Legends never die is a phrase we hear far to often. How many of us have ever truly met a legend? We all have that one friend from high school who became a legend by losing a finger with a fire work. But I am talking about a true legend whose stories will last several lifetimes.
I was lucky enough to hear one on the radio every day. I was not very close to Pat Price, but just being on the water with him has changed my life forever.
When I first started working out of the St. Lucie Inlet I would often complain about what I called “Pat Price Radio”. Whatever channel Pat was on seemed to be nonstop questions to the legend himself. Topics ranging from what he was catching to if he had anymore Daymaker Hoodies. This is one of the things that I feel made him a legend. Not the fact that so many people quizzed the man all day long, but the fact that the legend answered, but not as a legend, as a friend and a fellow fisherman. Some questions he answered direct and some he answered as vague as possible, as a fisherman always needs his secrets, but he always answered.
After I started my business Pat became my gauge of success. Whether it be how good I did on a given day or how many charters I did on a given week. I quickly discovered I would get my butt thoroughly kicked in a one-sided competition that existed only in my own head. This man wasn’t a man, he was a force of nature. He fished as often as the sunrose and caught fish like Neptune himself had blessed every rod on the infamous Daymaker.
Stories of Pat Price and the Daymaker will never die. Not just the fishing accomplishments, but Pat’s never ending humanitarian efforts. I eventually stopped my one-sided competition with Daymaker. Pat probably never knew how his hard work and dedication fueled me to become a better charter captain. The span which his legend has reached will not be measured by fish or how many charters he has done. It will be measured by countless lives he has impacted.
Thank You Captain Patrick Price.