Big Fish and the Stench of Oil

I was trying to fish two poles but it was simply impossible. As soon as I would put one on the rail and tie it off the other would double over, fish on! There wasn't anyone else on the fishing pier and so I would fight the fish, while carefully lowering the net on its rope, and then trying to get the fish to swim into the net before hoisting it the twenty feet to the rail.
It actually worked quite well, but I was tired from fighting big fish and then watching as the other pole jerked with a fish on! I had just fought and released a large stingray and hoped that this wasn't another. The fish rolled and I saw a huge tail, it was a bull black drum!
The fish didn't really fight as hard as I had expected and I was able to get it in the net and raise it to the deck. It measured 40 inches in length and had a girth of 25 inches, a fish of about 30 pounds.
Releasing the fish my new friend Bryon and his wife arrived and I showed them how I was fishing cut mullet. I gave them some and left, I was just too tired and sore from fighting so many big fish.
Returning home the stench of burning oil reached the campground. The Coast Guard was trying a controlled burn on the oil and the smell was bad. The next day the smell had disappeared but a layer of dark grime coated our fifth wheel. I washed it and it came off, hopefully another burn wouldn't happen for a while.
The wind picked up the next day and the stench returned but it wasn't from a burn, it was just the smell of oil. It abated at night and we anxiously awaited the morning hoping that the oil would move out to sea.
This morning the smell was gone but the southeast wind remained. The radio said it was too windy to try another burn and that the oil wouldn't reach Grand Isle. A report told of the first bird found and being cleaned and it made me wonder about the otters that are so common here.
A radio talk show was taking calls from Gulf Coast residents and the blame was being passed. One caller said that the Bush administration had caved to oil lobbyists and had rescinded a ruling requiring three blowout preventers. Another blamed Obama, a third British Petroleum.
A navy veteran suggested that the numb nuts of the Coast Guard should hand it over to the US Navy. It wasn't a surprise when he stated he was a fisherman and it made me think he must have got a ticket for some boating violation.
All the ranting in the world won't help the problem and so I turned the radio off. We all are addicted to oil and so we will continue to suffer such disasters. I shake my head at the hypocrites who contribute to the oil demand but don't want drilling in their back yard or beach.
You all see the images on CNN of the oil disaster just off the coast but you don't see the destruction of the Red Desert that has taken place in the past few years as the frenzy of gas drilling has scarred the desert with countless wells. Most drive across Wyoming on Interstate 80 and see none of it, but it is still there over the horizon.
The oil spill hasn't yet reached us and so we are staying till Sunday morning, when we will leave the coast and head north to family in Iowa and the newest nurse in Minnesota, Jenny! A feeling of relief and yet a feeling of guilt will travel north with us! Clear skies