Fishing was not my hobby. In the past I was very afraid of holding a live fish with my hands. Not until I had the chance to follow people who caught fish by casting net into the shallow river or at the seaside. It was part of the training I went through.
There were times when we cast net almost everyday. Of course my leader would be the one who cast net. We just followed behind or helped to carry the pail for putting the fish that we caught.
We normally cast net in the small river. The depth of the river was about our knees. The deepest part would be till our waist. We would move from one end of the river to the other end. It took us about two hours in the whole process.
When the leader threw the net into the river It was like a skirt falling down into the river. Normally we would corner the fish near the bank or rock. When the net sank to the bottom of the river, the followers would bend down our bodies to touch and feel for the fish inside the net. We did not mind getting wet. Everyone of us would press at different corner of the net. Even though I was afraid of the live fish struggling and jumping in the net, I had to pluck up the courage to do my job. When I got a fish at one side of the net, I would press it down and took it out from the net slowly. I had to hold the fish tightly so that it would not jump about . I got to be careful of the sharp fins . I was poked by the fins and it took me few days for the pain to go off. Most of the fish we caught were black Tilapia.
After many rounds of experience I became confident of holding a live fish whether it is big or small. The fish became our food. We prepared the fish for steaming by ourselves so we were quite good at cleaning the gills, stomach and scaling . Sometimes we got hundred over fish and we could not finish eating them and the fridge was full. So the surplus ones we tried to make salted fish. We gathered information about how to make salted fish and gave a try. After cleaning the fish we put salt all over the fish. To get away from the flies we wrap up each fish with newspaper and then hanged the fish under hot sun for few days. The result was quite good.
Then catching fish by fishing rod was my next try. I followed my leader to Port Dickson . We went to the sea about one to two km from the shore. We started fishing in the boat. For a long time I could not get any fish. Then I started to pray. God answered my prayer and comforted me by giving some small fish to me. The greatest fish I ever caught was a four kg snapper which I caught in Opotiki in Newzealand in the last holiday. It pulled my fishing rod so hard until it bent. It was such a joy to be able to catch such a big fish.
This is my new hobby and I overcome my fear.
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