A Salute To Bob Brown

Yes, this blog entry is dedicated to the owner of what used to be the Andrea Gail. WHAT A GUY! I mean I always knew I liked him, but I had NO IDEA what a great recruiter he is for us. And the funny part is, HE'S HUMAN.

I learned so much about him when I read Fatal Forecast by Michael Tougias (see the preceding entry). Evidently his crewmen fear the "crazy risks" he takes, staying out on the water NO MATTER WHAT so he can BRING HOME THE FISH. He fishes YEAR ROUND, in any weather, so he can get JUST A FEW MORE FISH UP ONTO DRY LAND. He may or may not suspect that this is EXACTLY WHERE WE WANT TO BE. Maybe this is the guy who REALLY deserves to be on the Gorton's frozen fish box.

I remember thinking, when I saw it in the movie version of The Perfect Storm, that I didn't remember Bob warning Billy Tyne not to go out in the Andrea Gail that last time. I never saw that in the book, did I? Now I know I was right. Not only did he not warn them, he wouldn't dream of doing such a thing. BOB BROWN HAS NO FEAR OF THE OCEAN. HE JUST LOVES FISH MORE THAN ANYTHING. HE WANTS YOU TO LOVE THEM, TOO.

This is a man who has dedicated his life to BRINGING FISH AND HUMANS TOGETHER.

(Oh, and I wanted to mention that there's a photo of him in Tougias's book. He really doesn't look that much like Michael Ironside.)

(And when I say that his boat "used to be" the Andrea Gail, I mean of course that it now belongs to US. You freshwater operatives may not know that the fame of Sebastian Junger's book and film have made this new acquisition of ours a FAVORITE CLUBHOUSE for the North Atlantic's fully-aquatic operatives, especially the ones who used to be human. If you're ever passing through, DROP BY for a game of "go fish." They have sandwiches!)