My first fishing tournament

I just learned how to use a fishing rod this summer at Save the Harbor since I have never gone fishing before. It was a bit tricky at first, but I got the hang of it really quickly and now I can cast out pretty far! When I was told that there was going to be a fishing tournament I got really excited because I was going to be able to practice my technique. I got up bright and early Thursday morning and enjoyed the nice breakfast that we were provided by J. Pace's, and was ready to fish for the entire morning. 

I was originally in a group with Sam so I was extremely excited because I had a chance to catch a fish but his boat was too full so a few of us got moved to Tom's boat. Again there were too many of us so four of us got moved onto a smaller boat but it was really nice. I was with Chavelyn, Ivan and a boy from the Boys and Girls Club, Christopher with the two men that were in charge of the boat. Our boat was the first to leave so of course we thought we had the best chance of catching a fish since we would cover more water. But that wasn't exactly the case since we did not catch anything. 

Being on the boat fishing was a great experience. Even though we did not catch anything, we did get to go out pretty far. We went out so far that when I looked out all I saw was water, there wasn't any land around close enough for us to see. This was a little scary because I imagined what I would do if the boat for some odd reason were to get stuck and we couldn't go anywhere- but I got over that pretty quickly. The boat was capable of moving so fast and it was really cool because we would go over the water as if we were going over bumps. I did get a little sick towards the end when the boat kept rocking from side to side, but after sitting for almost twenty minutes I was okay. I really enjoyed the tournament and would like to do it again!

Esmeralda Mendez

Fishing Tournament

  Normally, we always have good weather for fishing and crabbing, but Thursday and Friday weren't very good at all. It was raining and a little bit cold. On Thursday there was a competition through out all of the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay Staff, the competition was to get a big fish and the team who got the biggest fish wins a prize.Therefore, we started to split up into teams to get ready to battle. My team and I tried hard to catch a fish and our boat driver saw on his screen a big fish coming toward my hook. I felt something and my line started to shake. I instantly hooked the fish and rolled my fishing line so I could see my fish. In the time it took for me to reel in the fish another animal passed by and ate the fish and only left the head on the hook. In my opinion, I can only predict that it might have been a shark that took my fish. It was cold and raining so we all went inside discouraged and hoped to catch another one again. We kept trying and trying again and again until we got nothing.

discouraged

But at the end of the day we became strong again and we believed that one day we will get a big fish. When we got to land, we ate some food that was waiting for us and talked with the other teams about how their trips went. A Save the Harbor/Save the Bay picture was taken, even though it wasn't our staff who had caught those two big looking Striped Bass.

   

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay

Friday it started to rain pretty early in the morning and the temperature was a little bit down around 50 degrees or 54 degrees.  We were at Community Boating ready to get some activities started with the kids, but because of the rain we only had one kid that was with us for the Charles River Explorers class.We played games, answering yes or no questions, and talked about other events that happened in the bottom of the ocean. Suddenly, a debate started. The question was who will  win in a race a shark or a killer whale? Think about it, both animals are big, eat the same food, swim fast, and have lots of energy. Unfortunately, I am not giving my answer, what do you think you would pick?

Until next time-

                                                                      Myriam Annie Desir.