Caught a fish at low tide

Catching a fish at low tide is a new experience for me. In the past when I’ve gone out at low tide, I’ve only caught no fish but often ended up with lost lures due to them getting stuck on rocks and snags at the bottom of the shallow waters. As a result I’ve avoided fishing during low tide.

The past two days I have had very little success fishing at high tide. Yesterday I got just three bites all from tiny fish and today just one during high tide, again a small fish. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy myself. For instance, I witnessed a fish doing a back flip out of the water, and I also saw a fish skip across the water.

Over the past couple of months I have been improving my casting and reeling in skills. When I started I didn’t have much control over the direction or the distance of the cast, and I frequently fumbled during the reeling and I didn’t have a good feel for the lures so that they would sink and catch on the bottom.

With the lack of luck during high tide and my increased confidence in controlling the lure, I ventured out during low tide. During the first few minutes I saw a decent sized fish following the lure a couple of times. Then nothing happened for a few more minutes as I kept casting and reeling, casting and reeling.

At around twenty minutes I cast it out and started reeling in. Then I felt strong resistance. I pulled back but whatever it hit wouldn’t let go. I pulled and pulled thinking I had finally gotten unlucky and got the lure stuck. That’s when I saw the line moving… Snags don’t move, I thought to myself and realized it was either a huge piece of kelp or a fish. I tugged and reeled in a bit more and when the line began to move left and right I realized it had to be a fish. I brought it in and could see that it was indeed a fish – not huge, but not small either. I carefully reeled it in closer to shore and then flipped it off onto the beach where I stunned it, bled it, gutted it, and took it home.

In other news, summer vacation has begun for the kids, and they received brand-new iPhones today.