Holy Mackerel

The story of a lifetime.
A normal day at Courageous Sailing Center, as usual, Laura and I pull up a lobster trap, unfortunately empty as it occasionally is. We decided to catch a quick lobster to show the kids, so we threw a frozen, bloody mackerel into the trap. The mackerel, which had been in the water for about a week, was sure to attract a lobster or two, so we thunk at the momentous occasion.

20 minutes later


After rigging up our sails, we realized that the trap had yet to be pulled up, so Laura decided to run over with a few kids to check on it. As I was pulling up the jib, slowly and methodically, really hoping the day would end I heard a shriek from behind me, "Rob get over here look at this! It's alive! How is it alive?" Now, seeing as Laura is generally friendly and having a cool, collected way of dealing with any situation, I was appalled and mildly concerned by her shouting. I jumped off my boat, slipped, almost lost a brand new TopSider to the fighting deep blue, and eventually saw Laura now mobbed by the kids at Courageous, with a living, cavorting, strangely familiar mackerel.

Yes folks, fatty fish can be caught, bloodied up, and frozen for days and still be revived by a cold splash of water. This was something the amazed looks at Courageous learned about 15 minutes after this incredible fish came "back to life".

Most of us stood in awe, watching this immortal fish flapping around in its own Resurrection Tomb. Kids jumping around the dock, screaming "Oh my god! We're gonna be on TV!" and "No! That's not the same fish! That's impossible". But it was possible, that fish did resurrect in it's own way, as we were calmly told by an unsurprised Courageous staff member as word of the miraculous fish hit the upper dock, which, in all our clamour, took mere milliseconds. However, in the wake of our small, dockside stampede, we learned a few things after we tossed the everlasting fish back into the water. First off, as aforementioned, that fatty fish can survive through weeks of being frozen, (unlike humans, specifically Austin Powers for all you fans). We discovered that a fish does not die as it gets caught, and thirdly, that despire our forewarnings, the docks at Courageous can surive a mob of prancing children.

Best Regards,

Rob Benner