a FISHING adventure

Another from Graham:

I miss fishing. So on my day off a couple of weeks ago I went in search of a fishing experience. Amazingly, there was a fishing pond just a 5 minute walk away in my neighborhood, hidden at the end of a residential road (the open entrance on the left in this picture).

Inside is a fishing pond. Click here for a 360 photo I took: http://360.io/PFamdy.

To be honest, it's more like a swimming pool filled with pond water and stocked with tons of carp. It was the middle of a work day, so there were only 3 other men there, spread out evenly around the perimeter.

The technique was fairly straightforward. I rented a pole (with no reel) and some bait. The bait was a golf-ball-sized mass of green dough. I would pinch a bit from the mass and roll it into a pea-sized ball to thread onto my hook. Then lower the line into the water and wait for the bobber to move - which usually took about 10 seconds. In this photo you see the required equipment (left to right): sitting pillow, pole, pole rest, fish net, bucket to hold the bait, and bucket of water to rinse off your fingers after rolling a bait ball.

Unlike fly-fishing, there was no skill required to find the fish, select the bait, or cast the line. The only skill was in setting the hook, which involved some degree of timing and understanding of the bobber's movements. Clearly there was a skill here, because the guy across from me caught 30 fish in the hour it took me to catch 5. The bait came off the hook easily, so 9 times out of 10 the hook was empty when retrieved from the water. I quickly learned an advanced technique from observing the other fishermen - roll the bait into pea-sized balls while casting the line and waiting for a bite. Having a few "peas" waiting ensured maximum hook-in-water time.

Success!

While the experience wasn't near as satisfying to me as fly-fishing, I do appreciate there was a degree of therapy in the repetitive process. Perhaps it would be more satisfying if I thought of it more as a meditation than a sport.