Fishing - by Jang, Ho-Byung

 

Fishing
Jang, Ho Byung

 

 

    What baits do fish bite? The underwater must be night if looked at from the ground. We never know where the fish in the water sleep and move around. It makes me curious to lower fishing rods on the water before the scared and careful fish and catch them when they bite the baits. But I am not good at fishing. It is not really pleasant to bloodily cut the earthworm to make bait using my finger nails. How nervous we become to take the barb off the fish trying carefully not to harm the nose or mouth of the fish once we catch one! These are reasons why I am not so interested in fishing.

    once in a while, I go fishing with other people. Everytime my floats don’t seem to move, one of my colleagues who keeps raising his rods feels sorry for me and offers to switch my seat with his. I get all dizzy feeling like I am floating on a leaf on the water when I look at the floats in the tiny waves.

    Knowing that I don’t have any desire or patience for catching fish, the underwater creatures head to the rods of my friends. There must be secrets to fishing. Fishing experts live on the expectations and hopes of catching the big ones, and they gladly make a number of fishing trips in vain just for the big ones. But I must be a quick-tempered realist as I am impatient to just get frequent bites from the fish.

    A few years ago, I went sea fishing. I fished on a breakwater about a couple of hours until dusk, only to catch a few fish about the size of the little finger. I threw ground baits and laid the rods again and again replacing the pale earthworm baits with fresh, bloody ones, only to get almost no bites. The man beside me had a net-full of big fish although he had thrown ground baits once in a while. I later learned that he had not used any bait. In his threads were a number of needles with fake shrimps.

    Here is what I saw in a valley of Chungryang Mountain last summer. Some vacationers were fishing sweetfish with their fishing rods. The water under the bridge was so clean that I could see the sand on the bottom of the water. There were ground bait cases with many holes and a number of small needles in the thread.

    once the rods are lowered, the ground bait comes out of the cases, luring the sweetfish. Hanging from the needles were red or green luminosities. Lured by the smell and colors, the sweetfish swallow them unhesitatingly. That sure is a scene to frown upon even though you don't consider fishing a philosophy.

    There are many kinds of anglers. Some who just enjoy catching fish, some who just want big ones and some who go fishing to wait for the right time for the moment of life. In any case, the fish you want don’t get caught that easily. But, the real angler never gives up his hope for catching the fish he wants. So, he uses natural baits like rice, earthworm, shrimp or makes his own baits using sesame dregs or roast grain powder. To catch a catfish, he shouldn't feel creepy cutting sesame worms bigger than the size of a finger in half with green liquid all over. Like this, a good angler knows how to prepare baits. But it is hope that is said to be the best bait for anglers.

    When I get enough bites to keep my boredom away, I see, when in bed, many floats sinking on the ceiling of my bedroom. Maybe it's not that I am not interested in fishing at all. But, why didn't I become a good angler? I ask myself if I have ever tried to prepare baits myself in respect for the fish I want to catch.

    All I prepared was just earthworm or sesame dregs from fishing shops. Which fish don’t know what food is good for them? But, how badly did I want the fish to bite my bait? I feel ashamed. And how many times did I lower and raise the rods repeatedly knowing that careful fish would not bite just any bait? I also ask myself if I loved the fish with the heart of the prayer. once the fish is caught by me, it gives an alms for me when it becomes a delicious dish for me. I have never eaten one with satisfaction without leaving even a piece. Didn’t I console myself when I let a fish go after giving it so much pain as if I had given it a new life?

    Although I can’t see them, there must be some secrets for those who catch big fish. I've never seriously thought of which fish and how many fish I would catch when fishing. Fish didn't bite my baits as there was no such hope in me for catching the fish. How many times did I draw careless boundaries between me and fishing without ever devoting myself to preparing special baits, having patience to wait for big fish, or trying to catch fish at all? Things we do for enjoyment can hardly become a success. Even though baits I am allowed to have are poor, I wouldn’t cheat on fish with fake baits. Like Bedro, I want to be reborn as an angler who can capture even the mind of human beings.