He was a young man who fished alone in a custom-built inner tube raft in the Gulf Stream and he had gone three hours now without taking a fish.

It was not strictly accurate to call him salao, which is the worst kind of unlucky, because the construction equipment business has been good to Tim Maddock; and he has won a cool million or so over the last three years for catching big fish in big fishing tournaments; and he owns the Vitamin Sea Too, a 30-foot open fisherman boat idling now a few feet away.

But he was doing poorly in the fourth annual Miami Raft Invitational.

The invitation is unusual in a sport that sometimes offers $250,000 prizes and $60,000 entry fees, because the entry fee is nominal and the prize is zero, but mostly because it is a contest of men in inner tubes in the middle of the ocean.

Matty Tambor, a local charter captain, had the idea for it some years ago, and, of course, by now it's been taken too far.

For instance: the nearly indestructible nylon covering around Maddock's inner tube, the better to protect against angry billfish and stray gaffs; the welded aluminum frame around it, with a platform suspending him waist deep and room for a dozen rods up top; and the Vitamin's crew of six, who chummed the water, supplied him with Red Bull and cigars and gave tow when needed.

It was an excellent crew composed of firefighters and construction men and a decathalete just out of college, but Maddock swore at them now.

''You guys are unbelievable,'' he bellowed, with a powerful expletive added for emphasis.

''Honey, I love you,'' said Kyle Sherman. ''Good luck, Cap!'' said Chris Zidar.

Then Sherman and Kenny Heath started shooting chum at Maddock with a slingshot and girl's lacrosse stick somebody had thoughtfully stowed. Maddock didn't notice. He had two kites and perhaps 10 rods to manage.

News of success elsewhere came over the radio: Rum Bum hit first, then Get Lit was scoring sailfish hits left and right and Off the Wall had two at once. The crew relayed this information to Maddock via a bullhorn. He grimly smoked on and adjusted his lines.

''See how he's all stressed out?'' Sherman said. ``This is how he is all the time.''

Nothing bit.

That's fishing, sometimes. ''At the end of the day it's luck,'' said Roland Dasilva, the decathalete. ``You can't create luck. But once you get that luck, it's what you do with it.''

Then luck showed a little leg. Maddock took a tuna worth some small points. And with half an hour left before lines up, one of the crew spotted a sailfish.

''Chum, chum, chum!'' Zidar shouted and everybody started throwing the stuff in.

The gulls dove and at last the sailfish struck.

''There he is!'' shouted Maddock from his inner tube: huge and blue with a good spear on its snout and a silver belly that caught the light when it fluttered and thrashed. It jumped twice and then it was gone.

Not that it mattered -- Peter Miller in Get Lit had already taken and released three to win the tournament -- but it would have been nice.

''Finally had a bite,'' Maddock said, once he was back on board. ``He spit the bait!''

But defeat had no sting. He'd run his kids out to Bimini the next day, and a tournament party with open bar and free food was waiting back on shore.

If you have a story idea, e-mail nspangler@Miami Herald.com

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@