- November 4, 2024
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There’s no such thing as a free lunch — not even fish and chips. Last year, when Nolan Berry, 12, walked into local charter captain Chris Herrera’s Hammock-area shop for the first time, asking to go out on the boat and fish, Herrera wanted to gauge how serious the youngster was about the proposition.
“This little bright-eyed, blond-haired boy walks into my shop and has a million questions about fishing,” Herrera said. He told Nolan, “If you want to go fishing, meet me by my house. You’re going to wash the boat, detail it, and then I’ll take you fishing.”
Sure enough, Berry cleaned the 17-foot skiff, and Herrera honored his part of the bargain. Ever since, Herrera has taught Berry the craft, and the youngster has supplemented the outings with hands-on experience and YouTube videos.
“Every time I went out with (Herrera) I either caught a big red, a flounder, a trout, or something,” Berry said.
Two weeks ago, Berry applied his knowledge, landing the first Kingfish of the season at the Flagler Beach pier. He set up shop May 23 on the pier with some friends. He brought the big guns. A sinker that digs into the sand, creating a zipline-like effect. Two size-four treble hooks. A 12-inch Spanish Mackerel for bait. That’s legal size, Berry is quick to note.
He casted about 60 to 100 yards out, then waited.
The first hint of a bite was the sound of his reel, spinning with a purpose.
“I walked away, and 20 minutes later I heard my reel just go off,” Berry said. “It went off for like 10-15 seconds.”
Having potentially hooked a large fish, Berry knew the pitfalls. He had to let it run twice and let his rig do the work for him. Additionally, he knew the volatile leviathan could bite off the line or could get tangled up with the lines of his fellow anglers. As the process unfolded, Berry realized he might have snared a big one.
“I was saying in my head, ‘oh my God,’ this might actually be a king,” he said.
Not just any king. Berry’s Kingfish weighed in at 32 pounds and measured 54 inches long. When the fish was finally brought on deck, Berry couldn’t stop screaming, and his friends poured it on with congratulatory high fives. He wants to be a charter captain one day, just like Herrera.
“It’s about the excitement and the joy you get when you catch a fish,” said Berry, who started fishing at age 8. “How peaceful it is.”
When Herrera heard about his ward’s catch, he was impressed, if not surprised.
“To catch one from a boat is pretty tough,” he said, “and it’s a lot of fun, but to catch one from a pier, that big, and be able to land it without it getting tangled up with everybody else’s line, that’s pretty impressive.”
Kingfish are migrating north along Florida’s beaches at this point in the season, Herrera said, following food sources. For Berry and his grandma, Vi Vincent, there was plenty of food to go around from the recent haul. The family filleted up the Kingfish, and leftovers are currently taking up freezer space.
“It’s really good, very good, not fishy,” Vincent said of the taste. “A little bit like Tilapia.”
Berry, his palette perhaps boosted by the residual pride of his catch, disagrees.
“It tastes a little better than Tilapia,” he said.
