The one that got away!
I fished today with two of Kuka´s grandsons Eric and Jordi (12). Eric (13) had our best fish of the day on his line just as we were returning to Alamikamba at dusk. He handed me the rod because the fish was pulling away hard and he was afraid he was about to lose it. I fought the fish and eventually brought it to the boat completely exhausted. This fish had been handled perfectly (I thought)! Lots of folks from the community were standing on the bank or sitting on their porches nearby watching our practiced display.
At this point, Erik tried to bring the fish into the boat by lifting the leader and lure as he had watched us do all day with numerous much smaller fish. I had neglected to give him instructions for hand cradling since Jordi and Dani (12) - who wasn´t with us today - were already well trained in this procedure, and, they had always handled this task. Erik, on the other hand, had never actually assisted in landing a larger fish. The fish (about 6 pounds) was too big for that and pulled off the hook and fell free as Eric attempted to raise the fish over the gunnel.
This one had gotten away from what I had up to this point considered a routine landing!
I gazed in horror as the beautiful snook began to sink slowly and lifelessly tail first into the river beneath us. With my rod still held firmly in my right hand, I made a last ditch effort to grab the fish with my left hand before it slipped out of sight or regained enough energy to swim away. I quickly leaned over the side of the little aluminum boat - which threatened to flip over with the combined weight of Erik and myself leaning over the starboard gunnel - and reached far enough down with my left arm that the cotton t-shirt I was wearing was wet to my neck.
I managed to get my hand under the belly of the fish fully expecting it to flap its tail any moment and disappear. Luckily, the exhausted fish remained motionless and I was able to bring it back up to the surface. But with my other hand still clutching my rod, I couldn´t get a firm enough grasp on the slippery fish to bring it out of the water by myself. Eric was still at my side, however. He immediately realized my predicament and fearlessly clamped one hand under the snook´s head and his other hand on top of it. Then, in unison we lifted the fish out of the water and allowed it to drop into the bottom of the boat.
I could hear the folks on the bank in front of us gasp in amazement that we had recovered our loss!
Aisabe,
Papatara
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