You can now call me Fisherman Jay!
I went deep sea fishing this past weekend in a chartered boat, called the Tigerfish, with family and friends, the captain, and the 2 deckhands. It’s so fun when you know everyone on the boat. If you ever decide to go fishing in the Bay Area, check Tigerfish out because the captain is a really nice guy and the deckhands are super helpful. Highly recommended!
Cabin of the boat
We hopped on a boat at 4:30am in Emeryville. Yup, you read right… 4 fricken 30 in the morning. Once everyone is on board, the ship sets sail for 2 hours to Farallon Islands. You fish all day, until everyone reaches their quota of 10 fish, and then we head home, another 2 hours back.
It’s still dark at 4:30 am
If the sea is calm, the trip is great. Unfortunately for us, the sea was unhappy. First off, it was cold (about 50 degrees) and the fog covered up the sun (though we did get a 30 minute window of sun). The sea was rough. We would fall asleep in the cabin of the boat, and wake up when we banged against the wall, ouch. It was SUPER hard to use the bathroom… try aiming into the toilet while you’re trying to stabilize yourself. Now picture trying to squat and stabilize. That’s pro status right there!
Anyway, 6 of the 24 people that went on the trip all got sea sickness and threw up a couple of times. Thankfully, I didn’t feel any sickness. I called my doctor and asked for the strong medicated patch that you stick behind your ear. We even bought wristbands, ginger gum, and extra motion sickness pills. If you ever go fishing, just take a non-drowsy pill the night before and the morning of your boat trip. You’ve got nothing to lose! Once you feel sick on the boat, the trip is ruined. My poor friend immediately felt sick about 30 minutes into the boat ride… While throwing up on the side of the boat, she also got pour on by the crashing waves, and ended up sitting in her damp and cold clothes the rest of the trip (at least 8 hours). I don’t think she’ll ever go fishing again!
Poor girl
We fished for Rockcod on this trip. They are dumb fish and eat everything, so it was fun to immediately catch fish when you cast your line into the water. The captain also has a radar to tell you when to drop the line and for how long to cast it (sometimes at the bottom of the sea, sometimes halfway up). It’s definitely an easy trip for beginners. For more fishing trips, visit the Cayman Islands.
When the fog lifted, I was able to get some great pictures! Looksee!
So hard to stand up because the boat is rockin everywhere!
The captain’s 2 labs joined us on our trip. This guy loves to sit in people’s legs. So cute!
Freezing…
The deckhands clean and gut the fish for you for $10. They will filet the meat for $15.
le tired face but happy with my catch!
The Lam stash – 10 fish fillet-ed, and 10 cleaned and gutted
Once we got back, we cleaned up (taking a HOT shower after 10 hours of fishing in cold weather is one of the best feelings in the world), and then we cooked fish! A few people came over and we had a feast with our catch!
All showered up but cleaning the fish at home now! Getting it all prepped
Steamed fish with seafood soy sauce – get in my belly!
Sorry for the blur, must be tired at this point…
Then I crashed after dinner… and woke up with Chubs next to me, in the same position as me. MG had to take a pic!
Who wants to come over for a fish meal? JK. What did you do this weekend?
Fisherman and pro-pee-er,
Jay
One funny story: In the middle of the night, I was sleep talking to Ming-Gih. I told him “Honey, you don’t need to bring anymore fish home” and gave him a really big hug. Then I rolled back to my side of the bed and fell asleep. He’s still laughing at me! Must have been totally worn out Saturday night!
