Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330658028208231/episodes/16817330659084472647
We were at the bank where I had caught black sea bream yesterday.
It was early in the evening, probably because it was still early when the fish were migrating to feed, and there were no other anglers.
“Let’s catch as much as everyone can eat !”
Sawaguchi san uses gestures to make fishing movements. In fact, the bait was plentiful here, and yesterday, other fishermen were catching a lot of fish, so it would be possible.
“Well, first of all, put on your life jacket.”
I instructed Sawaguchi san as I attached a hook to the rod I had borrowed from the owner.
“Eh, this is just like a beach, right? You don’t need one, do you?”
She tilted her head.
Certainly, if you look in the distance, you can see the beach where Aizawa and the others are swimming, and even if you fall off the embankment, it is not far from the beach.
But there is a certain height from here to the sea surface, and there is seaweed growing on the sea bottom.
“Of course, you could probably swim back, but with your clothes on, it would absorb water. And in a pinch, you could run out of strength and drown.”
“Ugh……is that so?”
I’m not trying to scare you. But you should wear a life jacket as much as possible because you may suddenly fall into the water and panic.
Sawaguchi san said she would obediently wear the life jacket around her waist,
“I wonder if it really works? It’s shaped in a way that makes me feel uneasy.”
She twirled around in circles, concerned about her waist.
Can something as small as this protect me? She seems to have such doubts.
“It’s supposed to swell up when it comes in contact with water. It should be fine…..as long as it’s not too heavy.”
I avoid talking about weight to girls because it is delicate.
If it’s a rocky beach, it may get caught and make a hole, but if it’s an embankment, there’s no strange rocks sticking out, so it’s probably fine.
“Now that you’re ready, can you fish with this?”
I handed Sawaguchi san the rod with the hook set on it.
“Thanks, Aikawacchi, you’re a very capable guy, aren’t you?”
While saying such words, Sawaguchi san looked at the rod with interest as she moved the hook.
“Anyone who fishes can do this much.”
In fact, Watanabe san can probably even make her own traps by now.
“I fill this basket with food and slowly sink it into the sea. Then, every once in a while, I squeeze it like this to release the bait.”
I showed her how it actually works with my rod.
“Is that all there is to it?”
Sawaguchi san widened her eyes when she finished listening to my method. She seemed to doubt that such a simple method could catch fish.
This fishing method has been used by Watanabe san as well, and there is not much difference in the results between beginners and experts.
If there are no fish around, you cannot catch any fish at all, but on the other hand, if the fish are coming around, you can catch them for sure.
And since it will soon be evening, if I start spreading bait in the sea now, I will get results before it is too late.
When I picked up the circumstances around it and explained,
“Hmmm, I see. By the way, what can we catch?”
Sawaguchi san made a face as if she couldn’t understand the difficulty.
“……Mackerel or horse mackerel?”
I realized that this was not the kind of talk I would give to a fishing novice.
I had to share my knowledge because Watanabe san was listening to me so attentively, but for a first-time fisherman, all I had to do was explain whether it was possible to catch fish or not.
“Horse mackerel, huh. I want to eat fried horse mackerel ! Aikawacchi’s lunch looked delicious the other day.”
She was probably talking about the time we ran into each other in the courtyard. Sawaguchi san’s mouth relaxed as she recalled that time.
“Hm? I thought you couldn’t eat oily food?”
I wanted to ask Watanabe san to eat fried food that time, but since Ishikawa san and Sawaguchi san refused, Watanabe san could not say she would eat it either, and the other guys ate it.
“That’s about lunch. Besides, I worked part-time today and got a full workout, so there’s no problem eating it !”
I didn’t really understand the difference, but if she said so, then it’s fine. I decided not to pursue the matter too deeply.
“By the way, what do you want to catch, Aikawacchi? That’s something different from mine, isn’t it?”
Sawaguchi san pointed out that the hook on the end of the rod was different.
“Ah, I’m not used to the sea here, so I can’t narrow down the species of fish I can catch, and if I keep catching the same species, I won’t be able to cook more dishes, so I thought I’d fish something else.”
“Oh ! You sound like a pro !”
It’s my first time in the ocean, so I may encounter an unexpected big fish. While I gave Sawaguchi san a trap that would surely catch fish and let her enjoy fishing, I prepared a trap that would catch a somewhat special creature.
“Is this….a fake shrimp?”
“It’s called [baitwood] and I’m going to try to catch Bigfin reef squid with it.”
“Is that how you catch squid !?”
Sawaguchi san was surprised and stared at the bait wood.
It was colorful and artificial looking. There was no doubt that I could actually catch squid with this bait.
“You see those black stains on the bank?”
“Oh, it’s true. There it is !”
“That is a sign that we are catching squid, and the ink is staining the ground.”
