A Fish Tale

Our trip from Conception Island to Mayaguana Island started out successfully enough when I caught and landed a good size Wahoo. I didn’t even bother to measure its length or take a picture, but got him filleted straight away. Next, I caught a very large dolphin. Boy, can these guys fight! It’s especially neat when they jump straight up out of the water trying to shake that hook loose. I was too late in asking Claudia to reel in the other line and the 2nd time he crossed over it he cut it and I lost the lure (green Magnum) on the line he hadn’t bitten. I got him up to the boat and just held him there, admiring his blue, green and gold colors in the deep blue water, trying to figure out how to gaff him while still holding the rod. While trying to transfer rod to Claudia and gaff to me, the line broke and he swam away with a the feather jig lure still in his mouth. The fight was almost worth losing 2 lures, but the biggest disappointment was not having him in the freezer. An hour later I got another, bigger dolphin and this guy REALLY liked to leap out of the water. My 30 lb test didn’t hold long enough to get a gaff in him either and off he went with another feather jig. Enough is enough so I stripped off the 30 lb and put on new 40 lb line. Moments later I landed and released a barracuda (at least the line didn’t break). The next day when we arrived just offshore of Mayaguana the reel went screaming and this one turned out to be the dolphin mother-lode (I was using the larger, red/white Magnum like yours, Gary). I was making no ground on him at all so I just held on and pulled on the rod to try to wear him down. He did finally tire enough to start bringing him in. I swear, I’ve never had a fish this size on the other end of a line. I knew he was worn out when close to the boat he was lying on his side on the surface while I dragged him close in. With his last strength he jumped and shook out the lure. At least the line didn’t break and I kept the Magnum but I was worn out and am wondering if I’ll ever get to grill another Mahi Mahi.

Sure wish you both were here. I know we’d have landed ’em all.

David