A Pocket Fisherman! A Pocket Fisherman! A Pocket Fisherman!
Here at the extreme end of the Santa Monica Pier there is a young man actually using one of Ron Poppiel’s best-selling novelties of all time. (Ron doesn’t fish; he invented this mini-rod/reel after getting poked by a full-length fishing rod at an airport.)
And this guy is actually casting a baited hook into the Pacific Ocean!
I introduce myself and tell him I’ve never ever seen anyone use one of these things in real life. His name is Chris Jones and his companion is Jason Samuel. (Jason’s fishing rig is a ball of twine with what looks like a Hopkins Spoon with a fake minnow impaled on it.) They come here a few times per week.
Chris – tall, handsome, well-spoken, friendly and polite – is only 17. His mother gave him the Pocket Fisherman when he was 11 and that year he actually caught a tiny fish on it right here. He lives in Hollywood, is in school, doesn’t know what’s next after school. He likes fishing for the “peace and quiet and relaxation.”
He reels up his Pocket Fisherman and casts again. The cast is a sweeping full-arc launch, and the bait actually travels out pretty far. The reel-in makes me shake my head. Each revolution of the handle equals perhaps four inches. ( My spinning reel does 29 inches.) And Chris winds and winds and winds.
Jason is his brother, is 22, and used to fish a lot. (I have never ever seen anyone use a ball of coarse twine as a fishing outfit, but he does so calmly and confidently – launching the line by hand and then winding up onto the ball.)
Jason works now in real estate credit clean-up, but will soon begin teaching medical classes at Concord University – classes related to holistic medicine. I ask about acupressure and he knows his stuff – even the couple of points that I know regarding relieving headaches.
After I photograph Chris and Jason I move to another area of the pier, but I continue to observe them. It is obvious that they don’t consider their goofy fishing rigs – the twine and the Pocket Fisherman – jokes or gimmicks. They
continue to fish, to talk, to smile, and to interact nicely with other anglers – one from whom they borrow some bait.This is a slice of fishing that I love.
Photo: Santa Monica Pier - Jason Samuel and Chris Jones
