Florida Keys Fishing Tales: Fish Slapping

There are odd moments when you are a charter captain. Customers do some of the craziest things. On one trip a dad and his two sons ages 10 and 12, split a charter with another dad, his daughter and son ages 12 and 14. What should be a normal half day fishing trip evolved into an abnormal fishing adventure.

It was a calm day on the water with the exception of the 10 year boy, Jack. Jack was a little hyper and just a touch impatient. Not that this is unusual for a ten year old of any gender, but Jack was a bit of a handful. Jack's dad it turned out was a captain for a private yacht that was on an around the world cruise. Captain Dad's yacht was a 90 foot mansion on the water, but with Jack aboard, it must have seemed a tad small.

Captain Dad, was not doing much to help entertain Jack and Jack was not that entertaining to the rest of the crew. With the bite that morning being a little slow, Jack was growing more impatient by the minute. Now a slow bite doesn't me a bad bite. We were hooking good fish, I just hadn't broken my crew of their bass habits so the fishing trip could become a catching trip.

After convincing the 12 year old girl to let the fish finish their dinner, then turn the reel handle in the correct direction, a fish finally made it into the boat. Not a Captain Dad, was thrilled and after a few hundred photos I started to put the nice 5 pound snapper in the ice chest. Jack, pleaded with me to let him slap the fish.

Fish slapping was a new concept for me. While I have had other crews in that past talk about another type of slapping, purely in a joking manner, this was my first fish slapping charter. I go with the flow and Jack slaps the fish and is followed by the other youngsters.

Not a Captain Dad seemed to appreciate my tactful reference to the other slapping form and laughed while taking more action photos of the fish slapping in progress. With the first fish finally on ice, the 14 year old son of Not a Captain Dad and the other son of Captain Dad started getting serious about catching instead of fishing. The two young gentlemen asked again about the proper technique and must have listened this forth time. The young gentlemen for some reason didn't want to be out fished by a girl. The snapper started slowly but steadily coming over the rail.

Jack had not caught onto the listening thing yet and was getting pretty demanding about having his rig changed to something else that was seemingly more productive. Miss Angler was a good sport, so when she caught a fish I swapped her rod with Jack's. Jack never realized that some patience was required or that every time I passed the rod he was using to Miss Angler she caught a fish.

The young gentlemen were catching on very well, but Miss Angler was still kicking their young butts. Jack was still skunked and fish slapping every fish that came on board. Captain Dad was setting in a chair with a serene look on his face, not fishing just enjoy a morning when he didn't have to deal with Jack. Not a Captain Dad had stopped fishing and was playing photographer. He laughed for some reason when I mentioned fish slapping Jack, purely in jest of course.

With time expired for the trip, Jack still was skunked. He had hooked a few fish during the rare moments his bait was in the water, but never got them to the boat. Luckily a suicidal snapper bit Jack's line and stayed hooked. The entire crew started cheering Jack on, while his older brother mentioned he was going to fish slap Jack, if the fish got away. Jack's fish was large enough to take some drag . Normally, this is the fun part of fishing, but I was concerned that Jack's fish may not be as suicidal as I had thought. Miss Angler, told her brother to fish slap Jack's brother, if Jack's brother fish slapped Jack before the fish came to the boat. Not a Captain Dad was laughing steadily and getting action shots of Jack battling his fish. Why, Not a Captain Dad kept saying he should have brought the camcorder is beyond me.

As Jack's fish came close to the boat a large barracuda followed. I thought disaster was eminent, but the barracuda in an unprecedented display of mercy, spared Jack's snapper. With a huge smile on his face, Jack posed with his fish and allowed all his fellow anglers to slap his fish before posing for the ultimate fish slap of the trip.

Back at the dock, Miss Angler took great pride in reminding her older brother of which fish she had caught and how his fish looked smaller. Jack, oblivious to the fact that his one snapper was a small percentage of the fish I had to clean, walked around the dock showing off his catch to the bystanders demonstrating proper fish slapping technique. Jack's fish was the last to meet the filet knife. Finally, could get ready for the next trip.

Not a Captain Dad was very generous and laughing as he loaded his crew for the ride to meet the wife. Captain Dad, was extremely generous! He was wearing that serene smile he had not brought on board at the start. Captain Dad loaded his crew in the cab to return to the yacht for a gourmet fish dinner. It must be nice to have a chef on board. How long Captain Dad wore that smile is a question?