Ariel and Kelly are getting married next week.

Therefore, The Ariel Ponce Fishing Classic was held yesterday in Ludington, MI.

Ryan slept over the night before and we drove together to Ariel's parent's house.

We took 3 cars to Ludington, MI.

I rode with Ryan and J.

Ariel, his brother Eric, his co-worker Bob, his cousin's husband Steve, and his friend who introduced him to Kelly, Mike rode in the Acadia.

Ariel's dad and his two friends, Tito Dan and Tito Don rode in the CRV.

The Acadia watched 300 on the way up.
We definitely may have listened to Wilson Philips, Hold On.

We got to Ludington around 3:30pm.

Me, Ariel, Ryan, J, Bob, and Mike boarded The Hunter.

The other 5 boarded The Freestyle.

Pain, triumph, heartache, and eventually glory ensued.

The reading in today's Mass contained the beautiful phrase, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

The weather leading up to the day was terrible. Raining, thunderstorms, overcast, gloomy.
When we boarded the boat, the sky had already opened, the weather was absolutely perfect. Slight breeze. Beautiful sunshine. Fearful fish.

We boarded around 3:30pm. We returned around 9:30pm. In between, 6 hours of life. Wonderful, bittersweet, glorious life.

And 2 hard lemonades for me.

We were "trolling" from 3:30pm to 6:30pm with no less than 12 lines in the water.
God tested our resolve and patience, we may or may not have failed.

But, He rewarded us with our first bite around 6:40pm.
No wonder the disciples were saints, their mettle and patience was crafted in the fire of fishing.

The bite was only shortly after saint Bob blessed the water with some tasty chum of his own made up no doubt of Dramamine, beer, chips, Mongolian, and jerky.

Ariel battled and worked and rested and battled some more.
But, a "double" occurred. In the midst of Ariel's struggle, another line hit.

Ryan and J sprung into action, they both wanted the honors.
Quickly and spontaneously they settled the matter.

The first round of rock, scissors, paper went blindingly fast and resulted in a tie.

Thinking J would go rock in the second round, Ryan chose paper, and J's jedi mind trick worked when he revealed scissors.

So J stepped up and started reeling the second hit.
Words can't describe the battles, only the videos can.

Ariel reeled his in. A beautiful salmon. Huge by my previous standards.
Enormous even until J reeled his in.

I think someone pointed at J's and said that that was the daddy fish and Ariel's was his kid.

I mean this salmon was bagungous.

Shortly after, another line hit and Ryan and myself were all over it.

But precedent was set and the battle before the battle begun.

Don't think when you go up against Ryan. Just move.

With no thought I went scissors and luckily he went paper.

With love in his heart, Ryan gracefully stepped aside to let me work.

You can watch the video on youtube.

What the video won't show is that the mounts for the reel were digging into my wrist.
I couldn't hold the pole correctly.

Finally, I went to this pole between my legs mount the fish while you reel maneuver. I'm sure you'll see the derivations of this new technique on the next Bassmaster tourney.

After what I'm sure was many hours I reeled in an amazingly huge.... trout.

Everyone caught salmon but me. While the trout was large, it was not in the running for the coveted dollar ring that Annalisa had forged in Mordor the night before. J was still atop the standings with his pterasalmadon that had obviously given life to all salmon.

We were excited, but now I'm sure Ariel was anxious that we'd be out all day and the other 3 guys would not reel in any fish.....

So when the next fish hit and Ryan and Bob engaged in pre-battle, we were all excited again.

Ryan emerged victorious this round and he stepped into the proverbial fishing ring.
However, another double occurred and instead of going for the rod, Mike went for the video camera, giving the hit to Bob without question.

So Ryan and Bob were in it. Reeling fighting running leaning. Battling.

Ryan's fish came to the surface and you could see it splashing 20 feet from the boat.
Then disaster struck.

Ryan just started reeling easily. His mouth agape. The sun lowered slightly.

"It's gone."

Ryan's battle was no more. So close and yet so far. The pain was palpable throughout the group. One of our own had fallen.

But we had to stay positive for Bob. He was still in it.
But those crafty fish had shared the secret and now Bob was reeling easy.

We were broken men.

Yes, three had experienced the pinnacle, 2 had fought and lived to tell a tale, but 1 had not even tasted the sweet juice of poisson war.

Our official time was from 3pm to 8pm. When 8pm came around with no more hits, we were all very sullen and stoic. The sun was a few inches from the horizon. I couldn't stop thinking about Mike and how he didn't even get a chance to reel. After such a long day and paying to come out and fish and not even to get to touch the pole, Mike was frustrated and upset and bitter.

Not.

He was kind and gracious and caring. He kept commenting on the beauty of the shore and the horizon. We were anxious and he was just happy to experience the day. We took a couple group pictures because we only had a little sun left.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon, the captain had already begun reeling in the lines. I had been praying fervently that we get one last bite. But when the sun was almost gone, Ryan and I reminisced about that one awesome scene in Pirates At World's End..... So we imagined the green light at sunset and the pssssshhhhhhhh sound when the magic happens.

Shortly after we stopped play psssssshhhhhhiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg.... magic happened.

We hit!

We rejoiced as Mike took the line. Hooting and hollering we encouraged him on.

He was reeling and we were screaming and.... we hit again!!!

Ryan had another shot at redemption! He rounded on the pole with resolve.

Oh man... if only we could hit one more and maybe Bob would........ and we did!

In the twinkle of an eye were in the midst of a triple!

Jumping and moving and screaming and hooting J, Ariel, and I were hoping for more hits and screaming for the people in it.

Ryan would not be denied this time, he learned from his last experience and masterfully brought pterasalmadon's big brother to the boat. We were rejoicing like we just won Salmonpalooza. With one flick of the pole Ryan was in serious contention for the ring.

Until Bob.

Bob also would not be denied.

The fish tried some tricky maneuvers and Mike and Bob had to switch places a few times because of where the fish were taking them.... Left then right.... over and under each other's lines they moved expertly. It was a deadly tango.

But Bob was cash. He brought in pterasalmadon's big brother's dad. Elation ensued and it was clear that Bob's finger was ready for the dollar ring.

Mike was just focused. While the other guys were reeling, Mike's fish was running. I was wondering why he wasn't reeling and it was clear that he couldn't. The fish was running too hard. You just had to let it run.

So it took a while for Mike to reel his in. His hit before Ryan and Bob, and theirs were already in the cooler.

This was God's final test of Mike's fortitude. Mike's grace and patience was deeper than Lake Michigan. He never complained once about not getting a chance to reel. His heart was filled with love and I truly believe he was rewarded for it.

When God said, "Let there be light." What he really did was move this salmon a little to the left because his tail was blocking the sun.

When the Holy Spirit was hovering over the water in Genesis they never explained why.
It's because this salmon would have eaten Him.

At around 9pm the Gospel of Ariel's Classic had unfolded.

Ariel caught the first fish, it was the smallest. He was last.
Mike caught the last fish, it was the largest. He was first.

Just like today's reading in church said.

But if Ariel came in last, his smile didn't say so.

There's some things in this life that no one can take away.

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