Snagged lines!

When JWee and friend, Jameson made plans for a fishing trip, I was excited, of course. Honestly, it has been quite a while since I went our fishing and I feels kinda "rusty" in my fishing skills, actually. As usual, I was all excited, got my bait ready ranging from sea worms to small belanak fish, prawns and cuttlefish. You see, I like to be ready when I go fishing and that included rigging up the hooks and the lines earlier.
That morning finally came and it it came with a slight drizzle. JWee and I met up with Jameson at Pulau Melaka bridge. From here, it was a good drive inside the Pulau Melaka project and almost to the end of the project site. Along the way, I saw the abandoned rows of commercial building lots and it was indeed a saddening sight. A project that started out so magnificently with the plush and pomposity of advertisements ended up being a ghost town. Yup, it was a sore sight and quite unpleasing to the eyes. Bah! What do I know as I am just a silly citizen with some spare time for fishing with son and friends, right? Anyway, after a short drive, we arrived at the end of the project site. The place looked promising and I started rigging up JWee's rod and then Jameson's fishing rod and finally, my own. It was taxing indeed but I guess, someone's gotta do it, right? Soon, as my line hits the water, there were a lot of complications that ensued. Firstly, it was the line getting snagged all the time due to the rocks below. Then it was the strong wave hitting the stone filed wall and the early morning bitter cold chill. After some try and missing out some of my sinkers, we decided to change places. I guess, it was the turning point of our fishing trip that day. If the morning had started out stressful and uneventful, the second part of the change turned out to be an extremely painful physcial time. Slipped and fall at least 3 to 4 times when trying to retrieve my fishing rod after seeing some activity on the fishing rod. With algae covered rock, walking wasn't easy and the rocks were slippery. I landed quite awkwardly especially on my butt and had a lot of cuts plus bruises when I tried retrieving my fishing line from a snagged rock. Jameson and JWee also fell flat on their butts after some time. But it was all in fun but for me, there were lots of bruises and cuts due to the sharp limpets and hard shells along the rocks. Soon, the sun came up and it was some fine sun bathing before we headed out at some shed mainly of small trees.

Jameson and JWee seemed to be having a great time picking out the shellfish and having a time of their lives picking out hooks off the rocks. Nothing went right for me as the line got entangled and the lines were simply too caught up that I have to cut the lines away! I was a like a blistering idot trying to clear the lines when I saw two good friends [ JWee & Jameson ] just having a good time out there eventhough none had any fishing experience, their lines got stuck and not caught any fish. Their playful ways and young man antics made me realised a lot of things. I guess, I was so caught up in the fishing thing that I forgot to enjoy myself. I guess, it wasn't much about catching fish but just having a great time out there. From then on, I threw out the line, just lay out at the flat bed huge granite stone and just relaxed. Occassionally, I looked up towards the heaven hoping for God to spare me the blushes of at least, giving me one pull of fish. Anyway, He knew better and there was simply no fish bitting as the tide went lower. Then, there was a shriek of joy from both young men as they caught some sort of a starfish. Honestly, I don't know what it was but if it excited the young men, it was good enough for me. It was the strangest looking starfish and Jameson stood proudly beside it. In the midst of our exceitement, Matt came by and joined the other 2 boys in their conversations. All in all, it was a good experience for me as I came to understand that it wasn't all about fishing but having fun out there. Maybe, I have been too tense or even too hopeful of catching something when all is needed is just some relaxing time in the sun. Well, I'll fight the fishes another day, I guess. I told the boys that we'll be going for another fishing trip soon and I intend to keep that promise.

While I was settling down my fishing gear at home, my colleague called me on the phone and asked me about our fishing trip. I told him I had so much bruises and cuts on my hands & legs. Before I could explained, " Waaah! So good until your hand legs were bruised. Must be good fishing grounds! ". I then explained to him that the rocks were slippery and I landed on my butt so many times and received so many cuts that I think I have gone senile. Then there was pause at the other end, followed by a deafening burst of laughters. Then I heard him say in the midst of his laughter, " So, you caught "batu" today-lar? ". Yeah, rub in salt to the wounds......anyway, I explained to him politely that it was exactly what he had said - Tangkap batu! As for the pains, well, no worries, I am accustomed to physical pain and I can stand it. Yes, I can bear the pain . It wasn't that bad to me though I had one third of my left toe nail broken off and bruises on my legs and hands. Like they always say, biasa already-mah!

Well, I'll fight another day. My next destination is kelong......safer-lar [ some people say but Ihave yet to experience it! ] I'll tell you when I get there one day!~ Cheers!