How Lucky Am I?
By Capt. Bob Tayton
Southwest Florida Outdoors University Staff
How does one define "Lucky?" A lot of people say "luck" is where opportunity meets preparation. At least that’s what my football coach said. I know I’ve never been lucky in the casino’s of Vegas. That’s that other old saying, "If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all." Personally, I think that luck is when one takes advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you, and then you apply yourself 110% to the task.
During the eight years that I have been involved with Southwest Florida Outdoors I have had some pretty great experiences, met some outstanding people and been very fortunate in the direction the company has gone. But the first part of May of this year, I think I put the cherry on the chocolate covered sundae of luck when I was privileged to film and produce an episode for Southwest Florida Outdoors that features two Hall of Famers - Wade Boggs (MLB Hall of Fame) and Stu Apte (IGFA Hall of Fame). These to outstanding gentlemen have been trying to fish together for almost ten years and for what ever reason, it never happened until, I got lucky!
Last year I filmed my first show with Wade Boggs. The highlight of the show was when a fifty something pound tarpon jumped into our boat at 3 o’clock in the morning. Needless to say it made for some interesting footage. Well, the beginning of this year I received a call from Brett Synder from ReVisor to see if I would help him put together a show that would feature Wade Boggs fishing with Stu Apte. If memory serves me, I’m pretty sure I said, "YES!" I mean, here are to guys that got to fish with the legendary Ted Williams, wow, and now they‘re fishing with me! Let’s talk lucky.
Well, low and behold, the first week in May I find myself in a Bradenton area hotel for four days with Stu Apte and Wade Boggs. That pretty much defines my version of "Lucky, Fortunate, Unbelievable and Are You Kidding Me?" For four days I listened to Wade and Stu recount stories, experiences, and highlights of their memorable careers. I felt so privileged as they both traded stories about their lives. I even filmed them signing and trading their Hall of Fame cards. How great a moment was that?
Needless to say, there were many "moments" I experienced during my time with Wade and Stu, but one that stands out to me was the following. Why, because I was "the guy" who made "someone’s day very lucky."
The morning of the second day of shooting, I left my room about 7 AM. The gentleman staying in the room next to me happened to be outside reading a book. He looked up and noticed that I was wearing a Southwest Florida Outdoors embroidered shirt, and asked, "Do you fish?" I replied, "Yes I do." Immediately, he began to talk about that he was from Boston and he has spent a number of years coming down here to try and learn how to fish the South Florida area. He was talking so fast that I couldn’t even get in that he needed to watch Southwest Florida Outdoors if he really wanted to learn about fishing the area. He continued to talk and ask questions, but didn’t give me a chance to answer before he was asking more questions about fishing the area. When he took a breath he then said, I have been reading this guys books about fishing Florida and they are very good. In fact, I try and read everything he writes, In fact I tend to idolize the man, he‘s really good. Maybe you have heard of him, Stu Apte. He is really, really good and the expert." When he took his second breath I got in a question, "Are you a baseball fan?" With a puzzled face he answered, "Yes." Looking at me strangely, I simply said to him, "Sir, you have just hit lotto." Still looking at me strangely, I asked him if he would accompany me down to the dock, I would gladly introduce him to Stu Apte. In disbelief he said, "Really." As we approached the dock there was Stu waiting for me. I made the introduction where upon I noticed my hotel neighbor had a disbelief look in his eyes, he just couldn‘t believe his luck. He and Stu talked for ten minutes and the whole time he just stood there and shook from nervousness. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small scrap of torn paper and asked Stu if he would autograph it for him. Stu looked down at the small piece of paper and said, "I think I can do better than that." Stu reached down to his tackle bag and pulled out one of his IGFA cards and autographed it for him. Holding the card, my neighbor still shaking said, "This is the very best day of my life, I can’t believe this, what a fantastic day!" I have to say, the guy was beyond thrilled. As he was shaking and now shaking Stu’s hand, I looked over Stu’s shoulder and noticed that our boat was now coming. Again, my neighbor said, "The best day ever, how lucky am I?" As he finished his statement, I put my hand on his shoulder and simply said, "You know what? It’s going to get better." His response was, "Trust me, nothing is going to make this day better." With my hand still on his shoulder I asked him, "How about coming to the end of the dock with me and I’ll introduce you to Wade Boggs."
After giving some thought about how to define luck, I really couldn’t put my finger on it. So I pulled a definition from the Internet. Their definition is as follows: "an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another." After thinking about this definition for a while, I think it’s a pretty good one. Think about it, for that one instant in time had my hotel neighbor not reached inside himself and asked a total stranger "Do you Fish?", he would not have experienced the luckiest day of his life.
The Bottom line - Go fishing - catch a memory.
Southwest Florida Outdoors catch us every Saturday morning @ 8:30 AM and Thursday afternoon @ 12:30 PM on Fox Sports Net Florida. Be sure and visit our web site for show times and days at www.swfloutdoors.com. Also, check out our fantastic Pro Guide Staff and charter one of these great guides for an experience that will last you a lifetime. Our guides don’t tell fish stories, their success is captured on film every week on Southwest Florida Outdoors.
