In his 1960 book Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck chronicled his attempt to connect with the many parts of these great United States that he didn’t know much about. In order to accomplish this monumental task, the renowned author retrofitted a truck with a camper to suit his needs. He named his truck Rocinante, after Don Quixote’s horse, and drove it about 10,000 miles in the course of his adventures. Charley, a standard poodle, played the role of Sancho Panza for the great Steinbeck on his quixotic journey. Steinbeck describes his doggie/squire as being a mind-reader, an apt evaluator of the humans they met on their travels. Steinbeck utilized the friendly canine to break down the barriers between himself and the strangers he encountered, with great success. Dogs certainly have this ability.
Tag: Steve “Tuna” Tornovish
Just Like Old Times
Mid April on Nantucket will fluctuate from a spectacular sunny t-shirt only day to one that requires a hooded neoprene jacket just to get to the mailbox. The wind howls, the boats are cancelled, and the rain pounds down in a sideways manner, just to remind you to stay inside. Which is what reasonable Nantucket people will do, of course. But fishermen are not necessarily reasonable people. And this is how I found myself standing in waders in the North Head of the Hummock, hands numb, eyes watering, trying to cast an ultralight pond rig into a 30 knot wind.
Intermittent Rewards & Lasting Memories
Tournament fishing is lots of fun here on Nantucket. We have a variety of contests for the local beach anglers, and I enjoy them all. Things get started with the Spring Sea Run Opener, an event that begins when someone catches the first searun striped bass of the year from the beach. That tournament runs until the end of May. The inaugural August Blues tournament is currently underway. It’s been an absolute blast, except that I’m sitting here at my keyboard, lamenting the fact that Gray Malitsky just knocked me out of first place for the biggest bluefish. Ouch. And before we can catch our collective breath from fishing that fun event, the big daddy of them all, the Nantucket Inshore Classic, will soon be kicking off. It will run for the five weeks between Labor Day and Columbus Day. That tournament is the Super Bowl of Nantucket fishing and I just can’t wait for it to get underway!
National Champion
You know that you’re operating at less than genius level if you manage to bury your truck in the beach sand. And if you do this while out in the middle of nowhere, in a place with zero cell phone reception, your IQ score is even lower. Finally, if you manage to achieve all of this when it’s three o’clock in the morning, you can be pretty certain that you’ve won the golden dunce cap. That was exactly where your friend Stevie was in early June about four years ago, covered in beach sand and mosquito bites, praying for someone to come driving by to rescue me from my self-inflicted predicament. And it was in this situation where I first met Noah Karberg.