Fishing Day 2
Location
Today we drove further out to sea - approximately 90 minutes at 25 kts (approx 70 miles).
Catches
Popping
Popper fishing was much better out in the blue. There were many shoals of bait fish. When managing to cast into the bait fish and work the popper correctly, we were almost guaranteed a take even though many did not result in a proper hookup.
I started the day's catches with a Rainbow Runner: -
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| Rainbow Runner - lunch sorted again |
Then Kev caught a GT: -
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| Kev with a GT |
Then Garry caught a GT: -
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| Garry and his GT |
Then it was my turn for a GT: -
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| Me with a GT |
Kev then had a small GT followed by a much bigger one: -
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| A nice GT! |
Jigging
We tried jigging in very deep water. No-one had a bite, just tired arms from all of the retrieval from deep water!
We had the Rainbow Runner for lunch as Carpaccio - it was very nice.
Trolling
Kev caught a Barracuda almost straight away so this was already better than yesterday's trolling.
We then had a few takes that didn't result in hookups before Garry hooked a fish that really took off. The boat wasn't quick enough to follow resulting in a lost fish.
I then caught a Yellowfin Tuna: -
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| Yellowfin Tuna |
Garry then caught a Dog-Toothed Tuna (his first of this species) after a good tussle: -
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| Garry playing the Tuna |
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| The end result |
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| Dog-Toothed - indeed! |
Garry then lost a good fish after a long fight. He got soaked by a welcome wave as the skipper maneuvered the boat and then the worst happened - I think he was a bit disappointed as can be seen/heard in the video.
Sailfish
I was then sat talking to Kev and watching the trolling rods. I said "I think it's a Sailfish next" and then added "and on my rod". Shortly after, my rod bent over and I hit into a fish that immediately launched itself into the air. At first the shout was "Marlin" but, a few minutes into the fight, the crew announced that it was a Sailfish.
The fish was fast stripping line from my reel and I was getting worried about being "spooled". However, the skipper was quicker in following the fish this time and that allowed me to get line back on the spool.
That said, the fish regularly took line and I then managed to retrieve some before it went again. I could hear Kev suggesting that I tightened the drag or used my finger on the spool to prevent the fish continually claiming any line that I retrieved. However, this was my biggest ever fish and I was erring on the side of caution as I did not want to loose this fish.
After a long struggle (I know Kev and Garry - too long), I managed to get the fish to the boat. It was longer than I but they do weigh light as they are long and slender. That said, it was estimated in the 60 - 80lb bracket.
Summary
Today was a much better day than yesterday. We all caught fish on poppers and trolling. From my perspective: -- I always wanted to see a Sailfish when diving but never did. Therefore, catching one was my top objective for the trip so I was over the moon.
- I was taking video of the various catches and found that I started to feel queasy when doing so. Even though I stopped, it was already too late and I did vomit. Thankfully, it was just one episode and I was ok once I had taken a break from the fishing to calm down my senses. Just like diving, it was a case of feel rough for a few minutes, vomit then feel fine and can enjoy the rest of the day. It turns out that I would not suffer sea-sickness again throughout the trip even though we had a very rocky boat on occasion and was more that a little hungover on our last fishing day.