MIAMI -- Last month while rehabbing in Jupiter, Fla., Marlins rookie outfielder Owen Caissie found himself waking up around 4 a.m. on a daily basis.
No, the organization didn’t force him to train at ungodly hours. Caissie would walk along the beach trying to catch snook.
Over the last few years, Caissie has developed into an avid fisherman, so he knows that the common snook -- abundant around Florida and tolerant of both freshwater and saltwater environments -- frequently inhabits sandy beaches overnight.
Fishing has become a way for Caissie to exhibit patience and decompress from the stress of professional baseball.
“I've always been like a super big nature guy, always, my whole entire life,” said Caissie, who wanted to be a farmer as a kid. “I always really liked doing that. I didn't even have to fish; just liked being in the ocean. I think that’s where it really started.”
Growing up in Canada, Caissie’s family had a home in New Brunswick, near Maine, where they used to fish in the Atlantic Ocean. Once baseball became more prevalent in his life, attending tournaments during the summer for example, fishing took a backseat.
Caissie picked the hobby back up at Triple-A Iowa with the Cubs in 2024, and went from freshwater to saltwater fishing after moving to Jupiter a couple years ago. In fact, the day before the Marlins acquired him from the Cubs in January, he heard speculations of a possible trade while out fishing.
This new Fish could now fish year-round if he wanted to.
Whenever there’s an off-day built into the schedule at home, Caissie goes out on the water. On Aug. 10, Caissie went lobstering around Biscayne Bay about 10-12 miles offshore with hitting coach Pedro Guerrero on clubhouse attendant Anthony Perez’s boat. They left relatively late, around 8:45 a.m., and stayed out until 3:30 p.m.
Caissie -- fair skinned because of his red hair -- didn’t use a tickle stick, instead going after them with a net. He even caught mahi-mahi.
“Just a nice escape to be with nature,” Caissie said. “We saw a dolphin jump like 12 feet in air with the boat, too. It was really, really cool.”
The 24-year-old Caissie’s hobby does require learning the keys to being a good fisherman, knowing everything from the weather elements to the types of bait to how fish behave in certain spots.
For the aforementioned snook, it is best to look for them around four days before a full moon and to consider the tides. If the water is murky, use a darker lure. They can be awfully smart.
Caissie is most proud of the 7 1/2-pound largemouth bass he caught in freshwater in Jupiter. His goal is to snag a 40-inch snook, which is considered the benchmark, and a tarpon over 25 pounds.
“I’d say I’m OK,” Caissie said. “It takes a lot of time to catch over and over again, especially when I'm going for the snook. It takes time. You’ve got to go middle of the night, like 2 a.m. to like 5 a.m. So, it's tough. But I would say I'm OK at fishing.
“I don't really like using live bait because I feel like that's kind of natural. If I can trick them using an artificial, I feel like I’m more accomplished, I guess.”
Caissie has big plans for this offseason, when he hopes to get out there nearly every day. Though Caissie does catch and release fishing, meaning he puts the fish back in the water alive afterwards, he will be looking for mangrove snappers and keeping some.
His hobby can be pricey, even without owning a boat. Caissie, who prefers to support local businesses for equipment, will make a kayak his next purchase. The hope is he and his girlfriend, Mollin, can use it to not only fish but to help the environment.
“One day every week, instead of fishing, we're going to do cleanups,” Caissie said. “We'll go to the inlet and beach clean. One day, I won't bring my fishing rods on my kayak, and I'll go around the inlet and like clean everything up. That's what I want to do.”