OK, I'm just not a fisherman

My dad ? Now HE was a fisherman.
He used to love to fish. When I was a kid, he used to take me fishing frequently. Later on, he refurbished a model A engine and restored an antique boat. He used to love to take it out and fish or crab in Barnegate, NJ. Indeed, there were few things he enjoyed more than fishing. When he retired, he became a judge in sailfish tournaments.

Me ? Fishing bores me. I mean, really bores me. I hate being on a boat. I like to keep my feet on solid ground. I feel somewhat trapped on a boat. When I'm bored on land, I can go do something else. On a boat, what can I do with other guys ? Tell a few jokes. Eat a sandwich. Drink some. That's about it.
I feel stuck on a boat and thus, I avoid them.

Now, don't get me wrong. I own a canoe in NJ and recently bought one to keep in Florida too. Indeed, I picked it up just yesterday. Mostly, I use it for the exercise of paddling and for getting close to wildlife (alligators, osprey, heron, egret, ect..) to take nature photos, not for fishing.

Today was windy, cloudy & relatively cold, at least for Florida. I could have stayed indoors, but, instead I decided to trim some hedges. So, I went into the shed out back to get some clippers and staring me in the face was one of dad's old surf rods. Dad has been dead for a decade now and I miss him. He was a great guy. I guess I got hit with some nostalgia and thus, spontaneously decided to go surf fishing. I figure that my main purpose was going to be to take osprey photos. But, while I waited for the osprey, I would surf fish.

So, off I went in the car to Jupiter Island. It's a nice beach. But, today the wind was headed south and fierce. I put together the three piece surf pole, using oil from the side of my nose for the joints, like dad had taught me to do long ago. Then, I threaded the line through the eyelets. I choose some large double hooks, a lead weight and a bobber. I hadn't fished since I was about 10 years old, but it was coming back to me. I put some cut bait on the hooks and swung the long pole around hard making a deep cast.
Whirrrrrrrr, splash ! Yeah, it was like riding a bike, I thought to myself.

Then, I turned the handle and the bar on the reel flipped up.
I went to reel in just a little bit and I then realized...."shit, I forgot to put the line UNDER the bar. Thus, when I rotated the reel, it did not wind back the line. Shit ! Shit ! Shit ! OK, maybe it's not like riding a bike.

So, now, I am pulling the line in with one hand and manually winding the line back onto the reel and the wind occassionally whips the line back off the reel. Thus, it took me 20 minutes to get the line back to shore.

The wind whipped the line way south of me. That's where the sinker, bobbin and bait ended up on shore. They felt kind of heavy. Did the bait get bigger ? Wait, what is that ? It's not a fish. Pull, wind, pull, wind, pull... Oh my god !!! It's a moray eel, about 3 feet long. Shit ! I would have preferred it to be a shark. Morays kill more divers than sharks ! The greedy bastard not only swallowed the entire bait, but BOTH large hooks. Now what ? OK, I have pliers, which I chose to hold the moray's mouth open, not so hard as to hurt him, but firm enough that he couldn't bite me.

I'm apologizing to the moray. "Sorry dude, I was kinda going for blues, or snapper. Did you have to swallow the whole darn thing ?!?"
I really felt sorry for the guy and was trying to be as gentle as possible. 20 minutes later, I FINALLY got both hooks out of him. But, he's not happy at all, flopping around in the sand, probably eager to take a chunk out of my leg.

(continued in the first comment below)