Tako Fishing!

August 23, 2015

Today I went octopus fishing. YES, octopus fishing. My friend, Ash, has a boat and often takes it out during the summer for different forms of fishing. I always see his pictures of Facebook and have always urged him to invite me. I never was into fishing of any sort but would be open to trying it now. So when Ash invited me to go octopus fishing on this day I immediately jumped on the offer even though I had no idea what it would entail.

I met up with Ash around 11 just before noon. We then went to pick up his friend who would be joining us as well. His friend was probably Ash's age which was much older than me. He was a Japanese man who spoke nearly no English. Anyone who meets me always suspects me being Japanese and speaking Japanese but to their constant surprise, I'm not. Luckily, the smile is a universal language that means the same thing no matter where you're from.

So because I had never fished for octopus before, I had no idea what tools or lure we would be using. To my surprise, catching octopus is similar to catching fish. You use a fishing rod and a hook. But the hook had multiple hooks not just one and shockingly so, the multi hooked lure looked like an octopus!!! Ha! Catching octopus with octopus! But even though the lure looked like an animal, there was no actual food or bait on the hook!

Once we got out to the boat and into the water, Ash showed me how I was suppose to fish. Basically, you drop the lure into the water and just bob it slightly in the water. I would imagine that in the water it looks like the little octopus is bouncing around. Again, I never spent any real time fishing but I really enjoyed just being out in the water, silently watching the waves. Ash and his friend were talking but I found solitude in my silence and the ebb of the water.

After some time, Ash's friend got one! I had never seen an octopus up close or in nature! The first catch was super small. He had actually pulled up a conch of some sort and surprisingly so, there was a baby octopus in it! In the middle part of the boat, there was a tank for water and a place to put your catch. So we put the whole conch in there. As the hours passed, Ash's friend continued to get catch while Ash and I were just bobbing lure.

Naturally, the water pushes things to the shore. So as we got closer to the rocks, we would have to pull up our lure and move the boat. On one of these incidence, I pulled up my lure to find I actually got one!!!! I was so excited because I didn't expect to catch anything!!! The thing was barely on my lure when I got it into the boat. It quickly squirmed off my hook and was fleeing for its life! It got in a crack of the boat and I was hesitant to touch or grab it. But in a rush, I grabbed for it and pulled its suckers from the boat's crack. It felt so slimy and strong. It had no bone structure but you could feel a type of cartilage to keep its whole form together. I let the thing walk along my hands as it wasn't very big. This was my first encounter with real wild life and I was so mesmerized. I stared at it up close and petted its sleek skin. I was so into my catch I had forgot it was a sea animal! Ash suddenly broke me out of my reverie when he noted that it wasn't moving anymore and said, "It's dying." I quickly realized it was suffocating and put it in the water tank. My hands were covered in slime after but all I wanted to do was pick up more octopus and play with them! I was hoping for another catch to do just that.

By the end of the day, Ash caught none, I had my one, and Ash's friend caught five. The catch weren't too big because it was the end of octopus season but it was still really fun. After getting the boat back to the dock, we headed to a restaurant where Ash had a friend who worked there. He would be preparing our catch for us to eat. I felt bad for bringing the creatures to their death but was thankful for the chance to experience this. The cook prepared them sashimi style as well as fried with tempera. The sashimi octopus was a shock! The pieces were still moving!!!! It was unreal and really sad. Again, I thanked the Lord for this creature, said sorry to the octopus and chowed it down. The thing tasted like the sea, fresh and salty.

This Sunday was unusual for me but in all the best ways. I'm thankful for the invite and also the experience of being able to catch one of these creatures. Would I go again? Yes I would but maybe the second time around I would just hold them for a while then let them go again. Anyways, it was an experience for the books!!



xx
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