"I NEVER FINISHED MOBY DICK"

but I like whales. This one on the left is breaching. In California. Now, I've also seen seals in California, and they are awesome, but that can't touch the big boys.

But watching them, waiting for them to surface and blow and fluke is the best. Reading about them is another thing. Even though I like "The Old Man and the Sea," it's just not the same as deep sea fishing. I'd suppose. I haven't been. A friend of mine, Mike Hicks, recently snagged a nine-pound white fish. Now that may not seem like much to some, but to me, well I'd have wanted him mounted.

The biggest fish I ever caught was a 3/4 crappie in Minnesota. And you know what? Even that was on my wife's line. He was a fighting little guy, so I got to bring him in. All less than one-pound of him.

The problem is that I used to do quite a bit of fishing. Mostly on shore, a few times at night, sometimes in a boat, but it didn't much matter: if I was in the water, the fish weren't. Greg Backes was my main fishing buddy and we fished all through college. Sometimes instead of college. He even talked me into blowing off studying for a second year Spanish final so we could fish in a family member's pond. "Bring your book along," he said. And I did. Yet, I don't recall opening it.

So maybe that's why I love the whales. Not that I'd want to catch one. They are just so cool. As long as you don't make me read about them.