Just Fishing

Jerry waiting just outside the door when we walked out at 6:30 AM. He greeted us and we loaded into his pickup and drove to the boat in Barra. It was just getting light enough to see our path through the maze leading out to the open bay called Bahia de Navidad. On our left we passed Isla Navidad, the big Hotel Grand Bay glowed ghostly in the dim haze of the morning light. It looked like a skeleton head, the windows lighted as eyes and the main entry its smiling teeth.

Jerry set the lures as we rounded the first rock out cropping. He filled the back of the boat with five rods, set his course and off we went in search of Dorado or Marlin. The reports and Jerry’s recent experiences have said that the fish were off the coast eight to eleven miles. At about ten miles off shore there is a reef that they call the Big 100. When everything is right the fish gather there to feed and this is where Jerry hit a few the days prior.

We cruised at a speed between eight and twelve miles per hour. Jerry said he adjusts the speed based on the clarity of the water. If it is clear seas then the fish hit at a faster speed. About two miles out we spotted a gray whale off the port bow of the boat. I quickly reached my camera and hit the on button. Just as I pointed the lens out to the open ocean the whale breached. I pressed the shutter button and captured the breach. It was quite a long way off, but I cropped the picture and you can definitely tell it is a whale. This was my very first whale that I have seen breaching; needless to say I was very excited.

We came upon more whales during this trip. I counted a total of six whales, two dolphins, many sea turtles, and several sail fish jumping. All that sea life would have made my day, but at eight miles out the Dorado hit, and hit hard.

Jerry brought us up to a line of floating junk, a mass of debris made up of coconuts, leaves, and sea weed. Our first strike was a double. Rolly set his fish first and I set mine next and the fight was on. My fish came in first and Jerry skillfully boated it and turned to Rolly’s and did the same. For the next four hours we would sweep in by the debris and the fish would attack. We set the hooks and fought them into the boat and Jerry would gaff then and tuck them away into the fish hold. It was like you see on the TV sporting shows. Three times we hooked up on doubles and brought them in to our locker. We all were having so much fun and working hard as they attacked, we lost count of our catch at ten.

The bite slowed a little but we were still getting strikes. Rolly was up to bat and one hit. He grabbed the pole and the fight started. By this time we had the routine down. Jerry would pull out of the fishing lane off the debris line and idle down the engine. I would grab my camera and most of the times take video of the action. Rolly was fighting and turns to Jerry and says that he thought this one was as big as the one on his business card. Jerry laughs and said the that one was a forty five pounder, the biggest one he has put a client on to. Rolly fought some more and as it came into view, Jerry changed his tune. It was a big Dorado bull. Jerry gaffed it and heaved it in to the transom of the boat. Rolly and I retreated to the area by the seats. We had learned that if the fish came off the gaff and hook, in the back area of the boat, it would thrash and flail tossing blood and fish spew everywhere. My cloths were proof of that as we watched.

The Dorado thrashed for about five minutes as Jerry released the hook. It was a forty pounder, not quite the best he has boated, but he was a big one. Jerry got him calmed down and into the hold. Rolly was tired but happy and we prepared to fish on.

Jerry went to the steering wheel and readied to get back on the debris lane and noticed something wrong with the boat. He jumped back to the transom and sure enough the fish had thrashed hard enough to break off a fitting on the steering mechanism making it impossible to use the steering wheel. We were done fishing!

We looked over the damage and could not fix it. All the steering fluid had leaked out making navigation using the steering wheel non existent. So Jerry had to rig up a way to steer, while sitting at the back of the boat to get us back to port. Within ten minutes we were heading back, slowly, but we would make it by 5:00 PM. It was a great day and we had no problem giving up the hunt at this point. As we went Jerry made some adjustments to his new steering technique and each time I would adjust the speed faster. We were moving along nicely! Jerry looks at me and says with a big smile “Let’s not waste our day, get two lines in!” So Rolly and I put out two lines and Jerry noted the speed and compass direction and we fished on.

We looked back over our shoulders and spotted some Marlin jumping about a quarter mile back. We talked about what we should do if something hit and we got everything squared away as to how to handle a hit if we got one. Within five minutes I looked at the lures splashing behind the boat and there they were, two sailfish fins batting at the lures. Everyone got ready, but they didn’t take. It would have been a long fight without the help of the boat. We could not be disappointed about the Marlin outsmarting us, our day was extraordinary as it was.

We made good time back to the dock. Jerry ran the steering and I ran the throttle. We approached the pier and backed the boat in to its moorage. The final fish count was 13 Dorados, seven hens and six bulls. We don’t know who caught the extra fish, but we knew Rolly caught the big one and I caught the second largest. Rolly also caught the smallest one, we had three doubles on the day and it kept us extremely busy for several hours. Other boats reported that they had caught one or two fish, the boat that was working the debris line with us had at least five fish boated. Several boats reported that they had been skunked. Jerry and the "Hakuna Matata" did us well today. We settled up and set our date for another trip on the 31st of December.