Nantucket I’m fishing vacation
it’s relaxing to cast off the yoke
I’m spending my kids’ education
when I say that, they think it’s a joke
I spent years casting only for bluefish
they’ll bite on a cigarette butt
for striped bass you need squid or mackerel
and a good deal of old-fashioned luck
surfside beach my prime spot at sunset
the stripers were starting to bite
with a twang the rod bent hard over
and I hung on with all of my might

and it’s hey hey haul the bass in
I think it’s the real McCoy
I like to stand with my toes in the sand
and learn about patience and joy

the line whizzed loud and fast as the fish took my cast
but I worked him just like a pro
I let him run ‘till it tired
then started to reel him in slow
a big striped bass on line will run lots of line
I’d hooked a big fish no mistake
when I reeled him in oh what a grin
a striper the size of my leg

and it’s hey hey haul the bass in
I’ve reeled in the real McCoy
I like to stand with my toes in the sand
and learn about patience and joy

I dragged him up out of the water
with the sun setting had a good look
the joy I had earned turned to concern
he had totally swallowed the hook

I worked hard with the fisherman’s
pliers again again
trying so hard not to kill
it was swallowed so deeply
embedded in tissue
and taking too long the fish drowning in air
three times I took the fish and the hook
and the rod and the reel back down to the surf
walked the fish back and forth
to flush oxygen into his gills

if I didn’t unhook him the fish would soon die
so I looked in the back of the truck
I found a small knife I reached down his throat
and cut the flesh holding the hook
he was finally free of the metal from me
but the fish had one fin in the grave
I put him back in the churning sea wrack
and he went belly-up in the waves
I’d killed him for sure so I pulled ashore
I figured it’s me or the birds
and there as we sat with the fish in my lap
a most magical moment occurred

now most people would say that a striper looks straight
that its eyes are fixed in its head
well this fish turned one eye and looked right up at aye
as if to say “I’m not dead!”

so once more we went back in the water
I’m sure we were quite a display
I walked him around he seemed to rebound
he went from belly-up
to his tail sticking up
and his nose pointing down
like a whale when it sounds
and then slowly the fish swam away

you may ask why I went to such measures
for one striper I’d caught on a squid
such a beautiful fish deserves its last wish
and I still had last night’s catch in the fridge

and it’s let the bass swim
I released the real McCoy
I like to stand with my toes in the sand
and learn about patience and joy

you can trust this story I’ve told you
every word’s as it happened says aye
believe what you wish I revived a dead fish
though it’s well-known all fisherman lie

and it’s hey hey haul the bass in
I’ll do it all over oh boy
I like to stand with my toes in the sand
and learn about patience and joy