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Fishing East Cape with Jesus (not Hay-soose)


Denny Crane. He’s a character played by William Shatner on the T.V. show Boston Legal. Last night the show closed like this:

His business partner asked “What would you do if you ever had the chance to meet God?”

Crane answered “Probably take him fishing.”

An interesting idea. In my head I changed God to Jesus so I could think about the prospect and its implications.

It brings up my circumstances, not those of a rich Boston lawyer. Denny Crane could fly him to whatever ritzy marina, take him out on his yacht and have him out to the good fishing spots in no time; pamper and amaze him with all manner of things sybarites and sultans enjoy. In my case Jesus would have to be content fishing from my crude but effective panga, right here at East Cape in Baja California, Mexico.

If I had advance notice I would probably clean up the boat and motor, maybe paint the boat, maybe buy some newer, better seat cushions. I would definitely check all my fishing gear, scrub up my old cooler and lay in some appropriate snacks and beverage. I’m thinkin’ olives, cheese and tortillas – about as close as I can come to unleavened bread around here. Beyond that I could only hope that Jesus would judge me and Denny the same, for our loving intentions, not our worldly goods.

I’d be a little nervous, of course. I would try to remember little things like not asking him if he had a license, not running down the limits, the catch and release thing, warnings about prohibited species. If he truly knows all things, we could jump over a lot of stuff about how to handle the rods, reels and lures – buzz right past trolling patterns and speeds. Matter of fact, when I think about it, his suggestions about the what, where, how might lead me to some fish I wouldn’t have a chance to catch if he wasn’t along for the ride. Now I drift off to a dangerous area – I am a prideful man; I want to catch big fish. Now I’m wondering if bragging rights are sins. For example if we ran into some hungry football tuna, it would just kill me to not be able to ask him where the big daddies were.

That thought brings me to a worse sin, greed. Would he release any fish we caught? What about a 40 pound dorado? A huge tuna? Who knows, maybe he would keep em’ all, make me give them to the poor. No problem on that one – that’s a win, win except for the fishery, PESCA, fishhuggers. Maybe one problem with that, now that I think of it – from that day forward the whole village would be waiting for me on the beach when I came back in from fishing.



It would be a day to remember. A glorious day – I mean, he would see to that. Strange day for me all the way around. Wouldn’t be able to cuss, take his name in vain – wonder how many times a day I do that when I’m fishing. What about after we came back to the house? I really couldn’t ask him to help me clean the fish, clean up the boat. I’d clean the fish and I usually wait til the next morning to clean the boat. Is that sloth? Isn’t that one of those sins? And what about my pals and neighbors? They would all be asking me about Jesus, the trip, where we went, what we used – if I held back some of that fishing info would that be considered an act of avarice?

I’d have to pay for all the gas myself; could not ask him for a dime. What I might do, if he didn’t put up a big fuss is ask him if Lynda could get some pictures, of the two of us, with the fish. I don’t think that’s a sin. If it is I don’t know the name of it so no harm, no foul. My daddy always said “Never hurts to be seen with important people.”

Jorge,
Definitely a "WINNER".

I would happily let him use my license, but that would likely be a "NO NO"