I glanced at my wrist. Uuuggh. It's 2:55. I should go on deck for my watch. As I climbed up the steps and into the cockpit, I glanced at the fishing lines—nothing. We were on a very slow, very boring passage from the BVI to the Bahamas.
"Got the watch?" Daddy asked as he went below.
"Yep," I answered reluctantly.
"Want to play a game of backgammon?" asked Jack.
"Sure," I responded as he grabbed the board. We
set it up and started. After my third turn, I looked around for boats and
checked our course. I looked at one of the fishing lines and it was taut!
"Fish!" I shouted excitedly.
Daddy hurried over to the line and yanked on it. Jack ran to
get Mama, who was napping, while Daddy and I pulled in the other rig to avoid
hooking another fish today. There was a flurry of color and action under and above
the water while the fish fought. Its color changed and I realized it was a
mahi-mahi. I slipped some gloves on and began the fight.
At first it was easy. The normal line was easy to hold and I
brought in twenty feet of it. Then I reached the monofilament, which was slippery,
and I often lost distance. When the fish was finally right behind us, Daddy leaned
down with a gaff. He used the gaff to hook the fish by its gills. We raised it
out of the water and poured gin in its gills to kill it.
Dinner!
A few days ago Sam and Peter, a friend from Leadville and
his dad, were visiting. Sam was into fishing so we tried unsuccessfully to
catch a fish. As soon as he left, I get lucky and catch my biggest fish yet! Of
course next time he visit us in the Caribbean, he will demand that we take him
farther out to sea.
The fish measured 33 inches from tail to head. We estimated
it was about fifteen pounds. I have some fun facts about mahi-mahi. They change
color depending on their feelings. They live in schools of thirty to hundreds
until they reach fifteen pounds. When they are fifteen pounds or larger, they generally
live in groups of seven or less. This worldwide tropical fish gets no bigger
than 90 pounds. I guessed that this fish had just left its large school and had
joined a small group. Their meat is very good flash fried or baked and most
people dislike sushi (or raw fish) from this species because it is chewier than
tuna. – Porter
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: your comments are public, should be family friendly, and of course concise... and it is often weeks or months until we actaully see and read comments (so we typically do not respond to questions in comments, email us instead)