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First Fishing Trip

In all my adventures I had never been fishing before so when a co-worker invited me to go on a long trip I said yes but that was almost a year ago and COVID happened. Every trip we booked was postponed, delayed, or cancelled. Finally when we thought we might be able to go, we chose to pass because by this time COVID was in full bloom. It’s a new year now and we finally decided to go.

This was a 12 hour fishing trip. The boat was to go out for four hours to find a spot. There was to be four hours of fishing and then a four hour trip back. The boat left out of Galveston which was just over an hour drive away from my home and I had to prep and leave early in the morning because we were meeting at 6AM. I didn’t have time to get breakfast but I did make it on time. Not knowing what to expect, I was open to whatever happened. I sat with the people I came with on the top of the boat outside. I hadn’t really been out in the water since I came to Houston so it brought back memories. It was cold and windy but quite exhilarating and for the first two hours I was loving life then it all went wrong.

I started getting sick and it seemed to come out of nowhere. First there was just nausea and I often felt like I had to vomit. I had to use the skeevy bathroom too many times but by the time we got to the fishing spot it wasn’t so bad. So I fished though it wasn’t what I expected. We basically just dropped the lines and pulled them back up with fish. I caught a few red snapper but apparently there were seasonal rules and limits so I couldn’t keep any of them because my catches were too small. I learned how to bait the hook and was beginning to get the hang of getting the fish off the hook which was quite challenging for me. Honestly I felt bad for the fish while I watched them suffocate while having my hook caught in their face which I ineptly kept trying to remove. Then I got sick again and I wasn’t the only one which made it a tad less embarrassing. 

This time after I got sick, there was no more fishing for me. The nausea wouldn’t go away and I kept puking over the side despite having nothing left in my stomach to throw up. There was no relief to be had for me either. The boat kept moving to try to find better spots to fish and my stomach kept lurching. By the time the moment came to return I was relieved but I still had four hours to deal with it on the way back. I slept in uncomfortable positions or at least tried to. I listened to an audiobook on my phone for part of the way. I was told to try to sit at the back of the boat but the engine vibration and the noise didn’t help and I ended up puking over the edge back there too. Alas, there was no relief to be had so I simply endured. Finally we got to shore and I was immediately better through not 100%. I watch the process of how the catches were handed out and how you could get people to cut up your catches for you there on the shore. Then I drove home where I slept quite well.

Will I fish again, probably not like that. Maybe off a pier or a small boat that wasn’t moving much but definitely not a big organized trip like that. I enjoyed learning about it, trying something new, but it really didn’t give me any joy so I likely will not seek out this kind of adventure again.

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