Out-fished the Parrot
01 July 2016
Lisa and I love Union island. It is a small place with friendly people. I know we say that a lot but people here are just wonderful. They will gladly help you or greet you without trying to sell you something.....that is most of them.
Parrot is a guy who is overly friendly and always trying to sell me ice or fish. I mentioned I was going to Nola's for lunch and he tried to escort me to her kitchen. He said, "Nola is my friend."
I told him, "Nola is my friend, I don't need a guide to find her."
He learned that I was looking for fish and the local seller was out. "I can get you fish, no problem." He raced around and someone else told me Parrot was looking for me. I asked, "why is he called Parrot?" The guy made a mouth flapping motion with his hand. We both laughed.
Parrot had a bag with an assortment of fish. I selected two, a snapper and a rock fish. They were two puny fish but ok for the two of us. parrot puzzled over what to charge me but we agreed on a small price.
I cleaned the fish on Uproar's back deck.i saved the heads and cut them into chunks. During a phone conversation with Dad, he asked me why we don't fish at night.
After dinner I baited a jig and threw it out. Dinner scraps became chum. Petty soon I got a solid bite. Lisa came up with a flashlight and the gaff. This 6 pound bigeye Jack was wrangled aboard. We looked in fish books and had some trouble identifying it. I filleted it but we decided to learn more about it before it became dinner. We are still concerned about Ciguatea, a parasite some fish may carry.
I showed the pictures to several fishermen today. They call it a Covalle, good eating! They said, "that's a really big one!"
My friend Parrot came by and I just had to show him the picture. I told him I used the "bait" he sold me to catch it. he said, " mon, you owe me more, what I sold you got that big fish."
I said, "sorry parrot, I caught this one." He did ask me if I could bring him the head. I sheepishly told him I didn't save it. He said, "that's the best part, bring it to me next time." I will but it won't be an easy negotiation for him.