A Day On The Blue Water.

I went fishing today. We slipped at first light on a wind still but heavy overcast morning. We even had a few drizzles but when the clouds lifted, the sun was merciless. Wearing a hat on the big water does not help much. The sun gets you off the water and it got hold of me properly.

The water was a bit murky and we had no luck on the first reef we tried. After forty minutes of nothing, we moved off to another reef. I got my first bite before the sinker hit the bottom properly. Jimmy hooked one before I had my fish on the boat and we got all excited but then it went quiet again. Just as we were about move to another reef, Patrick hooked another red roman. Then I got a white stump nose and Jimmy landed another red roman.

By then three of us had two each but Basil, the owner of the boat, had nothing yet. We had just started mocking him when he hooked something big that put op a hell of a fight. While he was fighting with his fish, I landed another red roman. When he got his ‘fish’ close enough to see it, he discovered that it was a small shark; about a meter in length. He had to cut his line and the stream of words that followed, cannot be repeated here. Not the stuff that we learned in school.

Then it went quiet again and just as we were about to haul in to move again, Basil opened his account with the biggest fish of the day. That is about how the day went. A little flurry followed my long periods of nothing. In the end, Patrick got six, Basil and I got five each, and Jimmy had to settle for four. I must add that we got about ten other fish but they were under size and went back into the drink.

All in all, a disappointing day but the consolation is that I won’t be gutting fish all evening. Three red romans and two stump nose are better than nothing. Maybe we will have better luck tomorrow. The plan is to go to sea again.


Have a good day or what is left of it.