Dan's Fishing Report - Mermaids and Catfish

I will begin this fishing report with a question:

Does watching the "Little Mermaid" count as fishing? My answer would be, well...yes and no. Let me explain, I say yes because it has many of the characteristics of fishing, like water and fish, but no because the fish talk and the mermaids frown upon getting caught by the barbarian humans. Ultimately, the answer is probably a "no", but I take what I can get these days...

This question arose on our vacation to FL, when Ellie rode with her Tia Kara and cousin Kadie in the "entertainment express" (Kara's car has a built in DVD player) and found that driving in the car and watching TV almost beats juice and pretzels, almost. On the way back to Jacksonville from the beach house Erinn and I drove Kara's car, and shared the enjoyment of having TV in the car by getting to listen to the "Little Mermaid" about 10 times. Sadly, I can now talk and sing along with the movie, much to Ellie's enjoyment.

I believe that the question had a little more weight than it should have because I actually fished while on vacation! Line in the water, bait on the hook, and hungry fish (fulfilling all of the true requirements of fishing). Will (Tessa's husband) and I caught several catfish from the beach just outside the house we were renting. Apparently, sea catfish are even nastier than river catfish, so needless to say, we did not eat any of them.

One night we took a stroll down to a popular fishing spot about 1/2 mile down the beach from our house to try our luck there. Will caught a catfish the size of dog (a small dog, but a dog nonetheless), but we threw it back. After 3 lbs of shrimp bait, two tackle changes, a bird's nest, and about 10 catfish, we finally caught something that was edible. A small whitefish, I think. I know almost nothing about ocean fishing and fish except where to find them in CostCo, so whitefish is the best I can do. We took it home and fried it up. It didn't taste too bad, but the whole house smelled like fish for a couple of hours. Everyone was thrilled about that, let me tell you.

I believe Will won with the most fish caught, but we had to share one fishing rod, so the end tally was probably pretty close. Getting a taste of real fishing, then being pummeled by the "Little Mermaid" over and over and over makes the mind wander and ask questions like, does watching the "Little Mermaid" count as fishing?