In a heartwarming Thanksgiving story, a single mom who wanted to help her son experience a great birthday got a generous present from a very kind stranger: when she pled for someone to help her son experience a deep sea fishing trip, a fishing boat captain let her son come on board and fish with him for free.
That mom was Hannah May Marie, and she posted her plea for help in the Tampa Bay Fishing Club Facebook group, asking if anyone in it was willing to take her son, Stash, out deep sea fishing on a boat for his first time. She added that, as a single mom, hiring a charter vessel for the experience was too much for her.
In the post asking for help, Marie said, “I’m in search of someone to help my son’s dream of fishing on a boat for his 13th birthday, November 12th. He has always wanted to go deep sea fishing so bad but unfortunately I have been a single mother and not able to afford the expensive fishing charters I’ve seen around.”
Continuing, she added that he loves fishing and has taught himself how to do it, saying, “Fishing is his passion and I love that for him but he has never had any role models to help guide him and teach him, he’s taught himself pretty much everything he knows! He’s so good at it and I’m so proud of him I just want to get him on a boat to go fishing!! Photo of my son!”
Fortunately for her and Stash, Captain Todd Young of Reel Memories Fishing Charter, who has been running fishing trips in the Tampa area for six years, offered to help. Commenting on the heartwarming response to Fox News Digital, Marie said, “To be honest I really wasn’t expecting much from the post, but was blown away by the amount of amazing people who offered and commented.”
Captain Young, commenting on the generosity of strangers of Stash on the fishing group page and how he got involved, said, “They couldn’t book a full boat and she didn’t want to send him with strangers. A bunch of people tagged me in the post and said they’d help to cover the cost of the trip and donate.”
He added that, though there were lots of people willing to cover the cost, he decided to do it just for free, to give back to his community. He said, at the Bradenton Herald reports, “I had a few people message me to donate but after a weekend vacation, I said instead of taking money and donations I’ll take him for free. The page has done a lot for me and I’ve met a lot of good people, so thought I’d give something back.”
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Captain Young added that they decided to head for the shoreline to try for some of the best fish of the season, saying, “The fishing has been so good right now. It’s like prime springtime bite and every shoreline has hungry snook. I told him the best bet was the snook, trout and redfish, and he was excited to learn.”
Then, commenting on their little adventure, Captain Young said, “He caught probably 25 snook. He was the perfect kid for a charter trip and listened great. Mom sat back and watched him have fun, which was perfect. He hooked a big snook up near the mangroves which went up into the mangroves roots. I told him to drop the rod to get the line low and he did perfectly. He fought it right to the boat and it spit the hook as it came into the net. It was the biggest snook he had ever caught and he said his second biggest fish other than a shark.” And, commenting on the young man’s skill and willingness to listen, Captain Young said, “If he stays with it, he’s going to be darn good. He had great technique and most importantly he was willing to learn and listen.”
Featured image credit: Hannah May Marie