Pelican Patience

This year I broke down and bought a Florida fishing license. I bought a non-resident-three-day for when our grandson visited but ended up committing to a year long license a few weeks later. It will be good for our return next year and I am enjoying the peace and quiet that sitting and watching a bobber brings on a warm calm day.

Now I've had plenty of fishing buddies in the past. Growing up there was my dad, my mom, my brother, the kid next door and my grandfather. I've even fished with the guy who hates fishing, Bob. He goes once in a while as a concession to me. Of course the next generation, my grands, are fishing some too. Our Florida grandson especially and he was no slouch when it came to hooking fish. By the end of our fishing time together he was even taking them off the hook by himself.

Fishing on the dock here in Florida is a bit crowded at times though. You see when the pelicans spot a fishing pole, they flock to the dock and wait. The first time we were surrounded by a half dozen. The more that came, the more they closed in on us and started grunting. The grunting was to tell another pelican to back off. We tried not to feed them our catch but unfortunately several didn't make it back into the water soon enough and were scooped up which only made the pelicans more determined. So much so that one got tangled in my line. I was about to cut it when all of a sudden he shook it off. I think he'd had some experience.

This morning I was out fishing on my own. The Florida grandson is back home. I thought it would be a little lonely but sure enough, a pelican that was flying by spotted my pole and the bobber in the water and made a u-turn. He settled in the water about 20 feet away from the bobber and watched it with me. There seemed a glint of optimism in his eye. Certainly he was being quite patient. But then that's the sign of a good fisherman: patience sprinkled with optimism. It paid off for one of us.