He couldn’t Let Go

Who could blame me? I couldn’t let go. I battled the beast even as black clouds and heavy waves rolled in. This was a monster. The rod and line were especially designed for the big ones. Mike stood by my side- my corner man if you will. He mopped the sweat from my brow and thoughtfully put a straw in my beer can as he held it up to my lips. “Hang on. This might be a record”. I replied, “Yes, I could use the 10 grand prize money for a new radio for this boat”. 

The battle continued for two hours as the clouds darkened and the waves smashed into the little boat with greater force. “I wish you had fixed that radio”. Frank answered, “Yeah Mike, I tried the cell phone but we’re way too far from shore for that”. Sometimes the line would go slack- “Where did he go?”. Bill stood by with his 10 foot steel gaff, ready to grab him if he got near the boat. He joked about that famous movie- “Maybe we should have gotten a bigger boat”.

The huge fin surfaced just starboard. Coal black eyes flashed a threatening glance. In a moment he was headed away again pulling the line even with full drag on it. The big boy was dragging the boat! Bill drizzled cool water on the reel and line and I struggled to just slow him down. Meanwhile waves began to splash over the bow. “Hold on. He’s got to tire out soon”. I couldn’t let go!”.

On shore, the weatherman broke into regular programming. “Everyone should stay inside in an interior room away from windows. We see intense lightning and hail along with wind gusts to over 80 mph. Now, it looks like a tornado has formed near shore. It will be over the water in 20 minutes.

The Coast Guard finally found some wreckage on a tiny island beach in the Bahamas. The only thing they found was a severed arm clutching a reel and rod. Heavy fishing line was wrapped around the hand and reel. The line was cut, likely by the shark. The fishing tournament was canceled, so there would be no prizes this year. The prize money was used to fund the search and rescue.

The coroner examined the massive bite on the severed limb. The teeth marks suggested this fellow was a 20 foot great white. His official report ended with “cause of death- shark attack”. Having seen the line and the power of this great white he added a note- “It appears that the shark just couldn’t let go”. He continued, “They obviously needed a bigger boat”.