A FISHING ADVENTURE THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF MY LIFE
by Edwin Rose

In September of 1967 I was fishing with Martin Connors. On a Sunday afternoon Martin decided to go to Clattice Harbour to try and get squid to use as bait for our trawls. Late Sunday evening, just about dark, we had a good supply of squid. We left Clattice Harbour around 8:00 o'clock that evening and by the time we got to Grandy's Point, it was blowing too hard to continue on to Little Merasheen. Our boat was small and the safest thing to do was head back to Clattice Harbour.

We had to find a place to stay because at this time everyone except Pius Power had left and resettled elsewhere, even Pius had gone to South East Bight for the weekend. We made the best of it and holed up in the school house which also served as the church. I wasn't fussy about staying there with all those statues looking down on me but there were no other options.

I went down to Pius Power's house and used a ladder to climb through his bedroom window and borrowed a lantern. At least we would have some light in our sleeping quarters. Needless to say that between the statues staring at me and the hardwood floor I didn't sleep well.

At 5:00 a.m. I had enough. Getting up I accidentally knocked over a desk and cats scattered everywhere. I had never seen so many cats in my life. At about 6100 a.m. we headed out, made it to Little Merasheen in the early morning - never to see Clattice Harbour again.

On Tuesday morning we went to Ironskull and set two sets of trawls. We returned on Wednesday and Thursday and found them full of fish. However, on Friday and Saturday the dreaded dogfish hit - one on every hook. I had it! On Sunday morning I left Merasheen on the Hopedale and by Wednesday, September 22nd. I landed on a lonely airstrip in Twin Falls, Labrador. Stepping off the plane, I wondered
‘God where am I?’ Ironskull was beginning to look good right about now. However, I was able to get over the loneliness and the homesick feeling. I stayed for five years working in both Twin Falls and
Churchill Falls never to return to the fishing grounds of Merasheen again.