Friendly fishing and competitive juices flow at any age

Next month, my father-in-law, Dick Artmeier, will be 90 years old. Dick played basketball at Florida State University and is a member of the Florida State Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

At nearly 90 years old, he does not play much basketball anymore. However, he is still very competitive and fishes pretty well.

 

One day last week, Dick challenged me to a fishing contest. He thought it would be pretty funny for a 90-year-old grandfather to fish against a retired tournament angler who is still recovering from a heart attack.

Laughingly, he said if we finish the tournament alive, we both win.

 

While we both may win, by finishing alive, I knew there was going to be a clear winner and loser. Like I said, Dick is still very competitive.

 

Our tournament rules were simple. Two hours of fishing. The first person to release 20 fish wins.

 

Every fish released counts. No matter how small. The winner gets bragging rights, and the loser buys lunch.

 

Given these rules, I rigged our rods with Z-Man Micro Finesse lures. Everything eats these tiny lures, especially undersized trout. When fishing for numbers, micro-finesse lures are hard to beat.

 

We started the tournament timer and pulled away from the dock. After a short run, I stopped at one of my favorite tiny trout holes. The submerged oyster bar holds very few keeper-size trout, but there are always a bunch of small ones.

 

Before I could deploy the trolling motor, Dick caught and released two fish. I said those fish should not count, but he said the tournament timer was already running. 

 

While I pondered the situation, Dick released two more trout. The bite was hot. Nearly every cast produced a fish. Unfortunately for me, I was behind by several fish before I even began fishing. Dick released 20 small trout before I could make up the difference.

 

Back at the dock, I asked Dick where he wanted to eat lunch.

 

He laughed and said winning always made him really hungry. I laughed and exclaimed, “Losing fishing tournaments makes me hungry!” We both laughed. 

 

While I lost the tournament, I felt like a winner.

 

Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.