This has been one of the worst winters in recent memory, and on top of the nasty weather, on Feb. 10, I had a knee replacement on my left leg. I seem to be recovering reasonably well, but my traveling has been restricted, causing me to miss Surf Day with my son Roger in New Jersey, the Salt Water Sportsman’s Seminar with my son Ric in Virginia, and the Saltwater Fishing Expo with the fishermen group in Edison, N.J. I had planned to attend the expo right up until the last minute, but my old body finally convinced my brain that driving up to Edison just wasn’t in the cards.
You might conclude I’ve had a lot of time with time on my hands and very little on my mind. Well, you don’t know my mind. It is never still. During my recovery, one of my mind’s favorite games has me winning the lottery and pondering what I would do with all that money.
First of all, I never buy a ticket unless the payout is in excess of $300 million. The odds of hitting the Powerball are 292.2 million to one, and hitting the Mega Millions is 302.6 million to one. I always buy three tickets. One for Ric, one for Roger and one for me. That way when I hit, we can split the money three ways.
In my daydream, I hit it big. I take home just a bit over $900 million after taxes. That gives $300 million to Roger, $300 million to Ric and a little over $300 million for me. That little excess gives me enough to hand out $1 million to each of my family members and in-laws.
My next purchase is a 73-foot Spencer that I will outfit for marlin fishing. The plan is to fish the tournament circuit the following year beginning in Morehead City and ending at the ones out of Cape May and Ocean City.
The first project is getting the boat ready. It must have the latest electronics, even if we have to build a separate room for someone to read and interoperate the data from the various electronic machines.
Each angler will have a set of earphones so he or she will be in constant contact with the captain and the electronics guy. Anglers will also have the line from their reels in their hands. They will know when a fish is near the bait and when the fish takes the bait long before someone lounging around in the cabin or even in the cockpit. I saw how effective this system is while covering a White Marlin Open a few years ago. The boat I was on raised nine whites, and they hooked and landed every one. Unfortunately, none of the nine made the minimum length.
As for my crew, none but the best! Ric and Roger, of course. My longtime friend Larry Weldin, my good friend Mike Pizzolato and one of the best fishermen I know, Jerry Gomber. I’ll also have Brent Wiest, the captain of the Katydid, and his mate Chris Van. I don’t want Brent to run the boat – Roger and I will take care of that – I want him on a rod, since big fish come to him. Keith Kauffman and David Nickle will round out the crew. I will hire the best mate I can find and also a cook to keep the crew well fed. There will be no alcohol during fishing hours.
I will pay all entry fees and additional levels such as largest dolphin, tuna, etc. My sons and I will not take any prize money. That will be divided among the crew.
I will outfit the boat for whatever the prize fish is going to be. For example, the Big Rock out of Morehead City is a blue marlin tournament. All of the rods and reels will be Penn 130s rigged with 130-pound tournament-grade line and a top-shot of 300-pound fluorocarbon. At the White Marlin Open, we will only have Penn 30-pound outfits with 30-pound line and 50-pound fluorocarbon top-shot.
My baits will follow the same idea. At the Big Rock, I want big spreads of tinker mackerel, and around those I want big spoons. Following the big spreads, I want to rig up three or four false albacore. I know elephants eat peanuts, but they would rather have a watermelon.
Same idea at the White Marlin Open. Rigged ballyhoo, eels, tinker mackerel, squid and big flats of mackerel.
Ric, Roger and I will pre-fish whatever area the various tournaments will cover, and by the time the contest starts, we will be well versed with the territory.
Since this is my daydream, we naturally win all the tournaments we enter. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
