I slowly maneuvered myself next to her and asked the obligatory, catch anything? Lavinia, her name, proceeded to hold up a little Blue Trevally and I was looking into her basket I saw several more as well as a larger one on the back of her boat.
Seeing how we know each other I gave her a little rousting for the size of her fish, all in fun of course.Now here is the irony of this situation. I am fishing out of an aluminum boat with a state of the art electric trolling motor, graphite fishing rod, Shimano reel, braided line and some of the latest offerings in lures. I have no fish in my boat and nothing to even tell a story about.
Lavinia on the other had is fishing on a bilibili, which is a bunch of large bamboo tied together to make a raft. She has two hand lines, one is wrapped around her foot and the other is in her hand. On the end of the line is a small #12 J hook with a piece of roofing lead for a weight.
Her bait is prawns that she caught in the creek. You can see her green prawn net laying in front of her feet. If you look closely you will see small sticks and coconut husks. These she will use to make a fire inside the aluminum pot and cook her lunch, fish of course. That way she does not have to paddle and push her way back to shore until it is almost dark.
The next time I was out fishing our paths crossed again. The first thing she asked was, catch anything? Lucky for me I had some fish in the boat this time. I proudly said yes, I would be having fish for lunch. Lavinia giggled as she paddled her bilibili out to her favorite spot. I watched her drop anchor, a rock tied to a rope, and proceed to set up for a days fishing.
I would love to say she got lucky but the rumor is, she catches a lot of fish. It makes me wonder why I need to spend all kinds of money on fancy gear when a line, a hook, and a piece of bait still work just fine.
Tight hand lines
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