My First And Only Time Going Deep Sea Fishing

Photo by Gene Gallin on Unsplash

After having fished in the surf on the beach and in the river from a dock, my friend P and I decided to go Deep Sea Fishing. We both had never done any deep sea fishing. I had graduated from high school either a year or two earlier when we set out on our next adventure.

I was now living about 5 miles down the road from where I had originally lived. He came down and picked me up early in the morning. I had never been on a boat before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The immediate worry was I would get sick. My Mother bought me some Dramamine. Back then, I had difficulty taking pills. Having not taken pills on a regular basis, I wasn’t used to it. I remember P was there waiting for me in the living room. I went into the bathroom and tried to take the Dramamine. It didn’t go well. I couldn’t get it down. So I went without it.

I was nervous when we left the house. I had just eaten breakfast and swallowed a lot of water trying to get that pill down. We jumped in his car and drove the 28 miles to Port Canaveral.

At the time, there were two boats that offered deep sea fishing. One was the Miss Cape Canaveral and the other was the Pelican Princess. I had read in local fishing magazines that the Miss Cape Canaveral always had good catches of fish. People would showcase their catches and talk about it in the local bait shops.

We walked into the local bait shop at the Port and paid for our trip. The boat was expected to leave at 9:30 a.m. and return at 3:30 p.m.

When we were at the bait shop, I knew I had to go to the restroom. All that water had caught up with me. I looked for the restroom but I couldn’t see it. Every time I tried to ask P what I should do, something happened and I couldn’t ask him.

We boarded the boat. We were the first ones on. We saw the deckhands getting the boat ready. We were on the Pelican Princess. It was an approximately 72 foot vessel. Immediately, I saw two restrooms at the stern (rear) of the boat. Unfortunately, it looked like they were cleaning them.

In a few short minutes, we were joined by 40 of our closest friends. At least that’s what they would be for the next 6 hours.

The boat had seating around the whole outside of the boat. If you got tired fishing, you could sit down. The walkway was between the seating and the metal piping going around the whole boat.

There were two doors that went into the inside of the boat, one on each side. It had wooden tables and seats where you could sit down and enjoy lunch. Or if you got tired of the sun, you could come in here and cool off and relax.

The boat started to back out of the dock into the channel. We were seated inside. Once we cleared the jetty, we were out to the open sea. The boat was rocking and going pretty fast.

You don’t want to get up and walk around when the boat is moving.

How do I know? Because I did it. Once you get out on the water, it makes you have to go to the restroom even worse. My bladder couldn’t take it anymore. LOL. I was not laughing at the time. I was in agony.

Photo by Lowes

I felt like a pinball bouncing off the walls as I made my way out the door and down the walkway toward the stern. It was hard to keep my balance. I bumped into the seating area. I made it around to the closest restroom to me. The door left something to be desired. It was a sliding door. It was painted white with splotches of the bare wood showing through. The lock was unbelievable. It was a silver mechanism (see photo above) like you might see on an old screen door or a shed. You inserted it into a small teardrop circle that had been screwed into the wood. There was absolutely no room in that small cubbyhole, if you can even call it that. I remember the toilet as disgusting. Even worse, I don’t remember there being a sink. There’s no way you would be able to fit one in there. I finally got relief.

I busted out of that door, and I was a new man!

The walk back wasn’t as daring as before. I found P and I sat back down. I don’t even think he asked me about it. He probably wondered where I’d dashed off to.

The boat went to the first location. We were going to be fishing over a reef. We were provided with the fishing rods and reels. The deckhands brought around buckets with our bait. I think it was squid. I had used squid during surf fishing so I was familiar with it. I baited my own hook. During this kind of fishing, you drop your baited hook over the edge, and release the lever on your reel. You let the bait fall down to the bottom. It was helped to the bottom by a heavy sinker. I think they said we were in 100 to 150 feet of water. You rested the rod on the metal piping better known as the railing. These rods were a bit heavier. There were no rod holders so you had to hold the rods the whole time. Then you just waited for something to start nibbling on your bait. We fished for a couple of hours.

I kept getting my bait stolen. After about 10 minutes or so, I would reel it up and my hook was empty. P wasn’t having much luck either. His bait was still attached, so he would drop it again. During that first location stop, no one on the boat caught anything. Complete disappointment.

Around 12 p.m., we went inside and had a sandwich and pop. I don’t remember washing my hands. They may have given out toilette's for us to wash our hands. At least I hope they did.

There were some women on our trip. I don’t know how they ever went to the restroom. I think once they saw the small space, they probably told themselves they could wait.

While we ate lunch, they moved the boat to another location. From the first location, I could still see land. At the second location, I couldn’t see any land. That’s kind of scary. One thing I didn’t notice were any life vests. Hopefully, they had those on board.

After lunch, we started fishing again at the second location. I still had the same problem. Bait was being stolen. I didn’t even feel the usual hit on the line and rod. It was kind of depressing. Then we heard some commotion on the other side of the boat. Someone had caught something. But we never found out what it was because we couldn’t see and no one came over and told us what they had caught.

That one lucky person was the only one to catch anything that day. What a real bummer.

Fishing can be a shot in the dark sometimes. You’re not guaranteed to get fish everyday.

Conclusion

It was still fun. Any day fishing for me is fun. I don’t have to catch anything. I was out in nature away from all of the trials and tribulations of life. I was having fun doing something with my friend. I have fished by myself more times than I can count. So fishing again with P was fun. It wouldn’t be our only time fishing together. We would have more fishing adventures.

Until next time, happy reading.

-Matt