By Chet Jakubowski

Last Saturday, after the Mardi Gras Parade, my son, Paul, went to the ocean beach to catch some rays. Sun rays, not sting rays. As is often the case at this time of the year, a school of fish chased by bluefish started jumping all over the place, so off he went to get a fishing pole from the bungalow. Since you can’t surf cast where people are frolicking in the surf, he also had to bring an ocean kayak to paddle out beyond the bathers. The fact that one of the tires on the dolly carrying the kayak did not deter him from hustling back to the beach.

Andrew Guarino, emulating Jim Dandy, came to the rescue and the two buddies set off to catch some fish. Nada. Not a nibble. Obviously, the school of fish had moved on so they decided to quit fishing and join the bathers. On their way to shore, BINGO! They landed a bluefish about a foot long. Trying to unhook the lure from the fish’s mouth proved to be a little problematic. As you know, a bluefish owns a set of teeth which would make Dracula jealous.

By now, the kayak was being bounced around in the rolling surf and soon turned broadside to the waves. In no time, the blat flipped over and they all were in the wash. Through it all, Paul held onto the fishing pole and the hook held onto the fish. Once ashore, they still had to unhook the slippery fish if they were going to release it before it died. Andrew’s designer shirt served as a perfect fishing rag which held the fish as the hook was finally removed from its mouth.

Before releasing the fish, Andrew made sure that it survived its ordeal by first oxygenating its gills, “and it thwam and it thwam all over the dam.” Over the course of the years, that story will be told, and the size of the fish will probably grow with each telling. In case you haven’t been watching, the ocean beach has been alive with striped bass and albacore. Brian McQuillan has a freezer full of stripers, which he has been catching the past two weeks.