Our Cabo Trip

I caught my marlin! I started to have my doubts when we lost two sail fish that almost were hooked. Each time I was the one that had the rod and yet success slipped through our fingers. I started feeling like a jinks, even though it was just fishing and it happens.

We started the day at 6:30 am. The sun was barely up, yet all the boats were getting ready to head out for the day. Our captain and deck hand would be taking care of everything for us. The rods would be baited and set out. Once a fish struck, the deck hand would hand over the rod to one of us to finish. The problem arose when multiple fish were striking at the same time, as there were several lines out. The two we lost, during this time, were beautiful. They jumped out of the water and it was a sight to see. One fish bit the bait off the hook without getting caught and the second fish was able to knock off the bait from the line. The final problem happened because two lines tangled together. Then all was quiet. No bites. We just road the boat around and around. Hour after hour.

We were not the only ones not having success. The radio had chatter of other boat captains calling out to the fish - "Here fishy, fishy"... as the fish were not biting. We looked for marlin, tuna, and mahi-mahi. Nothing was being found.

Finally, I said that we would catch something at high noon. I caught my marlin about 12:30. It took about 30-45 minutes to land it. The time may not be accurate as we did not look at a watch. Dad took the rod first when the marlin was hooked, just to make sure the fish would stay on the line. I did not want to loose it. After a few minutes, the rod was given to me. Between Dad and the deck hand, I had a lot of help. It was tough. The crew did not know what type of marlin it was as it was not jumping to show itself. It was either a blue or striped marling. The fish was tired so much of the time, it was dead weight. It was very hard to reel in something without help from the other end. I finally succeeded and I was so proud and happy.

Mexico has a catch and release policy or you can decide to keep what you catch. I wanted to release the marlin. Pictures were taken first and even though the pictures don't show it clearly, the marline was a beautiful blue.