Fishing in International Waters

There are many seas out there with exotic specimens unique to their environments. While the closest ponds are ideally the best to fish in for daily sustenance, traveling abroad can often bring an interesting bite.

What I found most intriguing, much more so than the local cuisine, was the readily abundant schools of traveling fish. Mighty fine young adventure seekers, they were. Many quite far from home; very few from waters I was familiar with. Regardless, a skilled fisherwoman would have no trouble loading up her net. Even novices could throw out a compelling line for a nibble of conversation, one much more engaging than “You swim these waters often?” Though even that one could work and not sound so cheesy; it’s just that kind of scene. However, there is a time and place for this catch because it comes with inconveniences. Not only are the fish from faraway places but simply, they are just schools of guppies. Too small to really take home and most likely unseasoned to be really all that tasty for anything but a snack or for the days when nothing else is in the frig and you’re starving. Oh, don’t get me wrong…give a hungry man a cracker and he will ravish it but again…time and place.

Look up the food chain at the bigger fish, those who’ve grown into their size and look like they could be a satisfying meal, you find that near all of them already have hooks in them. Then you look further along the spectrum to the near-preserved fish, those beyond their Fresh By date who have beached themselves on an eager local fisherwoman’s boat, with the words “Green Card or bust” spray painted on it.

So what’s the moral? There isn’t one really. Perhaps it’s as sophomoric as fishing elsewhere is no easier or harder than it is as home. But if any of my fellow fisherwomen are interested in an international road trip, give me a call. My passport is current and there’s always that time and place.

— Ballyhoo Backcaster