 |
* Home Page *
Fish Photos Page * The
Boats |
I'm not really sure what to write this month because I was in a bed, both in the hospital and at home for most of it. Some may have noticed that I did last month's wrap-up several days before the actual end of the month. That's because I had to go to Honolulu for colon cancer surgery the day after I wrote it. I only fished 2 days near the end of this month and while I did catch some tunas trolling and a couple of jacks while bottom fishing, It's nothing to write about really. But, I think I can still make this worth reading.
While I was out of action, I kept hearing news of how great the bite was. Last month, the marlin, spearfish, and ono were all biting pretty good so I was happy to hear that it was still going well for Kona anglers. When I got back to the harbor to clean a month's worth of parking lot dirt off of my boat, I expected to see fish flags flying all over the harbor from the hot bite going on. What I found was a bunch of empty riggers. Talking to some of the guys, I found out the action on marlin and spearfish was slow but the ono bite was pretty good. Some of the captains get really pissed at me when I don't write a glowing report on how great it is to be fishing in Kona right now but, if each month I wrote like that, you guys would soon realize that I was full of #&*@ and not worth reading. I try to tell it like it is. Yes, there was some action in April but not much.
I came back to work in a fairly weakened condition so, for the first time in 20 years, I knew I needed to use a deckhand on the 'Aloha Kai' (previously named 'Carnivore'). It's really hard to find a good deckhand. One of the most common complaints that you hear from both the captains and the deckhands is how hard it is to get along. I made several attempts to find a good deckhand prior to surgery but was not having much luck.
A long-time friend who crewed with me back in the mid '90s said he would help me out. He has his own small boat and goes commercial fishing pretty much every week. And he usually catches! He owns his own house painting business that he pretty much put on hold in order to fish with me. He's so well acquainted with local fishing that I have very little to worry about when it comes to handling the deck. The other part of being a good deckhand is customer relations. He gets an A+ in that category too. but, here's the part that's coming, as it happens to pretty much all boat crews.
Right now we're in the honeymoon stage. Each being on our best behavior. It's only a matter of time when something will happen on the boat that we will each blame the other for. Animosity will start. Then something else will go wrong. Blame will fly in both directions again. More animosity. Grudges. Little snipes at each other will start. It's not like I want these things to happen, it's just a common scenario that happens more often than not. Pretty much how most marriages play out over time. I've been married for 42 years and a lot of grace needs to come from both sides in order to make things work. I have more surgeries to go through before the end of the year so I'm really going to try to keep the cool head of experience rather than a hot head and a fleeting temper tantrum.
See 'ya on the water ,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
http://FISHinKONA.com
