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Spanish Mackerel Fishing, hands only, no rods.
So I was thinking to myself where do I categorize this type of Spanish Mackerel Fishing, it was done by a local fisherman, where he only used his hands... and I kid you not on this one. Even though he still used a thick nylon string (nothing like any conventional fishing line you and I may have), but the method he did it can only be described as being traditional or even perhaps a little mystical. See a couple of years ago, I went on this fishing trip with my cousins and uncles. We had hired a real life fisherman, you know the type that do this for a living, and he had taken us out on his boat, a couple hours voyage from land. It wasnt a fast boat, just the typical fishing boat in these parts, big enough to fit 10 people or so and complete with a live fish well inside that had running sea water flowing through it to help keep the bait fish alive. So we were off fishing, doing the usual, catching some bait fish and then testing out some coral area and all that. Then really from nowhere, this fishing guide of ours, got on top of the roof of his boat and started to look around. We were pretty much far out at sea, and for me it was just water all around. For this guy though, after a few minutes of scouting he simply said 'There, there is Spanish Mackerel there!' while pointing yonder into the distance. I was squinting to figure out what was yonder there, just looked like another part of the ocean to me, had no difference at all whatsoever. So I was like, this guy has bionic eyes or something or what? Anyway, he turned his boat around and made way to that spot he pointed to and I suppose we were going to do some Spanish Mackerel Fishing. Maybe half an hour later, we got to this spot. So he immediately slows his boat down and let it run while he grabs his gear - which basically was a long string of thick nylon line with a hook on the end where he deftly hooks a live bait on (I believe it was a 'Tamban' fish which is a sardine species I understand). As deftly as he hooked the bait, he threw the bait in the water, and let the line go and essentially began to troll this bait behind his boat. Not a few minutes later, he gets a bite. I was just boggled really, I mean is that a fishing story or is that a fishing story!? Well hold on to your seats for this additional stuff. So he has a fish on the line, he has no rod, no reel, so what does he do? He stands sideways, perpendicular to his boat basically, and starts to pull this fish in with his bare hands!! No gloves no nothing, just his hands. And he dint do this like pulling on a rope like one would do in a tug-of-war, he did sorta a criss-crossing hand action thing where his left hand pulled the string to the right, and then his right hand would cross over and pull the string to the right as well. He kept repeating this movement, was almost like a crab walking sideways or something. And I know you know how tough fishing lines are, definitely would rip your skin off pulling on something, here was a guy pulling the string with his bare hands! After some some vigorous moments of this type of action, before long we could see a huge fish on his hook. It was indeed a Spanish Mackerel! I was like, holy cow, what the!? (There are so many kinds of fish in the sea, how on earth could it have really been, specifically a Spanish Mackerel!) And with one hand holding the string, he had his other hand grab a long stick with a hook like end which he used to grab the Spanish Mackerel out of the water. And before you could say 'Holy Moly!', he took the fish, one hand on the tail, the other near the head, and did like a WWF move (you know like Hulk Hogan?) and smashed the back of this fish on to his knee. Knocked it out cold immediately. And this thing was you know like the length of your leg with a similar girth to boot. Wowsers. Basically my jaw dropped and well, I have told this story many times now and I am freaking excited that I tell it to you now too because it was just awesome. You couldnt pay for this kind of action man. This is some real Spanish Mackerel Fishing, like in your face! To top it all off? Nothing beats the most fresh Spanish Mackerel, fried to perfection, only a couple of hours later. It was a truly mystical Spanish Mackerel Fishing experience.
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