Falling in Love with a Killer (cont.)

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Outside Magazine July 2001

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Falling in Love with a Killer (cont.)

"BIG FUCKIN' MAKO, big fuckin' mako!"

Rocko's yelling and I jump up to see what's happening. A mako, he says, just came up to the teaser, checked it out, and swam off. He figures it was a definite big-money contender. Just then a blue shark cruises past, but Rocko gives it a thorough bitching out and it leaves. Potts is super tuned-in now, and a small trace of excitement has, for the first time in two days, come across his face.

The mako takes the bait.

Potts reefs on the rod three times, reeling hard, and he's banjo-tight on the fish, which seems to be hell-bent on a trip to England. Heading east, the fish sounds and the reel lets out a long painful scream. The fish rises back up to the surface, heads southwest, and then sounds again in a deep run. Potts and Rocko go ballistic.

"Cut that leader off on the kite rig, just let the whole thing go!" Potts yells at Rocko. "On the dash are two black keys," he screams at me. "Turn both those black keys to the right. Now hit the green button."

The boat kicks into motion and begins a curve that will circle the running fish to keep it on the port side.

The kite rig is cut free so it can't tangle the line, and Rocko throws all the other gear up in the cabin to clear room for the shark. He readies the gaffs, tying them off to the base of the fighting chair in case they need to fight the fish with ropes after they get a gaff into its side. The father takes the rod, and Potts and Rocko try to strap him into a rod-holding harness. The father says he doesn't need the harness and Potts snaps at him to wear it anyway. Potts has told me stories about men being strapped to a rod that was hooked into a giant fish and getting pulled over the side of the boat, never to surface again. The reel screams some more.

One minute the shark is somewhere way below us off the stern, tearing out line. Then the line goes slack. Potts grabs the rod from the father and reels frantically, but the hook's pulled free.

No one says a word. For the first time all day Potts just stands there, doing nothing. The sons put their camcorder back in its box and recline in their chairs. The dad takes off the fighting harness. So much for mako mania.

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