A Tale of Two Chemists: The Gilded One

The Gilded One … Saturday 16th March 2013

Today, at long last, we caught a Dorado. The name means "The Gilded One" in Spanish and indeed this was a beautiful fish. We had set the alarm for 6.20am this morning to ensure we were up in time to listen to Chris Parkers weather forecast on SSB radio and we raised the anchor and headed out shorty after 7.30am. The timing was important because we wanted to arrive off Rat Cay Cut, about 15 miles to the north west, at slack tide to make it as benign as possible. We motor sailed the dog-leg route out of Georgetown Harbor and through Conch Cay Cut and then cut the engine and sailed up Exuma Sound in 15 knot easterly winds and disorganized bumpy seas. We were about an hour away from our destination when we saw and felt the vibration of our trolling hand-line and quickly figured out we had a Dorado (aka Dolphin fish or Mahi-Mahi) on the hook. Rod was helming at the time and steered us up to windwards to reduce speed, whilst Gloria searched frantically for the gaff in the locker. We hauled in the hand-line and were able to gaff the fish fairly easily and drag it into the cockpit. Gloria then filled a plastic spray bottle with some rum and we dispatched the fish by spraying the alcohol into its gills. The Dorado was about 8 pounds in weight and the most beautiful lime green color. The photos don't do it justice because they were taken some time later once we had reached our anchorage and by then the colors had faded to some degree. Once the photos were taken it was time to clean up the cockpit - what a mess, it looked like a blood bath. We filleted the fish and threw the carcass overboard. Later in the afternoon, having returned from a snorkel trip on some shallow coral heads, gloria spotted a pair of large Nurse sharks cruising round the boat, presumably attracted by the remains of the fish. As the sun went down we had a fabulous meal of grilled Mahi-Mahi, potato pancakes and baked butternut squash. What I haven't mentioned yet is that about 30 minutes after landing the Dorado we heard the line on our rod and reel screaming off the spool. Again we had a fish on the hook - a big one! We saw it jump twice but as I tensioned the spool and started to reel in it was immediately obvious that it wasn't on the line anymore and it soon became clear that neither was the lure or the wire leader - the monofilament was snapped clean through. That one got away, but we were more than happy to land one good fish.

Mike

23 44.633 N, 76 04.180 W