Solo Fishing Job 1

[Marek]

Every one had to eat, that was a give in for every human being in the city possibly for most sapient species probably. But for this city Marek knew that every one had to eat even him. Even Marek had to eat and there was the demand but Marek's job was to catch at least a part of that supply. Marek was a fisherman he was also a business man but so far his business was a one man show. It would take the day and most of the night to catch a supply of fish to sell. Marek liked to sell his fish whole sale it was a good way of going about things and he didn't have to burn a lot of time haggling for individual fish but he tended to make more money selling his catch individually. Most likely he'd wind up doing a little of both.

Thinking over his options he had a few options for what he could harvest over the next day or day and a half. He could go after sardines and herring which using his cast net he could harvest either rather easily as they were close to the surface and schooled in tight clusters. On the other hand he could go after black fin and red fish but they tended to be deeper than cast nets could be efficient at and they didn't school like the sardines or herring. But they were a more predatory fish so that meant that fishing poles and ropes would work well.

It was almost time for Marek to head out for the day but first he had to take an inventory and make sure all of his equipment was in good order and that he had enough supplies just in case something went wrong. His boat a pinnace which he had named the Mako really was in good shape it didn't need a careening and it had fresh pitch painted over its hull. The sail and rigging both were in good shape as well the sail had a patch sewn into it but it still caught wind. His poles and nets were in good order his nets were just purchased from a thatcher. His chafing gear was also purchased recently so every thing was in good working order. The last thing to check was his supplies he didn't want to get caught in the middle of nothing with out food and water.

Once he had made sure that he had every thing in order and placed in storage under the benches it was time to get the Mako under way. Marek rowed the Mako out of the docks and through the harbor once through all the major obstacles he raised his lateens and after a few moments the sails caught wind and he felt that familiar "knock" as his 'ship' began to move. He sat near the Mako's tiller and began to easily guide it bast the boundaries of the harbor and to start looking for the tale tale signs of his quarry .

[Marek]

As the harbor began to shrink in the distance and the water changed to a grayish brown to more and more blue and changing shade from a lighter blue to a deeper and deeper blue color to the point where it was almost black. There was a layer of fog over the water and as the sun came up on the horizon the combined reflection and diffusion of the sun turned the water a fiery orange and red colors. To add to the beauty of the scene otters began to play along the small wakes of the Mako's wake.

Marek laughed at the shenanigans of the wild life as he continued on his way to where the fish could be caught. Eventually the otters disappeared as he got father into open water. Soon he began to see a few porpoises and smiled as the spray from their blow holes wafted across the Mako and on him. Sure it was equivalent to a sneeze but you know what coming from a creature such as a porpoise it didn't seem as disgusting.

It was still early morning but getting on closer to mid morning when Marek finally started the signs he was looking for. The water was fairly calm and there were seagulls circling and diving. Now most people on land seem to think that seagulls are nothing but rats wits wings and on land that's probably what they are; but for Marek out here on the ocean it was a good sign. With every dive the seagull made it would come out with a mouth full of silvery fish. The fish were what Marek was looking for, they were silvery fish from six inches to a foot long.

The entire area he was in smelled of fish and they were jumping from the water even as the Mako drifted through them. Marek lowered the Mako's sails and dropped anchor it was a danforth anchor one that he could hoist up and down with out a lot of effort but still had enough weight and grip to keep his boat from drifting with the current though that wasn't always a bad thing. Once the anchor hit bottom he tied it off to the Mako's bow and let the current pull the anchor taught and stopped its movement.

It was quiet the only noise really was water lapping at the Makos hull, the occasional fish splashing and the seagulls. Maybe it was not quiet but it the sounds of all the hustle and bustle of the city were not heard. He liked it and the feeling of solitude gave him a set of chills that put a smile on his face. The same kind of feeling one would get when in a pitch black night with no moon and one could see thousands upon thousands of stars.

Taking a few moments to enjoy the sensations he was feeling he began to set up for his day and part of the night of fishing.

[Marek]

Marek began pulling equipment out and preparing it. First and foremost nets had to be untangled. They weren't badly tangled but still if a weight was tangled in the wrong place then when you threw your net it wouldn't open, scare off the fish and you would have to pull it back in and untangle it any way so it was best not to get in a hurry and make sure every thing was working properly. Sitting down and listening to seagulls Marek began to unwrap the retrieval rope from its net and began to spread it out in the Mako. The nets were about ten feet in diameter, had weights evenly spaced around it and had a rope looped at the edges to cinch the net closed when it reached the end of the rope. The weights dented to fall through the individual holes of the nets and make the nets a loose but incredibly tangled knot.

It was meticulous work but necessary every time Marek untangled a net he'd let it sit in the water to become a touch more supple also it got that part of the net out of the way. Once the entire net was untangled Marek began gathering the net back up starting with the end of the retrieval rope coiling it around his fore arm and elbow he gathered it up a foot at a time followed by the center of the net keeping every thing tight and bundled up as the net gathered toward the center. Once he reached the weighted end of the net he began to look for the right place to cast his net. The fish needed to be at the surface and clustered so he looked for ripples and wavelets under where the seagulls circled.

