Debate over bait

Garth, a live bait man, teases Bruce about his use of soft plastic lures. Guy, the third man in the boat, is ambivalent.

...

Garth: How many did you catch last week?

Bruce: Ten.

Garth: Legal size?

Bruce: Big enough to barbecue.

Garth: So you think today –

Bruce: I got one, I got one.

Guy: Maybe there is something in those new plastic baits. But it doesn’t seem quite cricket.

Bruce: Course it isn't. It's all about getting big edible worms.

...

Henry visits by kayak

Henry who navigates the estuary by kayak drops in on Bruce.

Bruce: Beaut day to be out on the water.

Henry: I’ll tell you what. There’s even fish. Old Jang seemed to have a boatload as I came past.

Bruce: Good size?

Henry: He wasn’t keen to show me his catch so you can bet your life they weren’t legal.

Bruce: I’ve never caught anything in the estuary. Only outside in the sea.

Henry: Jang told me he’s using artificial bait. It wriggles and the fish jump it. Even in the daytime.

Bruce: Daytime? Even my goldfish won’t even sniff at anything after dawn and not until sunset.

Trout

Graham is telling his grandson, James, about the last fish he caught on the lake.

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James: And how heavy?

Graham: A good five pounds.

Merilyn: Two and half. It was just on the legal weight.

James: And this fish, it was a few years ago?

Graham: Not really so long.

Merilyn: Fifty years ago. Almost to the day. Christmas 1957. That was the last time he caught a fish.

...

Drawing on the tablecloth

In this lake there is water. The sea comes in, is miste, mixed, but it is not so salty. Here the chefalo live, they lay eggs. In May. Then they leave. They swim out into the sea, around the coast, to here, to Vieste. I show you. (Draws a map on the tablecloth).

Ooh. Can you do that here?

Is paper. They throw it away. Anyway, they swim around this point, and this point and that point and they get to Vieste. They stay 2 months and swim back to the lake.

Like salmon?

Like salmon, but not salmon. Now at this point and this point and that point, they have for a long time what we call a trebuka. It is for catching chefalo.

OK. But what’s a trebuka?

(draws trebuka jetty on tablecloth) Now, you see there is platform going into the sea. Is called a a ...

A jetty?

So. Now, there are long poles. And a net in the water. The chefalo swim past, and then they lift the net. They catch many chefalo this way. Is a good fish. Many small bones but sweet meat. My friend owns a trebuka restaurant.

Ah, the one with Czechoslovakian waitresses?

Yes.
...