The saga continues: THE old man, the sea, and me
August 3, 2006 Homer Alaska
The most famous fishing spot not requiring a boat is the Homer Hole, located on the famous “spit” in Homer, Alaska. (I believe the “spit” is actually a narrow peninsula with a road in the middle, placed here by the god of tourism. ) Filled by sea water, the “spit” has been stocked with salmon young enough to believe this is where they were born, and therefore return for spawning, sort of like college freshmen. When we arrived, it was a battle scene. Warriors armed with long, spear like fishing poles lined the beach every few feet, ready for the battle of the fishes. We settled into a spot somewhat controlled by, not just an old man, but by THE old man. He had taken his spot at the gateway to the homer hole, and once he established his control, nobody, especially the middle aged parents of the kids who had already fled to the safer end of the hole, dared enter his realm. Well, being new to the scene and being, well, idiots, we gained the ground on his right, five feet away from THE man. We gained our ground without loss of blood by sneaking in on his right – his blind side if you will. You see, this kindly looking old man was stooped at the shoulders as an aged farmer might be, he was wearing old, tattered overalls, and could barely get his line out far enough to make a splash in the water. We thought we were safe, as he could not turn his head to the right without turning his body around with it, we figured it had to be some sort of injury from fighting a bull or the tax authorities. We were going to find out what all the others feared – his uncanny control and revenge!
In a matter of minutes I, yes me, Bob, had a fish on the line. As the fish fought, you could see that it was a fine, actually very good, well, ok, one of the finest fish ever caught in homers hole. As this huge, incredible, soon to be the most humongous silver salmon ever to be caught anywhere in Homer, Alaska, ever, got close to the beach, Dan noticed another fishing line resting over my fishing line. Suddenly my left flank fell – I was being bombarded from my left – viloently nudged, I heard an old gravely voice shout loudly in my ear like a mesmorising whisper “get down and I will bring my line up over and away from your line” or words to that effect. Then our glares met, it was THE OLD MAN. I should have been aware of one of the oldest tricks in the book. THE OLD MAN was going to steal my record breaking silver salmon!
The battle was lost, this OLD MAN, the one with the smirk, had gained control of MY fish. BUT, he was too weak and feeble to land my fish!! So the war was won. We refused to cede our easement rights to his realm, and he begrudgingly admitted defeat, as he waddled away, with his head down (probably from an injury he received while stealing candy from a kid) we were now in control of the gateway to Homers fishing hole.
bobgil
