Well, just thought I?d share with you a little something from my trip to Mexico. I wrote it in a style you?d find in Bassmaster Magazine?s ?Day on the Lake? stories. It is a format I enjoy reading and surmise that you might too.
6:00 am ? SUNRISE
We wake up get ready to go. The rising sun greets me with its warmth as I enter the patio. I am still a bit shocked that my wife set up this whole thing since she doesn?t fish, like to fish, eat or even touch a fish. We gather our stuff and head to the marina to meet the crew. This was going to be a trip from 7:00 am ? 3:00 pm
7:15 am ? OFF WE GO
We load our stuff onto the boat along with the other clients; an older couple from BC, Canada and a guy from Sacramento named Jose. The other two persons were the Captain and his first mate.
The first mate wasted no time assembling what would total four rigs all fashioned the same. The basic rig consisted of a dead fish dressed with what looked like Aberdeen hooks. There were four rigs total and either larger than life artificial squid or a huge top water plug was placed farther up the line ahead of the bait.
A marlin class snap
I asked the mate in Spanish what the name of the fish was used for bait and he said they call it ?Caballito,? which means little horse (pronounced cah-bah-yee-toh).
10:15 am -- FALSE INDICATOR
It was practically uneventful up to this point but that was because this was the dull part of getting out to where the fish are. I imagine we could have been 10-15 miles off shore easily, far enough that the land looked like a silhouette or an illusion or was not even visible.
I spotted a flock of fluttering, circling, and diving birds and it looked like a great prospect of baitfish busting at the top. This was our first promising sign. No such luck. The birds were obviously catching something as we observed them zeroing in on their quarry from above.
In the middle of nowhere or the realm of the marlin?
11:10 am -- DOLPHINS!
From a distance I could see some serious busting on the water?s surface and noticed that there were 4 other boats zeroing in on that location. The other boats seemed to come out of nowhere. I went topside and overheard on the radio that dolphins were spotted. It seemed for the longest time that we were the only ones on the water but back to the dolphins.
Wow! What a site to behold!!! I suppose if we didn?t catch anything today, seeing them would have been worth the money just to see 300-400 dolphins frolicking about in the middle of nowhere, with no land in sight. They leapt and spun themselves silly and as a group we saw what we estimated were 10? vertical leaps and 1800s (that?s five 360 degree rotations) that would make any snowboarder envious.
Our boat headed into the group of frolicking dolphins and the other boats followed suit. My best guess was that every captain assumed that the dolphins were feeding on bait fish and it was likely that other fish like marlin or sailfish could be lurking below. What a frenzy for both dolphins and boats!
After the final school crossing, there was no marlin in sight and that was true for all of the boats. The only question I had but did not ask was why no Captain thought to present the baits farther down in the water column. Either that is not done in targeting marlin or he did not have the means to do so. Any marlin experts know?
Well, that was that. We left the dolphins as they were and moved on.
12:20 pm -- ONE OF THREE
Our first encounter!!!! What a beautiful sight! The shade of blue on the marlin is indescribable -- so intense, so bright, so blue, so beautiful and so huge!!!!!! Excitement filled everyone?s hearts and eyes. The intensity of this part of the trip increased a hundred fold. The boat slowed and the marlin latched onto the squid rig. The captain grabbed the rod and signaled to the first mate to jam the throttle forward, fast and hard. Regrettably, I don?t think you have to be a rocket scientist to know that the boat?s fastest acceleration was not enough to set the hook. I was surprised to see that the marlin held the bait for that long but eventually it let go. It chased the squid with the elegance and grace of a ballerina as the boat increased and decreased speed. Unfortunately for us, it never latched on again. Try as we might, we failed to seal the deal.
My best guess is that it was probably a 12-15? beast. This denizen of the ocean blue was through with us.
1:10 pm -- TWO OF THREE
Marlin #2! Same story, same result. Wahhhhh!!!!!!!
2:00 pm -- CHANGING GEARS ? THIRD STRIKE
Our prospects were not looking so great now for marlin. The trip was nearly done. We spotted sailfish jumping around, and with the approval of the group, we changed our quarry. My goodness! It looked even bigger than the first marlin! The sailfish had beautiful color too. Unfortunately, it was not nearly as receptive as the marlin. It was only a looker.
2:35 pm -- CALLING IT A DAY
And that is what we did. The sun was blazing hot and those who did not have sunscreen got baked longer than a batch of hardened chocolate chip cookies left unattended in the oven. Overall, it was not a bust. How so?
1) To this point I have never fished from a boat and as of this trip I can no longer say I am a boat virgin.
2) 2) I spent some quality time with my wife and I still can?t get over the fact that this was her idea!
Well, I might as well hold a darn rod. The Trinidad belonged to the gentleman from Sacramento. See my arm from the elbow on? It was not that color when I woke up.
This took place in my wife?s lovely hometown of Mazatl?n, Mexico.
-IB
