Reelin'em In

Tuesday night Stephanie’s husband Ray took me out fishing.   

This is Ray: hunting, trapping, and fishing extraordinaire.

Two other boys came with us.  Brinn is twelve and his mom works with me at the clinic, and Austin is 16 and his parents work on the medical side of the hospital.   

This is Austin helping tie a new lure on my line.  Gracias.

Ray loaded up our fishing poles, and we headed off down the coast.  We went a few miles south of the airport to a beach where there were a good many people fishing.  Ray scouted us out a good spot and we parked the truck.   

I started out using a reel that you had to flip the release and hold the line with.  I don’t think my fingers are big enough to reach all those levers and hold the string at the same time.  So, I think I do something funny when I cast with that kind of reel.  Either way, my left forearm was really sorry for a couple of days afterwards, because I was using it as leverage when I cast.  Again, I have no idea what I was doing.  At first we were just using lures like last time, but then Brinn caught the first fish of the day.  It was a trout.  I asked if the trout here in Alaska were different from the trout in Alabama, which I knew they were.  So, I guess what I wanted to know was how are they different.  Ray said, “Yes, they are different.   These live in the cold ocean.”  So, I’m still not sure how they are different, but they are.

After Brinn’s catch, we used some of his fish as bait.  Even with bait, I would reel my baited lure right by a school of fish and they would just watch it swim by.  It was amazing that I saw them right there, and they would not bite me hook.  Btdub, we were standing in the water on the beach with what I would call rain boots on.  

So, after being snubbed by a few fishies, one finally latched on.  I reeled him in.  I don’t know if people in Alabama do this.  I’ve never done it or seen it done.  Maybe we’re just cruel, or maybe it’s just an old tradition up here.  But, when they catch a fish, they hit it in the head right behind where its eyes are to kill it.  So, Austin handed me a fish bobbin’ stick, and I gave his noggin a few good whacks.  

Note stick to my right.

After a little while, I think Ray noticed that I was wrestling a little bit with the manual style reel and switched me out for an automatic (push-button) style.  Now I was cookin’ with grease.  I caught two more trout and a monster fish.  

Hello monster fish!

 I kept the trout, but not the monster fish, because they are no good to eat.

When we finished fishing around 10:30pm.  Yes, all of these pictures were taken that late at night.  It still amazes me!  We went back to Stephanie and Ray’s house and Austin showed me how they clean the trout in the yard.  I cleaned mine then headed home.  When I got home, I still had to wash all the sand and rocks off of them.  Then I put them in a big ziplock, filled it with water, then put it in the freezer.  I know they will be tasty-taste!