Fisherman's Blues II

One summer day when I was a kid my cousin and I took two fishing poles down to the yacht club where we caught two fish (flounder) from the end of the club's dock. We brought them back, still on the lines, to her house.
"If you can't take the fish off the line don't go fishing," said my uncle sternly.
And thus ended my fishing career.
I successfully made it through six years working for a fishing magazine without having to touch a fish much less having to remove one from a hook.
But it all ended yesterday at the breakwater when I had to help my kids disengage mackerel from their fishing poles because they were catching so many that my cousin Joseph and two old-timer bystanders couldn't keep up with removing fish and unsnarling the boys' lines. In the end there were 44 fish in the bucket and only a few that got away.
Thirty-plus years later and the fish felt just as slimy as I remembered.

song: Fisherman's Blues • artist: Waterboys