Just when the line went taut behind him Ashwin flicked forward and the mainline and lure snapped forward again, Ashwin performed this flicking rapidly, keeping his aim near the cloud of dragon flies that he saw hovering over his portion of the lake when…
“BANG!”
The end of his rod dipped hard!
Yanking back violently Ashwin felt the weight of the fish on the other end.
“It’s Big!”
The fish broke the surface and Ashwin saw the shimmer of pink scales and a long Sawblade like snout.
“Sword Pike”
Its elongated snout had fearsome looking long spiked teeth on each side giving the large predatory fish it’s fearsome name.
Since Ashwin had no way to reel the fish in, he would have to move with it.
Runing along the coast he fought the thrashing fish, giving and taking back line when he needed to.
“Attrition, Tire the fish down.”
It wouldn’t take long with the fight the fish was putting up.
The fish was constantly breaching and thrashing wildly, searching for a target to slash with its sword snout.
This play kept up for nearly half an hour, Ashwin running up and down the bank with the fish before it started showing signs of fatigue.
Chuckling inwardly to himself Ashwin cracked a joke; “Let’s hope this fish doesn’t know a breath technique, Ha!”
Suddenly and unexpectedly the Sword Pike surged toward deeper water, the rod pitched deeply as Ashwin was being pulled into the water!
Not too much.
Just enough.
The fish suddenly changed direction, charging the shore!
Ashwin barely had time to leap aside as the fish launched completely out of the water at him rapidly slashing its elongated sawblade snout left to right in attempt to cut him into ribbons!
Its saw-like snout carved a groove through the fossilized bank where his legs had been an instant before.
“So, you fight dirty too.
Figures.”
In that moment Ashwin found himself inexpiably touched by the fish’s tactic, and how it had nearly won.
At how he had nearly been played by a fish.
Replaying the moment over and over again in his head, he thought about what had happened as he watched the gills of the Sword pike open and close and the fish flap on the bank.
The sword pike had used its last amount of strength to violently pull him off balance, then rapidly switch direction for an attack.
“Smart.”
Picturing the human equivalent, he imagined himself locking hands with an opponent in a grapple, giving them a violent shove, which they would be expecting, and resist.
Then he could rapidly switch directions, which they wouldn’t be expecting, and greet them with an elbow.
Ashwin marveled at the deceptive nature of the seemingly simple attack.
Walking in front of the sword fish now gasping for water to run over its gills Ashwin bowed.
“Thank you.
You were a worthy opponent and have taught me much.”
With his obsidian clever he cut and bleed out the sword pike, which was nearly two meters long,
Once dead, Ashwin turned the fish over and retrieved his hook. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Ashwin gutted the fish right there letting its bowels and vital organs spill across the sandy bone bank.
Quickly he gathered up the vital organs of the fish where they spilled took them to the water’s edge where he threw them in, they would attract more fish his way.
But he would save the intestines and swimming bladder.
It would take a couple days of curing, but he would have cordage stronger than hide or natural plant fiber.
The fish’s swim bladder could be processed to make a powerful natural glue know as isinglass
Ashwin quickly got to work skinning the fish, slicing curved incisions behind the gills he followed u[ by cutting two long lines down the tough spikey spine of the fish.
All he had to do from here was tuck his hand in the gills and give a savage pull, which he did.
The skin of the fish was incredibly abrasive and much stronger than hide, but Ashwin wondered if it might have some other quality to it.
Along the now red raw exposed muscle and spine of the fish, he noticed two long, gleaming white cords running along each side of the spine, he ran a finger over them.
“Tendons…tendons that could never stop moving, even once.”
Wiping away sweat he left a blood stain smear on his cheek.
“Now that’s prime bowstring material.”
Continuing his dissection, he was careful to leave the gleaming white backstrap tendons in good order.
Next, he looked at the saw-like snout.
It was five feet long and was a worthy trophy, he harvested the sword blade snout last and took the cuts of meat and sword blade back to the campfire beside the shattered kneecap.
The log cabin fire was now reduced to hot coals ready for grilling, he placed a large flat rock into the coal bed and placed some choice cuts of red fish meat on it.
While that cooked Ashwin would set up the intestines and tendons to hang and dry over the next few days.