Sunday, December 13, 2009

Gone Fishin'

Saturday December 12, 2009 was a fishin' day!

I had dropped some hints to Matt (in my ward for those of you at home) after hearing all of this fun fishing stories that I wanted to go with him sometime. Lucky for me he did just that. He invited me, A.K., and A.K.'s son Sam to go fishing with him.

The four of us got up early and met at the boat ramp at 4:30 AM (Yes, I said 4:30 - that was not easy!). We took off to "Matt's spot" where he likes to go all the time, which is right next to the ocean.


Here is the crew after we shoved off and started heading out to the spot. It was a beautiful morning and I was amazed at how clear and light it was even with the new moon. Just that alone was worth getting up at 3:30, crazy as that may seem. It took us about 45 minutes or so to get them but it was a fun ride. I was glad that I threw in a long sleeve shirt because it got a little cold driving out there but it felt nice.



Before I continue on with the rest of the day I have to pause and rewind for a second. Before coming out Matt had mentioned that waves continue to hit is and so it would be a good idea to get some motion sickness pills. Thursday before the big fishin' day we went to the shops to get some supplies and Stace went into the Chemist to get me some. She came out with some "Natural" motion sickness pills and said that there were the only ones that 2>didn't make you drowsy.


Now back to the fishin trip. We started fishing and didn't get anything for a little while. A.K. pulled in the first fish of the day (below). I think it is a flat head fish but could be completely wrong on that. I can't remember what Matt called it.


The sun came up just after that time and it was a beautiful sunrise. Pictures just don't do it justice.


Here is the second fish that hooked itself on my line while I was doing something. Sam pulled it in. I have no idea what this fish is called. (Yes, I am a novice in these types of things. My fishing experience all revolves around rainbow and brown trout. The biggest fish I had ever caught was a 12 inch rainbow.)


A.K. pulled in the first "keeper" fish that is a rock cod that has poisionous quills on it's back so you have to be careful not to get pricked. Matt pulled in another one of these later as well.


Matt hooked a Moray Eel. I think we had two more of these pulled up during the trip as well. It was just cool to see the way they coiled themselves up the line to try and get the hook out of their mouth.

Sometime in here Matt made us all a gourmet breakfast. It was bacon and egg english muffin sandwiches, baked beans, and roasted tomatoes. It was great! For those of you that don't know I normally don't eat breakfast but couldn't pass this up.

Matt pulled in some sort of ray. I am not sure of the name. I thought I knew it but when I looked it up on Google to verify it was something completely different. I am sure someone will know and can leave me a comment as to what it is called.

After that I actually got a "Double Header", which until 20 minutes before this time didn't even know there was a special name for catching two fish at the same time. Not sure how I did it, well, okay it was probably all luck. I caught two spotted cod fish at one time. It was fun pulling them in. My wimpy rod looked like it was going to break and pretty much looked like a horse shoe the whole time I was pulling it in.

My next fish wasn't as impressive. What do you think?

I think it was Sam that pulled in the next and it was an octapus. Right after he got it over the edge of the boat it let go of the hook and fell on the floor. It immediately crawled into the back of the boat where we couldn't get it. Matt said, "It will come out in a while." so we just left it. I threw my line in and felt something slimy crawl over my foot. Scared me so much that I almost jumped out of the boat. At least it was good for a laugh!


A.K. also caught a Wobbegong Shark. It was pretty cool looking and it's skin felt like sand paper.

Just a little before the last couple of catches I started feeling a little woozy! I just put my pole down and tried to look at the horizon. I sat there for about 30 minutes and then decided to help the fellows out by using my breakfast as chum. I guess my lesson is that I shouldn't trust "natural" motion sickness pills and shouldn't eat breakfast when boating. Not a great combination.


After that we had to take A.K. and Sam back to the boat ramp because they had a party that they had to get to. I had to leave by 1 pm or so and had some time left. Matt and I went and fised in the bay. I ended up catching some whiting fish and one other one that I can't remember. I didn't get any pictures of those but they were about 10 inches long and looked like trout.
The other interesting thing was the bright orange jelly fish that kept swimming by the boat. They were bigger than a basketball and there were lots of them. They were really cool to just watch.


Anyway, it was a great trip, even though I did end up throwing my breakfast back to the fish! I really had a good time and I am thankful for Matt for letting me have that experience.

I almost forgot to the end this story by telling you how we ended the day. That night I took the fish home and had no idea how to clean and/or prepare cod so I had to watch a nice little youtube video that showed me how to fillet the cod. Then I found another video on an easy way to prepare and cook the cod. We had four nice size cod fillets for dinner and it was actually really good. Stacy even liked it. Rylee asked for some more "chicken" so you know that it must not have tasted too fishy. Good eating!

3 comments:

Suzi said...

Love it!

Janae said...

How fun! What interesting fish. Too bad you couldn't get a picture of the orange jelly fish.

Sorry about the puke, I am sure I would have done the same thing.

mintifresh said...

That is the coolest fishing trip I have EVER seen!