I learned to fish with a hand line in Bermuda. No pole, no special stuff, just the fishing line wound around a spool, a hook and bait. I was excited to learn they fish the same way in the Maldives. Dodo and I signed up for a twilight fishing trip in the ocean. We took a speedboat out to the Maldivian-style fishing boat. We were accompanied by our butler Khartik, a Japanese couple and a Chinese couple and their 3 year old daughter.
As we made our way out to the ocean, they let us sit on top of the boat. Khartik snapped a photo of us (her idea, as usual.) Guys simply don't care about taking photos with their girls. I hate the way I look in photos but this one turned out ok. We dropped anchor in the deep blue water and let out our lines. We were bottom fishing which means you let your line drop all the way to the floor and then pull up a few feet. My bait was attacked from all sides but these were smart fish. No matter how quickly I jerked the line, I wasn't snagging anything. These must be Jacks, they're fast and cunning - I later saw this when I watched the shark feeding. Everyone had a line in, Khartik and the boat captain included. After ten minutes the captain pulled up a fat Jack, about a foot long. Then everyone started catching Jacks - everyone that is but Dodo and yours truly. I'd been bragging about my hand line fishing and it backfired.
Even the complete noobies, the Chinese couple, caught fish! Near the end of the trip I finally got a bite that I snagged and started pulling up proudly. I expected a nice fat Jack like everyone else but ended up with a tiny Butterfly fish, about 5 inches long. It was shameful. Khartik was doing everything he could to help us. He grabbed Dodo's line and snagged another small Butterfly, claiming it was already snagged by her and he simply helped reel it up. Such a pro. Anyway, most importantly, Khartik and the captain donated their catch to us, which we ate for lunch the next day. Not shown is my tiny Butterfly, which was cooked whole and tasted quite nice.
2 comments:
I love fishing with a hang line! Did it a few times deep sea fishing on Wake island (pics on fb) Did u guys eat any sashimi? There's nothing like eating it fresh off the boat! Oh, and that pic belongs in a frame. Just sayin.
@Mach - no, they didn't cut it up on the boat but I tried that in Bermuda and it's pretty good. Dodo, frame up this pic, pronto.
Post a Comment