Tom S. sent me a link to this wonderful post by Dave O’Hearn. Dave and Joe Brotz, Roccus to most of us online, are frequent fishing partners and call the Merrimack River their home. Here is the post and photos. A great story.
 
08-10-11
A Working Man’s Tide
 
I love to fish the top of the tide. Last night’s high tide was 10PM. Perfect for the working man. You can fish, go home and sleep for a few hours and then with a double shot of coffee start your next work day off with a smile.
 
Last night I took ownership of the bow of the USS Roccus. The easterly blow kept us on drift for the incoming tide. The outgoing tide was more of a challenge.
 
It was no slam dunk. We worked for our fish. Joe told me we were fishing for the “One”. I knew that meant a lot of casting. I had to kick the devil off my left shoulder when my right shoulder started to complain. There was fire in the water last night. I saw the devil slip beneath the surface with a smile.
 
It wasn’t long and Joe hooked into the “One”. At one point we thought the line was wrapped up on debris because the fish held the boat against the tide and wind. After a couple 360’s around the boat and some careful net handling we had “Her” aboard.
 
I know Joe could feel the burn as we stole her picture.
 

 
All I could say was “let’s do that again”.
 
And again Joe was on.
 

 
I could tell the captain was happy as he whistled a tune while relocating the boat for another drift.
 
A sign of any good captain is wanting to get his sport into fish. Joe maneuvered the boat like a master trying to get me into the best casting position. He was even routing for me from the stern.
 
Joe said I hit this torpedo on the head. It took my bait as soon as it hit the water.
 

 
While fishing with Joe is always a treat I told the Captain my favorite part of the night was watching all the bass we caught slip back into the fire looking for the devil.
 
Thank you Captain Roccus.
 
David O’Hearn