Fishing in the Surf…

blue fish

This past weekend my husband and I went away to North Myrtle Beach for our anniversary. I brought along my neon pink and green jazzy running shoes to get a run or two in on the beach. Ever the early bird, my eyes popped open of their own volition at about 6:30 the first morning. I jumped up, laced up, grabbed my camera and went out to capture the sunrise. The plan was to get a few shots, bring the camera back and go for the run.

sunrise

As I was tracking the sun’s movement with the other early birds, I looked over and saw a man throwing his net a little further out in the surf; fishing. I ambled over to him and became fascinated with what he was doing. In his net were about fifteen mullets. To my untrained eye I thought they were decent size, but he said they were just his bait. I assisted as he tried to get them in his bucket of water; they were jumping everywhere!

bait

He then hooked the live mullets to his fishing pole and threw it out. A few minutes later he pulled in his catch; a blue fish. The bait was in his belly, the hook was in his mouth. The man unhooked the blue fish and threw him back in. The salt water would heal the damage from the hook he said. He repeated the process again. This time he put two live mullets on there saying ‘big bait big fish’. A couple minutes later, an even bigger blue fish. I hung around ‘helping’ out, picking up a fish or two; my morning run long forgotten.

As I headed back in, I was deep in thought as I watched the baby fish and crabs washing in with the waves and scurrying back to the relative safety of the ocean. I was thinking about when Jesus called Peter (Simon) and Andrew in Matthew 4. He told them he would make them fishers of men. That thought stayed with me as my husband and I enjoyed the rest of the day.

day 2 sunrise

The next morning I didn’t even bother with the sneakers, I donned some water shoes and headed out. Cool breeze, enjoying the majesty of the ocean, I saw the fisherman again; same time same place. He was casting his net but coming up empty. No bait no fish. So he packed up and went in. I drifted a little further down the beach and as I came back, there was a father and son team, fishing in the same spot. They were reeling in some smaller catch.The dad told me all about it; there were pompano, whiting, blue fish and pin fish.

pin fish

They didn’t have live bait, they brought blood worms, squid and shrimp as bait. I watched how they held the fishing pole, how they held the string so that they knew when a fish had taken the bait, yanking it and reeling them in. If they didn’t feel the movement and respond immediately, the fish would take the bait and shake themselves off the hook.

The whole process took patience and they never knew what fish would take the bait. Preparation was also paramount. They had the right equipment and I especially liked the fisherman who came out extra early to catch his bait, because bigger predatory fish are more attracted to smaller live fish.

We are to be fishers of men, using the word, our testimony and the example of our life as bait. One good taste is all someone needs to see that God is good. Even if they don’t come or they ‘get away’, like the fish that got off the hook, the bait is still in their belly. As we interact with others we have to be sensitive and discerning to know when the bait is working. We can’t be lazy, procrastinate and not follow through; we let people off the hook when we do this.

day 3 sunrise…

Let’s spend early morning time with God to get prepared to go fishing. There are many techniques and platforms; big boats, little boats, fishing off the dock, fishing off the pier etc. But there are many fish out there to be caught; even while fishing in the surf.

I pray this will be bait for someone to get moving; we can’t let the ‘fish’ off the hook 😉

Be Blessed

JC

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