Friendship, or Fish’n Ain’t Just Fun...

Capt. Rod & Susie Stebbins

Susie and I had the pleasure of meeting a family that has a son who is very disabled with Muscular Dystrophy. His name is Tom and today he is 21 years of age. When we first met them Tom was sixteen. Susie and I were invited to their home one evening and of course our conversations soon gravitated to the outdoors stuff that we are so involved with. Tom was fixed on the conversation and was in his own way expressing his excitement. Every time we detailed our catches punctuated with all of the exciting phrases we could muster we could see just how excited Tom was getting. Susie got up from the couch and sat on his lap and asked him if he had ever gone fishing. This attention gave rise to a smile as big as the world and a mumbling of glee. His father, Charlie, responded that it was a great deal of trouble to get him onto a boat and, while they had tried a couple of times, it seemed that no one wanted to accept the challenge to say nothing of the liability. And, because of these facts Tom had so far missed a lot of the outdoors. Without hesitation Susie offered to take them fishing with us and looked to me for a nod and got it. We offered to make all of the arrangements for getting Tom on and off the boat.

A few days later the weather man handed us a day that was absolutely the best. Tom and his parents met us at the marina. We had a couple of our commercial fishing friends there to assist in lifting Tom and his chair aboard SANCHO, our 36 foot Sea Ray. An inflatable (Mae West type) was used for a life jacket as it didn't take up too much room. The chair's brakes were set and we lashed the chair to the chocks on the port side of the aft cockpit. We lit the engines and soon we were underway. Tom's mother did not come with us as she had some shopping to do for that evenings fish fry, that is if we caught anything.

Just as soon as we left the marina, Susie got to work. She told Tom of her "lucky" fishing hat. She put it on Tom's head just to assure his catch, and of course to protect him from the sun. Once in open water we charged SANCHO to a plane and Tom just beamed with excitement with a permanent foot wide grin and sounds of being thrilled. Susie sat with him and tended to his every need, which wasn't much. The run out to one of our pet fishing spots took about two and half hours.

Tom’s father, Charlie, remained with me on the bridge while I gave him some basics of driving a boat. In short order Charlie was doing all of the driving and holding an acceptable heading. Our Loran-C and GPS were given the responsibility of telling us when we were about to arrive. The run out was punctuated with dolphin and some basking hammerheads. About a mile from the ledges I pulled the power off and SANCHO settled into the water with great grace and without wavering. Susie took out two fishing poles and gave Tom "Capt. Rod's special pole." Tom screamed with excitement and joy realizing that the captain of the boat was about to become a mate and his father was now the captain. A lumpy knot found my throat as I realized what fun Tom was having, a day we all hoped that he would not soon forget.

Susie baited the hooks with cut-bait and shrimp and fed Tom’s line out a hundred and thirty feet to the bottom. She then cranked the bait up a couple of feet, just the right depth for bottom fishing. I gazed at the sky and offered a little prayer that Tom would be satisfied.

Susie gave the pole to Tom while at the same time kept her hand at the ready for that subtle chug that would signal when to set the hook. Within the hour Tom's chug came in the form of a huge yank. Susie responded with lightning moves setting the hook. Now the only thing that was left was for Tom to reel in his catch. The best that Tom could do was to have the butt of the pole under his right arm while at the same time wrapping his arm around the pole. His left hand managed the large crank handle with considerable effort. His head was cocked backwards and to his right and his grin was as big as the whole world. Tom cranked and cranked and hoped that with each revolution he made on the reel it would bring his catch closer. Every time Tom made a little headway this monster of a fish would take some line. Each time the fish would zip out some line Tom would respond with a deep throated yell of delight. Susie stood at his side just in case he needed a hand. I was on the dive platform screaming that he had a monster even though I could not see what it was that he had caught. The air was thick with joy and thrills and Tom was right in the middle of it all.

Thirty minutes of hard cranking brought the then very tired fish to the boat. It was splashing about and getting Tom a little wet. Every time Tom got splashed with a little water he beamed bigger and bigger and he never realized that some of the splashing was caused by the mate...Gaff in hand I took the fish out of the water. Susie took the pole from Tom's grip. I climbed over the gunnel and presented Tom with his Red Grouper. Great by any fisherman's standard, this seventeen pounds of fighting fish was cradled in his arms and now belonged to Tom. Tom had his fish in a bear hug and without hesitation gave it a little kiss on the cheek.

Charlie was leaning over the bridge railing yelling great hurrahs and congratulations to his son, the fisherman. As much as Susie and I tried to hold back the tears they were free flowing in celebration of Tom’s accomplishment and his excitement was electrifying. We were all crying and Tom was a’grin’n.

Susie took the helm and turned SANCHO towards home. Charlie and I cleaned the fish and put the fillets into large zip-lock bags and then into the ice chest for cooling and safe keeping.. With most of the chores done, out came the celebration. Everyone was offered a mug of the ships grog, diet Pepsi-Cola. I took the helm from Susie and Charlie sat with his son, the fisherman.

Susie set about getting munches together. She took the remaining shrimp that were still alive and boiled them in Whole Spice. From the frig, she scavenged some apples, celery and carrots. When the shrimp turned pink she made up two trays, one for the bridge and the other for the fisherman.

Once everyone had eaten their share and settled down for the ride back SANCHO was put back on a plane. The twin engines of our Sea Ray were set a 2600 rpms and the electronics confirmed our range, bearing and our speed. At 19 knots we would be back to the marina in about two and a half hours. Charlie made a cellular call to his wife and gave her our approximate time of arrival so that she could meet the boat at the marina. By the time we could see the shoreline in the distance the sun was just setting into the water giving out a colorful backdrop, a Gulf of Mexico sunset.

At the marina, Tom’s mom met the boat with lots of hugs for everyone - a special one for her son the fisherman. We gathered up some help to move Tom and his chair to the dock. Once Tom was belted into his chair again, I told Tom that it was tradition that a fisherman’s first catch was celebrated by throwing the fisherman into the water. I took the chair and started for the end of the dock - Tom screamed with excitement and I stopped just short of the end. Tom knew that he was the star for that evening and a big part of all of our lives. Tom had caught the dinner and Tom was the winner.

That evening, after dinner, Tom took Susie's hand and waved me to him. I kneeled down and Susie sat on his lap again and in his very best he said "thank you so much." Tears were a part of all of our eyes and we all realized that the most precious gift of all that day was Tom's to make. He gave us his friendship, love and sincerity. This was all that he had to offer and believe us it was plenty enough.

His gift had no dimension, just very complete. We realized then that when fishing no one is disabled, only challenged and we had just been through a most precious event... Tom has his “lucky hat” and “Captain Rod’s pole” hanging on his bedroom wall along with a picture of Susie sitting on his lap. These are his treasures and our reward is his friendship.

Capt. Rod & Susie Stebbins of Weak Industries can usually be found surfing the internet or cruising up & down the Florida Suncoast in a Sea Ray boat of some type (depending on Rod's mood).

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