Maybe we had learned something along the way after all. Through the years, we'd all burned out our muscles pulling like the devil on big fish - shark and tuna and their cohorts. And it's not like it was anyone's first rodeo.
Sometimes the big fish come so fast the cockpit is a constant fire drill.
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.: Gomer and the Card Shark episode 21.
Plenty of action, but also time to talk and reflect and just soak up the pleasure of being offshore. Gomer finds himself caught in the middle between his buddies and a card shark. During the next two hours, we caught and released seven sharks in the 7- to- 8-foot range. Shortly after that, Gomer was into a fish as well. When you first see one of these animals after a long absence, they still give you pause - it's got to be primordial, a visceral reaction to an animal that could actually eat you.Ībout 20 minutes later, as George Thorogood ordered one bourbon, one scotch and one beer over the boat's sound system, BT set the hook on shark No. The first shark showed up around 10:30, circling the Regulator, gliding in graceful figure eights off the stern and then rubbing and later gnawing on the chum bucket. The 30-foot Regulator Express is powered by twin Yamaha 350s and outfitted with an impressive suite of communication, navigation, safety and entertainment electronics. On this trip, there was far more interest in sandwiches than beer, another sign of the times.Īnd the difference in boats between then and now is as great as that between photos of us in the '70s and today. The boys always made it home, but it's probably open to debate whether that was due to the benevolence of some higher power or to the dead reckoning and compass skills of the young, fearless sharkers. You know the old saying about God watching out for sailors and drunks. The usual drill was to run out of sight of land off Montauk or some other headland and start chumming. More stories, more laughter, a soft drink and sandwich, and we were quickly mining a new vein of "remember whens" and "have you heard from so and so?"Ī good number of stories revolved around Tom's old 22-foot Aquasport, On Time, with its 115-hp Merc, which carried the gang on numerous shark trips in the 1970s, back when the staff of life came out of a can or bottle rather than in the shape of a loaf. We caught up, told stories, laughed, watched the balloons for signs of action and waited. The sharks apparently slept in this lovely morning, but we didn't mind the slow start. ' ( C ) ( R ) 1 : 30 ( SEE LOCAL STATION LOG ) C. The O'Connors had been out here not long ago and wound up with blue sharks around the boat all day. ( C ) C 4 : 00 GOMER PYLE - USMC, comedy series, starring Jim Nabors. Confidence was strong, however, that we'd find plenty of big blue sharks. We were hoping for a mako or thresher, but they're never a sure bet. I'd forgotten the tattoo and the story, of which there are numerous versions. He went to a local watering hole that night and learned that the tournament had been held the previous weekend. " True enough - none of us would believe it.īefore the morning was over, Gomer had flashed the shark tattoo on his right bicep, which he'd gotten a million years ago (summer 1977, to be precise) in anticipation of the big Montauk, N.Y., shark tournament. If you told me in 1977 that we'd be out here fishing again, in 2010, with the same crew. Gomer and the Card Shark Pictures and Photo Gallery - Check out just released Gomer and the Card Shark Pics, Images, Clips, Trailers, Production Photos and. "The O'Connor brothers were gearing us up 30 years ago, and they still are.
"Some things never change," said Gomer, a natural storyteller. To the east, a small lobster boat trolled for tuna. "Don't you love that sound?" he asked.Įarly on, there was a good 2-foot swell, with an occasional 3-footer thrown in. His brother Ted adjusted the baits by pulling line off the reel, causing the drag to chatter. Tom poured a bit of concentrated fish oil into the slick to give it a little oomph. We had a chum slick going by a little after 8 o'clock, and soon after there were two mackerel baits drifting near the surface under balloons, with a third set in deep water. Click the "Rating" column heading to order the episodes by rating.But short of being hobbled, who says no to a shark trip with the old gang? I think everybody was looking forward as much to the stories as the fishing. These top 25 episodes are listed in chronological order, since that's usually the best viewing order. Top 25 episodes of Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964-1969)