Saturday, November 18, 2006
Sometimes, being blind even offers him an advantage.
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
MIAMI -- As Tony Caroleo prepared to cast his plastic worm to the edge of an Everglades canal, guide Billy Bob Crosno gave him instructions.
"Come to the right about 30 feet," Crosno said. "Perfect."
Caroleo cast where the guide told him.
"You're in one stem of a lily pad, so you might feel that," Crosno said.
As Caroleo let the worm drop below the surface, his black Lab, Buddy, paced on the stern of the boat, whining.
"He's the most impatient fisherman I've ever seen," Caroleo said.
Caroleo bumped the junebug-colored worm slowly along the canal bottom and then felt the thump of a bass. He reeled the small fish up into the boat so Buddy could release it -- by nosing it overboard.
Guide dog
Caroleo, 56, a retired American Airlines executive, saw none of this. He has been almost completely blind for about 20 years. Buddy is his guide dog as well as his faithful fishing companion.
"If there's a fish in the water, Tony will find it," Caroleo's other longtime fishing companion, Jim DiMaggio, said.
Caroleo lost most of his sight because of retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that caused his vision to close in gradually, starting at age 10. Today, he can detect only shadows.
He began fishing as a child in New York and has indulged in his favorite hobby all his life, with little interference from his inability to see. These days, Caroleo fishes from the back yard of his beachfront home in New York; from charter and party boats in South Florida -- he has a second home in Hallandale; and on DiMaggio's Alaska charter boat in the summer.
"I can hear fish working bait," he said. "I can hear birds working and I cast to the sound. Fishing live bait, you just drop it down. With something like this bass fishing, I need someone to give me good instruction."
Sometimes, it's an advantage
In a couple of fishing situations, Caroleo's inability to see has been an advantage. Fishing at night on one of the Kelley Fleets headboats out of Haulover Park, he amazed his fellow passengers by effortlessly tying bottom rigs in the dark.
"A guy said, 'How do you do that so good in the dark?'" Caroleo said. "I said, 'I practice in the daytime.'"
He also proved adept at untangling multiple knots that occur on party boats when fishermen's lines cross.
"If you feel a knot with your fingers, you can tell which way the lines go and you can untangle it," he said.
Caroleo had never tried bass fishing until recently, when a cold front accompanied by blustery east-northeast winds canceled his and DiMaggio's offshore fishing plans. Not wanting to waste the day, they called Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Dania Beach, which recommended Crosno, the store's in-house guide.
Successful trip
Fishing with Crosno in a remote canal on the edge of the Everglades/Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, Caroleo and DiMaggio caught and released 34 bass in an afternoon trip using 6-inch paddletail worms topped with 1/16-ounce weights. Crosno cut a slit in the worms' tails to make them bubble on the retrieve. The buzzing baits and splashing fish got Buddy so excited that he dashed around the boat, barking.
The two men enjoyed bass fishing so much that they went with Crosno again two days later. The lack of wind and the full moon slowed the bite, but they still caught and released 11 bass up to 3 pounds.
"He's got a better feel for that worm than I would," Crosno said of Caroleo.
Caroleo and DiMaggio had to cut the bass trip short because they'd made arrangements to go swordfishing that night off Dania Beach. Afterward, it was back to New York for Caroleo to catch the fall run of striped bass.