The Perfect Catch | Teen Ink

The Perfect Catch

May 15, 2015
By Croque-Cannelle BRONZE, Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin
Croque-Cannelle BRONZE, Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Part of a delicious breakfast"- Croque-Cannelle


I woke to the sound of my stomach grumbling. “ Food,” I thought “ I need food.”
I hadn’t eaten in days. I was fed by my parents, but they were captured in huge net and were taken up out of the ocean. I was torn up inside. After crying for many days, my stomach grumbled and moaned from the lack of food in my body. It was hard to move. I felt weak. Knowing I couldn’t catch food by myself, I cried myself to sleep. Now here I am, in my small den ready to try and catch my first fish. This morning felt good because I had some of my energy back, and I was determined to catch a fish.
My body started to come back to me, cartilage and bones. The shark like body of mine got up and moved from my den out to the ocean floor. In case you missed that first part, I am indeed a shark. Six feet long, 936 teeth, I’m a real killer. Stomach grumbling again, I slowly swam and then with one flick of my fin, set out to find my breakfast.
Swimming the ocean floor, I scoured for a snack that might swim in my path. This big fish swam below me, watching in front and slowly using its fins to paddle against the current. It started to get tired and was ready to make my move on the stinker. It was a decent sized blue fish with yellow and white stripes aligning its body. Its small fins cannot paddle any longer, so the fish just sat there as the current slowly drifts him further away from me. Of course I caught up to it because I’m an excellent swimmer. I swam faster than any fish  (almost).
Creeping slowly upon the fish, I hid behind a blackish greenish rock with coral and pieces of algae stuck inside of it. Turning my head to the corner, I saw the fish floating. It sat there doing almost nothing. It still breathed in and out, but it never blinked its black, beady eyes. It stared out into the blue ocean of nothingness. Its fins sat firmly at its torso and stayed tight to it, almost as if it were in the military, halting because of a drill sergeant.
I knew this was my chance to make a move. So, I slowly sauntered out behind the rock and started stalking up toward the fish, only paddling my fins slightly so I didn’t spook the fish.
The taste of a fresh catch approaching my taste buds excited me. The fish kept staring beady-eyed out into the ocean blue, looking into pure nothingness.
Quickly, I made my move. Creeping up toward the scaly fish, I dashed towards it aggressively, using all of my speed and agility. The fish amazingly swam away before I could catch it. It started moving eastward towards a large pillar of rocks. Fish don’t tend to paddle fast when they’re in the current, but this one was flying almost, gliding. I couldn’t catch up to it. It swam too fast, and it disappeared behind a large rock.
Tears started to form into my eyes because I thought I would never be able to catch that fish, I was too slow. But my father’s words of wisdom were clear in my mind “ Keep trying little shark, keep trying! Try until you succeed!”
Determined, I swam behind a large rock and formulated a plan that would work perfectly if I executed it right.
After about 10 minutes, I was ready to continue attempting to catch the fish. Swimming around, I found it paddling slowly next to a medium sized-rock. It looked sideways cautiously because I brushed past a pebble and it made a large TINK!I kept looking at the fish, studying it; seeing what it could and couldn’t do. This started getting boring, so I decided to follow through with my plan, to creep behind the rock it was paddling behind. I would then go over the top of the rock and clamp down, hard.
Moving towards the rock, the fish was still in view, barely moving. I got behind the rock and took a deep breath. If I did not get this fish, I could potentially die of starvation. All in one motion, I clamped down on the scaly skin of the fish. Its meat had a nice texture. I chewed it ravenously and swallowed it down. Finally, my stomach stopped growling. My first catch! If my father were here to see this he would be so proud. My first catch ever.


The author's comments:

I was inspired by the power and determination it took to catch food by yourself.


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