'Only the dumb ones have been caught'

A young reporter (there seems to be more of them everyday) recently asked me, "Do you ever stop thinking about politics?" Since I am now reaching a more reflective age, I pondered the question a moment — then blurted out, "Only when I am fishing for grouper in the Gulf of Mexico."

Truth often comes in scattered, short bursts, but this time I thought I had hit a personal philosophical bullseye.

Every August I head down to the southwest coast of Florida to enjoy an ethnic vacation — visiting relatives. Nearly 20 years ago my father-in-law, better known as "Tarpon Willie," and my mother-in-law moved from Chicago to Marco Island, Fla. (The fact that this lifestyle shift came six months after I married their only daughter in my view is purely coincidental.) A key tradition of every Marco visit is traveling far out into the Gulf to search for "the grouper."

Little in life is more exhilarating than to be bottom fishing in 45 feet of water and feel the bite of a five- to 20-pound grouper. The struggle to get the fish to the surface is a one-on-one winner-takes-all battle. Language often becomes colorful. Orders like, "Get the net," are barked out with military urgency, and a successful landing of a big one leaves you with the greatest ailment know to man, "GW" (grouper wrist). The latter is an affliction of the left wrist caused by the strain of holding on to your rod for dear life while you try to crank up a monster grouper.

The more I thought about my Florida fishing, the sense of satisfaction as my way to get away from politics began to fade. I considered the terminology — hook, bait, line, net, chum, cast, shark, bail, etc. Very similar. Then I thought of the processes and found to my dismay incredible parallels:

• The campaign: organizing your resources for the trip. Getting the right gear, the right bait, the right test line and, mot important, finding the right spot to fish (that's any place in the Gulf where there are grouper).
• Election day: feeling the hit and setting the hook. There's the thrill of combat, hoping that you have out-prepared your worthy opponent.
• Election night: reeling him in. This includes the anticipation and uncertainty of whether you are going to win or lose.
• Victory or concession speech: pulling into the dock with the catch.

I had to admit to myself that a true grouper fisherman must follow the advice of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley: "Be humble in victory and courageous in defeat." The clinching thought that Florida grouper fishing is not an escape from Chicago politics came from the man himself, "Tarpon Willie." His most famous fishing maxim is as applicable to gulf waters as it is in ward politics: "Only the dumb ones have been caught."□

Paul M. Green, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Administration, Governors State University, is co-author of the new book, Bashing Chicago Traditions: Harold Washington's Last Campaign, published by Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mich.

October 1989 | Illinois Issues | 32