net fishin' ol' okie

we went to okayama with the english speaking society from anne's university on saturday. the purpose of the trip was fishing followed by barbecue. i heard we were fishing with nets, which i've never really done. i was all thinking like traditional japanese fisherman style, tossing hand nets into the gentle breeze and hoping to land a fish or two to sustain daily hunger. my imagination of the experience was only slightly off the mark.

we got to the beach and split up into two teams. there were some fishermen there with a boat and a huge friggin' net, probably 200 meters long or so. on either end of said net was a 2" diameter rope, likened to those popular in the ol' war tug. the boat dropped one end of the net on the sand and laid the rest in a sweeping semi-circle out into the sea. after the other end was laid about 1000' feet down the beach, the teams went to work hauling in everything unlucky enough to be alive in the area. i do mean everything. sting rays, cephalopods, and 4" fish were among the spoils. although not quite as traditional an experience as i pictured, it was quite fun.

one of the larger hauls

team 1 fishing.