Saturday, January 11, 2014

IT'S OK: AFTERALL THE APOSTLES WERE FISHERMEN TOO

FISH--IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.

When last we spoke I was recovering from a harrowing, splendiferous, astonishing and all together not half bad helicopter jaunt about the Na Pali Coast of Kauai. Time to take a day off, do nothing and perhaps read a book. Seriously, read a book, like "How to Get Out of Wisconsin in the Winter" or "We Don't Need No Stinking Badgers--In the Winter".  But we have roughly 3 million hours of flying ahead of us on this trip which, while I'm all for seeing some B rated movie for the thirteenth time, it seems there will be plenty of time to read in coming weeks. 
As we all know, sitting-still is just not in my genes (PROOF--See son James:'tap tap on the counter', shuffle shuffle of the feet, up/down up/down....) But, I did succeed for a while yesterday. Then I ran into that Japanese guy with the surf rods on the beach and book reading was, well, "toast".
Of course, step one is persuading my travel partner that she should be overjoyed that I am going to catch supper. (Or if not overjoyed, perhaps, not openly hostile.) I was thinking of doing the old Christian routine about the Apostles, but she's heard that one before. And, as it turns out Karen was, in fact, wholly supportive--or at least that's how I interpreted it as I ambled off to the local grocery where they just happen to carry fishing rods.
Grocery stores with fishing rods--Yes, this is PARADISE!
My card, that I've handed out this past year has as its legend "Fishing anywhere, anytime for anything." And, while I hate to admit this publicly (Karen will likely read this and use it against me--" anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a Court of the Karen's Kitchen" or something like that) in the past twelve months I've had the pleasure of fishing Key West, Ontario fly-in, Lake of the Woods, assorted lakes and such in Wisconsin, and, of course the Amazon. One would think that is enough, but as with good whiskey, great steak and a beautiful wife--one can never get enough.
So, with my new handy-dandy $24.00 rod and reel, a bit of fresh shrimp and a new-found happiness, I was off to the beach about 50 yards from the cabin to see if this flatlander could master the art of surf casting.
"Master" is a euphemism for "not make a complete fool of myself" or "not put a hook into the back of my head."
Where I generally fish, there are not normally 3 foot waves crashing on the shore that require me to alternatively run forward to throw my bait and run backward to avoid drowning. In fact, where I fish you can simultaneously smoke a cigar, drink a beer and cast while leaning back in your seat in a boat built solely for the purpose of catching fish and/or drinking (not mutually exclusive). Here, by contrast, it's a war between you and the waves and 'hint'-- waves always win.
Now, thoroughly soaked, but enjoying every minute of it, I start to get bites. In fact, every cast, with two hooks and a huge sinker, I reel it in only find the bait is gone. Hmmm, something is wrong, and whoa to me if I catch nothing and my spouse forever will remind me of the day I came, I saw and I failed. Then I think, You dummy, just put the bait on better. Remember, though, I'm using shrimp--an appetizer, not a bait. Still, I try it and the rest is in the pictures. A bonefish (for which folks gleefully pay thousands in Florida to catch), a hammerhead shark (a creature only Jacque Cousteau could find appealing) and a really pretty fish that I don't have a clue about (but likely is an endangered species, which will make him even more tasty).
So, the adventures continue, and I'll save my Christian plea for another day.

4 comments:

  1. That middle one looks like an eater. Endangered or no.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Almost looks like 2/3's of the FL Slam!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've heard those unidentified endangered fish taste like bald eagle.

    ReplyDelete