Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sailing or fishing? What's a boy to do?


I imagine this young fisherman is enjoying his time on the dock trying to snag a big one. His bait bucket is beside him - probably live shrimp - and he's being patient. From the direction of his gaze, he may be looking out at the boys and girls taking sailing lessons just aways off shore. The kids in the prams are getting their first formal lessons in sailing from the yacht club and may one day help crew an America's Cup winner. (Or that's their parent's big dream big for them.) The fellow with his line in the water, though hoping to land a record-size tarpon, is having a quieter, less stressful summer afternoon in the Florida sun. I sailed one of those prams many years ago at this spot and have not forgotten the sudden, sky-blackening storms coming up and the race back to the safety of the dock. Or the test we took before being allowed out alone in our pram for the first time. Name all the parts of the sailing craft? Got it memorized. Some things just stick with you for life, right?

5 comments:

  1. Sensational photo, well done.
    By live shrimp you mean live prawns right? LOL
    Tim

    http://bribieislanddailyphoto.blogspot.com/

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  2. Live shrimp really are the best bait here in our salt water for many different fish. In Hillsborough and Tampa Bay there are tarpon,redfish, sea trout and snook as well as black drum. Shrimp and fiddler crab are both good bait. Works too on Spanish mackerel, lady fish or jack from from docks and piers. Prawns???

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  3. Very nice and very interesting photo, Frank. I like the B&W, too.

    One time down in Corpus Christi, Texas with the family I went to buy some bait shrimp and came back with these great big prawns which I thought were rather expensive...turns out they were expensive because they were for human consumption...so we fed those expensive shrimp to the little fishies all day. My kids thought it was pretty funny!

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  4. Great photo Frank, and the accompanying post.

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