The Science of Fishing
The Science of Fishing
In a previous article I mentioned that Myla and I had gone fishing but failed to land a fish. We decided to try our luck again but this time chose a different crew. My friend Mike who is a very serious fisherman took us out. Mike is a retired Lt. Col. in the Special Forces who helped build the new power plant here. Mike and Rob are the island’s most dedicated fishermen. Rob is on vacation so poor Mike is forced to resort to taking out novices such as myself. Corey went along too to complete our crew of 4 on the Boston Whaler that the marina has available for renting to take diving or fishing or whatever. Mike is kind of a gruff old coot and he apologized in advance to Myla that he was going to yell a lot because that is what he does when he gets excited but really he is a teddy bear at heart.
Last time when we went fishing with Andy and Francisco we failed to catch a single fish. This time I felt a compulsion to seek devine intervention and found myself praying that we would catch some. There is something about the sea that makes one contemplate the almighty. During a storm it might be the fear of death but for me when fishing it might be more a matter of finding it beyond reason that a fish would chose voluntarily in all the great vastness of the sea to bite a hook I place in the water. I learned from Mike that there is a lot of science involved in catching a fish. As I mentioned in my last article on fishing, the first thing we do is look for a bird pile which is a large gathering of birds. But it turns out there is a lot more to it than that. Mike watches to see if there are splashes in the water. He also looks for the manner in which the birds are gathering. If it appears ordered that is a good sign. Ideally we tried to keep our lines dragging behind us close to the bird pile. If we caught fish Mike would note if there was a pattern to it. For instance, today we caught a yellow fin tuna, a kabayakaukelele or something like that (maybe he said it was a kaba kaba) and two rainbow runners. But after the first several fish Mike noticed we were catching them going with the current. It varies from day to day but if he notices a pattern any one day then he follows it to see if it will pay off.