Outdoor Doula: The Great Fish Rescue of 2012, part 2

For the exciting first half of this tale, please read Part I

Morning came. I believe I set the alarm for 5:30? 6? The sun was just beginning to rise and Steve and I got dolled up in our finest fish catching gear and again headed off to the Gunnell Oval. When we arrived, those poor fish were still there. I'll admit, I was hoping they would have magically relocated back to the Kearny Marsh where they belong, so I wouldn't have to touch them.

We up with Vince and checked the path back to the drop-off point at the Marsh- conditions were the same as the day before: cold, wet, squishy.

The rescue started off rocky. The"puddle" created by the uprooted weeping willow was DEEP, much deeper than it looked, and much deeper than we were anticipating. Once again I was the only one with tall boots, so I was the one to venture into the puddle as much as possible- about 2 feet away from the edge, it dropped off into hip-deep water (as I would unfortunately find out later...) so I couldn't get very far in.

This is the handmade net from part I
(didn't work well... but worked GREAT as a lid to the laundry baskets!)

If you read Part I (does anyone actually read this? if so, thank you), you will remember my fear of live fish, specifically, touching live fish. I am proud to tell you, that fear has been CONQUERED! (for carp anyway. I am in no way willing to touch anything larger than a common carp). These carp were giant, kicking, slippery things but darn it I would lower the laundry basket in on its side with one hand, and scoop fish in with the other. It felt awesome. Steve and Vince got into the rescuing too, scooping the fish into baskets. Once we had one or fish in each basket, we'd throw the baskets into the back of the pickup, jump in and Vince would speed to the other end of the lot. Once there we would grab the baskets full of fish and walk/run as fast as possible through the field and marsh to the drop off point.

Once in, most of the fish (there were one or two iffy/sick ones I think) kicked around and did their fish thing. They seemed very pleased to be home! I can't even describe the sheer joy I received from watching those fish swimming around the Marsh, mingling with the others. I imagined them reuniting with cherished fishy family and friends, throwing little fish parties and reminiscing wistfully about the way things were before the storm.

We were on a roll, scooping fish into baskets, hauling them to the Marsh. Vince got his thumb slit open by one of the carp's sharp parts (dorsal fin? Unsure). My aunt came at around 7 am with a rake, which looked insane but was actually a very effective tool. We met up with some really compassionate highschoolers who had a giant casting net that were rescuing fish from ANOTHER giant puddle. They came over to our puddle and we had some success getting fish out. Unfortunately their net got snagged on a root and I went in to unsnag it. I lost my footing and fell completely into the puddle, soaking myself from torso to feet. It was freezing, and I was wondering how I was going to continue the rescue when....

We saw smoke. There were tiny plumes of smoke coming from something by a red fire hydrant right next to the puddle we were in. We called the police, who arrived right away. We were told to GET OUT OF THE PUDDLE because apparently what was smoking was a live wire, downed from the storm. This same wire ran through the puddle we were in, and the end that was smoking was a mere few feet away from where we were, on the wet ground. The area was roped off and the power was shut off.

Needless to say, we were relieved of our duties for the day.

On a positive note, we relocated sixty something fish that day. We felt fantastic! There were a few other fish in the water from what we could see in the murky water, but whenever there was movement in the water, or the fish sensed danger they would all go deep underneath the surface, or under the weeping willow where we couldn't reach them.

My aunt had told me the day before that the local Kearny High School fishing team had done a rescue just days before our discovery of the fish and had relocated 76 carp. We had a few onlookers over the course of the day, some who took pictures and stared and others who told us of their own stories of fish rescue attempts. It was really, really nice to hear that others had wanted to save these fish, too.

Vince, Steve and I went back the following weekend and rescued over 20 more fish. They were really not doing so well by that point; many were sick with fin rot, cannibalizing each other... there were a few dead ones floating around amidst the living. It was so sad, but we got as many out as we could. We also met up with one of the coolest teenagers I've ever met whose dad had dropped him off at the Oval so he could rescue some fish (on a saturday morning that could have been easily spent playing video games). He had one of those all-important net-on-the-end-of-a-pole things, and it is truly only with his help that we were able to rescue that day. All in all, we rescued somewhere from 80-90 fish (550+ lbs) over the 2 weekends. I hope the rescue efforts of everyone we met and heard about will have a lasting positive impact on the beautiful Kearny Marsh (which we kayaked a few weeks later- it's GORGEOUS).

Here are some pictures from the first weekend: