In the book the old man caught a huge fish, it was beautiful and perfect, according to the old man, "it was the biggest fish that anyone ever saw".
He caught the fish just by sitting in his small boat with a thin fish line and a small hook. Even though he had a lot of fishing experience, it was also a matter of pure luck and being at the right time at the right place. It wasn't about having the latest technology fishing equipment, ie fishing rods and electric nets, nor fancy boats and all...
I connect this with a similar lucky fishing experience I had a few summers back. I was on a sailing journey with my father around the Greek islands. We had stopped at an island that was really small and secluded, Agathonissi, in the Aegean Sea. I had with me a fishing net and some leftover bread. There were hundreds of fish swimming in the tiny harbor around our yacht when we arrived. I sat at the stern of the boat, and threw in the water some bread. After two hours i had caught with my small rod over 72 fish!! I wasn't expecting such a catch at all!!.
Just like the old man wasn't expecting to get such a big catch either.
Perhaps luck has a lot to do with fishing.... and as I said before being at the right tome at the right place. For the old man had been fishing for years and had in the past not been able to catch any fish due to what the villagers had believed was "bad luck", but then all of a sudden he got lucky, well his boat had drifted off far far in the deep, and my dad and I had drifted towards the most isolated island far off the Aegean.
