I have said many times how blessed I have been to be able to make a living out of something I love, fishing. I have been doing this a long time, even before Crocodile Bay was kind enough to make me part of their original staff. One of the greatest rewards has been the contact with other people whom I might not have otherwise ever met.
I have filmed dozen of fishing shows with TV hosts that were heroes of mine when I was younger. I have been lucky enough to fish with celebrities, sports stars, some of my favorite musicians, and top names in the business world. Heck, I even filmed a show when I was with Tico Travel 20 years ago hosting the Budweiser Babes. (Not as much fun as you would think) What I discovered is the when it comes to fishing, people are people, and it doesn’t much matter what you do in your “day job.”
Every now and then somebody walks through the front door here that makes me stand up and take notice. Usually fame or celebrity doesn’t have much to do with it; it is all about a good positive attitude.
One of those persons walked through our front door the other day. He looked pretty much like a lot of fisherman who come here, neatly pressed Columbia shirt, expensive looking sunglasses, and fishing cap. As soon as he spoke I knew he was driven by “positive attitude.”
The only difference between Carson Duncan and a lot of people with a similar outlook on life is Carson is only 12 years old. When his mother, Ann told me this trip was a reward for winning the Collingsworth award for good character at Berkeley Preparatory School, I realized he had truly earned it.
He already has set some goals for himself. He wants to be a marine biologist and play professional baseball. In between baseball, football, basketball and studying, he fishes. His mentor was his late uncle Will Wilkins, a well know fisherman on the west coast of Florida. “Carson could say the word boat, before he could say mama,” recalled his mother Ann. Once in a while Carson gets a trip of a lifetime, but for the most part he works the shore line of Tampa Bay in his small inflatable for trout, redfish, and snook. Back home he has landed tarpon as large as 115 lbs.
Carson had goals when he arrived here at Crocodile Bay. He had a marlin, a sailfish, a roosterfish, a cubera snapper, and whatever else might end up on the end of his string. I knew his positive attitude was enough to produce at least part of that list.
Following are some photos of Carson knocking things off his bucket list. First day he bagged a nice rooster.
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He added some smaller snapper to the list. One day two he released a nice sailfish offshore, then came inshore and caught a monster 45 lb cubera snapper. He also got introduced to the customary fist billfish dip at the dock.
Day three Carson got skunked. I told him I felt bad about not catching any fish and he smiled and said, “That’s why they call it fishing and not catching.” That brought a big grin to my face and I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone understood this. Carson Duncan is destined to great things. It is all in his attitude, even if he didn’t get his shot at a marlin.
Overall fishing has been hit and miss offshore with a few bright spots in the mostly slower days. Jerry Wright and Jack Tailor have been fishing together over 50 years and managed to go 5 for 5 on sails one day and took some nice roosters inshore. Inshore fishing has been very good with big roosterfish and snapper a sure bet.
More photos of “Young Guns” nabbing big fish during the past week at Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica.
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Hope to see you soon in Costa Rica.