Afloat in a drizzle, two catfish and two other whats-its

Date: June 11, 2016

Trip #17
Weather: Drizzly  
Waters: Choppy
On board: C, A, J2, R, KH, J and ZQ  

The plan was to head out to Pulau Hantu for a picnic and a spot of fishing with KH and family, in an attempt to make up for the disappointment of the last trip, which turned out to be a non-starter because of the weather. (See post here.) 

But Man plans, God laughs, right? 

We arrived at the marina amid grey skies and choppy waters - even in the marina. We sat it out in the rocking boat in the marina, music on. Some of us even ate the delicious pastrami sandwiches that C made.  We tried to move out, but the currents within the marina were sweeping the boat back against the dock. 

A bunch of anglers sat out the choppy waters in the marina as well. They had gone out earlier and returned because of the roughness out there. They told C he was "mad" to try to get to Pulau Hantu in this weather. 

After an hour and a half, the waters seemed calmer, so we moved out (and so did the anglers). But the island landing had to be ditched; we had already lost more than an hour waiting in the marina. So we were going to just float about 1 km from the marina for some fishing. (In case the rain came, it wouldn't be a long trip back.)  This way, 10-year-old ZQ wouldn't have to go home again without an outing! 

We dropped anchor where we had seen some fishing boats on our past outings. ZQ landed two catfish from the stern within 10 minutes of each other, with a rod loaded with pieces of squid. We released the fish, since they probably aren't good for eating. (We think the same fish may have been caught twice, and made jokes about how it wasn't too smart.) 

KH handled this after ZQ landed it, because catfish can sting.

KH tried one of his lures (no bait) from the bow of Little Wanderer, and landed two whatever-fish, silvery with a bluish line along the dorsal fin, each about 10 cm long. These too, were released. 

Look, I got two!

This fish, species unknown, had wicked spines
 just behind its dorsal fin. Here, they are folded
down and not showing.

KH gave it a shot with one of these lures that C had bought online. It's light
metal and in an insane neon orange. In the water, it mimicked a fish
 in distress on the surface of the water - but sigh, no, KH didn't land
anything with this.  

The rest of us who weren't too excited about fishing or who had animal-cruelty issues just chilled, listened to music, drank wine and beer and snacked on lychees, potato chips, raspberry shortbread, marshmallows, gummies... 

ZQ got into the water with C, but the currents were strong,
so they stayed close to the boat. 

June used to be that scorching time of year. What's happened? It was scorching in the morning, but out there today, it was just grey, drizzly and dreary - and even chilly, when the winds whipped around our damp T shirts.  

But it looks like ZQ had a good time. After we got back to the marina, the routine hose-down of the boat became an obvious excuse for him to play with water. 

So when you have a boat, it isn't as if you can go out when you want. There is really only a small sweet spot on any given day when you can go out, perhaps make an island landing for a picnic and head back in time, untrapped by a rapidly receding tide or bad weather.