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From Bad, to Worse, to
Good...all in one trip!
On the second day of a June,1986 6-day trip aboard the Red Rooster III,
we spent the day at San Martin Island, filling the bait tanks with
mackerel and sardines. Since it just wasn't happening "along the
beach" skipper Bob Burns decided to head over to Guadalupe Island.
About an hour after leaving San Martin, a passenger from Texas asked if
we could take him back and drop him off in San Diego because he was
feeling too confined! Ha! It seems he was used to the wide open spaces of
Texas and couldn't handle staying on this "little" boat for
another 5 days. He even asked if he could arrange for a helicopter to
pick him up on Guadalupe! "You'd better have a hell of a lot of
money and a real desire to get off this boat!", one of the other
crew members exclaimed. I kind of felt sorry for the guy. After spending
all this money to go fishing, he changed his mind but there was really
nothing he could do about it except make the best out of a bad situation
that was about to get even worse. You see, when we got to Guadalupe, a
wide open bite on firecracker yellowtail sent most of the guys into a
frenzy. When that happens, people tend to be a little less aware of their
surroundings, and unfortuately "TEX" was caught in the line of
fire. The treble hook of a Tady jig, to be exact. Two out of three barbs
were imbedded in his upper arm. OUCH! He was o -k after an on-deck surgery by
skipper Bob Burns, but clearly, this guy was really hating life at this
point. His luck did eventually change
during the course of the rest of the trip, In fact, he ended up with a
couple of 30# class Yellows and a whole mess of whitefish. At the end of
the trip he told us all that the boat and crew really made the difference
in turning his trip around. That made us feel great...along with the big
tip he left the crew!
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