I was flying with a non‑pilot friend who had never been in a small plane. We were listening in on Key West International’s tower frequency. It was early on a Saturday morning and not much was happening.
A regular inbound flight checked in and the pilot and controller obviously knew one another and began talking about their weekend plans.
The pilot told his controller friend he was going fishing and he would be heading out to his favorite spot to catch grouper.
As we listened, the conversation went on for about five minutes discussing the merits of tackle, boats, bait and the usual fishing stuff.
My passenger, who was not a fisherman or used to the locals, thought I had changed frequencies. He turned to me and asked, “Is this the fishing channel?”
He was completely serious.
William Coates Cocoa, FL