Fishing

So, I wrote this post Monday... but my grandma's computer wouldn't let me press the publish button for some reason... so when it says today I mean Monday... yeah....

I learned today that the reason you call it fishing as opposed to catching, is because there is no guarantee that you're going to catch ANYTHING! So they just call it fishing. At least that's what my grandpa says. In any case I LOVED IT! My grandpa also says that a bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work. He couldn't have said it better. I'd rather be in the middle of the ocean than behind a school desk any day.

So, we went fishing today (just in case you hadn't realized that yet). Unfortunately my grandpa's boat is being worked on at the moment because he's getting new engines put in so we had to go on his friend Stan's boat. Stan's boat is a lot like my grandpa's. There's the main cabin, the upper deck, the back deck and the prow of the boat that you can walk along. Typically on my grandpa's boat I spend the majority of my time on the prow and the upper deck because that's where I feel... free. The upper deck is open and the wind blows by and the prow is just amazing. Unfortuantely on Stan's boat both of these areas were off limits. On the upper deck he had chords running all over so no one could go up there, and it was too windy out and the swells were too large to go on the prow (had I been on grandpa's boat I still probably wouldn't have been allowed up there).

Despite these setbacks I had an amazing time. As we were first going out the swells were so big that it felt like we were on a roller coaster. We stood, held onto the counter to keep our balance, and just went up and down and up and down. My dad and brother get seasick, but not me, never me. We dropped crab pots on our way out so that we could hopefully catch some crabs for dinner. Thanks to the windy cold weather the warm water where the salmon would be hiding was a good ways north, so we motored that way for about an hour before finally deciding to try letting down the lines. We did... and nothing bit. So we moved on and tried again... nothing. Eventually we did get one bite! I was the one who reeled it in and we got it safely in the net and on the deck... and it had a fin. That means it's wild and we have to throw it back. We were all disappointed. Well a few more hours passed and everyone was starting to get annoyed. There hadn't been another bite, we'd eaten most of the food, and everyone had slept as much as they could already (except for me, I sleep as little as possible on the boat, who would mant to miss out on ocean time!). Just when everyone was near their breaking point we got another bite. Erin tried to bring in this one, but she lost it. We couldn't go in until the tide changed. If we went in any sooner the chances of the crab pots having any crabs was really low, and we wanted SOMETHING! So we just kept on puttering around trying to tempt some fish to bite. Finally we got another bite, and then another. Two fish on at one time! Grandma took the first one but it got away. Aiden took the second one and we brought it in! Even better, it didn't have a fin, a keeper. Everyone was thrilled and we turned around to go over that spot again. After going aroudn in circles for another hour or two we finally decided to call it quits. We brought the lines back in and picked up speed, headed for the crab pots. How can I describe that ride back in... The sun was out and shining bright on the water and the blue sky made the ocean and blue as blue can be. The water had calmed and swells were rare and small. As we zoomed along I went out onto the back deck and looked over the side up towards the prow cutting through the water. As the prow sliced through the water was lifted and then fell. As it fell it trapped air so that there was this big bubble of water comming of the prow. Then it would fall and white foam came shooting up. It was breathtaking.

We got to the crab pots and found TONS! In the end we were able to keep 16 crabs, which we just finished eating now. They were delicious by the way. The rest of the way in I just looked out over the ocean. I only get to go fishing out there once a year, but that once a year is one of the best days of the year for me. I can still feel the boat swaying beneath me. Well, lets just say that I love the ocean. I love everything about it... So maybe not those stormes that create tsunamis that kill pople and destroy their homes... but everything else! Today has been great. :D