since we had enough fish in the boat to last a while we decided on one more pass as we did in fact have to meet the rest of the crew for a dive later in the afternoon...

Gene is up next in the rotation when we set a new bait out and i just happen to be watching the poor little bugger skipping along out there when a massive...and i do mean MASSIVE hole opens up about 5 feet behind the bait and a very large...and very aggitated 200 plus pound tuna goes airborne...snatching the bait in mid air and crashing back to the water in a huge eruption...

It takes me a second to register what has just happened...and i literally refuse to believe for a good hour that the fish is as big as i think it is...because afterall this is March...but as we get Gene comfortable in the chair and the fish begins to rip line off the reel at a rate of unimaginable speed i slowly come to terms with the fact that life is giving us one of those rare opportunities...so many different personal histories...hopes and dreams...connected by one fish that really shouldn't be there...

Gene handles the first hour at 3/4 drag that's pushing 30#'s...she's in the chair but without a harness...we get a good look at the fish which is alternating between slugging it out deep...and running around on the surface with half of it's body out of the water churning away...Gene is in awe of course...we all are...and i can only imagine the mental and physical hurdles she faced while battling that tuna...

Finally after an hour she let's me get the harness on her...Gene is pulling with everything she's got and let me be the first to tell you that lady has a LOT...but the fish will have none of it...it's a mean one...a very very very mean one...not once does the fish give any indication that it's tiring...despite the drag...or the boat work...or the 4 grown men and Gene within it...

As often happens with these fish...the battle wears on to the point where we're now pushing the two hour mark and we have a decision to make...Gene is reaching the limit of her olympian effort and the fish still shows no visible sign of deteriorating...

While the fish is on the surface...swimming hard half out of the water heading directly away from the boat not fifty feet behind Gene who is feverishly cranking away...Largo reaches out and grabs the spectra if only to give Gene that little extra touch that would take us from stand off to headway...

When the fish felt the additional pressure you could watch it's effort escalate and despite my cautions to Largo to be extremely careful the spectra broke within his hand with a resounding SNAP! and time literally froze for a moment...

Largo could do nothing but stare off into the distance as the fish gave a few final kicks on the surface and dissapeared into the depths...

Bopa and Eckhardt put down the gaffs they had been weilding for the better part of the last half hour as we desperately tried to work the fish within range...

I screamed looooong and hard enough to suceed in blowing out the apprehension i'd accumulated over the last two hours and the mind numbing anger that suddenly consumed me...i'm not sure what i was screaming exactly but it seemed to do the trick because as the last of my breath left me a sense of calm descended upon the boat...

When my lungs finally started working again i climbed down from the tower and gave Gene a massive hug...i kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear that she caught that fish and i knew very well that her late husband was upstairs watching the whole scene unfold...

Gene looked at me and smiled and if i hadn't looked away i might have seen the tear that fell from behind her darkened sunglasses to roll across her cheek...

It was a very emotional moment...and one i am proud to have been a part of...on many levels...

Yes we lost the fish...but i can tell you one thing...those were some of the best two hours i've ever spent in March...

You're in the club Gene...and i'm sure as hell not the only one who stood above you and watched what you accomplished out there that day...what an amazing fish...what an extraordinary woman...

As for the rest of it...well...we'll have to figure that out for ourselves...

[Tom Kidwell]

Touching.... thanks for sharing.

[O-SEA-D]

Great write up...thanks for sharing it with us.

[Bert Rodgers]

I need a tissue, thanks for the story.

Bert

[fishskipper]

Capt. Josh,
Thanks so much for sharing that part of your life. This is what fishing is all about! Its nice to put your hands on the fish. Its nice to have a meal out of your catch. But the experience is what its all about!

Capt. Ron
www.littlejeanniesportfishing.com

[PurpleCedarPlug]

Thank you so much for writing your story. I think a lot of us have had a Gene on our boat at least once.

You have articulated this in your story so well, I think we all felt we were right there with you.

[Tom Kidwell]

Capt. Josh,
Thanks so much for sharing that part of your life. This is what fishing is all about! Its nice to put your hands on the fish. Its nice to have a meal out of your catch. But the experience is what its all about!

Capt. Ron
www.littlejeanniesportfishing.com

Very well said, Ron.

[John Rogers]

Awesome story, Thanks for sharing

[Capt Josh]

Here's a picture of our heroine...

Hard at it about an hour and a half in...

[FINRAZOR RODS]

Wonderful story!! Thanks for sharing...