Valley Angler: The Fish King

A couple of years ago, after a successful fishing expedition with my son and grandson, my grandson dubbed himself “Fish King.” Needless to say, he had caught the most fish. Since then it has become a family tradition that whoever has the hot rod that day gets the title of “Fish King.” Somehow, my grandson has been able to keep his title for sometime now. Until last week, when my son, Andy, became the indisputable “Fish King.” He will probably hang onto the title for some time to come.

Last week, Andy boated a 460-pound tuna. It was an epic battle that rivaled that of Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea.” It took 4½ hours to land the beast. It was no accident that Andy and his friend, who owns and captains the boat, caught the fish as they have been doing their homework. They have been going out once a week this summer and even hired an experienced captain to go out with them to help fine-tune their rigging and give some tips on where to look for tuna. Their time and preparation paid off.