The Fresh Creek Monster

Yesterday afternoon I was just kind of hanging and chillin as they call it. Hank and Eva are in the states so I kinda watch over the place. I was waiting for some more guests to arrive or the phone people as the phones went dead. It was mid afternoon and it was hot and humid. I was sitting in the shade on the dock when Donny Moxey pulled in with this wanna be ole sail boat on a trailer that he was going to launch. There was no mast on it, no motor, just this little old sail boat. He said some lady from Canada owns it and called him to put it in the water as she was going to live on it for awhile!!!! Donny is a local fisherman and a very good one I might add. The tide was too low to launch this boat with its deeper keel. He spotted me in my comfortable shady spot and decided to join me for a couple hours and watch the tide come in. Here on the island one has no problem finding a shady spot on a hot afternoon and just chill. The conversation of course was about fishing, he being a commercial fisherman and me just a sport fly fisherman. After watching the tide rise about 3 inches in a half hour and repeating Oh Lord, Oh Lord, which is the Bahamians favorite saying for any thing that requires any exertion at all especially on a hot afternoon, he began to tell me about the Fresh Creek Monster. This fish has been plying the waters of Fresh Creek for nigh on twenty year. It has been seen and hooked several times but has broken off all lines. After he described this fish I actually moved off my chair just a bit and told him that I saw him, twice. First time a couple years ago just off Hank’s dock a ways in the deep part of the channel and the water was dead calm. There in the bottom he lurked. Next time was last year when we were cleaning wahoo we had just caught. This was by the marina and as the wahoo were being butchered their carcasses were thrown in the channel. I was watching small fish feeding on them when all of sudden this big black shape comes darting in and grabs the biggest carcass and goes back to deep water. At first I though It was a shark but in a clear view it was a huge caberra snapper. This fish is almost a legend here in Fresh Creek. Let me say he is a legend here. Donny said he hooked him with 60 pound test line and he just headed out to sea taking all line with him. There is a large barrel in the channel with both ends cut out. Donny said he has seen him in this barrel with head and tail sticking out both ends at least 3 feet. He swears that one day he will catch him and he has the rig for it. The bait will be a large hunk of bloody fish with a large hook tied to parachute cord. Once hooked he will tie the cord to a cleat on the boat let him pull the boat to where ever. I couldn’t help but to think if he didn’t get this idea from the Old Man And The Sea. This might sound like a lot of fiction but I have personally seen this fish. No shark in his right mind would come after this guy. This guy is big, broad and with a mouth full of teeth and has an attitude. We must have sat in that shady spot for at least a couple hours regaling such tales waiting for the tide to come in to launch the QE2. Fas as I was concerned—-time well spent.