Episode 48: Fitz Coker - Southern Gentleman

Mill House Podcast

Mill House

Wilderness, Sports, Leisure, Education, Hobbies

5 • 973 Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The venerable Fitz Coker is known as one of Key West’s fondest people. This southern gentleman from South Carolina has always been a keen outdoorsman. As a young man he was always found in the back water creeks catching everything he could out of his skiing water canoe. His curiosity for the flora and fauna during those formative years has evolved as vibrantly as his passion to fish. He was an athlete at heart and wrestled at Princeton University where he studied engineering. His family’s business had him traveling the world extensively for decades. Reading too, became close to his heart during his boundless journeys. But it was 40 plus years ago when he found himself on the bow of a flats skiff in Key West. Even though Fitz had and enormous life already, this southern point Island and its abundance of fish was an awakening. So much so that Fitz would spent the vast majority of his life down there. He fished often and grew extremely fond of tarpon and his guides that eventually became extremely close family members. But his finest hour would be with his wife Dotty Ballantyne, who would eventually pursue record fishing. Fitz would be her greatest inspiration. He’d tie the tippets and organize the tackle. He'd be her quarterback as they chased down the incredible numbers. With always a smile and a sense of humor, here is Fitz Coker.

Transcript

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0:00.0	At 86 years young, Fitzcoker is as passionate and eager to fish as anyone, and is still driven to learn.
0:10.0	He's been fishing the lower keys for 60 years and has seen it when it was quiet and filled with fish.
0:17.0	He's fished with all the great guides that have come and gone,
0:20.0	and is a fatherly figure with the ones he still fishes with.
0:24.0	He's now fighting for Key West and the surrounding flat survival
0:28.0	from the destruction caused by cruise ships in big business.
0:31.0	There's never been a greater gentleman in fishing. We hope you enjoy.
0:40.0	We broke everything. We broke lines, we broke hooks, we broke everything we broke lines we broke cooks we broke rods we broke our minds
0:47.6	we broke marriages we broke the whole thing. We came up with the idea of going out that night and chasing girls
0:56.0	and whoever had the biggest pair of pain he's when the pot. I knocked another arrow and
1:01.0	he turned around the other way and I shot him going through the other way.
1:04.0	So I double-lunged him both ways.
1:06.7	But it was nothing for us to paddle an air mattress out into government cut.
1:10.0	I got him on. All right now,'m going to teach him a lot so. I'm just an old guy that likes to fish and I'm not quitting yet.
1:19.2	And he said, well who the hell do you think you are, Sue App?
1:24.0	And I said, that's exactly who I am.
1:27.0	Life's journey to the grave should not be one arriving with a pretty well-preserved body,
1:32.0	but rather skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke,
1:35.9	thoroughly torn out, thoroughly used up proclaiming wildly, wow! What a ride!
1:44.0	There's something fishy going on here. Fits, meet my son, Nicky,
1:55.0	Nicky, Fitz, the great Fitzcoker.
1:58.0	Nicky, Fitz, the great Fitzcoker.
	...

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