Partners in crime and... fishing! I love fishing. Even more so, I love fishing with Ben. Actually, I will go as far as saying that right now I love fishing with Ben more than I love fishing.
It’s not that we always catch something; it’s the pure joy of just throwing a line out, cutting up gooey octopus or other gunky stuff, having a beer and good company. We have a lot of fun!
The most memorable day was fishing with Ben while he was still drunk of the jetty in Geraldton. We’re no experts to say the least, but I’ll be damned if we don’t have the right attitude. It was about 1 in the arvo and Ben was still drunk from the night before. We got our bait, some new hooks and set out to catch the Big fish.
Ben still drunk from the night before ready to go fishing
So... It wasn’t the best time to go fishing obviously. But we got really excited when we saw the prime spot out on the jetty was ours for the taking. (There was no one else fishing at that time...) And away we went, both with handrails and the enthusiasm of a whole fishing boat. The fishies started biting as soon as the line went in. Our new throwing technique gets the line pretty far out. After a few moments I get my first bite.
Oh joy! I reel it in and we’re both looking eagerly into the water hoping to see a sweet fish. I pull it up and it’s a fucking blowfish. Boooo. We’re able to get it off the hook and back in the water. New bait and another line. Something bites again. Another damn blowfish. I can’t remember at what point Ben stabs one of them to death. They pop. Damn blowfish. Some other people (kids) show up and throw lines in. They catch real fish. Eatable fish. Not big ones, but still proper fish. We start hating these kids. One kid comes up and takes Ben’s spot as he helps me unhook another blowie. He turns and in a very unlike Ben voice says, ”That’s my spot, man!” She wheels it in and walks away as quickly as her small feet can carry her. Do not fuck with our fishing.
Ben...still drunk, but very happy
At about blowfish number 7 I am getting real angry. Ben says : “Kill it, Dida! Just kill it!” I hesitate. Mmm... No, I can’t really do it. “Come on, kill it, Dida! Stab it! Come on, kill it! KILL IT!!” At this point I loose my temper completely and stab the shit out of this fucker. “Die, fucker, just DIE!!” Multiple stab wounds later, we turn around to only to see a poor little girl staring at me, probably scarred for life. Ops. Tally for the day was 9 blowfish for me, 1 for Ben. I hate blowfish.
So, as Ben throws the last line of the day out he somehow manages to also throw the handline in. How is still a mystery to us both. Standing with only the line in hand, he looks at me with a look only Ben can pull off. “What are we gonna do?” “Well, Ben, we can’t leave it out there, we have to get it in somehow. Try pulling it a bit, it might come a bit closer.” So done, and the line slowly moves closer and Ben’s collecting a lot of fishing line. It’s close enough to where it seems plausible to get to, so Ben climbs down off the jetty, barely holding on. It’s still to far away. I try to pull it a bit closer and Ben tries to catch it with his foot. After a few moments of what must have looked like a circus, he manages to get a hold of it and hands it to me. One thing down, now all we need is for Ben to get up again. Easier said than done as there is nothing to climb on. I can see that he’s starting to stress out and tell him to give me his hand. “You can’t pull me up, I’m too heavy! You’ll fall in! I don’t want to fall in, Dida, there could be sharks in there!” Ah, sweet irrational fear. The bay probably had no sharks, but I’ll be damned if I would go in there! “Give me your hand, man, I can pull you up!” Ben nervously gives me his hand and I use all the strength I have to pull him half way up. So, now he’s halfway hanging by his arms. Still can’t get up. To cut a long story short, we somehow manage to get him out of the water and as he stands up on the jetty blood trickles down his feet having cut himself during the stunt. But, we got the handrail in and all was good.
An itty bitty fish, but still a fish! (photo: Ben)
Another funny fish story happened on a jetty in Cervantes, home of the Pinnacles. We’re out fishing not having much luck and our German friend from Hutt River and Geraldton, Amin shows up. I finally catch a little fella through the eye, which I have Ben promptly kill, and Amin goes to help Ben fix something on his rod. It’s very windy. Amin puts his precious Hutt River stubbie holder and beer on top of a pole-thingy. It falls in the water. And this is what happens.
Now, you got to admire this, man. It was pretty chilly, and who knows what those waters have in them. Good on ya, Amin! Oh, and before Amin showed up Ben suddenly grabs me thinking he’s seeing a shark. “ Shark!! You’re standing too close to the edge, Dida!” We’re holding each other looking out over the water as we see this fin. I’m thinking shark too for a split second. All of a sudden this ‘shark’ starts going up and down in a very un-shark-like manner. It’s a dolphin. And we’re looking stupid again. This is why I love fishing with Ben. It’s always an adventure. It’s always fun. It’s always full of love and all the things that put a smile on my face. I’ll go fishing with you any day, man. You just gotta love fishing with Ben and Dida.
