Out of Control
On June 14, I posted a video in this blog that showed a shocking display of anger on the part of a mate when one of his anglers made a mistake in a fight with a large marlin and lost the fish.
In part, it served as a reminder that fishing is, after all, meant to be fun, and we should be cautious about letting ourselves take it too seriously.
The video definitely got folks riled up, and their comments made it clear they agree that losing a fish isn’t worth losing one’s temper.
But then I noticed comments being left here and many more on SF‘s Facebook page becoming increasingly hostile, some disturbingly so.
I did not at any point post the name of the charter boat or its skipper, nor give any specific information beyond the general area. But at least a couple of commenters did so.
Soon after, the captain involved contacted us. He wanted us to know that he’d fired the mate — but he was now getting death threats.
Though this video was on other magazines’ websites before ours and still exists in various places, I have decided to remove the video from our site, and update this blog with a new message taken from the 60s: Peace, my brothers.
Anyone who would threaten real violence, or even wish it, in retaliation for this mate’s outburst is little better than the mate and risks being a hypocrite.
The skipper says his mate was fired. I’m sure he learned by the experience. I say time to ratchet down the volume and move on. Fishing should be fun!
