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July 27, 2005
The HALF that Got Away
On our journey from Cape Canaveral to Fernandina Beach, Dave rigged up our fishing rod, using a large, day glow, rubbery lure. Chis remembers thinking, “what kind of fish do we think we can catch with THAT…a cartoon fish?!” Well, after about an hour trolling behind Platina, we hooked something that bent the rod in half. Mobey Dick, Chis was thinking.
Dave fought with it for ½ an hour and passed it to Chis. Chis fought with it for about ½ an hour. It was so strong — Chis could barely hold the rod. Bit by bit, he began to reel it in. And then he felt the fish dive, and then I felt the rod shudder, and then the fish seemed to gain strength. Suddenly, the fish seemed to tire. Although weak, it was still heavy.
Finally, Chis reeled it in close enough to see it. It was a massive, hideous barracuda. The teeth! And those black, marble-like eyes! Chis’ heart skipped a beat when he saw that we reeled in only half a fish. And that shudder he felt on the reel … was another fish eating our fish. Nice.
Our half was about 2 feet long, which means that an even bigger fish got the other half. We think that we caught the better half.
Apparently, the poor thing had a fight at both ends - hook in the mouth, and predator on the the other end. No wonder it was such a fight.
We put the rod away, and gave up fishing for the day.
Dave says he has overcome his fear of killing a fish.
Posted by dave at July 27, 2005 06:42 PM