Squid that are caught spit out ink, so the black stain on the ground is evidence that someone has caught a squid in the near future.
When fishing for squid, it is sometimes necessary to wear clothes that can get dirty beforehand, but since I did not prepare them this time, I decided to let the squid spit out ink on the surface of the sea before hooking them.
The taste of fresh bigfin reef squid is also exceptional, so I cast my hook hoping to catch one.
For a while, I was standing next to Sawaguchi san, moving my rod to see if the squid would bite…..
“Wow ! The rod was shaking like a [bloop] !”
“It’s because the fish are biting ! Hold the rod up and reel it in !”
“Whoa ! It’s shaking ! Take this !”
With a panicked but happy expression on her face, Sawaguchi san continued to reel in the fish.
“Yay ! There’s something on it !”
“It’s a pretty good sized horse mackerel. It looks like it should be at least a scale.”
What Sawaguchi san caught was a double-sized horse mackerel. She lifted her rod so it was hanging on the hook and bouncing around.
“What’s a scale?”
Sawaguchi san asked, tilting her head as she held the line.
“It means a horse mackerel over 30 centimeters in length. This size can be used for sashimi or to make extra large fried horse mackerel.”
“Oh, I see. Ehehe, extra-large fried horse mackerels.”
Sawaguchi san’s cheeks relaxed as she spoke to the horse mackerel.
“Let’s take it off the hook for now.”
“Ah, but first, can I take a picture?”
As I was about to grab the fish with the fish grip, Sawaguchi san asked me to take a picture of it.
“Well, your phone…..?”
“I’m charging at the inn, so we’re using yours, Aikawacchi !”
I followed Sawaguchi san’s words and took a picture.
“How about like this?”
I pointed my phone at her and enlarged the screen.
“Yeah, well, your photographer’s skills aren’t great, but the model is good, so it’s a good shot.”
“……Now, shall I turn it off?”
“No, no, I’m kidding !”
I was so upset that Sawaguchi san hurriedly apologized when I showed her that I had lost my temper.
“This is the first fish I caught, huh. I kind of want to take it home and keep it.”
I know. I thought the same thing when I caught my first fish.
My mother ended up cooking the fish, but the taste was unforgettable.
“Horse mackerels are migratory fish, so even if you keep them in an aquarium, there’s a chance they’ll crash into the glass and die, and it’s hard to keep the density of the seawater constant, so it’ll be tough.”
“That’s too bad.”
Sawaguchi san looked disappointed as she said so.
“If you don’t remove the needle quickly, it will weaken, so I’ll remove it.”
I grabbed the horse mackerel with a fish grip, removed the hook from its mouth, and put it in a bucket of seawater.
If it’s this size, it would be better to drain the blood and tighten it, but I didn’t want to go that far in front of Sawaguchi san.
“If we had just caught it, it might have been the right time.”
“What do you mean by that?
“It means the tide has started to rise and fish are migrating. In other words, now is the time to fish.”
“Is that so? Then, let’s try harder !”
After saying that, Sawaguchi san went back to fishing. I watched her and continued fishing myself.
Sawaguchi san was doing well, dropping bait into the basket and catching horse mackerel one after another.
“Aikawacchi ! There’s another fish attached to it !”
“Don’t touch it !”
Some of the fish were poisonous, so I put down my traps and hurriedly ran under her.
“What kind of fish is this?”
“This is a mackerel.”
“Oh, so this is a mackerel? I usually see it grilled or on the table, but it looks like this, doesn’t it?”
Some people who have never caught fish react like that.
“Can this be made into sashimi too?”
“No. Mackerel has a parasite called anisakis, so if you want to be safe, you should cook it over a fire.”
“I see. But if it tastes good, I don’t mind either way.”
She was so easy-going.
“I think it’s better to tighten it up early so it doesn’t lose its freshness……”
“Yeah?”
“I have to break its neck and kill it right here and now.”
As expected, I hesitate to do it in front of a girl, so I ask her.
“Well, it can’t be helped. I’m sorry, Mr. Mackerel, but if you’re going to hate, hate Aikawacchi who twisted and killed you, not me who caught you, okay?”
“……Should I let it go?”
“Wow, wait wait !”
Gradually, I began to understand how to communicate with Sawaguchi san. We had been playing beach volleyball, fishing, and doing other activities together, so I was getting used to her.
With her permission, I folded the mackerel and put it in a bucket to drain the blood.
I lifted my rod, which I had left unattended,
“Hm?”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I think it got stuck in the root…..hm? It looks like there’s something on it……”
I felt a different, definite weight on the end of my rod. I reeled in the hook and tried to figure out what it was.
“Wow ! There’s something entangled in it !”
There was a good-sized bigfin reef squid on it.
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