This is my post for #freewriters 2844 prompt suffering hosted by @mariannewest
My husband did what he said and fished today. He did not complain about other boats, maybe it is too hot for most people to be out there. I told him last night that I wish I had tried Black Point Flatt when I tried fishing around here.
He started there this morning. His first fish was a bluefish that went crazy, he said it kept jumping out of the water, and when he got it to the boat, he knew why, as soon as he lifted it in the boat, a bull shark boiled under it, almost hitting the side of his boat.
back when we could keep redfish
He moved and caught a redfish, but we can no longer keep them, so he threw it back and saw a bull shark get it.
The people who pass the laws do not understand that a fisherman should keep all the fish they catch. They are not saving them by throwing them back. They have fought this fish until there is no fight left in it, they bring it out of the water, many use a rag to hold it, which rubs their slime off, they take a few pictures, measure and weigh it, then throw it back where a predator is waiting for a fish that is too tired to swim. They get them even when you are as fast as my husband is at unhooking and getting them back in the water, but they have a better chance with him. So the lawmakers should consider this and let us keep the fish from any more suffering when a Bull Shark hits it. Either way, the fish is dead.
Back to my husband's day. He tried the west side of the Big Flatt, he said it and Black Point were loaded with small black mullet. He caught a Bull Shark. He then he went to Paul's Island and caught another Bull Shark and had one take his hook. Caught is not the right word for Bull Sharks, you never get them back to the boat, all you can do is try to keep them from running all of your line off by hoping they break the line.
He stopped on the south side of the last Sebastian Island and caught his only trout, a 3 pound one. He said he also caught 4 snook, but I do not remember where he said he caught them.
A little more on the trout meeting. Our friend said they wanted to go back and look at how many trout were caught by commercial fishermen 10 years ago and see how many they are catching today. This is how they determine how many trout we have. Our friend told them they can not go by that because ten years ago, there were a lot more trout fishermen. They have either died or have gotten too old to fish. Ten years ago, our town had 7 trout fishermen, it now has one, my husband. They told him that was the way they had always done it. Who knows what will happen?
I do not know why any of the younger fishermen are not learning how to trout fish, unless it is the amount of work you have to do in order to trout fish. The first thing you need is to buy or build your own crab traps and pigfish traps. You need 4 crab traps and 25 pigfish traps. You need bait for the crab traps traps so you need to cast net pogies or catch catfish for your crab traps. Once you have crabs, you can crush them and put them in the pigfish traps, and put the traps in the river.
After waiting at least an hour, you can now run the pigfish traps and get your bait to go trout fishing with. You also need a good stiff rod and a good reel and of course, tackle. You have run traps every day, either before or after fishing all day.
I understand why no one wants to do it today, but there have not been any new trout fishermen in our area since 1995. We had plenty of trout back then.
photos are mine