My dad worked for TWA in the 1960s, so we normally flew somewhere for vacation. But one summer my parents decided to go deep-sea fishing, and my grandfather was going with us.</p><p>Now, I had been fishing in ponds, lakes and rivers many times before, but the thought of deep-sea fishing sounded like a real adventure. I wondered what kind of gigantic sea creatures we might catch.</p><p>We loaded up my grandfather’s car and drove from Kansas City straight through to Port Aransas, Texas, all in one day. The next day we got up and went out on a charter boat to go fishing. I was so excited and still wondering what kind of fish we would catch. It wasn’t long till I found out.</p><p>As I recall I caught the first fish, a king mackerel. That fish felt like it must have weighed 500 pounds as I was trying to reel it in.</p><p>Soon after that my grandfather had a bite on his line. As he struggled to reel it into the boat, I could see that it was an even bigger king mackerel. Just as he got it alongside the boat and one of the boat hands started to lower a net to scoop up his fish, I could see out of the corner of my eye another big fish swimming up fast. That fish proceeded to come right alongside the boat and in one bite ate half of my grandfather’s fish and then swam away. </p><p>My grandfather still had the fish hooked, so he finished reeling him in. The boat hand scooped up what remained of the fish. At that point we could see the other fish swimming in a big circle and coming back toward the boat, presumably to finish off my grandfather’s catch.</p><p>The boat hand grabbed a gaff, a long pole with a hook on the end, and waited. When that fish came back he speared him and then threw him up into the boat in one quick motion.</p><p>That big fish was flopping around on the deck, and it was then I could see he had a whole set of teeth. I’d never seen a fish with teeth. The boat hand whacked the fish over the head and threw him into the cooler along with my fish and what was left of my grandfather’s. We joked around that I’d caught the bigger fish that day but only because the barracuda hadn’t eaten half of mine. </p><p>That’s my grandfather in the picture with his half-eaten fish next to him. I’m there with my fish, and the barracuda is in the middle. What a day!</p><p><hr></p><p><b>Bob Chaney lives in Blue Springs.</b></p><p><hr></p><p>Share your true Remember When story by e-mailing it to starmag@kcstar.com. Word limit: 450 words.</p><p>Stories will not be acknowledged and become property of The Star. If you have a snapshot to go with your story, send it as well.