Make no mistake, even with my limited experience, I know that photography requires you to be super-fit.

It’s that fitness that gets you up at 03:15 to travel 45 min to set up your tripod on a cold lonely beach at 04:15 for an 04:55 sunrise. It allows you to take 400 photos over a few hours with ease at a party when some people struggle to take 40. It helps you stay in that seat for an hour trying to get Photoshop to give you a particular result with just one photo. It allows you to spend hours creating / designing blog after blog, and posting to Facebook, to showcase your art.

In the beginning this is all very tiring but you do get fitter, Unfortunately, it’s often this type of fitness that keeps you glued to a chair drinking coffee and eating while the pounds pile on.

I therefore spent the last few days wiping the dust off my Eric’s fishing paddleski and having minor repairs done. Gary Clarke, the owner of Eric’s Canoes was kind enough to help me with the latter in under 48 hours.

On Saturday morning I left home early morning while it was still dark and reached the beach before first light. A few fishermen were already busy standing on the beach trying their luck to catch Shad, the best bait being Natal Sardine.

Although my paddleski has not seen the Indian Ocean for 5/6 years, it got me past a few small breakers and past the backline without a hitch.

I tried two lures using the trolling method. The fish were absent and it was not long before my lower back ached and my overweight stomach became a nuisance. My fitness level on the paddleski, although I jog on a treadmill three times a week, was shockingly low.

This is all very different from the previous occasions the used the paddleski: we would paddle for miles without an ache or pain and spend hours on the water weather permitting.

I am a very determined individual and there’s no need to guess what’s going to happen in the next few months. PS – some of the tags on this post are: hope, motivation, never-give-up & success.

I have already bought another fishing rod (an hour after reaching shore from this first launch) and if all goes well…

Well by the time you are reading this blog post on Sunday morning (in 17 hours), I should already be on the water again doing round 2!

The great thing about fishing is sometimes, if not always, just being at the sea, making an elaborate trace, constructing an amazing bait, smelling the fresh salty air, mingling with good friends,  taking a break physically and mentally, pondering, letting the cold water run through your toes and feeling the sand underfoot.

Mary Anne Radmacher “Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.”

PS – the photos above are from my first launch 8 hours ago (I just had to sneak a small camera out to sea)