April 2016 – Edition 133

Here is the text that I sent into Florida Sportsman and they made a few edits to it. But essentially, they are the same articles.

Warren Jerrems

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As a native Floridian having grown up on the beaches of Anna Maria Island on the West Coast of Florida, there is no question but that fishing was the first and foremost activity of my younger days and the cornerstone of activities I’ve carried into my adult life.

The west coast of the Gulf from Tampa Bay to Naples was my backyard and twice yearly trips to the Florida Keys was routine. Work called me to move to Stuart on the Atlantic coast for a couple of years and now it has moved me to Pensacola on the Florida pan handle. So I’ve fished nearly the entire coast of Florida and taken several trips out of the country to wet a line. I have a lot of fishing stories, but my all-time favorite happened recently and I was not even on the boat!

In May, I was out of town and received a text from my 25-year old daughter Jacqueline letting me know that she and my wife, Mia and a friend were taking my 21′ Proline for a fishing trip out of Pensacola pass. Jacqueline has been fishing with me since early childhood and knows her way about the boat.

Needless to say I was a bit nervous as this was her first solo excursion. Having her mother on board was of some help but usually when Mia goes fishing, the first time she touches a fish is when it is on the fork at the dinner table as I usually catch and hook her bait, take off her fish, together with cleaning and cooking any and all fish. Mom was there for moral support and motherly advice.

Jacqueline loaded up the boat with tackle, rods, ice, electronics and all the usual paraphernalia. After catching a live well full of cigar minnows, she headed offshore and did quite well with 30″ red snapper (safely released) and a pair smoker kings.

Two different captains who I regularly see on the water, came up to the boat to say hi to me and were very surprised that I was not on board. They both commented to me later on how much hooting and hollering was taking place on the boat that they had to see what was going on. To cap off the day of fishing, on the way back in, the girls ran into a school of redfish and my daughter caught a 36″ fish on light tackle with a soft bait again, safely released.

When they sent me the photos, I asked that they also send me a photo of my boat and was relieved to see it too was returned in one piece.

But the story gets better.

Last week they tried it again but this time I watched them pull out from the dock as I ‘m headed to work. At 10:30, I receive the following text: “Dad, when you get a second, give me a call. You’re going to want to hear about our fishing trip”.

To my amazement, she told this fish tale of having caught a large sailfish on light tackle together with a 30 minute fight and a dozen jumps. My reply was send me the pictures. Not only did they catch and safely release this fish, they captured a couple of dozen nice photos on the phone. Jacqueline actually handed the rod to her friend to fight the fish while she took control of the wheel.

Hers was my all-time best fishing story. If I never catch another fish, my life will be complete knowing that I passed on my passion for fishing to my little girl.

Warren Jerrems

Jacqueline above

Mother Mia below

(Hard to tell them apart…I think I got the captions right.)