I walked out on the pier at Coney Island. There was a film crew out there shooting something. Judging by the lack of on-set support (no trucks or catering to be found, although they did have quite a bit of equipment) I would say a low priced independent film. Definitely a step above a student guerilla shoot. Either way, I'm sure I would never see it anywhere. Hardly memorable or a good photo.
What I did find remarkable were the fisher... err, people I encountered. They were younger and older and male and female. Some had fishing poles but many did not. Most had equipment consisting of some fishing wire on a hook wrapped around a Coke can. Coke being the preferred can of fisherpeople. I don't know why. They would bait the hook with meat or cheese or even bread sometimes and fling the fishing wire over the pier. Then they'd watch for a hit and reel in the catch. I didn't see anything caught larger than three or four inches so I have no idea what kind of food it becomes, but many of them had buckets full of fish.
The boys pictured above are checking out a crab trap. The trap looks like a lettuce spinner. The bait is again chicken but whole pieces. I'm assuming it's chicken they got free or from the garbage but it's raw. I can't imagine it's cost effective to buy the chicken to catch the tiny little crabs I saw them hauling in. Also, I can't imagine that the fish and crab caught along the shore of Coney Island are necessarily safe to eat, although I have to say the beach and boardwalk were spotless on this day.
Still, the boys seemed to be having a delightful time playing with raw meat and funny looking pinchy crabs and fish flopping around on the pier. There's that squeal of discovery and delight that only seems to last until one is around five years old or so, that never fails to bring at least a tiny smile to anyone's face. If you're lucky.
Why am I channeling Little Mary Sunshine?
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