Fishing Day 4
Popping & Spinning
A more active/interesting day than yesterday. Casting poppers and bass wedges into shoals on a feeding frenzy was good even though we only got a couple of fish. Both Kevin and I caught Bonito.
Jigging and Bait Fishing
We did some jigging without success so changed to bait fishing on the bottom with pieces of Bonito. We all got plenty of bites from small fish constantly "pecking" at the bait and we caught a few of these. I then had a proper bite that nearly took my rod before biting off my 80lb leader. The same happened to Kevin twice and Garry once. Both Kevin and Garry then switched to using wire traces. Garry hooked what was believed to be a large Grouper that ultimately escaped and left lots of damage on the wire trace. Kevin ended up with a Yellowfin Tuna and a Captain fish whilst bait fishing.
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| Yellowfin Tuna |
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| Captain Fish |
Trolling
We had almost instant takes when trolling. On two occasions we had multiple bites at the same time. The first occasion resulted in a Barracuda for Kevin and a Barracuda for me.
The second multiple take was quite exciting as Kevin's rod bent over first, immediately followed by Garry's and then, moments later by mine. Unfortunately Kevin's bit him off, taking the lure but both Garry and myself landed a Wahoo (another first for us both).
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| 2 Wahoo |
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| Garry's was the biggest |
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| But mine was most welcome |
Kevin finished off with a Spanish Mackerel.
Kit Abuse
As previously mentioned, the skipper was more interested in Popping than in keeping the boat over the fishing "marks". He was able to cast a large Popper much further than we could and he retrieved and "popped" the Popper very aggressively. The problem was that he was using our equipment and did not "temper" his approach to the tackle being used. This culminated in him breaking Kevin's Popping rod. What's worse, he did not apologise but blaimed the kit. As far as I am concerned, if you don't think the kit is up to the job then you either leave it alone or you adapt your approach to the kit being used.
The Rainy Season begins
We new when booking this trip that we were right on the cusp of the start of the rainy season. This could mean very wet days whilst fishing or the odd downpour or, as we experienced, hot & sunny days. On this day we could see the clouds gathering as the day progressed. This provided some nice photo opportunites on the way back to the Catamaran.
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| Clouds are gathering |
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| But the sun still has the last word |
Within minutes of our return to the Catamaran, the heavens opened and we had to quickly retreat from the outside table (even though it was partially sheltered). The rain came down and through every gap it could find. We had to close the portholes and skylights in our rooms. The crew had "closed" Garry's skylight but had not engaged it's locking handles resulting in a very wet mattress for Garry! We had to eat inside the very small lounge area but still had to avoid the rain dripping down from the ceiling and through the light fittings.
It wasn't long before the rain cleared and we were back on the outside table with drinks and light (or not so light) banter.