Friday, December 4, 2009

FISHING

There is a whole lot for me to say on this subject, but for now, I'm going to stick to a brief history, and a few goals for the future:

My grandpa was a fisherman in Italy, and when fish started to become scarce, he came to America where the fish were more plentiful. In a sense, I owe my life to fishing, because, without it, my parents would not have met, and I would not be here. Catching fish is the one hobby that I've always returned to, and it is the one that I have spent the most time learning about and getting good at.



I've been fishing for as long as I can remember. It started with summers in Catalina island, spending countless hours on the "mole" catching perch and anything else that would bite a piece of bread or a frozen pea on a hook. As I got older, we started to venture out on my grandpa's aluminum skiff, the "Il Fungo." We would troll lures for hours on end and go far from the shore to catch sanddabs with my grandpa's heavy hand lines. The ultimate trophy in those days was a bonito or barracuda, anything that would put up a good fight. I spent every summer and every vacation spending as much time as possible in the Il Fungo. This was where I learned to love fishing, but did not learn much about the art of catching fish.




When I was 13, I went fishing on a charter boat with my boy scout troop, and could not believe what I had been missing. I caught the biggest fish on the boat, and fell into an early fishing career. I got a job as a "pinhead" on a 1/2 day boat when I was thirteen. I would scrub the charter boat clean at the end of the day, and help the crew whenever they needed it in exchange for free fishing trips. This is really where I learned to catch lots of fish. Over the next 5 years, I went from being a pinhead to a full fledged deckhand, and in the end, getting my captain's license from the Coast Guard. In that time, I was taught everything there was to know about catching coastal fish in California, with one major exception:

I was not taught how to find fish, only how to catch them once the boat was positioned. I have no secret spots. I can't tell you where to go to catch fish. If I'm lucky, I can find a good school of fish, but I really don't have much knowledge about how to make it happen on a bad day. Now that I'm an adult and not spending day and night on a fishing boat, it is time for me to learn on my own, and find my own fishing holes.

Learning to fish is a bit like riding a bike, so I don't feel that I need to keep extensive notes on the "how" of fishing, but here is what I need to work on to get better:
1) Get out and explore new areas, even if it means less time spent fishing.
2) Take notes every time I go fishing. (Part of the reason for this blog) Note locations, water temperature, tide, anything that might be relevant.
3) Keep an open mind and try new techniques

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