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Category Archives: fishing
Beaucoup Fish
FISH, now they are quite a different matter. Oh, just that word brings me out in goose pimples. F, I, S, H, fish. Tasty, fleshy, scaly, spiky, slimy, fresh, wriggling fish. Yummy, yum yum.
Lots Of Dolphins But No Fish
I enjoyed a fantastic night watch with the moon playing hide and seek behind storm clouds and when I awoke next morning the wind had finally come round. Not quite the south westerlies as predicted but a marked improvement and the sea state dropped back to moderate, thank god. Jezabel just wasn’t pulling in the results, so I tried the paravane with 4m of trace and the thing shot down into the water pulling what must have been its maximum poundage. I decided to pull it straight back in as we were sailing at over 7 knots.
A Fantastic First Catch – Reel It In, Baby!
It was a beautiful day but there was a strong cold wind, unfortunately coming from the wrong direction so we motor sailed up the west coast past Lisboa, Cascais, Sintra etc. The wind was a light northerly, on the nose, making the passage mildly uncomfortable, so to cheer myself up I christened Harold and cast him over the transom. At the time of writing he hadn’t caught anything yet but I had high hopes for this baby. He looked like a killer!
Rum And Romance
When you’ve spent over three weeks at sea Antigua really is a piece of heaven on earth. We don’t need to tell you what it was like because it’s all that you imagine it to be: warm, idyllic, welcoming and simply stunning. With free-flowing rum and the fact it was approaching Christmas the vibe was fully switched on to ‘party’ mode. Tim, Dobby, Michel and myself rented a shack for a month on top of a hill overlooking Falmouth Harbour and quickly sussed the perfect recipie for rum-punch. Yachts came and went, providing the south of the island with crowds of party people who crammed the local joints like the Mad Mongoose.
Message In A Bottle
We had a hard morning’s work tidying up the boat whilst Roger and Manuel were cast either side out the back of the boat. An unprecedented move this late in the season but within 10 minutes Roger had attracted the attention of a sail fish (not dorado!).
A Tall Fishing Story
I was elated. I had finally bagged a fish worth talking about and I had photographic evidence to boot. With Rich still up the mast I figured I’d save some time and start filleting one side of this monster. I took the chap down to the swimming platform at the back of the boat. He was a healthy adult male. His appetite was obviously very big since a flying fish popped out of his guts!
Shampoo & Set
Never let it be said Sunday is the day of rest. After getting stitched up on the watch system (due to the clocks going back and a watch system change) I decided to go for a lie down. After a couple of minutes there was an almighty clang, followed by the skipper shouting “all hands on deck”.
The Skipper’s In Stiches
It’s only 1pm and already today has become the most eventful day thus far. At 10am this morning whilst holding the gib sheet Simon told Dobby to steer to starboard and then disappeared down below. With the rest of the crew running round on deck (and Tim reading a book in bed!) I went down below to find Simon lying on his back on the floor, with his hand in the air, looking white as a sheet.
It’s Official: I’m A Deep Sea Fisherman
Made my managerial debut today by catching my first dorado. When I say ‘catch’ I mean I chose the lure, cast the line, caught the fish, killed it, cleaned it, cooked it and consumed it. Actually when I say ‘cooked it’ that’s not strictly true since I cut it up into small strips, marinated it in lemon juice and ate it raw.
Monopoly On The Atlantic
A Sunday just like any other Sunday really. Lounge around, do nothing. Dobby and I made half a monopoly board and we caught two dorado, though we decided to put one back.
Rugby World Champions!
England are the rugby world champions! We followed the progress via the BBC World Service, whose coverage went something like this:
‘There are loads of people here in Sydney preparing for the World Cup. And now back to the news’
Pilot Whales Lead The Way
Highlight today was seeing pilot whales, which are basically very large dolphins. In fact Simon claims dolphins are for kids and pilot whales are the real thing and I have to say they really are impressive sight swimming in massive pods alongside the boat, especially when they start jumping out of the water.
Our First Atlantic Swim
Highlight of the day, however, was going for a swim in the middle of nowhere (24’ 40.61N, 18’ 44.12W). With the sun baking down accompanied by slow winds Simon devised a safety harness for us to wear whilst we took it in turns to dive off the bow into the warm, clear blue waters, floating a few miles above the sea bed.