Personal Reflection: Gerald could be quirky with his ideas and thought associations. In this fictional letter from Karl to his friend George, he raises the prospect of fishing with a landing net.
I’ve heard some say fishing and preparing the fish would consume more calories than it provides for one’s body. I can imagine Gerald sayhing, “These people aren’t thinking about what a person would do when he’s starving.”
Dear G,
Ever see the cartoon about two vultures on a limb.? One says, “I’m tired of waiting, I’m going to kill something.”
We were talking about really being desperate for food, I mean preparing for such a time. What if you were out in the wild for some reason and had to have some food from nature?
I have a nifty survival knife with a hollow handle. You unscrew the end and inside there is a fish hook and line so you can fish for survival food.
Most food for a given space is in the water they tell me. But using a line and hook to catch fish could be a big gamble, and it could take a long time.
Guy I know says, such a sportsman -like approach would not be appropriate when you must have food right away, and maybe for more than one person. He told me he was in Stuart, Florida, in a really neat tackle shop. They had these circular throwing nets, like you see them use in Hawaii. Guys in Stuart throw them and catch little shiners to use for bait. He bought one, made of plastic fish line. It had a wrist loop that collapsed to make the net into a bag so the fish won’t get out.
He brought it home to Ohio in his luggage and didn’t even look at it for a long time. Finally he took it with him on a family outing at a lake. He thought he would imitate the motions of the Florida guys, just to see if he could do it. He walked to the edge of the lake and gave it a try. He said it looked awful, he didn’t get it to spin and open up before it hit the water. His companions laughed at his awkward attempt. It just flopped into the water. But as he pulled the line on his wrist he felt resistance. Inside the net were some small fish. On his first try he netted some fish.
His point, they are in there and in minutes you can get fish with a net. Then he walked to his car and brought back a landing net and pulled out its long handle. It had a ball detent that held it in place when the handle was extended. He handed it to me and it had a good solid feel. “You can get one with a fixed handle, but I like this one because it’s easier to stow.
Someone said these nets are for landing a fish caught with hook and line. Just scooping them up with it would be breaking the law. My friend said, “Lots of places will issue you a permit to use nets, even for commercial fishing. Like Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. Other places too. Anyway, in a survival situation a fishing warden is the last thing you will need to worry about.”
You may be wondering about “Annette”, in my heading. Just someone beautiful to think about, from a time when innocence was a desirable virtue.
Sincerely,
Karl
