25 April 2007

What if We Catch One?



That's our fishing rig trailing behind the boat. Actually, that was our rig. Camille caught the bug that she wants to catch some fish while we're sailing. I figured, "what the hell, the goal is to make it fun out here". So we rigged up a super-fish-catching-apparatus. I gave her a thick line with a shackle at the end of it, tied that to another line to trail farther behind, attached some plastic pirate figurines to the schackle for bait, and added a few pounds of old blocks as a downrigger.

Somehow we didn't catch anything. We decided patience would serve us well, so she tied off the apparatus to a cleat and waited.



We still didn't catch anything. After checking to see if maybe a red pirate figurine would work better as bait than a green one, Camille lost the rig overboard. We had just had this exchange:

Her: do you think this will work?
Me: do you want a real answer or one that plays into this game?
{pause}
Her: Real.
Me: Nope, not only do fish not eat pirates because of the wooden limbs, but we're not fooling them with that 1/2" double-braid fishing line.

Miraculously, the rig was lost overboard the next time I turned my back. Hint taken, I hit the local West Marine for a $20 fishing pole kit designed for "all species". Since that's exactly what we want (all species), this should be perfect. Now, the only concern is -- what if we actually catch one???

5 comments:

Zen said...

Interestingly I saw some kind of fishing thingy at the SS show. I was tempted to buy one, then I thought...what if I catch one.

Pat said...

Once we were told that the ideal trolling boat

was not too fast

didn't move in a straight line for too long

and

was quiet

... sounds like a sailboat!

Carol Anne said...

Pat forgot to add ...

doesn't move at a constant speed.

Now, if you actually do catch something, Pat's your go-to guy. Back when he was in high school, he worked on one of those boats that take tourists out fishing. He got to cut up dead fish as bait, bait the hooks, and help the clients to operate the fishing apparatus. When the clients caught something, he got to cut the fish open and take out the icky stuff that the clients don't want to see, so the clients could take home clean, ready-to-cook fish.

Now, I may be making presumptions here, in volunteering Pat's services, but I suspect that if you were to pay our airfare to get to the Bay Area and take us out on your boat, Pat would probably be glad to provide the same services for Camille. She's awfully cute, and so any entreaty on her behalf is hard to resist.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean there will be fish on Friday?

"Raps" said...

If she catches one, name it Smitty. Smitty the fishy...
Maybe catching a fish will inspire her to become a veterinarian. I don't think I could give up meat though.,