fishing

I had been fishing before. But never deep sea fishing. I guess this trip couldn't exactly be classified as deep sea, considering our boat was maybe only a mile offshore, but I knew that the water was deeper than I cared to think about. So I was deep sea fishing. The men who took us were raised as fishermen in the small town of San Juanico in the southern half of California's Baja Peninsula. They spoke little English, and we spoke little Spanish, so our conversation was limited to basic unconjugated verbs, English words with an added "o" or "a" at the end, or the occasional pronunciation of an English word with a Mexican accent. Our reasons for sharing each other's company were simple: we wanted to catch some fish for dinner, and they wanted to make an easy fifty dollars.

I don't know if it was my lack of experience as a fisherman (I wasn't sure if I could even call myself one) or my excitement to catch my first fish longer than a foot (I certainly had no guarantee that I would catch anything), but I was incredibly attentive during the four hours we sat in the fiberglass boat, its itchy flakes permanently embedding themselves into our clothes. Our guides (interestingly both named Juan) tied fancy lures to the ends of our fishing poles and threw them behind the boat. Juan Luis (the driver) smoked cigarros and slowed down any time one of us felt a tug on the line. He didn't seem very excited to be in the ocean, but was kind enough to drive us around until we had an amount of fish with which we were satisfied. Juan Piteco sat near the front of the boat, and any time we caught a fish, he would take the hook out of its mouth and hit it on the side of the boat so it wouldn't flop around so much.

As I sat on the boat looking backwards at my line, I was thinking almost every minute, Maybe now I'll catch one. Nope. Now. Nope. Maybe now. This train of thought went on for the entirety of our expedition, and I only caught two fish the whole time. But I think my optimism was crucial in the coincidence of those fish choosing to bite the fluorescent plastic lure so expertly tied by Juan Piteco. It was the first time in a long time I was able to partake in an activity without thinking of anything but accomplishing the task at hand. I think I should like to find more activities like that in my life. I want to have a job like that. I wonder if my inexperience led to my attentive spirit. I think people should search for things they really love, and find a way to spend their whole lives doing them. I'm not saying I want to become a fisherman, or a pro surfer, or make it big in a band. I'm just saying I want to spend the rest of my life searching for really interesting things to do.