There is this person I have come to know a little better, over the past 1-2 months. He has become a friend to me. He and I have a lot in common. We are about the same age, have similar background, fish from the same river and are both recent migrants.
We also have similar challenges. We are both trying to find more enjoyable and effective means of fishing. The proprietor of our usual fishing spot however, makes it somewhat of a challenge to enjoy what we have enjoyed doing, over the years. Before my friend joined me in this spot, I contemplated, numerous times, fishing somewhere else. The problem is, being new migrants, we don’t know too many spots to fish from so we tend to stick to the same spot.
Today, my friend decided he’d go fish somewhere else. I now feel a sense of loss. I feel I have lost a fishing companion. It makes the whole experience less enjoyable. I suppose over time this sense of loss would ebb and things may return to before I got to know him. Maybe we would do some other stuff together.
I now wonder however, if I should seriously consider fishing elsewhere…
I first fished on a jetty in Pulau Ketam, an island about half an hour’s boat ride from Port Klang, which in turn was about 15 minutes from my parents’ home. I was in my teens, perhaps 14 or 15. There were about 4-5 of us, including my brother. We fished on n the dark, mosquito infested jetty and got next to nothing, if I recollect accurately. Yet, the discomfort and the total lack of results didn’t make it a total waste of time. I enjoyed the friendship, the company and the experience of fishing. Just to be out there with my mates was enough. That was what made the whole experience worthwhile – not the fish which we caught (or failed to catch).
I remember going for another fishing trip along the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney (I think). It was a cold winter’s day, I was on a boat with my housemates and one of their friends. Again, we didn’t catch anything (somehow, those “fishless” days are more memorable – go figure). It was at times, miserable as it was cold, the boat was a mere raft with no shield against the cold wind, and I remember my bladder losing its elasticity by the minute throughout the day. We were hoping to catch some flatheads but I think I got a pretty flaccid head at the end of it all… Again, despite the physical and mental agonies, it was enjoyable, because I was with mates and the catch (or lack of it) and the conditions didn’t matter much.
I suppose it is therefore, in fishing, a case of: it is not what you catch but who you catch it with. I want to fish with friends, with mates with whom I have total confidence and comfort. I lost one such mate today and I don’t feel much like fishing anymore as a result.
“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)
Ante 