Old

Somewhere along the way, I’ve gotten old. Too old to go tuna fishing by myself. Certainly, old enough to know better. I went tuna fishing by myself. Beautiful morning on the ocean. I really just wanted to enjoy the day. Watch the other boats and listen to the traffic on the radio. The fleet was getting a good number of bites. The fish being caught were mostly too large to keep. I didn’t want to tangle with one of those. Then, I hear one of the rods behind me screaming. Oh, boy. I got all strapped into the belt and harness and put what heat I could on the fish. It kicked my butt. I did manage to stay in the boat and got the fish to the boat. We have caught enough of these that I was pretty sure that it was under 73″. It is hard to measure one of these things in the water by yourself. The tape measure said close but a keeper. Ok, just slide it in through the tuna door and measure it. I don’t have a tuna door anymore. Ok, over the gunnel it comes…nope, that is not happening. More tape measuring in the water. It’s a keeper that I’m not getting in the boat. Tie it off to the transom with the head on the swim platform and away we go. Back home, with help from the wife we got the fish in the boat and confirmed the measurement at 72 inches. I’m sore. Heading back out in the morning. I’m bringing help this time.