Fishing

The alarm went off at 3 a.m.
Gary hopped right out of bed
raring to go.

I yawned. I stretched. I tried
to come up with an excuse
not to go.

No luck, though.
So, off we went down the river
toward the ocean in the dark.

Of course, I had my camera
and started clicking away
waiting for the sunrise.















First we had to catch some mackerel
to use as bait for the tuna.
Some fellow fishermen were doing the same thing.















I waited and waited.
The sky got more beautiful by the moment.
Finally, it peeked over the horizon.
















And Gary started catching the mackerel.















After that we headed to his fishing spot.
We saw tuna jumping. A good sign.
We got the tuna reels out and started waiting.















All of a sudden, one of the bobbers
disappeared under the water.
"We've got one on!" Gary shouted.

He quickly loosened the drag
so the tuna could run,
then ran in to start the boat

and release the anchor line.
I stood there with my camera in my hand.
Frozen.

Gary yelled, "Start reeling the other lines in!"
Where do I put my camera?
I ran in the cabin, put it in my backpack.

And that was my mistake.
Those few seconds made all the difference.
I didn't get the line out of the way fast enough.

The tuna pulled his line
right over mine
and they both snapped.

Gone!

Talk about being deflated!
After that we didn't catch anything else
except for some bokeh.















And a bird.















And a lighthouse.















In spite of the disappointment, though, we had a nice day.
But, I was glad to hear that his buddy
would be going with him the next day!