A Favorite Pier Story — Moonshine
As a kid I used to fish the Redondo short pier at King Harbor almost every weekend. We'd catch everything from opaleye and spider crabs to bonito and barracuda in a single evening of fishing.
One night, my buddy Paul hooks a senorita fish on his perch rig only to find that the fish had swallowed the hook. Short on basic hardware, and most importantly, GOOD SENSE, Paul decides to cut the line with his teeth. A moment later, he lets out a scream that grabs the attention of everyone on the pier.
The fish had grabbed Paul by the upper lip! At first, he let it hang there like a piece of punk jewelry, hoping it would let go. Then he shook his head, with that flopping fish slapping him in the face the whole time. Finally, he grabbed it by the tail and pulled, doing the saddest impression of a platypus eating his dinner we’d ever seen. The senorita eventually got the message and released its death grip, but not before leaving a bloody pea-sized hickey on Paul's lip. In the words of Dave Barry there was not a dry pair of underwear in the house. After regaining our composure, we were subjected to Paul’s tirade as to why none of us had come to help him. We kidded him for years about having a way with the senoritas.
As a kid I used to fish the Redondo short pier at King Harbor almost every weekend. We'd catch everything from opaleye and spider crabs to bonito and barracuda in a single evening of fishing.
One night, my buddy Paul hooks a senorita fish on his perch rig only to find that the fish had swallowed the hook. Short on basic hardware, and most importantly, GOOD SENSE, Paul decides to cut the line with his teeth. A moment later, he lets out a scream that grabs the attention of everyone on the pier.
The fish had grabbed Paul by the upper lip! At first, he let it hang there like a piece of punk jewelry, hoping it would let go. Then he shook his head, with that flopping fish slapping him in the face the whole time. Finally, he grabbed it by the tail and pulled, doing the saddest impression of a platypus eating his dinner we’d ever seen. The senorita eventually got the message and released its death grip, but not before leaving a bloody pea-sized hickey on Paul's lip. In the words of Dave Barry there was not a dry pair of underwear in the house. After regaining our composure, we were subjected to Paul’s tirade as to why none of us had come to help him. We kidded him for years about having a way with the senoritas.