He had a spot in mind where a particularly fat albatross had splashed into the water and came out with a gullet full fish. Yeah there was the spot he was looking for. Mareks muscles tightened from his calves to this forearms and in one great effort he let the net fly from his hands and uncoil expanding into something akin to a spiders web. A moment later the net landed in the water with a light slap and many tiny waves popping up as it landed.

Marek waited several seconds as the weights began to pull the net down and around the school of fish he was aiming for. Fishing was not an exact science you kind of had to go by instinct some times timing was every thing if you waited too long with retrieving the net and the fish would escape if you jumped the gun your net would be light when you pulled it in. After a few moments he began to pull in the retrieval rope. The net felt good and heavy he knew that he had a full net and smiled as he began to see the net show up to the surface. A few more hand fulls of rope and he began to heave the net into the boat and see his first haul.

[Marek]

Pulling the net from the water the oceans bounty emerged first one fish caught in the holes of his cast net. Then a mass of silvery colored fish each about the length of Mareks forearms began to appear as he brought his cast net back into his boat. As the weighted end fell into the boat Marek began to estimate what size of a haul he just caught. By the feel of the pull on his arms and the size of the pile he figured that he had caught about twenty pounds of herring.

But he still had plenty of time to catch more and the Mako while small could hold quite a bit of fish. Even better for him now is he had bait about twenty pounds of bait really. Pulling out one of his fishing kits from under a bench be began thinking on what he was going to try for. He had options and decided on trying for red fish, they loved to come up under schools of herring and swallow an unlucky herring whole.

Yeah red fish was going to be it taking out a length of rope about fifty yards in length he fitted a hook to one end of it and followed up with about four pounds of weight two feet from the hook. With all that rigged up Marek took a freshly caught herring and impaled it onto the large fishing hook on the end of the rope. With every thing set up Marek let the entire rig drop into the water with the rope uncoiling. After letting the rope uncoil for about fifteen yards he stopped it and rigged it too a pole with a slip knot and fastened the other end of the rope to a belaying pin.

Now it was just a waiting game. Marek normally was not a patient guy but while fishing he tended to learn patience and when he ran out of patience he went back to cast netting. It wasn't even a half an hour until Marek noticed the rope begin to tug. The sound at first reminded him of an instrument being plucked in a kind of low twang not then the rope went taut and there was a gentle movement of the rope in a circular fashion. Then the knot on the end of the pole began to slip.

Marek grinned and started talking to the rope "stay there, stay ...there" as he hurried as he pulled in another haul of fish from his cast net. Just as the last of his cast net was landed back in the boat the slip knot unfastened and rope began to uncoil. The fish in the net in the boat could wait for a bit thought Marek as he made a grab for the steadily uncoiling rope. He caught the rope and it began to slip through his hand. For a typical person this would be a painful burning sensation but years of fishing and rope handling had made Mareks hands callused and scarred and the sensation was just there and didn't really hurt.

[Marek]

The fight was really on after Marek got his other hand on the rope and began pulling the fish towards the boat. The line jerked violently from one side to the other as the fish on the other end resisted being brought to the Mako. He had about forty feet of pulling. Through the rope Marek could feel what the fish was up to.

All of a sudden the fish on the other end of the rope made a run pulling the rope through Mareks hands. The rope began to smoke as it passed through his hands and Marek grunted. Finally the fish stopped its run and Marek was able to pull it back his direction. Then the rope went slack... did the hook pull out of the fish? Marek tentatively began to pull the rope and once again the fight was on with the rope going taut with a loud ~pop~. The fish was obviously still on.

Marek continued to pull the fish toward the Mako and when it got up to about thirty feet to the boat the fish made another run. The rope went taut but instead of running out it ran up and in a few seconds the fish burst from the water and Marek was able to see it for the first time. It was a beautifully red orange colored fish with a wide mouth nearly two feet long and really thick.

When the fish splashed back into the water once again it stayed at the surface and began to pivot on the rope around the Mako! Marek had to scramble to prevent the fishing line from becoming fouled around the Mako's rigging. Ducking under a yard arm Marek found himself on the stern of the ship pulling on the rope again bringing it closer to the boat once again. At ten feet from the boat the fish decided to make its last run and dove the rope slapped against the hull of the Mako and began to slip through both of Mareks hands and the fish dived deeper and deeper. At about sixty feet Marek was able to gain the upper hand once again and began a steady pull back to the surface.

Finally Marek landed the fish and finally measured it, the thing was actually two and a half feet long and felt like it weighed about thirty pounds. Looping a rope through its mouth he dropped the fish back into the water and tied the other end to a stern belay pin that would be where he kept the other large fish he might catch on this trip.

Re-baiting his fish hook he let it drop about thirty feet once again and began cast netting once more. The day went on and on and Marek went back and forth from cast netting to fighting larger fish. Some times he lost catches from his net to pull in a large fish; some times he lost the bigger fish and some times he lost both. Eventually though Marek had caught twelve red fish and roughly five hundred pounds of herring. It would be good to sell in the morning. Checking his anchor Marek strung up his hammock and napped for a few hours before sailing back to port.

[Plume]

Grade Witheld

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