Cats like fishing too

Back at the concrete pond again (I sound a bit like Jed Clampet!), having great fun, learning all the new words that the kids are teaching me. However, I suspect that they are not repeatable in good company.

There are several challenges to be addressed when fishing: The first is to select the correct bait, choose wrong and you might as well get your news paper out. You then have to time your strike, the action of engaging the hook, too fast or too slow and you miss, too hard and you end up chewing on the bait with the line wrapped around your neck.

After connecting, you have to convince the fish to come to you, when it is intent on going in the opposite direction. If you try to be too convincing, the line will snap or the hook will pull out and once again you will get a taste of the bait.

Having wrestled Jaws to the edge, you then have to make a decision, lift out or get the net. With the net, the hooks inevitably get tangled and it is a pain and time consuming, but the catch is guaranteed. If you try to lift out too big a fish, the hook can pull out and everyone around the pond cheers and celebrates the big bald white fella losing yet another.

Once you land the fish, the only remaining obstacle, is getting to the fish before the resident cat! In this case, the cat won, as my neighbor pulled in a tiddler.

I won two prizes today, fir biggest and second biggest fish, both over 2Kg (4.5Lb). The money will pay for next weeks entrance fees, so I am very happy, as well as catching a cool blip.

Dave