June 9, 2003

Fishing with Pappi Part 2

Since graduating college, my brother Brett has been temporarily living with my parents in New Jersey while he figures out what he's going to do next. I took a Monday off from work and went deep sea fishing down in south NJ (at Mid-Atlantic Highlands) with my dad and brother.

Instead of going out on my dad's boat like last year, this time we upped the ante and went out on a larger, chartered boat with some of my dad's former co-workers.

Oooof. I can't remember seeing the "waking up" side of 5:24am in a loooong-ass time.

brett — My brother and I had stayed up until well past 3am playing video games (Amplitude, anyone?) and my brother was so tired he couldn't even talk.

brett, dad — Nevertheless, we somehow managed to pack up the car and hit the road well before 6am.

brett, dad — We fueled up and Dunkin' Donuts...

brett — ...and immediately perked up when we saw the prize they were offering in one of those "leave your business card" drawings. Makes you think twice about ordering a "glazed" doughnut there, right? Ew.

dad — And immediately perked up when we saw the prize they were offering in one of those "leave your business card" drawings. Makes you think twice about ordering a "glazed" doughnut there, right? Ew.

There's she is! The brand new "Mi-Jo II." 75ft of fishing-catching fury piloted by the super-nice Captain Mike Scardigno.

brett — Tired.

Tireder.

dad — Tiredest.

hank battjer — Before we get on with the fishin', I should prolly give you a little background. You see, we come from a fishing family. That handsome devil up there is my dad's father, Hank Battjer. (Holding up what looks like a fresh-water muskellunge)

connie battjer — And that's my Dad's mother, Connie Battjer; who actually caught the sailfish she posing with (Nope, I'm so not kidding).

brett — With our proud angling lineage in mind, we puffed our chests, hoisted our hopes and cast our lines towards the sea (that's Capt. Mike in standing next to my brother).

No more than 10 minutes passed before my dad hooked this sea-robin (Prionotus carolinus) which aren't very tasty and didn't count towards the "most" prize, so he threw it back.

Shortly thereafter, my brother hooked a bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).

After that, my dad hooked a "little skate" (Raja erinacea) that also didn't count towards "most." Throw it back!

Holy creepy fishmouth, Batman!

brett — Brett reacting to all the bizarro sea-creatures that my dad was somehow managing to hook.

After his bluefish, my brother caught a pretty big striped bass (Morone saxatilis).

Fish as art? Oooooh!

A few minutes later, my brother hooked another bluefish.

And then, another and another, and another. Fucker. (If you you're wondering why there aren't any pics of me with the fish that I've caught it's because, um, I haven't caught any).

The first mate gutting and fileting my brother's fish.

Oh, I forgot to mention - before we set out, each of the sixteen people on the boat threw in $10 towards a pool to be awared for two prizes: Half the money would go to the person catching the biggest fish (the "biggest" prize), the other half would go to the person who caught the most fish (the "most" prize). Got it? After four hours of fishing, my brother, having caught five fish was tied for the "most" prize with some other guy. Ten minutes before the captain was scheduled to call "lines up" and head back to shore, my brother (in the blue hat), hooked yet another fish which made him the winner of the "most" prize (with six fish caught).

And here's the kicker, the last fish he caught also ended up being the biggest fish of the day (that's his fish on the left beating out the 2nd biggest fish).

brett — Brett demonstrates how you turn 22lbs of striper into...

brett — ...cold, hard, cizzash! Brett ended up taking home $120 (after tipping out the two mates on board).

dad, me — Brett was the big winner. Me and my dad both caught NOTHING! NADA! ZIP! ZILCH! (Actually, my dad at least caught two fucked-up fish that just didn't count in the contest so he threw them back. I was the only one that didn't catch a god-damned thing. Bah.) Arrrrgh, matey! Better luck next time!