deep blue sea

So I may be from Minnesota the land of how many...16,000 lakes? But I've never REALLY gone fishing. I think I had my nose in a book or was content to sunbathe while my uncles, cousins & grandpa were out baiting hooks. So I was truly initiated into this patience provoking past time last week. We went out on a boat, into the ocean blue with our friends Jake, Julia, their friend Eduardo, his girlfriend and son. We were out on the water for hours. We saw a sailfish, which really does "sail" across the water with impressive speed. We saw flying fish fly, manta rays leaping and bouncing into the air, playful elegant dolphins who surrounded our boat with an intriguing attitude, and HUMPBACK WHALES!!! We got within about 20 meters of the whales....to see water sprayed out of their blowholes was awesome....and then to see their backs break the water's surface and their tails flip above and back under. What a gift. So back to the fishing.... we used fresh sardines to bait the hooks, and whole shrimp. I gotta say, these are much more appetizing than nightcrawlers or worms. But not appetizing enough for the fish i was trolling for....as our friends pulled in red snapper & mahi mahi, I pulled in nada. nothing. zilch. The only bite i got was one enormous yank on the line that chomped off both my hooks AND my sinker. Dang. As my friend's fish piled up in the ice cooler, I consoled myself with knowing that we had just discovered this r-e-a-l-l-y great little fish market...