Esoteric Vision Photography

Eunes and I just got back from fishing. I was introduced to the world of hand line fishing this time. I've been seeing people use this method of fishing throughout Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. I grew up with a fishing pole and assumed you wouldn't catch squat without a boat, pole, and a whole slew of lures. Wrong. It's fun, easy to access, fun for the whole family and very inexpensive. It's an activity I'd definitely do again (as long as I don't have to clean the fish).

Eunes and I bought some fishing line, hooks, lead weights, and bait. Well, it really wasn't bait. I bought a pound of decent shrimp and singled out five decent ones for bait. We'll eat the rest. The locals use sardines that you get by the pound for about $1.50 USD at the local grocery. The cost of fishing gear totaled out under $7.00 USD and the bait was about $0.50 USD found at the hardware store here in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. I picked up two small bamboo sticks for reels at the construction site near us. Not bad at all.

We headed out to the nearest dock we were familiar with and set out the lines this morning. All we caught were some sort of puffer fish but we did land three of them. We gave up after about 20 minutes since it was already hot and way too sunny. This evening we headed out and caught five fish in about an hour or so. All small but enough for a dinner for the both of us along with some rice. We also met some nice local women that kindly showed us the ropes on handline fishing. We'll be ready next time to really do it right. It may cost a whopping $20.00 USD to get set up really right. Come to think of it maybe you should go out to the docks and check out the technique for this type of fishing. There is definitely a technique to it.

I think that if you're on a shoe string budget or just want to go really local. This is a great way to do it. Most of the tourists come out and spend at least a couple hundred to go fishing for a day. If you want a sure fire way to please the entire family, let the kids swim, and get some food for dinner this is it. Belizean law allows for public access to all beaches and that includes all docks. It doesn't matter who built it. So you and your family can come out on any docks and do this simple activity. Do us all a favor and respect someone else's hard work though. Be polite and clean up after yourselves.

Regards,

Ben