Big fish stories
Fishing not a matter of life and death - it's much more important than that!
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There's a reason they call it fishing and not catching.
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The difference between fly fishers and worm dunkers is the quality of their excuses.
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Work is for people who don't know how to fish.
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My wife’s draught
Summer of 2005, Central Finland… We had rented a summer cottage from Joutsa, for I knew there fishing is good here. One night, my better half wanted to come fishing with me. I thought, fine, why not, but decided, however, to attach a wobbler I had never caught anything with to her rod. Of course, my own wobbler was state-of-the-art. This way, I ensured I would catch fish and maybe be able to have some of my self-esteem back. But… We had been at the lake maybe for two hours or so and, the self-centered fool that I am, I had not caught even the tiniest tiddler and my better half kept on catching fish after fish after fish… She loudly declared how easy fishing was and wondered how on earth I had not caught anything. At that very moment I though the next fish I would get would be straight from the market place.
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A salmon caught with a strawberry
We had brought big, fresh, delicious strawberries for our fishing trip. One strawberry fell in the sea and floated in the water. I was about to grab it when I saw a salmon lurking the strawberry just beneath the surface of the water. I quickly took my net and caught a 3-kilo salmon with a strawberry.
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Crustacean event at FishMarket
On one beautiful spring morning, when I arrived at work, I bumped into a pink crab. Between its small, delicate pincers, it had a note saying: “Hey! I’m a crab from Denmark. My friend, the tiny little mermaid told me that during summer, the crawfish here in FishMarket are decorated with dill spring and they get to be on the table when people at the party are singing.”
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A lavaret caught with a rubber boot
I went fishing with my older brother. As a born and bred city girl, I hadn’t even brought rubber boots with me. My group didn’t let me forget this and they all made fun of me. I, however, was excited about learning how to fish and I borrowed by brother’s rubber boots that were a bit too big. While on the boat, I wasn’t even given decent equipment, just a tiny jig rod. We had no luck and didn’t catch a single fish. When we reached the shore, I jumped out a bit too early and fell between the pier and the boat. I was once again the laughing stock of the entire group and had to hear mocking about my non-existing fishing skills. However, as I got up on the pier, I found a lavaret in my brother’s rubber boot. The only fish we caught was caught with a rubber boot. So who’s laughing now!
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Don’t look a gift fish in the mouth
When shopping at the fish market, it is worth to take a look in a codfish’s mouth. If you don’t, you might get a few anchovies along. Even during their last moments, codfish eat the anchovies caught in the same dragnet.
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Loved and hated
Anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius) is both loved and hated! Superstitious fishermen think it’s the diable de mer and in every way dangerous. It used to be thrown back in the sea as quickly as possible. However, the fish tastes divine. Both the taste and consistency resemble lobster. In his book (Oxford Companion to Food), Alain Davidson tells about a friend who knew the local restaurant was serving lobster after he saw the owner go to the fish market to buy two lobsters and twenty kilos of anglerfish.
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The story of a hero jigger
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we went jigging by Mustikkamaa. Warm clothing, required equipment and on the ice we go. After having sat by the hole in the ice for a while, it looked like we weren’t going to catch anything. We had all the latest fishing equipment, so what do you mean we weren’t going to get any fish! We decided to stay a bit longer and just to play it safe, we changed the jig into one of a more alluring colour. And there we go!
From then on, it was pulling up a fish after fish, non-stop. It took 13 seconds to catch a fish, pull it up and have the jig back in the water. And the amount of pike-perches! We couldn’t believe our luck! We kept on fishing with the same speed for a few hours but then started feeling a bit guilty: no one can take home this much fish. So, fish in the bucket and back home. We donated a few tiny fish to a couple of not-so-lucky fishermen and gave a one-kilo treat to our neighbour’s cat!
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Heard from a fisherman: ”Why can’t I for once catch a huge fish so I wouldn’t have to lie all the time…”
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