Bear Adventure Read Free Page B

Hal answered, holding up the stout rod.
    ‘Er, I guess not.’
    ‘We’re going to use lures.’
    Hal showed Amazon how to attach the lure – a miniature model of a minnow with a cluster of hooks on its tail – to the line.
    Amazon really had never fished before, and she found this part incredibly tricky. She managed to cut her finger on one of the sharp barbs, drawing a
bubble of bright red blood. Hal took her hand gently in his and eased the hook out. He even had a plaster to cover up the wound.
    ‘You’re a brave kid,’ Hal said. ‘When Frazer here first hooked himself, he squealed so loud the fish came up to see what was happening. I do believe that a wide-mouthed bass asked if he could keep the noise down, as he was trying to get some sleep.’
    ‘Thanks, Dad,’ said Frazer, rolling his eyes. ‘Got any other embarrassing stories about me? Maybe you could show Zonnie a photo of me in my diaper, sucking my thumb.’
    Hal laughed one of his rare, hearty laughs. ‘OK, hotshot, you can teach Amazon how to cast. I’m going to find a quiet spot further down the shore. The person that catches the biggest fish gets to eat the eyeballs.’

‘Your dad gives you a hard time, doesn’t he?’ said Amazon, after Hal had walked the length of the spit and disappeared behind a fold in the shore.
    ‘It’s just his way,’ replied Frazer, not looking back at his cousin.
    Before Amazon had the chance to ask him any more questions, he pulled the rod back over his shoulder and sent a cast out fifteen metres into the deepest part of the lake, the lure sailing over the water in a perfect arc.
    ‘Sweet!’ said Amazon, genuinely impressed.
    Frazer quickly reeled in the line, jiggling the rod so that the lure would imitate the random movements of a fish.
    ‘Your turn,’ he said, when the lure came back empty.
    He showed Amazon how to hold the rod and operate the reel. She tried to copy his cast, but the lure refused to budge from the end of her rod.
    ‘You forgot to let go of the release button, here at the back of the reel,’ Frazer said, smiling. ‘Unless you do that, it won’t, er, release.’
    She tried again and managed a decent cast. She began to reel it in, again imitating Frazer’s style.
    ‘I think it’s stuck on something,’ she said, when the lure was halfway back. ‘I –’
    ‘It’s not stuck,’ Frazer yelped. ‘You’ve caught something. Quick, strike – I mean, give it an upwards yank, before it slips off.’
    Amazon did just that, and felt the weight of the fish on the line.
    ‘I don’t believe it,’ smiled Frazer. ‘On your very first cast! OK, just reel it the rest of the way in, nice and slowly.’
    When the fish was almost at the shore, Frazer showed Amazon how to raise the rod, lifting the lure clear of the water. And there, caught on one of the hooks, was a glistening fish, perhaps fifteen centimetres long.
    Amazon let out a squeal of pure joy.
    ‘I never thought I’d catch one in a million years!’ she said, and she would have done a little fish dance if no one had been there to watch.
    Frazer showed Amazon how to take the hook out of the little trout’s mouth. Then she held the fish in her hands for a few seconds, taking in the perfect, speckled beauty of it.
    ‘Hate to tell you this, Zonnie,’ said Frazer, ‘but we’ve got to throw that little fella back.’
    ‘No! Why?’
    ‘Too small.’
    ‘Really?’ Amazon’s shoulders sagged a little, but another part of her was pleased to be able to let the beautiful creature go.
    ‘Can’t believe you hooked him with that big lure. Got to give them a chance to spawn. But now you’ve got the hang of it there’ll be no stopping you.’
    Frazer was right. In half an hour they’d caught three decent-sized trout. Frazer’s was the biggest – almost as long as his arm – but Amazon had two that stretched from her hand to her elbow. She held one up and Frazer photographed it.
    ‘One to show your mum and dad,’ he said, ‘when we