Saturday, August 7, 2010

flatheaded writers.

The animals came in two by two, even the flathead too. Went fishing off Babel island this morning with Jamie. It was a textbook launch and retrieve which was just as well because the tide table seems to up the creek. Anyway, we went out, drift fishing, and got a reasonable haul of about 30 or so in 2 and half hours of fishing (Flathead, although highly regarded as an eating fish are an awful lot of spiky head(it got me) and gut to a very little meaty tail. 11 fish, filleted - and they were big flathead in 45 cm (foot and half, Quilly) range, most of them, got a return of 2.85Kg. - about 130 grams to a fillet). They're not much of challenge to catch as they're ambush predators, using their colouring to hide, and grab. B and I each got one double hookup and even that is not that hard to pull in. But realistically this is dinner catching not 'sport' fishing. I'd have some pictures except the camera batteries died. Anyway - we have some flathead in the freezer and had feed of them for our tea (A pretty good imitation of 'strine'-speak, Davo) and I went off to my little inaugural writers thing. It was fun, a few laughs - especially when I was offered 'roobus' (Rooibos) tea. Shudder. I thought I had escaped that. We used to use it for washing our varkpanne (compartmentalised metal trays that everything got slopped onto in a piggy mess in the army - therefore literal translation 'pigpan') as it was hotter and cleaner than the dish-water. Not a great commendation.) I've never been able to face it since.

4 comments:

  1. I can see why you would not like it then. I actually do though. :)

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  2. Now you only have to open the Flinder's version of La Maison des Amis des Livres and before long Whitemark becomes the center of contemporary writing for this century.

    Or something like that. :)

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  3. It's the associations not the taste

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  4. I love your anecdote about the rooiboos tea. It's become quite the hip drink here in the western US but I'm glad that I'm not the only one who doesn't like it.

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