Fishing For Soul
Words and images/ Lou Andrews
Wondrous views and wet socks on the Cornish coast
There’s something about the sea that I find so overwhelming and it gets me every time. It can lap you in gently and allow you to bask in all its glory, but with the same breath, suck you in and never let you go. The unpredictable nature of the beautiful beast. As I stand here looking at the magnetising backdrop of the Cornwall coastline, I find myself completely chilled out. I’ve come to Cornwall with my best friend and her family and tonight I have come night fishing with the boys! It’s about 8pm and they are setting up their rods while I’m taking it all in with a cold can of Madri.
Now, I haven’t been fishing for many years. As a child I spent so much of my time in and out of the sea with my dad. We had a chalet on the beach at Whitstable and he was a keen fisherman, so I grew up with it…maggots in tins, sandy sandwiches and the best times with my old man. He passed away when I was 8, but those times are still very vividly embedded in my mind. As I stand here today there is a large part of me that feels close to him and a part of me that will always belong to the sea.
Whipsiderry beach is a real hidden gem in Newquay. It’s sheltered from the world by massive cliffs (there are warning signs around of falling rocks which I’m choosing to park in the back of my mind whilst I am down here…no room for worry tonight!). The only downside is the mammoth set of stairs you must conquer to get down to the sea, but the views on the way down are well worth it and so is the beach. It’s littered with rock pools and caves which can be explored when the tide goes out. A few more sips of my beer and the boys are casting off already, so I make my way down to the seashore. Andy is telling me that he’s using a spinning rod, so essentially you cast off and then reel it straight back in. After a few casts he turns and passes the rod to me and says “here you go!”. He shows me what to do and it’s pretty straight forward, so off I go. After the first cast I’m already loving it and Andy begins to tell me how expensive the line and reel are… now at this point I am having visions of letting go of the rod on the next cast and throwing the whole darn thing into the sea! Either that, or reeling in and hooking Calum by the mouth and taking him down with me, haha! Andy isn’t bothered and in fact he then leaves me to go off and chat.
This experience is so consumingly calming, and a little overwhelming, that I think more people should give it a try. That’s what hobbies are about – just trying things. You never know if you’ll like something until you try it.
At this point I’m holding onto the rod so tight it’s like a white-knuckle ride! As I cast off again, I look out at the sea, and I’m reminded how small we are in such an amazing world. Full of wonder and yet so many of us never get the time to stop and look at it. It suddenly dawns on me that you don’t see many women fishing and I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s the hunter gatherer thing. Whether we realise it or not so many things are pre-programmed in our minds, and I think that’s one of them, but it shouldn’t be. This experience is so consumingly calming, and a little overwhelming, that I think more people should give it a try. That’s what hobbies are about – just trying things. You never know if you’ll like something until you try it.
There is so much more to it. It’s the thrill of the chase too…am I going to catch anything; big or small? At this point I’m not too fussed which! After a while the sun begins to retreat and it’s a stunning view. An intense glowing pink ball heading home behind the backdrop of the blue sea. A perfect blend of colours. The tide is also beginning to retreat, so the rock pools and caves are now accessible. We head off to explore.
Its dark now, but the torch on my i-Phone does the trick. The rock pools are littered with life. There are decent sized shrimps, and you can see their eyes glowing in the dark as they dart around. Crabs are scurrying under rocks to avoid being caught. The boys have spotted a fair sized one that has positioned itself under an overhanging rock in one of the pools and they are trying to coax it out. Suddenly, I find myself rolling up one of my trousers legs and I’m down on the mud swooping for the crab! It’s at this point that I am hearing echoes of my dad whispering in my ear ‘go for the rear Lou, so it can’t get your fingers with its claws’. I’m transported back to being a child again, all full of hope with my dad at my side. I can hear him like it was yesterday and it’s then I realise that the things we are taught stay with us even if those people are no longer here, a part of them always will be.
I’m so excited I forget I’m stupidly wearing my canvas trainers and a second later one of my feet is fully submerged in a rock pool. Damn novice!
With that I swoop in and boom…I have the crab! I can’t tell you how proud I felt in that moment, I mean it was just a crab, but it meant so much more than that! I put the little fella back in the pool and then I hear Andy shout ‘Starfish’. I’m so excited I forget I’m stupidly wearing my canvas trainers and a second later one of my feet is fully submerged in a rock pool. Damn novice! The boys are laughing as I squelch my way over, but I’ve got to say I don’t care. This whole experience has been epic! It’s around midnight now and we are heading back to the beach to pack up. As we leave the beach behind, I am feeling full. It’s been so enlightening in so many ways. Great conversations, new lessons learnt and all under a wonderful backdrop provided by nature. We caught nothing, but we landed one hell of a life experience and one that I will never forget.
Lou x