Tuesday At Sea

Monday morning I flew out to San Diego to carry out an assignment as producer/shooter of a video for one of our clients. They’re a membership organization which I shall leave nameless, and they operate a charitable foundation that gives to many different charities and needy organizations throughout the year. They give often to organizations that help children. One they wish to highlight this year is Friends of Rollo.

Named in memory of an avid sport fisherman and boat captain, Friends of Rollo focuses on providing fishing trips for inner city- and other economically challenged or underprivileged children. The charity works with the owners of sport fishing boats and charter companies, and gets tremendous discounts on day-and half-day trips they purchase for the groups, as well as on the rental of rods and reels and the purchase of bait.

While out to sea, the boat crews feed the groups on Friends of Rollo’s tab, and provide expert instruction on fishing techniques and tricks, as well as helping the kids reel in some pretty big fish!

We headed out at noon after I conducted some interviews, and we were barely underway when we stopped at the bait “store,” an extension off a pier that housed an untold number of bait pens. The boat’s crew leaped down to one of the pens and lowered a huge net to lift the sardines and anchovies (no pepproni or mushroom (nyuk, nyuk!)) and hold them captive, and then they grabbed smaller nets on poles and performed a “bucket brigade,” carrying netfuls of bait fish from the large net up to the bait tanks on the boat.

Out to sea at full throttle for about 20 minutes and we stopped for some fishing. After some brief instructions and the laying of some ground rules, these kids ranging in age from about 5 up to about 15 were each responsible for catching their own bait, baiting their own hooks and reeling in their own fish! the crew did help out a lot, especially when the fish weren’t biting so well, and it called for a little know-how.

The biggest frustration all day long was the presence of the sea lions. They chase the boats out to sea and loiter wherever the people are dropping or casting their lines, and then they go for the bait on the hooks. Worse, when someone catches a fish, the sea lions chase the catch and eat it before the fisherman can reel it in! The sea birds – sea gulls, cormorants, ospreys(?) and pelicans – hang out over the fishing lines, too, diving in after the bait when it’s cast out there. The boat captain hooked a fighter on the line and handed the rod to one of the kids, but then took it back when he realized that he had hooked a cormorant around its beak and through the roof of its mouth and one eye-socket. It was unnerving to watch as he used a pair of wire-cutters to sever the eye, which dangled from the socket, and then worked the hook out of the poor bird’s beak. He threw the bird back into the water where it then dived out of sight. I don’t imagine that bird will live much longer.

The last time I was out on a boat of that approximate size – a 75 footer – I did just fine, but, for some reason today, I could not get my sea legs and spent much of the time trying to shake the spinning from my head. I can still say I’ve never gotten seasick, but today I was close. A couple of the kids were looking over the side of the boat, but I don’t know if they fed the fish….

We changed locations a few times and, finally, the sea lions had thinned out enough that the crew were hooking good-sized yellow-tail, bonito and barracuda, and then handing the rod & reels to the kids to bring in. It was sometimes funny to watch as the crewman would bring the fish over the rail. Some kids – boys as well as girls – were absolutely freaked about seeing or touching the fish. But one girl, about age 9, was absolutely fearless. She was snatching her own bait, baiting her own hook, and when the boat captain hauled in a yellow-tail (about 20 inches long and maybe ten pounds) for her, and he told her to hold the fish and smile for the picture (my video camera), she was all about holding that fish! And then she carried it to her bag to keep it.

Around 4:30, after the fishing was done, we headed back for San Diego. One of the crewmen began prepping the fish for the kids to take home, and I videotaped him at work. It was amazing to watch as he deftly gutted each fish species in a distinctly different way, keenly aware of each fish’s anatomy. At one point, as he cleaned one of the yellow-tail (which, I guess is a type of tuna(?)), he sliced off a small chunk and held it up for me. “Here,” he said. “The freshest hamachi you’ll ever taste!”

It was fantastic! If I had never had sashimi (not “sushi,” which actually refers to how the rice is prepared), I would have begged off politely. But I knew better, and probably seemed too eager to chomp on that little morsel! Then I felt guilty…what if the kid who was taking that fish home saw me munching on his family’s dinner?

When we docked, every kid walked off that boat with a small bag containing at least one fish, and others with several pounds of fish to bring home to their families! Some of the kids seemed a little perplexed by the cleaned and dressed fish they had, wondering, I think, what happened to the head, and why it was all cut up!

And now, as I sit here and type, the room seems to be rocking to and fro, as now I can’t shake the motion of the sea, and I fear I’ll get seasick sitting still!

This post begs for photographs, but I was not tasked with shooting stills. It was well enough that I had to conduct and shoot interviews and all the other footage by myself while fighting off seasickness; I would never have had the time to take photos!

Friends of Rollo certainly seems like a worthwhile cause if you're into supporting charities that provide disadvantaged kids with interesting, horizon-expanding, possibly life-changing activities. Give them a look.