For The Glory – Capt. Jonathan Moss
WELL MAN I STARTED FISHING WHEN I WAS THREE YEARS OLD.
Bass fishing and Bream fishing with my dad. He had his little aluminum johnboat, and I was scared to death of it. So he wanted to buy a bigger boat to take me in and we got a boat and we started going fishing together and I mean I was hooked ever since. You know. Pun intended.
It was awesome man. In all my stories, like little writing projects in school. They were all about fishing. All of our art projects were always about fishing. And yes, Jaws is my favorite movie.
So yeah fishing has always been a part of my life, but I never thought about it being a profession. It has always been my escape. I taught for seven years doing PE. Every day I would drive to school and go man I bet the lagoon is slicked out right now.
Then I’d be on the PE Field saying what am I doing here? So I just started praying for God to be honest and be clear and the doors just started opening and so I created this three-step process:
- Get my captain’s license. Easy.
- Buy a brand new boat. Not so easy! But God opened doors and next thing you know I was able to save some money buy a boat. Got an East Cape Fury and I love it. Its friggin awesome!
- And then I quit my job and that was the third step. I quit June of 2016. I’ll be guiding almost a year now coming up this June.
It’s just been exciting to see just the opportunity to share my passion with other people.
You ask why do you do it. Why do you guide? To see somebody catch a fish or hook up. You know these people who book me to go fishing… They have a full-time job doing something else. They’re behind the desk they’re staring at a computer or whatever you know. This is their escape.
And I get to take them to a place that’s Majestic; that’s gorgeous; that’s beautiful. Pole across this just gorgeous flat and see these tails come out and wave. I call them happy fish. They’re just waving at you. You know?
They’re just coming out of the water and they see that and they light up. I mean they’re lit up like the fish are lit up. And when they make the presentation and they hook up. We tag team with that. I get goose bumps thinking about it. I get goose bumps talking about it. And to see the excitement of that angler catching a fish man. It’s worth it.
It’s worth getting up at 4 O’Clock in the morning and driving to the coast and putting the boat in the water and doing all the rigging. It’s worth getting off the water shaking their hands. Say I’ll see you later. Going home and cleaning the boat and all the hours of prep and cleanup time is totally worth it to see someone hook up and light up man. And that’s why I do it.
In the words of the great philosopher Nacho Libre, I DO IT FOR THE GLORY. I want to taste the Glory! Don’t put that in the film!
Go check out Captain Jonathan Moss’ website and follow him on Instagram.
Special Thanks to Ryan Collins of Ryan Collins Media for shooting the photos and video!