An eleven-foot, flat-bottomed turquoise fishing boat, the Coleman Crawdad, changed everything in a moment.  Overnight, we became a fishing family – albeit, on a very small scale.  After two years of nagging by our younger son, we found a Craig’s list special, around $300.00, somewhere in northern Rhode Island.  A friend trailored it to Flax Pound in Falmouth, MA for us, and life has not been the same. It’s different, being boat people, even a boat as small and humble as ours.  We look at the water differently, and we have become students and hunters of the fish. 

The boat carries two to three people, depending on weight, with two seats and not much else. Lightweight, easy enough for two adults to carry, it’s powered by a quiet electric trolling motor (as required by the pond association).  The boat we can store on a rack by the pond beach. The motor and battery we return to the garage for recharging. There’s room for a couple fishing rods and reels, some tackle boxes, a small cooler, a paddle, and a life jacket thrown on the bottom, or used to cushion someone’s bum.  Launching is simple enough, and sometimes the kids attach a surfboard or tube to be dragged around (at very slow speeds), just for a change of activity.

But the main purpose of the “Crawdad” is to catch fish, mostly big-mouth bass, sunfish, some perch and occasional pike, I believe. There are catfish in Flax Pond, but we’ve never caught one, maybe too deep.  The bass grow to a very respectable size, maybe 20 inches or so, and nice, strong fighters.  Even the blue-gills (a kind of sunfish) grow to large size in this pond – not too many predator fish, or human, I guess. So they’re living the life of Riley.  Although, large enough, the pretty little fish get feisty, and are known to nibble on swimmers. No matter, the fish, invariably, are the winners of the contest, unhooked to fight another day.

My younger son is also the expert on bait, and has assembled a jewel box of exotic, colorful, bright and shimmering lures. Frog-shaped, whirligigs, feathered and freckled, some like silver spoons. Ironically, the best of them is the simple, unattractive rubber worm, i.e. a Sanko.  All these are counted and arranged in the tackle box, used sparingly, if at all. My son caught this fishing and bait fever from our Michigan cousins who come once a summer to visit us.  Father and son, especially, are passionate about fishing.  Besides our local pond, they will stuff the Crawdad into the back of the van, and go off for trout, which will be dinner, or at least a tasty snack. At 5:30 in the morning, there are always takers.

For some time, I was not of the fishing persuasion. Often, there were too many takers to fit in the boat, and I was happy to opt out.  Or, I didn’t mind coming along for a ride, trailing a finger in the water, or watching the horizon like Cleopatra on her barge. I enjoyed the watching and the waves, the turtles sunning and the osprey plunging, claws extended, often no luckier than we were. Then, on a quiet day, boys occupied elsewhere, keeping Donald company on the boat, I cast a line. And I caught a fish.  Donald handled the pretty silver bass, slipping the hook from its lip as I called good-bye.  I’m not likely to become a regular.fisherwoman, as I don’t like the idea of causing pain for sport, even a temporary wound. Sometimes the hooks are swallowed, and the fish not likely to survive.

But I’ve come to understand it’s about knowing the fish, their habits and their habitats. Where they are likely to feed, and what they like to eat. Their size and shape and the way they move.  Their predators and their prey. It’s about knowing the warm spots in the water, and the cooler spots, the shadowy overhangs of branches, or the still inlets. . How the fish are not likely to bite on a windy day, but, sometimes, hungry enough or bored enough, perhaps they will. 

It’s not about dinner.  It’s coming to know and appreciate other creatures on this earth.  Pets are nice, but in the end, they are reflections of us, dependent on us. Fish teach us something about their strange and beautiful fishy world.