Who's looking bored and would rather be elsewhere?
Aisya got very excited when we pulled up JJ, her tiny prawn, now her most-est favorite after Moses.
The jetty is a nice place to hangout, plenty of friendly locals and quite a few creatures crawling about in the water. Several seasons ago we saw a large estuarine croc not 200 meters away from where Aisya was sitting.
We attempted to start off the new year right this year. The Friday prior we decided to go on a family fishing excursion to Kuala Baram. Aisya has been egging us to go ever since she got back from Kelantan. It's something that we used to do a lot of before busy work came into the picture.
We did some fishing together at the same location but that activity fell on the wayside after other more-pressing stuff took center stage. Mommy ensured at least this year it'll be different, good for her. All of us we looking forward to the one day out in the sun.
It was supposed to be an early breakfast, we thought it was early enough. By the the time we reached Pak Wan's, had breakfast, chit-chatted with Pak Wan, we didn't leave for Kuala Baram until it was almost 9:30am! Pak Wan always had lots of stories.
We persevered and ploughed on and reached the jetty just before 10am.
The jetty was packed with other fishos and regulars, the catch of the day seemed to be prawns rather than fish! We got the wrong bait and gear!
Aisya was most excited about the prospect of catching something, anything. Ali was more out of it, his body was there, his mind was elsewhere. He'd rather spend time at home on his laptop. Sitting, waiting patiently for a nibble was more suited to Aisya who clearly was having fun.
We didn't catch anything and used up less than a quarter of Mom's prawns as bait.
By 11am it hot too hot for all of us, we decided to head back with promises of a second attempt the next day. For prawns this time.
Aisya and Daddy made a second attempt on New Year's day the next day specifically with prawns on our minds. With the help of Ali, Aisya managed to dig up 20+ earthworms and was ready to be out of the house by 0700am.
Off we went father and daughter team to conquer the giant prawns of the mighty Batang Baram after a quick family breakfast of noodles and dim-sum.
It was a slow morning with lots of bait changes. The day didn't all go to nought , plenty of nibbles (maybe perhaps too many) and the sacrifice of 22 healthy earthworms later, we brough up JJ. JJ is a middle finger sized prawn (not quite what we expected) which got Aisya all a flutter.
Aisya took JJ home in a bucket, and he's now taken up residence in our large aquarium at home.
With school starting, the prospect of sitting around shooting the breeze with loved ones was probably the best start for the new year. This knowing fully well that there are time enough for other busy work that will almost always become a wedge between self and family, stealing precious years from crucial bonding moments.
We need a billboard at the Pujut Roundabout "Take time off, have you taken your kids fishing today?"
