Lesson Well Learnt

Fishng Date: 30 Apr 06 - 2 May 06
Location: Kuala Terengannu (2 hours off Redang)
Fishos: my dad, friends and myself (9 anglers)
Total avg age: 65! (oldest being uncle Ho 84 and youngest yours truely 27)

So lets just begin with what was told of us to expect for this trip:
1) Large fishing trawler/ vessel capable of taking up to 16 anglers - with all the toilet facilities and sleeping rooms
2) Previous day was soooOOooo many cencaru fish the whole sea turn black, even the trallers dare not put the trawler nets down, it would sink the ship.
3) All the boatmen are experienced boatmen with good knowledge of the sea and fishing area.
4) Good accommodation near jetty before we leave - all the comfort of the home - aircond, TV, etc etc...
5) Sotong season!!! bring all you 100L iceboxs! may need to leave some catches back at the jetty.
6) food provided good food and stuffs.

Facts:
1) Fishing trawler only fit to carry 6 anglers at tops - no toilet, no bath room, not even enough sleeping place for 3 once our bags were placed into the boat
2) Total catch one 5kg Kaci, one 2kg+ Sai Seng, and a dozen or so table size grouper only worth mentioning
3) Boatmen runs away at the first sight of a moray eel!! WTF?????????? never seen such incompetent fishermen before!
4) Accommodation at jetty sucked big time – mosquito & cockroach infested!
5) Caught only 2 sotong from all 9 anglers (this excludes the 3 boatmen with us – they caught nothing too! – they were too busy sleeping I guess)
6) Food? Lets see, how should I put it? Rice and fried fish for lunch (3pm) We had keropok for dinner (at 9pm) and some measly Maggie mee for supper (11pm)! WOW!!! Fantastic range of gourmet food if I say so myself! (Shaitz!)
7) My Dad (the Hero -Y? read the previous blog then) still manage to outfish me with that sai seng :D (YES!!!)
8) popper & Green metal jig no result (only one hit, but no hook up)

So, what lesson is there to learn from here?
1) Trust: Like any relationship / friendship /business venture, trust is one of the most important thing I would say. A lie, a cheat would cost us dearly.
-Trust within friends if ever broken (with a lie / stab in the back) would cost even long lasting friendships to collapse -its even worst when it comes from the one's closest to you (nothing is worth lying about to your friend - be truthful to one another, build that trust, and you will have a friend for life)
-Trust in any relationship (let it be family / lifetime partners) – well… all I can say is there are too many broken hearted people around not mentioning broken families (I’m really blessed my family unit is not one of those statistics)
- Business? Well… u can cheat us once, but that would be the last time we shall be visiting this vessel ever again I must say… (once u have an unhappy customer, u can be sure that the customer wont be returning to you again…)

2) No matter how many years of fishing, you’ll still learn something new:
- A Mega discussion about Religions (and hence this will begin my new “controversial” discussion or Blog on religion >:D)
- no matter how bad the fishing result would be, there’s still a lot more to learn – even after 20 years + of fishing experience under my belt.

Nibble nibble, taut taut, STRIKE!, Fish ON!!