Sunshine State Fishing

I have meet a few magic people in my time. Not magicians or tricksters that use slight of hand or mirrors, but people who have realized where true magic comes from. I have been fortunate enough to have spent my adult life working on the water. I worked aboard large vessels and small ones, and have performed all functions aboard. I am currently employed as a private captain of a 60' Hatteras sportfisher in Southern Florida. Getting to this point was a long journey that has taken me to many parts of the globe, and along the way I have meet people that have shared interesting and amazing things. Some of them had figured out where magic comes from.

As a young sportfishing mate on the island of Kauai Hawaii I meet and old man on the dock who changed my life. He was too old to go out on the boats anymore his body had taken the abuses of the sea for many years and he was now content to sit in the harbor at the waters edge and catch whatever would bite. His wisdom of working on the water his whole life was available to anyone who took the time to ask otherwise he was happy to watch and smile as the boats made their daily trips to the fishing grounds. I walked passed this man for a couple of years every day on the way to and from the boat and was always greeted with a smile or small talk about the days events. One day I brought the old man some of the days catch and a cold drink. He accepted my gift and asked me to sit for a while. I was in a hurry that day but something about the way the old man looked at me made me stay.

I asked him if he had caught anything and his response seemed to take along time to get. He asked me if I understood the meaning of all of this. I was confused at his off topic remark and replied the meaning of what? Where the magic comes from he replied. I was even more confused and was confident that the old man might have spent too much time in the sun, or had gone off his medication. The events that happened after that, and the wisdom that i received from the old man would forever change my thinking and my life. He spoke at great lenghts about fishing and fish and the old ways always adding in after the part about someone catching something a reference to the magic. I remained confused about what he was talking about but after several hours that evening i thought i knew what he was talking about. At the end of that time talking with the old man i thought was something that every fisherman has felt. The rush of catching the fish. The long battle with the big one. The joy of being out on the water and not having to sit at a desk each day.

Ten years have passed since I last saw the old man. I still remember him smiling at me each day. Last month I returned from a week long trip fishing in the Bahamas. I will remember this trip for the rest of my life. We did not catch more fish than I ever had or larger ones, or had something happen that will be etched in my mind for eternity. It was on this trip that I understood what the old man was saying. I was witness to my bosses 17 year old son catch his first marlin. It was a time that I am sure both of them will look back on for the rest of their lives, and a moment I will never forget. I saw the magic light up a young man in that instance. That magic filtered into his father and lit him up. From there it spread out to everyone on that boat. I have been a fisherman for many years and have been witness to this thousands of times and never realized what it was. Its a magic that can make a 40 year old man and a 17 year old boy have the same response, the same smile, the same feeling inside. For a moment the world doesn't have any problems, the issues of the day are wiped clean and we all see clearly for just a moment. We see what is really important.

I have known a few magicians in my life and felt the magic ever since.

Capt. Tim Ellsworth

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