This is my daughter Sarah and her friend Jasmine, here both age 11. We’re spending the afternoon at the Oak Bay Marina, in Victoria, BC. My oldest daughter Charlotte,
Jasmine’s mom Alison, and friends Sean and his four-year-old son Felix are along, too.
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Sarah loves to hang over the side of the dock and try to catch fish. Using a bowl, she manages to catch a prawn and a minnow – no small feat. I speak from experience.
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When I was a kid, I spent countless happy hours fishing off the docks. Our quarry was the not-so-elusive sea perch, also known as a “shiner.” We caught them by
the hundreds, but never kept them. We also tried to catch the larger ocean perch, or Greys and Lings ... Ling cod hung out around the deeper water of the ferry dock.
I can only recall catching a few of those in years of trying.
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My friend Bill and I spent so much time there that they offered us jobs. We were dock boys for a buck an hour when we were 13 years old. We also had the option to
trade work time for the use a rental boat for salmon fishing. I received $75 cash in total, in all of the years I worked there, but I did a lot of fishing too, eventually
becoming a professional guide for a time. Fishing was the first thing I excelled at, was admired for and felt confident about.
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I’m still passionate about fishing, 44 years after my first hook up. I now collect antique reels and split-cane fly rods, tie my own flies and am the official “Gilly” (guide)
when friends and I take sailing trips each year. Times have changed. Catch and release is the way, at least for the trout, but I still have yet to release a nice salmon.
Old habits die hard.   Mark Heine