The Ones That Got Away

If it were up to them they would have held out for the fish:

NYPD scuba divers pulled four fishermen to safety yesterday after an angry Atlantic Ocean swamped the stone jetty they were casting from in Queens.

A school of bluefish proved too tempting for the friends to turn their backs on – even as the waters rose around their feet and stranded them about 2:30 p.m., said one victim, Javier Rodriguez, 46.

“They were all over the place, the bluefish,” he said. “We got about 30 fish with four guys. We stopped fishing because the waves were so high. And they were banging against the rocks.”

Rodriguez said the crew planned to cling to the jetty while they waited for the tide to drop after nightfall and for the waters around Breezy Point to calm.

Then they saw an NYPD helicopter hovering above them.

“We didn’t call for help. Someone called for us. We were okay,” the proud fisherman said. “We were waiting for the tide to go down. We had special boots. We had all that fish, so we had to get that fish out.”

. . .

Two divers were dropped from the chopper. They grabbed the fishermen, swam them to lift buckets and the police flew the men out of the chop in pairs, police said.

But the pals had to leave their fish and tackle behind.

“They had a good catch,” the sergeant said. “They had some big [fish], but it’s not worth it. The rocks are too slippery when the tide comes in. They couldn’t move their feet without being swept to sea.”

To Rodriguez, a laundermat worker, and his pals, those bags of fish meant dinner.

“Everybody has family here, and we were taking the bluefish to eat,” he said. “I’m diabetic. I always go to catch fish for me. I don’t do it for sport. I do it because I eat it. It’s very expensive at the fish market.”