Down the line

Okay, I went fishing today. I have words to catch up and should be writing those... but I had one of my crazy idea - a long line as I used to use for my shark sampling many years ago and far away. Of course that was a short line of 200 hooks... and now and here I may use 30... I wasn't too sure how well it would work Jamie's efforts didn't. We either caught nothing or got the line trashed. I had rather over-weighted and over-floated the line - So hauling in nearly killed me... And if that wasn't enough, there were two huge stingrays that could have finished the job, if I hadn't had the brains to let Jamie play with them. Neither were actually hooked on the squid-bait. They'd just EATEN the flathead fish that had taken the squid. There were several carpet sharks, not welcome, a banjo (sandshark) and 3 gummys - 1 of which we let go as too small. And about 8 flathead. It worked so well we set it again, only this time we got a stingray that was into knitting, and tangled it all a fair bit, and three of the undesirable carpet sharks and a mere 3 flatties. Still, not bad for something - bar the hooks, entirely put together from scrap. The rope Mark found on the beach has paid handsome dividends, and I - the soul of generosity - will offer to lend it to him when he's next here ;-).

Thinking it was a friend we waved to some poor tourist on the beach, and talked him into being dragged him off to sea as bait (we do this with all our friends, really). I think he thought he'd landed in a madhouse, and been talked into going off to sea with lunatics, but he was a good sport about it, asked us all manner of questions about how to live off the land (me) and off grid (Jamie) and about the important uses of junk (A sport Flinders could raise its own Olympic team for) - and only had to look at the horizon a little bit.

When we came in, I collected Samphire for pickling at the estuary when we came back, and a bucket of pipis - I made a simple soup with softened leeks (much better than onion for this) and then steamed them over sweet sherry, adding cream and chopped fennel leaves and thickening it. Served with a crusty roll to dunk, and sitting picking the meats out of the little clams as you messily pig out is a meal fit kings and princes. Probably not little princesses as it might ruin their make-up, dribbling down their chins, and leave them them incapable of the obligatory peeing through seven mattresses.

And now we return to my regular nasty Duchess I am writing about.