Many years ago, back in the 70's and early 80's two groups of fishermen, The Bluewater Anglers from Bermuda and the Sea & Surf from Boston, held a three day tournament out of Rock Harbor. It was usually in late August or early September and booked every charter boat in the harbor. From this group of fishermen I got a group from this tournament to book trips on there own. This group would have guys like Al Johnson, Horace, Sunny and Lewis Bittle. After a number of years this group got older with kids in college so after a while I didn't hear from them much more. Things have changed. They're back.
Lewis called me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to book a half day trip on the 9th of August. He wanted to get his youngest son out, who as I remember was too young to go the last time I saw them. Well, now he's past the mark of a young man, he's full grown. The crew Lewis brought with him was Chuck & Herbert Chambers, long time friends of the family, Marcell and Dante Bittle, and Jonathan Brome another family friend. Even though they did bring a banana, lady luck was on their side. They all were treated to some nice bass fishing with a smattering of bluefish thrown in. A good time was definitely had by everyone.
We as charter captains take many groups fishing. At times certain groups stick out in our memories. In time they may not come back for a while and whether they realize it or not they are missed. Lewis Bittle and his buddies, Sunny, Al, Horace and the others are like that. They are missed. It was good to see Lewis's smiling face again and I hope I won't have to wait so long this time. It's good to take friends fishing.