Its two days after a new moon and I am swimming out to a perfect rock in Cuttyhunk , in a perfect cove. As I bob in the water I look around me, and I see no one. Perfect. Another five minute of swimming and I am standing on a rock for two with a gentle waves washing over my knees. Even the rock is perfect. Unlike many gorgeous rocks on this island that are big and flat, this one you can actually get on top. There is even a “step” in front of the rock which I used to get up on it. It is even slanted upwards on the back end so if the wave pushed you backwards you don’t slide downward and are easily holding your ground. Hell, being alone on this rock, I can make four steps backwards if I get pushed by a wave and still not fall off the rock.
I checked my gear, making sure that everything survived the swim to the rock. The perfect size rigged eels are safely tucked in the Commando front pouch, plugs are where I put them, the belt, camera and all other stuff is where it should be. Even the perfect live eels in my eel bag appear that they endured the walk here on a hot summer night without a problem.
The conditions are something I could only dream about. Gentle wind over the right shoulder, flat ocean, 15 to twenty feet deep clean water in front of me. Even my broken casting finger ,which has given me such pain lately seems to be itching to go.
Perfect
My friends decided to go to another spot. Although I am quite uncomfortable here in the darkness, I did this dance before. The first thing that comes to my mind, and I am sure it’s the same for many of you, what if something goes wrong? I am a hundred feet offshore, with no house for miles, and no surfcaster in sight. But I push those feelings aside as I am too excited to make my first cast. In the long run, we are all dead, I reason with myself. Might as well make most out of my time here on Earth.
I check my watch and it reads 9 pm. There is still a little bit of light present, in about half an hour this cove will be black as coal. I decided to start with plugs. Few casts with Super Strike Darters, followed by Lemire’s needlefish and swimmer find no takers. It’s ok I say to myself. For one, it’s still early and two, I has nights on this rock where is quiet for two hours and then the place erupts with fish. One of the best nights ever happened on for me on this rock with six fish over thirty pounds ate my eels.
I checked my watch and its 9 21
Time to try a rigged eel. I pull out a sixteen inch rigged eel out of the pouch. I just rigged them an hour ago before heading out. There was a reason why this eel was on top of the other ones, Unlike the other two, this rigged eel has a black belly, and very black back. Just the way I wish all eel looked like. Did I mentioned it was perfect?
I lost track of time as I am casting a rigged eel repeatedly. I am guessing that I been at it for an hour or so but my watch says 9 21 pm.
WTF??
Is it possible that I misjudged the time? I guess. Maybe I read the watch wrong before. So I keep casting. But after every cast I check my watch to see if the hands moved but they remained stuck on 9 21. Oh Lord, this sucks I say to myself. I keep casting the rigged eel for another, well, I have no idea how long but I was getting bored so I cut the leader off, tied an Gami hook and opened my live eel bag and grabbed the biggest eel I had.
For those of you who don’t know me, I don’t fish live eels. Or I haven’t been in at least 5 or 10 years, no idea when was the last I cast. But I know this is one part of my game that I am not that good at. So instead of accepting that, I figured why not challenge myself and learn. The eel did not liked the feeling of a hook penetrating his jaw and out trough the eye one bit. I attached the eel bag to my belt and started casting.
So far , everything has been perfect, perfect conditions, lack of crowd, perfect size eels, gentle swell of the ocean, perfect clean, deep water. Everything except the stupid watch was stuck at 9 21. But that is not a big deal, is it? After all, that is just one thing that went wrong out of hundred that could but didn’t. I was still on a perfect rocks in my little cove casting perfect eels under optimal conditions, right?
Not so fast
In short order I stared to wonder what time it was. Was it 10? Was it 11? Or even midnight? I had no idea. My friends were at another spot which produced best at the last of the flood but the flood was at midnight. Is it too late to join them? What if it’s already midnight and they left? I would be making a loooong walk for nothing. Besides, I didn’t want to get there and find that the current is finished.
In ten minutes I went from being totally content to losing my mind on the rock, and all because I could not tell the time. I kept casting another hour but I did not know if it was closer to morning or evening. I guesstimated the time but that gave me a little comfort. Where before I was praying to be alone in the cove, now I was hoping someone, anyone with a watch would walk down the path.
I got myself all worked up, I jumped off my perfect rock, into my perfectly deep, clean water and swam to not so perfect shore. I walked for a mile on bowling balls, casting interment but halfheartedly.
In a span of an hour I went from being the world most content surfcaster to a cranky, confused soul, stumbling on the rocks with no idea what time it was.
Do yourself a favor and lose that Mickey Mouse watch you bought on sale that is “water resistant”. That will do for the shower at home but not much more. Get yourself a real waterproof watch so you won’t be as dazed and confused as I was.
So much for perfection….
When I got back to the house and joined the rest of the crew for some after midnight lasagna, I was dumbfounded that none of them use a watch when they fish. And they were ok with it, but I am not.
And they were ok with it, but I am not. So I take some friendly ribbing from them. Actually, by the end of the night,I feel like a coo coo bird for wearing a watch.
But I need to know when the current turns, when the water slacks or how long have I been on a rock…maybe I am just weird like some people say but I need to know what time it ..at all times
more Cutty rumblings coming up
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