there - well there was just no place to hide. No lee side of any rock or island, it was just a very unforgiving bay. dee said, “Why don’t we give it a try.” “Sure, why not,” i said. “When do you want to go?” He said, “Hell, let’s go tonight.” i pointed out the fact that there was a storm moving in. i also point- ed to the rain that was falling rather steadily by now and said, they are calling for gales. “ah they’re always calling for gales,” he replied. “don’t worry, i have a place we can hun- ker down in if it gets real bad.” i said, “Where would that be?” “don’t worry about it, boy,” he stated. “i will show you, if we need it.” So, we were go- ing. We got off work at 2 p.m. in the afternoon and by 4 p.m. we were headed out. We had sleeping bags to spend the night on Suisun, about a gallon of coffee, some sandwiches and we were ready to go. The drive to the launch ramp took about an hour so by 5 p.m., we were getting the boat ready to launch. The weather hadn’t gotten any better. it was still raining, but there was no wind to speak of. Now, that might sound like a good thing, but you have heard the old saying “the calm be- fore the storm”” Well, that’s the feeling i was getting. i asked dee what do you think about the weather. He said, “Hell, it’s great let’s go!’ i said, “Yeah, too great - don’t you think?” “Hell no,” he retorted. “it’s fine; lets go!” and, we dropped the boat in the water. i might add here that the launch ramp at Martinez was normally a very busy launch ramp. i had never
been there when there wasn’t at least a few other trucks and trailers in the parking lot. except that day. We were the only souls in the lot. Hmmmmmmmmmm, that was strange, you think??? With the boat in the water and tied off we walked a short distance across the parking lot to the bait shop. We picked up about a dozen bull heads. These are small fish with spines that we use for bait, they are about 8- to 10-inches long, with a very large head. They are alive and the favorite food of stripers or at least that’s what we thought. The guy behind the counter knew dee, ev- eryone knows dee and he asked if he was going out. dee confirmed and the guy said, “Heads up, it is supposed to blow tonight”. dee, to my surprise said, “Yeah, i know.” i thought - why... you, piss-head; why didn’t you tell me that before we got here! to hear dee talk about it, it was going to be just a beautiful night. i should have known, though. dee is very hard to get a straight answer out of. Mind you, he does not lie; he just might keep the truth from you. That’s a very fine line, i know! But, dee seemed to be able to walk that line without ever going over it. We got our bait and headed back to the boat.
Return next issue, for the continuing story of The Night that Couldn’t End Suisun.
summer 2013
39