Fishing

I always had a good laugh when people (most vocally my 2 brothers) talked about fishing as a 'sport'. Sitting beside a lake/ pond or in a boat with a rod in the one and a beer in the other hand seemed pretty relaxing to me.

Yesterday, I went fishing in a little boat on the South Pacific Ocean (with Kevin, the father in our last wwoofing experience). Beer and sandwiches were all in hand reach and I was looking forward to a nice sun set over NZ. As soon as I threw out my line and prepared to open my first beer, I felt something on my line. Before I realised it, I was struggling to keep my balance and fighting not to get my rod pulled over board. About 10 minutes later I had my first catch lying in the boat (sorry Q & C, I forgot the name). About 2 hours later, we had caught 8 big fish and returned back another 5 (among 3 super strong 90 cm King fish). Full of adrenaline, an empty stomach, blisters on my hand and with the bottles of beer still unopened, we returned home.

I have to admit, fishing like this does feel like sport. It will not prepare me for another marathon but it was a tougher ride than expected. The fish in the photo is a 8.5 kg red snapper I pulled in. It tasted quite good!