The sun peeked out from behind the clouds as the boat sped through the water. It sent a chill through my body. I was excited as a kid on Christmas. I had been wanting to go fishing for a while and the day was finally here. Jake had invited Colin and I to go out on his boat with his dad. After pulling out of the marina, filling up the tank and getting some bait, we were finally off to our adventure. The water was a deep green-blue. We sped forward and I saw small mossy islands dot the water. The tan beaches were in front of us and we went under the Jones Beach bridge to get further into open water. It was breathtaking to speed along the bay on this July day.
We stopped at our first location, and after about ten minutes, we were drifting from other boats and did not get any bites. We moved to a new location, set up our poles and sat back hoping for the best. Within minutes Jake got a tug on his line and he reeled in a grey fish with sparkly scales and sharp teeth that was too small to keep. He threw it back and the minutes ticked by. We talked about sports and watched our thin fishing lines disappear into the water. Nothing was biting.
We were about to give up and go swimming when a big tug bent Jake’s rod. He let Colin reel it in and I grabbed the net. Jake and Colin switched spots after Colin thought the fish was slipping away. I leaned over the edge of the boat with the net ready. Jake turned the reel and slowly the fish inched closer. I scooped the net into the water and it felt heavy from the water’s resistance. Next, I lifted the net out of the water and all the water fell through the holes of the net. I held the net out in front of me and the grey and white fish wriggled around. It was about the size of a basketball but much heavier. I stepped back with the net and placed the net down on the floor of the boat so we could grab the fish and control it.
Jake’s dad grabbed the fish to remove the hook and at that moment we realized it was not a fish, but a baby shark. Our eyes widened and we leaned in to get a better look. We knew we couldn’t keep it but we wanted to hold it, Jake ‘s dad kept it in place on the floor and then lifted it and handed it to Jake. Jake pinched the back of it’s neck so it couldn’t bite and passed it to Colin who passed it to me. It felt like it weighed 50 pounds and was about 3 ½ footballs long. It’s skin felt rougher than I expected but I held it with confidence and passed it to Jake’s dad. He plopped into the water and we watched it swim down out of sight. We tried to fish a little longer but we got no other bites. Nothing was quite as exciting as catching a shark.
On our way back to the marina, we dropped the anchor and Jake and I jumped into the water and swam to a nearby island and then back to the boat. The day started to get greyer and greyer. As we parked and got off the boat it started to rain. We got home just in time. Timing is important for fishing and life. It takes patience to wait for the perfect catch. You may not get the perfect catch on a fishing trip but you can still have fun.