We trolled around outside the reef for about two hours before having to get back so that Curly could catch his flight back to the US. Fishing wasn't great, but he did manage to hook up a couple baby Yellowfin Tuna. We would have thrown them back, but something big was hitting them on the way to the boat and they would not have lived, so we kept them. Dooley the Demented Dog kept an eye on them, just in case they needed biting.
Finally right before we had to head in Curly hooked up with a small Skipjack. A lot more fight than the baby tuna. But a lot messier to deal with too.
We kept that one back in the motor splashwell, to make it easier to hose down later:
We get mixed reports on eating these. Trish says they are good, so we will probably try it out. Its in the freezer now along with tuna and wahoo. (Ahi and Ono for the Polynesians among us).
The dog was such an insistent pain about biting the tuna we had to lock them in the cooler. He took that in stride. If there's fish in the cooler and he can't reach the fish... he figures he can cover the bases and bite the cooler. You never know when a cooler full of fish might turn on you:
We had wanted to go out fishing Saturday when we didn't have a flight to catch, but it was just too rough to be comfortable for long in the smaller boat. So we ran Curly out to the house site to show him the progress since he was here last:
There's just something about that spot at the end of the pergola. I guess that was the whole idea. It's kind of cool to have a house with a built-in scenic overlook.
The new sliders are much more mirrored than we had realized, which is going to help enormously in keeping the house cool in the hot months. Its a bit disconcerting when you walk past them though. They are going to make parties on the patio look crowded. I can see a few people trying to start conversations with the sliding doors as a real possibility.
Progress continues, albeit too slowly for us. The patio has been delivered:
(obviously, some assembly required)
We took both vehicles out, since we had different errands to run afterwards. This is going to become an increasinly familiar sight to us, without the rockpile, of course:
That pretty much took up most of our weekend. I had some modifications to do to the Land Rover's new swing-away tire carrier. We also took a trip to the boatyard and checked on the progress with our own boat. We finally got the word this morning it should be back in the water early this week. We should then be able to get back into the fun stuff, finally.
6 comments:
hey its trish again.... was so nice to see you guys again on the gock and have a lil chat bout things..... nice tunas..... now just a couple more tips on fishin that i will let you in on. you said the tuna seemed to be getting hit on the way in right.... well if you can remember the marks on the fish if there was any and it looked like a sorta slanted line of graze marks that looks like someone took sandpaper and ran it on the surface of the skin then that would be a billfish.... specifically a sailfish!!!! it is getting close to being season for them and another local fisherman that goes out for fun said he had a couple shots at them around dellis cay - parrot cay area and thoes tuna are just the perfect size for sailfish to snack on so thats another tip for the mutalation category... and as for the tuna... well you have to do this as soon as it gets onboard the boat unfortunately while their adrenaline is still kicking.... get a knife and under each 'armpit' stick the knife into pointing towards the mouth and one more slit up the throat.... this then bleeds the fish making the meat alot whiter and tasting more like tuna then blood and trust me it makes a difference!!! anyways good job on the fish.
Being a bit noter here - those tuna look more like Albacore than yellowtail. If so, they make the most sensational eating (the call them chicken of the sea). Is that likely Trish? If they are getting hit by sailfish, they also make sensational eating. Hahaha you run the risk of becoming gamefish addicts and there is no way back!
Hi Trish!
Thanks for the tip on the tuna. We'll try that next time for sure!
The first tuna we caught had definitely been "grazed" by something. Not only that but Gringo and Curly saw something near the surface that had a large sort of fluted fin. I only caught a quick glimpse of it as I was driving the boat in that choppy, messy swell. But I had enough of a look to realize it was quite large. Do the sailfish swim near the surface? I'm not sure we're equipped to catch something of that magnitude!!
Anyway, hopefully we'll be getting our own boat back today. As much as we appreciate the loaner - it's just not the same!
they are definately yellowfin tuna... maybe even big eye tuna but one way to find out the difference is when you cut them the big eye tuna usually has an extra liver as opposed to the yellowfin tuna but they are definately either the yellow color just fades away when they die..... and yes sailfish are sometimes seen on the surface 'sunbathing' if they are not travelling in pairs or threes or feeding which is also usually surface attacks.... their main source of food being amongst small tuna, small mahi mahi,flying fish, squid, ballyhoo and various other small baitfish. so i can bet my life on it and guarantee that you had a sailfish 'in your spread' amongst your lines taking advantage of your catch!!!! pretty cool stuff this fishing thing eh??? now you can see why i'm so addicted!!!! anyways one thing to do i always do it and its a 50-50 chance that it works but if your ever trolling along and one of your rods goes off but there is no fish on and this happens repeatedly shortly after two or three times its usually a billfish .... see billfish have that long sandpaper like bill that they use to stun their prey by whacking it... hence the graze marks and then they come back to pick up their prize. next time this happens put the line in freespool...drop the line back for 5-8 seconds making your bait act like its been injured and usually if its a hungry sailfish he will be right there on it to pick it up!!!! this technique usually works on all other fish too. and if you do end up with any type of bill fish the best thing to do is tire him out a bit before it gets to the boat cause they can be very dangerous creatures when they feel threatened which is usually at the back of your boat. other then that good luck and i cant wait to hear bout your sailfish story!!!!
now bendernz i could be wrong cause you actually made me think a lil bit .... actually enough to google image it and to tell you the truth it is sooooo hard to destinguish whether a small tuna like that is a yellowfin, a big eye, a blackfin, an albacore or a longfin tuna. i know that we mostly get yellowfin, blackfin and big eye here but i never thought of albacore. i think tho that albacore is eiter a pacific tuna or that they like far more colder waters like the bluefin tunas up in cape cod area but i could be wrong!!!! hey who ever said i captain never stops learning new things everyday is not a real captain. this is definately gonna bug me enough to start putting research as to whether albacore travel through here though!!!!!
My humblest apologies Trish. You are right in that the albies tend to like cooler waters ... but it just raised a doubt. You're right about fishing - I too am addicted and I learn something new about it all the time. I've loved the stuff Gringo and you are including in his blogs about fishing - its just another "chapter" of information about your beautiful country. Mr Gringo has gone and got me hooked on his stuff and it sure looks like a terrific place to live. Cheers (BTW my real name is Shane Kelly).
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