Open Writing

Many years ago I used to go fishing with my dad, fishing the rivers and canals in Yorkshire. He found it therapeutic and I found it rather dull. When I did, rarely, catch anything it would usually be a small stickleback, no more than two inches long. It didn’t quite fulfil the image of man against wild beastie. Not quite eating fare for sure.

So I was quite exited by the prospect of a fishing trip on a boat in the bay. It was an unexpected surprise present from Moira’s family and I was looking forward to having the picture just like the one in my mind. That’s is me, holding aloft the largest fish you have ever seen whilst grinning into the camera. Or maybe stepping back on the boat and uttering my favourite line from “that” fishy film;

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat!”

I was looking forward to it. Moira was not as keen as she suffers from motion sickness and was not entirely happy about the thought of being on a boat for four hours. To ease this we decided to go out and buy some motion sickness pills so that she would not feel queasy.

First stop – a health shop. I ask you, really, a Health Shop. They specialise in ridiculous herbal teas. We should be going to a pharmacy, they sell medicine, real medicine that you take three times a day before eating. Asking the staff for advice they pointed out some tablets for travel sickness, and what was the active chemical used to quell the nausea, Zingiber officinale or to give it the common name - Ginger. Each tablet was four hundred milligrams of ginger. Ground ginger, that’s all!! And what did they charge for this miracle cure, fifteen dollars that’s what. Fifteen dollars for some ground up ginger. I am sorry but I can go to a supermarket and buy ginger root for a lot les than fifteen dollars and that would be just as effective. Bloody witch doctors, I mean Ginger! So the wife bought the ginger tablets!

We set off on the day, slowly making our way out of the bay. We had a guide, Jill, who was also a Scottish ex-pat working the boats. The fishing we would be doing was drift fishing, basically we had a line and a weight. We placed bait on the hook and dropped the whole lot into the sea. When it hit the bottom the bait would float around near the sea bed and be dragged along by the drifting boat.

Two types of bait were available, squid and pilchard. Actually the pilchard looked quite appetising so I knew if I didn’t catch anything I could always gorge on the bait. The waiting reminded me of sitting by a river, aged nine, watching a float bob around hoping that a large carp or perch would drag it away and provide some excitement.

Nothing!

After a few minutes one guy caught a fish. They had to throw it back though as it was less than the regulatory 27 cms long. I kept bringing my hook back up to see if anything had decided to jump on the hook, if fact most of the time it looked as though my bait had decided to jump off the hook.

Suddenly Moira was winding in her line. She had something! I excitedly watched her valiantly fight against this monster of the deep, reeling in the fishy prey, battling against nature. If anyone has seen those fishing films where marlin are jumping out of the water and men are strapped into their chairs, tiring themselves out fighting the fish, then they should know that this was nothing like that. The fish came up and it was a flat head. That’s its name and it’s the best description I can think of.

We were told not to try and grab flat heads as they had vicious spines in the fins that can give you a sting. Now this was more like it. We were fighting killer fish, well at least well armed and quite angry fish.

When the fish was on board and had been taken off the hook it was measured and hey, Moira caught the first keeper. We had one fish for supper. Now the action really took off. People all around the boat started reeling in fishes and they kept being thrown into the keep box.

But not me!

No, my bait kept disappearing from my hook and I got nothing, so I devised a special plan. The pilchard seemed to fall off the hook but the squid did not attract the fish. So I wrapped the squid around the pilchard and hooked the hook through both fishes, like an ornate fish-only sushi roll. Even if the fishes were not that impressed with the content then they should surley be happy with the presentation.

Dropping the combination bait into the water I waited and sure enough, a bite. I reeled in a fish. It looked big enough to keep. I turned to get the attention of the guy with the de-hooking device. Alas when I turned back it was to see the fish leap majestically off the hook and drop into the ocean. And I swear I heard it laugh as it dropped below the surface. This was swiftly followed by a further two bites from midget versions of the flathead, called baby flathead, that were too small to keep.

Soon we had company,. A seal saw our efforts and decided that fishes being dragged from the ocean floor for him to eat was too good an opportunity to be missed. It was certainly easier than diving down and chasing them around as per usual. So he hung around,. We moved the boat, and he followed. Obviously with him in the water we couldn’t fish so eventually we moved again.

But no bites. This area was barren and the fish were not interested in oor meagre dining. Eventually the skipper (that’s boat speak for captain or driver) decided we should return to the area where the fish were and soon we were back in the fishy hunting grounds, this time sans seal.

With less than one hour to go I finally had a bite! And when this one came up he was brought over the boat, I had learned from my earlier encounter and now my Kung Foo was stronger than the fish! He was big enough and was a keeper. One each to Moira and me.

The boat returned to shore and at this point everyone decided it was time to suffer from motion sickness. Several people started being ill over the side of the boat, but not Moira.

They shared out the fillets once we were back at the dock and we took some away. They were delicious. Cooked in white wine, garlic and served with pasta.

All in all the day turned out to be an absolute blast! Man against killer. Well OK not killer but very dangerous-ish, fish - and a seal. The thrill of the hunt and the joy of the feast..

And could you believe that 400mg of Ginger actually does stop you from feeling seasick.