The Muted Bravado of a SMG

Perth Photoblog 3: Fishing Fanatics

Just had a huge dinner.. Satay-marinated roast chicken, spiced baked potato wedges, salad with avocado and sweet gherkins.. wah. I think if i lived alone I'd get damn fat cos I enjoy my own cooking so much.. haha.

Y'know I look back at my entries and i talk about cooking so much.. its actually sort of gay. But hey on the flipside, any lady I'm with will enjoy my culinary expertise, I tell you. But on the hand any lady I'm with has to know how to cook too.. Its only right, after all =p

Well anyway. I just started a fire.. so I'm feeling nice and warm now. Also, the half bottle of wine I just imbued probably helped. Which means I can't concentrate on my reading, which is what I really should be doing now.. So, blog lor. Haha.



Anyway, this blog is about the fishing we did. Fishing is fun! We have two rods, one which is mine, and one which belongs to Lester, who'll be joining me here come 20th Jan. We fished in Point Peron, which is this sticky-out piece of land on the coast. Good view on the way there, though.



So anyway, we had to negotiate a pretty interesting route to reach the rock outcrop where we fished from. Gary led us, the first time we were there. We were all slighty shocked at the amount of rock-climbing/bouldering we had to do, though. But it was fun la.. we guys enjoy that sorta thing. Haha. As long as its not really dangerous, anyway.

Incidentally, that long tube on my back.. thats my fishing rod case. I paid $30 for it.. but it was totally worth it, man. I can't imagine negotiating those climbs and stuff carrying an exposed rod in my hand.



Though come to think of it, it was actually sort of dangerous. Check out the breaking waves.. haha. I think if anyone fell he would've been washed out to the sharks pretty quick. Wait I think we knew that. I recall JM being slightly worried. Aiyah, my thought processes are a little foggy now.. The wine is getting to me a little bit. Just a little bit. Mmmm.



Gary, wondering why the hell we're so slow. Can't help it lah, we're just young Singaporean city-slickers. Not used to the rough and tumble of down under.. haha.



I was having a bit of trouble with that spot.. I blame it on my ankle. Just had an ankle operation, after all, its not that flexible yet.. yea =p



Anyway. We got to the outcrop safe and sound! And started fishing proper. Theres Gary teaching JM how to cast. JM picked it up pretty quick, and soon he had the best cast of us all. I think its because hes a bit mad and just enjoys the woosh of the rod as he casts.

(Though I gotta admit I'd like to have a bit of a woosh too.. But I cast pretty far and can get lots of fish, so I'm content la.. haha)



Louis was getting a bite here, I think. Notice the bend in the rod. No catch though..



But at least we got pro-looking fishing shots! Thats Lewis.



And thats JM fiddling with his rod. Maybe a tangle or something, I dunno. Still looks pro, though.



Yea this first day we fished, it was late afternoon, so we enjoyed gorgeous views of the sunset. The photos which have a bit of a golden-brownish tinge, thats cos we pointed the camera lens through Lewis' polaroid adidas (i think) lens shades. It was an excellent effect.. Kudos to Lewis who discovered it! The picture above is not polarised. Still nice.



This view, however, is through the polarised lens. Nicer, right? Or nice in a different, more unique, pro-looking sorta way.. haha.



Anyway we got bored from not catching fish the first day (we figured out why soon). But we found a bunch of blowfish stuck in the tidal pools on the outcrop.. So, boys being boys, we decided to mangle them. Throw rocks on them, that sorta thing.



Oh yea, and stick them through with Swiss Army Knives. Stabbing, courtesy of Louis Tan. Knife, courtesy of me. Knife sponsored by the Singapore Armed Forces. Heh.

Anyway, after we got back I found out off the net that the blowfish are related to pufferfish.. Apparently pretty dangerous. Good thing we didn't touch them heh. Apparently the other guys noticed them puffing up, but didn't point it out to me. Bitches =p



So.. No fish. So go home lor. At least we got nice photos (see above)!



After Louis went back, we had one more fishing expedition.. Caught 2 fish that day. But this old bloke fishing near us, he caught a whole bucketful! I went to talk to him, and figured out his secret.. He used a 3 ft trace line (we used 6 ft.. if you need explanations email me or google it) and he used prawn bait. We were using lures, which didn't work well at all at Point Peron.

Anyway after meeting that old man, we decided to fish again the next day, using his techniques. And since we were fully expecting to catch lots of fish, we decided to make a major expedition out of it. So, we prepared lots of food (guys mah.)! 2 x 6 inch sandwiches each (filled with goodness! Salami, tomatos, lettuce, cheese, sardines, mayo, cucumber.. ooooh). Chocolates (I only eat white). Corn chips. Cans of tuna and sardines.. We were prepared, man.



Oh ya, we brought bait too. River prawns! Not cheap, as I recall.. But worth it, if we catch lots of fish!



So we got there (the climb gets easier and easier the more you do it) and cast our baited lines in the water with baited (heh) breath. Thats Lewis using my rod and JM using Lester's rod. (Lester, if you read this, your rod is good, man. Has a nice sensitive tip.)



And the fish bit! And bit! And bit! I would have pictures of them biting but we were too busy catching. Anyway Uncle Gary and Aunty Dolores came over to visit us mid morning, and Aunty Dolores helped us gut all the herring we had caught by then. Those seagulls just had a huge feast on the fish guts. Yea, the bloody patch was the site of the gutting.. Heh.



So anyway, by the time we stopped fishing we had caught 29 herring! And thats excluding the ones we let free cos they were too small.. Apparently theres laws against bringing home small fish. Well, whatever! We got lots of fish anyway! Though all the fish we caught were like before lunchtime.. Way I figure it, the fish only feed in the morning, so thats why we'll only catch them then.


So, we enjoyed the fish we caught for dinner. Yay!

Makes me happy just looking at the photos.. Haha. I just wish the rain would ease up so I can go fishing again without being worried about caught in a storm.

posted by Đirestraits @ 6:01 pm