My Virgin Catch...

Today was the second day of our little fishing adventure. We woke up late, an hour after the alarm clock rang. It's going to be like that for the whole month I think. We got ready in tortoise slowness pace and got ourselves to the tackle shop selling all the fishing equipment. Our house is really strategic, it's near to everywhere. We bought the hooks meant for saltwater fishing this time round instead of using the wrong hooks which managed to catch the puffer fish.

So, we changed location from Bayan Mutiara beach to the seaside along the back portion of all the factories. The place for cars to park along the beach was not to be found and so we parked at the huge signboard stating NO PARKING. The line was fixed up since yesterday, hooked the bait and it was good enough to be cast out into the sea. The wind was blowing quite hard. There was another uncle there, too... fishing for the fun of it.

.... the uncle behind must be thinking I was a little bit crazy when I reeled in my first catch, squealing away...

I was praying hard, telling God... gimme ONE catch will do, or else I wouldn't want to continue already. There was practically nothing for me to do except to wait and wait and wait. It was more like a waiting game for those who have too much time in hand to kill. The uncle cast the line a few minutes after me, and he caught a fish in no time at all. Argh~! You know what, the water was quite clean, kinda clear. Why couldn't I snorkel on the surface to have a look inside. There's no boat around, not a busy route so why couldn't I do that? Hubby said it would be cheating. Nobody has ever done that in fishing. Yeah... nobody has ever done that, so why couldn't I? Is there a rule stating that one should not dive in or snorkel on the surface to peep whether there's fish or not down there. I have my dive suit, my very own life jacket and I just need to get myself snorkeling items. Again, hubby said it's the best activity to train my patience.

... Staring at the rocks and the small splashes of water....

Never mind about that. It's back to nature... not the jungle though... done that before. I was having a conversation with God. Gimme the first experience of feeling the fishing line being rattled by a fish. Oh, yeah... I did not have enough time to say AMEN and the whole rod was rattling and I.... I got my first catch... and the fish was so cute. I felt the pain of seeing the hook piercing through its mouth. I was apologizing to the fish... *sigh* the fish didn't survive the night even with the seawater that I scooped up from the sea. It's in the freezer now, waiting to be the bait for tomorrow's catch. I'm very sorry, okay... very very sorry...

... the non-poisonous cousin of puffer fish...

I got the name of the fish from professional anglers. So it's called ikan Lembu in Malay... direct translation should be Cow Fish... but looks like in fishing, people speak different languages. Ikan lembu in English is called Helicopter fish. How did a cow turn into a helicopter? Another name is called Tripod Fish. Looks like a tripod stand meh? My fishing knowledge already zero now direct translation also fail. This is Malaysia so I prefer using Malay names. It's also called ikan RXZ.. what.. razor sharp because of it's fins? Or also known as ikan Cangat Langit. The fish is edible, actually a cousin of the puffer fish, without the poison. Remove the skin and then deep fry the fish... they said it's delicious.Maybe next time when I catch at least ten of it then I will make it into dinner. Anyway, in conclusion, let's just keep the name as ikan Lembu. It's an irritating fish to anglers... but it's the one and only one that made my day... 

View on the left, the Penang Bridge... View on the right, the second Penang Bridge... View in front, Jerejak Island... I'm an islander.... 

It was noon time and I think I got really burnt. There wasn't any fish after that. Nothing bite the bait as well. So, we decided to go home and be happy with the virgin catch. You know when you're fishing, you can't even bring a book to read. The whole book will be blown into the sea. And then I dare not take out the phone to play as I was afraid I might drop the whole phone into the sea. I used the camera a bit but I was fast enough to keep it zip in the sling bag just in case I got too excited when there's fish on the line and I throw the camera into the sea. *sigh* So the best way to fish is.... 

... to sit down and do nothing...