The next day, the serious stuff started!! First order of the day was a set of conferences by three captains. They introduced us to the equipment that they use: the rods and reels, the lines, the bobbers, the weights, the lures. Each explaining what her or his favorites are and why… a lot depends on the fish you intend to catch.
The one below is somewhat of a celebrity, he has his own radio show and has taken very famous people fishing.
After lunch we went through a series of “stations” where we got to experience a variety of fishing related activities. There was casting, fly fishing, net throwing, landing and releasing (gaffing the grapefruit), docking a motor boat, backing up a boat trailer.
There even was a “fighting the fish” experience where a man in a wet suit tied to a fishing rod tried to swim away from the fisherwoman…in a pool.
Next we moved indoors for knot tying (and there are a LOT of different knots), Ballyhoo rigging, live shrimp baiting, matching the hook with the fish… some of these activities were a bit more gruesome than others but all were interesting.
But the highlight of the weekend was a real fishing trip. I had signed up without knowing what I was choosing. All I knew was that the boat had a roof and a toilet. As it turned out it was a spectacular boat equipped for offshore fishing.
When I found out we would be going out in the open sea as opposed to the flats fishing I went to the drugstore to inquire about seasickness remedies. The pharmacist suggested a pill to take at bedtime the night before and then again the next morning before setting out. Baaad idea! It knocked me out cold. I could barely keep my eyes open. Not that it made much of a difference as between the 9 people on board (the captain, two mates and us 6 ladies) only one fish was caught! But I am jumping ahead here. First I should explain how things are done on these boats. Once they have reached the area they want to fish, they spread out two “wings” to which lines are tied, three on each side. Then they raised 2 kites behind the boat to which more lines are tied. The principle being that fish are so smart that they will not be fooled by bait lying close to a boat but might be lured it is dragging several feet behind or to the sides…the idea sounds good but it did not do us much good.
The Kingfish that one of the ladies did catch was caught at the very beginning of the day…giving us the illusion that this was going to be the miraculous but no such luck.
We did see fish jump out of the water around us and we did get one bite but no more catches…
So it goes. It was a nice day but next time, no meds for me…I want to be awake!