One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Yesterday, we had the great fortune of going fishing on the Chesapeake Bay. I love this Bay. I love to swim in it, fish in it and bike all around it.

We chartered a boat out of Chesapeake Beach, MD and were attempting to catch rockfish (striped bass) and blue fish. The first and only time Jack had been on a charter boat, we got skunked, which means we didn't catch anything...Jack had only caught small fish in lakes and off the pier so my Dad really was hoping that Jack would catch his first big fish...

Jack reeled in the first fish of the day, a bluefish and a "big" fish.

Bluefish travel in large schools and put up a good fight for their size. They are voracious feeders and have very sharp teeth. They are an oily fish so many folks don't like them as well as a firm white fish. Here's a picture I captured of them in a "feeding frenzy" where their school met up with another school of feeder fish...

Aren't they pretty? (Jack rolls his eyes at me...)

We ended up catching about 25 bluefish and 2 rockfish for the day. The weather was gorgeous and we couldn't have had a better time. Here I am helping Jack hold the rod while he reeled in our second rockfish.


Our largest catch of the day was a rockfish measuring 29 inches or so and was caught by my husband, Jim.

Here we are with my Dad on the right. He's been taking me fishing since I was a little girl and I still love to go with him.

Because of the oil in bluefish, it turns out that they are very healthy for you and thus, they are becoming more popular for eating.

They contain more anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids than the more popular Sockeye salmon pictured above.

One portion (3 ½ oz) of cooked bluefish contains: 159 calories, 27.7 g protein, 5.44 g total fat, 1,24 g saturated fat, 1.61 g Omega-3 fatty acids, 76 mg cholesterol, 62.6 g water, 138 RE vitamin A, 477 mg potassium, 271 mg phosphorus and 77 mg sodium. So you might want to give it a try and see how you like it. Because of the oil in the fish, I like to broil it over potatoes with garlic and salt/pepper.

Now, since this is a needlework blog, I can't leave without showing you the piece of Japanese embroidery that I intend to stitch for my son Jack when he graduates from College (that's in 10 years). It's a picture of a carp fighting it's way upstream during spawning.

Design copyright Japanese Embroidery Center

To the Japanese, the carp represents perseverance, strength and courage when facing opposition and hardship and is symbolic of the determined warrior. It's a symbol very commonly associated with boys as it's a metaphor for the quality the Japanese seek in a male.

This black windsock we purchased is actually symbolic of the Father and the son would have a blue one which we would fly from a pole on our roof, black one on top. If there are more boys in the house, there are more colored koi in different colors. I liked this one made from handmade paper (they didn't have blue) so it hangs in Jack's room.


Koi nobori means koi banner in Japanese and these windsocks are flown to celebrate Childrens' Day on May 5 which evolved from Boys' Day.

Photo courtesy of tonochujo

So, go catch fish, stitch fish, fry fish or fly fish...it's that kind of a summer day...