Back in Business

After a month or so of R&R, from having my main engine overhauled, I am ready to re-enter the blogosphere. If you need an immediate poetry fix, go to my website(thecompletepoet.yolasite.com).
There are 44 poems languishing there.

Observations on Wall Street

1. The stock market is the ocean. Most investors are flotsam and jetsam; simply going whatever direction
the tide dictates.
2. If the "talking heads" continue to babble incoherently about a "double dip", they could well cause it to occur. Stupid lips sink markets.

Big Fish Tails

Recently I learned that the world's record for Red fish (Red drum) is 94 lbs, caught in NC. The state record in FL is 51 lbs. In 1966. fishing on the eastern shore of VA, in two nights my father and I caught 8 Red fish which weighed from 37 to 58 lbs. I caught the big one, and lived in FL at the time Therefore, it is possible that I have caught the largest Red fish of any FL resident. I have photos, and a trophy from the Baltimore Sun as evidence.

Application for Dead Poet's Society---Rejected!

My recent application to The Society was rejected with malice. I was advised that since I failed to die, this alone disqualified me. Additionally, my effort was characterized as half-hearted, at best, and possibly even feigned. I was further advised that I would never become a member unless the following problems with my poetry were rectified.
1. It is insufficiently self-absorbed.
2.It lacks opacity-any marginally literate person can understand it.
3.Gross deficiency in vulgarity-few references to sexual behavior or various bathroom activities.
4.Essentially devoid of profanity-no m-f, f, s, or b words. A few d words will not suffice.

Plan B

One day many years ago, I was out on an early morning golfing venture with several of my buddies from the state prison(we were staff). It had rained heavily the night before, and I noticed

that there were night crawlers all over the place, especially on the greens. I wasn't playing very

well, so I began to pick up the worms and put them in my golf bag. The higher my score on a hole,

the more worms I picked up. At the end of the first 9 holes, my score was atrocious, but I had accumulated several dozen worms. So I announced to my buddies that I was packing it in, and

going fishing. I always kept my fishing tackle in the trunk of my vehicle. The course we were playing, Valley Forge, was only a short distance from one of my favorite fishing spots on the Schuylkill river. As I recall, the fishing wasn't very productive either, but it was more relaxing.

I guess that is why I gave up golf 10 years ago, but continue to fish.

Hooked Up

On Facebook, I recently read of someone who caught themselves twice in one week while fishing. This reminded me of my own mishaps in that regard, which also numbered two, but were several years apart. The unique aspect of my experiences was that the circumstances were virtually identical. In both cases I was using a large planer and a Rapala Magnum CD-22 lure to troll for Gag grouper. This lure is approx.10 in. long and has 2 sets of large tandem hooks. I was fishing alone both times, and had pulled in grouper in the 6-8 lbs class. In the first incident, the hook-up occurred as I pulled one set of hooks from the mouth of the fish, I drove a hook from the second set into my thumb. Although these hooks are large,they get good penetration. And once they go in past the barb, there is no pulling them out. So my only alternative was to navigate back to the dock, and go to the nearest emergency room.

While the second experience was quite similar, it turned out to be much more challenging. This time, as I was attempting to unhook the fish, it thrashed around and I lost my grip. The gyrations of the fish caused one of the hooks from the second set to embed in my finger. So now both I and the fish were hooked to the lure. Problem: how do I hold onto the fish and extract the hook, with only one free hand? In a minute or two, it occurred to me that I could clamp the fish between the lid and case of the large fish box that I kept frozen bait in, and hold it with my foot. Then I could remove the hook with my free hand. After this was done, it was back to the dock, and on to the emergency room. And by the way, they remove the hook by cutting it off at the shank and pushing it through. This would be extremely painful except for the novocaine. And to put things in perspective, in the 35 years I fished for grouper, I caught somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand of them trolling(about 500 per year).

Taking Robin Roberts fishing.

As a youngster growing up in Phila. around 1950, and an aspiring pitcher, it was only natural that Robin Roberts should become my boyhood idol. The Phillies were my team, and he was their star pitcher. I followed his career closely over the years, and eventually our paths converged when he became the baseball coach at the Univ. of South Florida in 1977. I had been on the faculty since 1966 as a Professor in the Psychology Dept. We met several years later when we both attended a function of the USF Women's Club with our respective wives. When I learned that Robin Roberts was there I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I went to where he was seated and introduced myself. After chatting briefly about baseball, he asked about my activities. When I told Robin that I moonlighted as a commercial grouper fisherman, he said that he would like to go along on a trip "just to observe." Several weeks later we made a day trip on my 25 ft Delta. After several unproductive stops I decked a couple of nice gag grouper. At this point point Robin said "hey Bob can I try one of your spare rods." After a little coaching( most inexperienced anglers hold the rod under their armpit, but you need to stick it in your gut to get enough leverage to keep grouper out of the rocks) he was able to land several decent fish. Robin went on several more trips with me and brought along some of his family. On one trip he hooked a nice fish which was giving him a particularly hard time. I snidely asked him if it felt like he had Willie McCovey on the line? Robin said "I hope not, I had enough of that fellow." Those were truly memorable fishing trips for me. Few people get to meet their idols, let alone take them fishing. And Robin Roberts was congenial and unpretentious just as advertised.