Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The one that DIDN'T get away

So it would seem that we have quite the budding fisherman aboard Kintala. Today Christopher was experimenting with chicken as bait because he doesn't like putting the "stinky shrimp" on the hook. Piece after piece of chicken was snatched by the little fish in less than 10 seconds. Tiring of feeding the little fish with no results, he decided to thread a whole chicken drumstick bone to the hook by the gristle and lower it to the bottom in hopes of catching a crab. Since I don't have a fishing license yet, I'm not allowed to help him fish in any way so I was enjoying the incredible moon rise on the horizon reflecting in the very nearly still water while I made sure he didn't fall off the boat. All of a sudden he said, "Dema my line is going under the boat and it's heavy. He wound the line up on his Cuban yo-yo and lo and behold there was a really decent sized Gray Snapper on the end. He landed the thing on deck and the grin on his face was a mile wide. After doing some research on the type and keep regulations, we discovered it was even more of a catch than we thought. The minimums for Gray Snapper are 10" and Christopher's was 13.5". Two hours later the fish had been converted to fillets for dinner tomorrow and a couple quarts of fish stock.


One of the best things about this lifestyle for me is the chance to make lasting memories like this. They are imprinted so much more dramatically than land-based life. Seriously, where else can you finish your dinner and take two steps to the lifelines and catch tomorrow's dinner, and all done with the view of the setting sun and rising moon on opposite horizons?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi

The smile tells the story.
Where does the assisting rule stop.
After he has landed it on the deck or after he has unhooked it.
Me. I am not helping him, Im collecting my dinner.

Enjoy the good life
Cheers from sunny Queensland.

Amber said...

That's perfect.

Unknown said...

I love the contrast of the 2 pictures. The first is a disappointed small boy with a tiny fish. The second he's filled with pride and looks to be ten feet tall! Congrats kiddo! I'm going to add chicken bones to my bait list when I head to the beach in a few weeks!