Sounds Fishy to Me

The start of the west coast swing of the 2000 season took us to the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. We played on Oahu first, then on to Australia and back to Kona. Many of us who did not go to Australia went to Kona for our off week.

This being the first time on Kona we wanted to make the best of it. Some of the finest marlin fishing in the world lays off the Kona coast and we decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

LPGA pro Amy Benz, fellow caddies Gary Lukash (Hound Dog), Pat Martin (Pat the Cop) and myself decided to rent a charter and try our luck. All the charters seemed a little pricey, $500 and up. Then I noticed a brochure for the Cherry Pitt II. It was run by a husband and wife team and was only $300 for a full day of fishing. We gave them a call and booked a trip.

Upon arriving at the harbor we looked for our boat. It was the smallest in the harbor. The head was a plastic bucket with a lid on it! Amy and I looked at each other and just rolled our eyes. After leaving the safety of the harbor we were reminded that the stability of the boat depended on keeping two of us on each side or we might capsize! Now we knew why it was only $300.

The first couple hours were quiet. Not a bite. Then all hell broke lose. We ran into a school of Mahi Mahi and everyone took their turn in the chair. Altogether we caught eleven Mahi Mahi and one Skip Jack tuna. The captain cut the trip short so we would have time to  fillet our catch.

Back at the dock "Pat the Cop", having plenty of fishing under his belt, helped with the filleting. He did half and the captain the other half. The innards were fed to the sea turtles who hung out at the dock. The fillets were put in plastic bags and divided among us and the captain. He said if we needed more fish during our stay just give him a call and we can have his share.

Now it gets bazaar. During tournament week we decided to have a little party for a few caddies and players. We were running low on fish so I called the captain to see if we can have some of his. He said no problem. Just call back later to arrange the pick-up. 

I talked to his wife on the return call and was given some peculiar instructions. I was to meet her at the intersection of a specific road about six miles out of town. There will be and old brown car off the road and I was to wait there until she arrived. I agreed.

I arrived early. The more I thought about it, this sounded like some kind of a drug buy out of a NYPD Blue episode. Then I noticed a box next to the car. It can't be! She didn't leave the fish in the box did she? Nah, it was just some empty beer bottles.

She finally arrived. Before handing over the fish she started reading me the riot act. Complaining about how slow the charter season was and how much the fish were worth. She thought it was unfair of us to ask to return them.

I kept my cool and reminded her that we caught those fish and they weren't theirs to begin with. I forgot to add  that since it was slow they should be grateful to get our charter and that we tipped them $100!

After coughing up the fish I told her if there was any left I would call and they could have it. Fat chance! There was no way she would see those fish again.

If you ever go to Kona for a little fishing, pony up the $500 and leave the Cherry Pitt II in the harbor.

 See pictures of our trip here.

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