FisherMan

Bill took the kids with him while he dug for clams today.  Julia was content to just float around in the water near where Bill was digging.

Alex fished.

On his own he caught four skipjacks, which included taking them off the hook, bleeding them by yanking out the gills, putting them on the stringer (in through the gill area and out through the mouth), and casting out again for the next fish.

They didn’t stay all that long – low tide was in the evening and Bill didn’t want to be digging in the dark – so the catch wasn’t as large as it might have been if they’d stayed longer.  Bill brought home around 18 pounds of hardshell clams in assorted sizes.  And four snails.

Alex insisted on cleaning the fish himself.  He was determined to do everything on his own today.  I cleared a space for him, and stepped back, camera in hand.

He did a great job, sliding the knife down along the spine so none of the meat was left behind.  (And with fish this small, you definitely want every last bit of it.)

I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time he was filleting the fish.  I really couldn’t.

Sometimes I kissed him on the head, too.  And kept trying to get pictures of him smiling, even when he was busy doing more important, fishermanly things.

Pride makes me more annoying than usual.

Comments

[smackey]

ripping the gills out. Ouch.