Gopal whispered excitedly, “Hey, hey, look. The float is moving.”
Sure enough, his float bobbled up and down at first slowly and then quite violently. Must be a big one. Pull it up. Pull it up. Our thoughts must have been the same.
Gopal pulled up his line eagerly. At the end of his line was a big fish, a tilapia. In those days few people caught such fish and ate them, as they were common and cheap. They were meant as food for the chicken. They were abundant in mining pools and rivers. They tasted of mud and soil as they live in such places.
Now they are a delicacy and quite expensive though. They are not caught from rivers or ponds but reared in special cages; high-tech fish farming, they now call it.
My line was still in the water; its floating peacefully. Suddenly it started moving, so were the others. Gopal was right all the while. We should not have doubted him all along.
Hauling up the lines was such fun now. Fishes of all sizes were hauled up. Some big, some medium and some really small ones. Each time a small one was hauled up, we laughed and teased the fisher. Soon each of us had about three or four fish. The problem now was how to keep them alive. We had not expected so many of them and so we did not bring a long any nets or baskets.
Thaila had a brilliant idea. It was to be a standard idea used by many-experienced angler. There were reeds growing on the surface of the pond. We pulled one and made a knot at one end. We inserted the sharper end through the gills of the fish and out through the mouths of the fish. Then we placed the reeds of fish into the water. In this way the fish were kept alive in the water until it was time to go home. They could not escape and therefore could not inform the other fish; we believed. Wow! An idea was born due to necessity.
Even with the noise, laughter, shouts of delight. And the sound of footsteps running around, the fish kept coming at the baits. Removing the fish from the hooks and putting new worms as baits were carried out in precision.
Soon each of us has four stings of fish. Each string contained eight fish. Only then did we realise that the sun had already set. It was quite dark. I guessed it was about eight o'clock. Without any delay, we hauled up our reeds of fish and carried our fishing rods to go home.
Sure enough, his float bobbled up and down at first slowly and then quite violently. Must be a big one. Pull it up. Pull it up. Our thoughts must have been the same.
Gopal pulled up his line eagerly. At the end of his line was a big fish, a tilapia. In those days few people caught such fish and ate them, as they were common and cheap. They were meant as food for the chicken. They were abundant in mining pools and rivers. They tasted of mud and soil as they live in such places.
Now they are a delicacy and quite expensive though. They are not caught from rivers or ponds but reared in special cages; high-tech fish farming, they now call it.
My line was still in the water; its floating peacefully. Suddenly it started moving, so were the others. Gopal was right all the while. We should not have doubted him all along.
Hauling up the lines was such fun now. Fishes of all sizes were hauled up. Some big, some medium and some really small ones. Each time a small one was hauled up, we laughed and teased the fisher. Soon each of us had about three or four fish. The problem now was how to keep them alive. We had not expected so many of them and so we did not bring a long any nets or baskets.
Thaila had a brilliant idea. It was to be a standard idea used by many-experienced angler. There were reeds growing on the surface of the pond. We pulled one and made a knot at one end. We inserted the sharper end through the gills of the fish and out through the mouths of the fish. Then we placed the reeds of fish into the water. In this way the fish were kept alive in the water until it was time to go home. They could not escape and therefore could not inform the other fish; we believed. Wow! An idea was born due to necessity.
Even with the noise, laughter, shouts of delight. And the sound of footsteps running around, the fish kept coming at the baits. Removing the fish from the hooks and putting new worms as baits were carried out in precision.
Soon each of us has four stings of fish. Each string contained eight fish. Only then did we realise that the sun had already set. It was quite dark. I guessed it was about eight o'clock. Without any delay, we hauled up our reeds of fish and carried our fishing rods to go home.
