It all started at the end of October, when one of my track/alumni friends tweeted about a LivingSocial deal he had just bought. We had gone fishing off the Venice pier a couple times together, and at the very least, it had been bunches of fun just talking, and catching up, and
So. Up at 4:30. Haven't been up that early since probably the Bridge to Nowhere Hike, which was epic in of itself, so obviously, this trip was going to be boatloads (pun very much intended) of fun. Drove to his place, picked him up, and scooted on down 110 to get to San Pedro and hop on our boat. The boat left the marina pretty promptly at 6 AM, and by the time the sun rose we were out on the ocean headed toward Catalina Island.
From about... 10 AM to 2 PM, we fished in five or six spots on the northeast side of the island. I'm not actually sure if we made it around to the west side, but either way, it was cool. There weren't that many people on board, probably because it's pretty much fishing-off-season right now, and because it's "cold" in LA this time of year (actually, leaving my apartment this morning was actually relatively chilly. and miserable. that too.) But I caught my very first (two) fishies! Ever!
Yeah, it's complicated. The first fish I caught was some type of rock bass (I have my money on a cabezon), but rock bass aren't in season until March, so I couldn't keep it. He put up a little bit of a fight too; if there hadn't been cool people on board who knew how to fish (unlike me), he might have actually gotten away. So, I took my obligatory photo, and he took the initiative of flopping himself back into the ocean himself after I snapped the pic. About fifteen minutes later, I caught another bite, and this one was a black-something fish. I looked up fishies that live around Catalina, and I'm guessing that the one I caught was a blacksmith fish. It was cool! Maybe seven inches long... didn't put up much of a fight, so much so that after the initial nibbles, I thought I'd lost my bait to a fish more intelligent than I.
Anyways, after the fishing was done for the day, he was beheaded and ... scaled (?). I dunno. The fisherman guy ran his knife against the skin/scales and most of the scales popped off. I guess that's one way to do it. And then popped in a bag so I could cook him. Never have I ever eaten something that was in the wide, wild ocean less than five hours prior! At least... not that I know of. Who knows what's fed to me at those crazy seafood restaurants that I love so much! ^_^
The whole day was pretty crazy, from waking up early, to the long trek to San Pedro at a God-awfully early hour of the morning, to fishing right by Catalina, and then eating my very own catch! We saw all sorts of crazy wildlife: probably four pods of dolphins (even little baby dolphins! so adorable), some sort of whales off in the distance (once going out, and once coming in), pelicans and seagulls, sea lions/seals (we couldn't figure out which they were), jellyfish, and of course FISH! and two bald eagles. That was definitely a highlight! I can't wait to go again ^_^
Here's my rock bass which flopped itself back into the ocean:
Aaaaaand a lighthouse, for good measure, because I'm obsessed with them:
And finally, pictures of the day!
January 15, 2013. Birdies on a telephone wire! One of my favorite images, ever, at least conceptually. I've always found it really interesting what the birds are doing when they're on wires. Do they watch everything going on around and have crazy bird conversations about what us strange humans are doing all the time?? Yeah, that's where my brain goes. Also, this kind of reminds me of the Pixar short "For the Birds", which is one of my favorite shorts by them. I just keep imagining Kevin from Up settling down right in the middle of these birds.... haha!
January 16, 2013. A bit of a conceptual photo. I've been waking up early with E to get some roommate time in before she goes to work (or else I don't get to see her enough =((), and then going on to school to work on my own projects, and sunrise and the golden hour it brings are right around when we get up. I keep missing the picture I really want, but I definitely love the colors playing on my blinds in the morning, so this picture is pretty cool ^_^
January 17, 2013. My blacksmith fish, in the burlap sack rented for the day. Picture quality isn't as good; used my Olympus Tough instead of my usual Nikon, but it's okay, I guess. Had a wonderful day today, and am very happy to finally be able to say that I "know" how to fish!
All right. It's "late", as in I've been awake for 18ish hours at this point, and I'm a little bit roasty from being out in the sun all day, so it's time to give my eyes a rest and turn off the computer. Toodles!
--Tiffany
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