Gone fishing
Apr 16th, 2007 by Peter
This Sunday, as I tried to wake up with some Internet news, C suddenly got this idea that we should go fishing in the harbour area here in Denmark. The weather was excellent and the warmest this year (20c). I haven’t been fishing there for ages. Somehow she convinced me it would be fun and relaxing, and I took the bait.
So we gathered the gear (including my fathers borrowed fishing tackle), and scrambled out the door to catch some herring. All gear mounted on my bicycle, and away we went.
First a visit to sandwich shop for some easy lunch later, and then the local hunt and fishing shop to buy some herring bait/hooks. Then finally off to the pier.
10 minutes later as I fought to prepare my gear, I managed to kill my fathers 20-30 year old fishing wheel. Not that clever. This meant one wheel short, and me back on my bicycle and back to the shop to purchase a new. 350Dkr slammed into the desk and I was back in business.
I always had a principle that I don’t care if I catch anything, and I’ll stick to that until I die. C wants action, which basically means catch fish or get impatient and annoying. I like to stand and watch the fjord and see the people and ships. C just doesn’t enjoy that unless it is spiced up with fish too.
We had, what I believe would be, a good spot with high pier and plenty of room to both sides. There where other fishers there too, but to my surprise they were stuffed together on a small spot. I figured they liked it there, because of the shelter from the wind. A smarter person than me would have put 2 and 2 together. At least after 4 hours when all I caught was one herring too small, and one falling off before secured on land.
The crowded spot, on the other hand, shovelled fish like there was no tomorrow. At last C convinced me to go there and look. So we packed our stuff and headed for their spot too. As I expected there were too many people. Lines got tangled all the time, and I didn’t want to be the one making it worse.
The folks there had been there a long time. They brought their own beer and were in a bit of a mood. You could tell that they drink for a living, and not just because the day was fitting. I don’t care much for these types. They unsettle me. A few of them staggered a bit, but they were actually quite polite and told me that this was the only spot where you could cast your line far enough to get fish. One guy caught 2 fish the instant we got there and I bet he could see C eyeing them, so he asked us if we wanted them.
I am not a fish eater I’m afraid, but C loves them. So we politely thanked them and they even showed C how to clean them. Before they were finished C was given about 10 fish. Somehow I think it helps being a woman in that situation. I bet all I would have gotten was a quick swim with the herring.
Turned out to be a good day. I got my rest, fresh air, sightseeing, did some fishing and got a red sunburned face too. C got her fish (which tasted pretty well according to C).
A few pictures from the fishing trip:
A glance to the left, where all the pro
The brown stuff on the other side is actually lumber. Never seen that in Aalborg before.
C enjoying her lunch
C waiting for dinner to strike. No luck
C casting
Nice spot for fishing.I’ve never fished at such place,I often fished in the pool when I was a kid. and I was really good at fishing,I always made fishing tackle by myself,and found the angleworm as the bait.
Yes – great spot and great weather that day. Only one thing wrong:
It’s too hard to catch anything except for this month and the coming. The bottom is crowded with bicycle wrecks, child carriges, discarded cars and similar which rules out the bottom fish that the harbour has most of.
That looks like such a nice and pretty place :)
It was nice in the sense that it had a good view over the fjord, but I wouldn’t want to stay there every day.
There was a lot of noise from nearby road maintenance and the traffic behind us was annoying too (you can’t see that on the pic.). But the fresh air, the access to water and the view was great while it lasted. :-)
I would definitely do it again, but wouldn’t want to live there. :-)
For really cool water scenery, look my gallery here. That’s a spot I’d want to settle nearby for good. :-)
Wow! That is an extremely beautiful place, nice pics of the ocean. Id love to live near a place like that. And I enjoy your pics of Aalborg so much, Id love to haqng out at that harbor when the weather is nice whether its noisy or not :)
Wow, those pics along the coast are awesome. Id love to see that someday. And I agree, it would be wonderful to live near a place like that. Id like to hangout at that harbor too, even if it is noisy! I dunno how danes see those things since they are used to them but for an american like me such beautiful places like the ones in your pictures look like heaven on earth.
Great post. I hope to take Jinjin fishing in the US someday. I don\’t think she\’s ever been fishing before, but like C, I predict that she will be looking for action and will become impatient quite quickly if she doesn\’t catch a fish within about ten minutes.
Sara: I guess we enjoy it too, but for more relaxing naturish trips we prefer the sea/beach and some more secluded spots like forests, lakes and streams.
Kevin: tnx. I bet its that Chinese catch-everything-you-can-eat-fresh DNA kickin’ in like C’s. My guess is that if C didn’t see the fish get caught and I brought em home from a shop, she would have scolded me for buying bad Danish fish. And then she wouldn’t have found them half as attractive.
Its the same thing with apples. If she have to pick apples from a store, she’s quite picky, but if she finds some really sour ones on a tree herself, it’s the best darn apples in the world. No matter that I can see her struggle to eat them afterwards. They sure will go down eventually.