Luca V. 5Ca

My First Open Ocean Fishing Trip

I woke up in my grandparent’s house in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at 4 A.M., eager to begin my first open ocean fishing trip. I almost exploded with joy as I ran towards my grandpa’s car like a kitten chasing a yarn ball. My brother and I jumped into the car. I was a whirlwind of hands as I buckled up. My grandpa drove for about 5 minutes to the country club near my grandparent’s house.

We drove to the marina section of the club, in the back, where the boat was waiting. It was a towering mass of black, white and blue. My brother, my dad, and I were introduced, by my grandpa, to our fellow sailors. The owner of the ship, Claudio, was really cool, and he let us goof around on his ship. Also, one of our really close friends, Paulo Checete, was with us. He’s an amazing fisherman. He even has the world record for the largest Mako shark ever caught! Everyone got settled in. Suddenly, the boat started churning water into white foam as we departed for the Atlantic Ocean.

It took us two hours speeding to reach the open ocean by boat. My brother, Enzo, slept, while we watched the ocean speed by and drop below us as the boat jumped in the air. Sadly, my brother was still sleeping as we caught our first, maybe, twenty fish. I know, that’s’ a lot. But in the open ocean, even in the worst places, when you throw the bait, in our case fish and squid, you can guarantee that there’ll be fish on the line. To get about twenty fish, it only took, believe it or not, about ten minutes. We had so far, as my brother slept, caught 1 Xerne, which was really big, 4 Pargos, Cod, medium size, 6 Namorados, also medium size, and 9 Olho- de- Cao’s, Dog- Eye, smaller.

When Enzo woke up, he was crabby. A cold coke quickly changed that. I gazed at the ocean as we moved to go to a different fishing spot. I was up in the top of the boat with Claudio and Paulo, where the wheel was. I took a Coke and gazed at the sky. I glanced at the fish meter as I saw a school of fish; maybe Olho- De- Cao, then about five medium sized fish pass. It felt good here, sipping my coke, the wind rustling my hair like it was playing a game. I smiled as I looked down and saw Enzo pull out six fish from his hook. No bait was left over. “Okay, guys,” said Paulo as the boat started moving, churning up water.” We’ll go to a few more places, and then head for land.”

The whales were probably the best part of the trip. It was our second to last stop, and I was excited at how much fish we had caught. Three igloos, overflowing with the smelly trophy, the evidence of our trip. It was amazing. Then, just as we got to the last stop, we heard a splash. Everyone’s heads turned. We saw white foam in the ocean, but not the source of it. Then… we saw them. Two humpback whales, by the looks of it, were jumping out of the water, making graceful arched leaps backwards. We stared for about ten more minutes as the two whales submerged and didn’t surface. Then, as if right on cue, the motor’s gleeful engine stopped it’s cackling. In other words, it broke.”Crap!”I yelled over the now slightly chillier wind. It took us about fifteen minutes to fix, even though it was only a loose screw. While a crewmate fixed the motor, I watched the sky-blue ocean. It was beautiful. Finally, it was time to move. The problem was only a loose screw that fell of the motor. But, even though that minor setback happened, as we headed towards land, I felt happier than I had ever been.

When my family got home at 8 P.M. sixteen whole hours in the ocean! we happily counted and weighed the fish we caught. There were about two hundred fifty fish!!! In total, they all weighed about three hundred kilos. That’s 600 pounds! It was incredible. The best part, you might ask? EVERYTHING! Also, the fish were delicious!