Fishing While Swimming
by Ros Barber (Brighton)
Swimming in the sea all year round, I’d see these fish jump up so close to me and think what a waste of time it was, fishing and swimming separately. I decided to devise a way to catch them using a hand line, with a float to hold it at any given depth.
Through osteo-arthritis of the spine, I’d lost my ability to do anything other than a kind of backstroke, using flippers; my hands were free. I couldn’t wind in the hand line fast enough so I tried a broom handle but couldn’t hold the fish away from me.
Now I use a long bamboo cane with a notch at each end. When I’ve got a bite, I twirl it around in the air, end to end. The fish – mainly mackerel, but also bream and bass – go into an onion bag round my neck. It’s hard to get ashore when it’s overloaded.
I can’t swim in a pool, I sink in fresh water. It’s got to be wild water, it’s got to be the sea. I’m in contact with the living world and harvesting it. The seagulls show me where the fish are. I reward them with remnants, gutting the fish on the beach.
What Ros Barber says about Fishing While Swimming:
David Sawyers, born in Brighton in 1941, describes himself as a “failed scientist” and had a varied career in teaching before returning to the studies in psychology and the life sciences at University. Osteo-arthritis down the entire length of his spine means “I can’t raise or lower my head, or turn my head, which rules out both breast-stroke and crawl” – but its limitations have led to his devising the method by which he can fish while swimming. His grandmother’s grandfather was a founder member of Brighton Swimming Club (founded 150 years ago this summer) and had a shop in North Street selling ornamental birds, bird seed and cages. He wanted to make more of his life and decided that learning to swim in the sea would help him do so; like his great-great-grandfather, David believes sea swimming is a powerful means of self-improvement. The wonderful photograph that accompanies this piece was kindly supplied by Kevin Meredith, whose work can be seen at http://www.analogintelligence.co.uk/
