On Catching

It is with great pride and joy that El Hyena wishes to announce that he finally caught his first trout of 2014 on Saturday, April 26. As pitiful as that may sound to some, El Hyena thinks this was a very big deal, as he was beginning to wonder if success would ever occur.

El Hyena started fishing that morning at about 8:00 a.m., and caught The Fish a little before noon. El Hyena had been flinging Gamblers all that morning before a purple one got hammered. The amazing thing is El Hyena managed to get her into the net after she ran all around and under the boat, and she was a nice one.

Apparently, El Hyena’s titanic struggle did not go unnoticed, as there were soon three or four other boats joining him in the same area. El Hyena sees many boats when he is fishing, most of whom are just passing by right across El Hyena’s drift. In fact, one boat went back and forth at least three times. He passed so close El Hyena could practically read the tag on his shirt.

Anyway, El Hyena made several more drifts in the same area. Slicks were popping up. Of course, no more fish were caught, by El Hyena or his entourage, even with the magic purple worm with the irresistible white tail. El Hyena was crestfallen, and his crest doesn’t fall that easily.

El Hyena was very encouraged, however, and was sure he’d be on them again the next morning. Unfortunately, the next morning was accompanied by a 300 mph wind (at least). Undeterred, El Hyena ventured forth across Espiritu Santos Bay because he was sure it wouldn’t be so bad once he got to the “protected” shoreline. Looking back on it, El Hyena now realizes that was very stupid. Heck, El Hyena realized it was very stupid as soon as his boat cleared the cut and slammed into the first of two or three thousand towering white caps (all very close together). Had it not been for his fear of capsizing, as well as his stubborn boneheadedness, El Hyena would have turned around immediately.

But fear not; El Hyena eventually made it safely back to the dock, soaking wet. After a while, El Hyena was able to pry his fingers off the steering wheel and even walk. Another fun-filled and pleasant outing on the bay.

Of course, there was little if any wind the following Monday through Friday. The wind was blowing “pretty good” this past Saturday morning, naturally. The wind velocity wasn’t quite as bad (down to about 250 mph), and the towering white caps were coming from a different direction (sideways to El Hyena’s direction of travel). Nautical folks would call that a “beam sea”. El Hyena’s boat wasn’t threatening to come apart and his teeth weren’t getting chipped, but it was healing over at occasionally alarming angles. Undeterred (stupid), El Hyena made it to the other side where the not quite as towering whitecaps were running parallel to the shore. El Hyena drove around for a while, trying to find a stretch of water where he could fish, but it’s hard to fish when one is drifting at about 10 mph. El Hyena gave up and went back.

The next morning, the wind was worse. Fortunately, there were other, smarter people at the trailer park who were not going to go out, so El Hyena didn’t either.

El Hyena will keep trying. He is unafraid and undeterred, and still stupid.