Work all day, dinner with wife's boss in Lucedale, Mississippi at 7:00 p.m., get back home in south Mobile County at 10:45 p.m., change clothes and wait for Jack deVilliers' arrival at midnight to make a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama for some relaxing night dives.  Did I forget something?  Oh yes, sleep.
No time for that, conditions are ripe for sticking some flatties.  A northerly wind and smooth waters prevail.

We grab a fresh cup of coffee as often as needed along the way.  A quick stop at Wal Mart in Foley, Alabama for fresh dive light batteries and continue our journey down the proverbial yellow brick road.

We arrive at the beach to find crystal clear waters below a starry filled night with a half moon rising.

Will the prayers made earlier in the evening be answered tonight?  For the most part, YES, less one red fish.

We snorkel out to an old favorite spot.  Jack signals by flashing his light in my direction and shakes it left to right in consecutive movement.  That's my cue to come look.  I swim up to him as he is shining his light down at the sea floor onto a summer flounder.  I think to myself, "Is he requesting that I shoot it or just letting me know that he has found the first one?"  About that time he hammers down.  Uh huh, showing off.  I take the lead and start hunting.

The rubber sling on my pole spear breaks on my second shot, so I improvise by using the longest piece to wrap around my hand and this gives me a little thrust but not much.  I make do and try not to be hindered by the inconvenience.

Before long, I start to string up flounders on the fish clip that Matt "Catfish" Richards made for me a couple of years back.  One, two, three, Jack swims up for a curious look at my catch and then blazes his own path in another direction.  I want to follow him but can't seem to fish out the area I'm in.  Soon he is out of sight and I am in my own world.

For the next 90 minutes we are in flounder heaven and not a tater chip (slang for small) in the bunch.

Finally I hear Jack calling "Mike!"  "What?" I reply.  "Lets go, I'm getting hypothermic".  I agree since by this time my left leg is trying to cramp.  We haul our load back to his Jeep and take some on the scene pictures.

" I don't think we scratched the surface here tonight" I say on the way back.  "It has been a long time since we have had this good of luck" we both remark.

Normally we are sleepy eyed on the return trip home but we were so stoked that we kept reliving the night in our conversation all the way home.

"How big do you think my biggest flounder is?" Jack asked.  I'd say 7 pounds.  "Really?". "Yep".  "I almost lost it", Jack says.  "How's that?"  "When I shot the fish, I had to ram my spear down hard".  "It kept flopping causing me to bury my spear deep into the sand".  "I had to let go to get another breath and the flounder worked its way all the way up to the rubber sling".  "I managed to grab the rubber before it got off".  "Getting my spear tip out of the sand was difficult".  "I'm glad it didn't get away", I replied.  "I'd hate to have to hear that story for the next 10 years".

When we got home, I weighed the fish on a produce scale in my workshop and it registers 8 pounds.  A trophy!  More pictures were taken and Robin and I treat Jack to celebratory breakfast at Dick Russell's Restaurant.

Life is good,

Mike Wade
Stickmen Freedivers
Mobile, Alabama