A Tale of Two Chemists: The one that got away

The one that got away … Tuesday 5th March 2013

We had chicken fajitas for dinner tonight. It was good, but disappointing. We should have been eating Mahi-Mahi steaks on the grill - but that particular fish got away. The day started well, we were up and off the anchor by 7.30 am and the passage out of Galliot Cut went just fine at slack water. Then we had a wonderful sail down Exuma Sound for 25 miles heading south east in light winds - maybe 8-12 knots from ~ north east. We saw more boats today out sailing than on any other day since we left Florida - all but one heading north. The only one heading south passed us just before we reached Emerald Bay, but they were motor sailing - cheaters! As well as a fine sail we also had fishing gear deployed - our rod and reel with a metal silver fish, and our trolling line and planar with the last of our expensive squid-like lures. The action happened shortly after noon. Gloria was steering and I was just coming up from the companionway steps when we heard and saw the line being stripped off reel. I tightened the drag and needed to take care lifting the rod out of the holder because of all the pressure on the line. Then I started to reel in all went slack, no longer anything on the line, but at least we kept our gear. Less than 10 minutes later the bungee cord that I had rigged to our trolling line to signal a bite went tight before my eyes and I see the line ripping out of the water and a huge fish jump / roll on the surface - then nothing. The line from the boat to the planar is still intact - as it should be, I think it's a low stretch spectra main halyard from our old boat - breaking strain several thousand pounds! However, the 10 ft length of doubled up 25 lb monofilament from the planar to the lure is snapped clean through, close to where it was tied on with the knot still intact. A few seconds later we see sizable 2-3ft "bait" fish jumping to escape whatever predator lies beneath the surface. I don't know what sort of fish we hooked, but when we arrived at Emerald Bay Marina the guy in the slip next to ours told us about the Dolphin fish (Mahi-Mahi) he caught on his way up from Georgetown. We have now lost 4 or 5 lures whilst trolling. My best guess is that the short line and relatively weak monofilament on the leader doesn't provide enough stretch if a big fish takes the lure. It's hard to address the stretch question so my approach is to build in more strength. So sitting at the dock, with no decent lures remaining and no access to a tackle shop, I decided to fashion a couple of new lures and tie them to the planar with something more substantial. So using only a stout hook, a lead weight, thick whipping twine, lurid orange wool, pink cellophane paper and a piece of cut up rubber glove we fashioned a couple of wild and bomb proof lures. We will not be beaten again and these are sure to work.

We'll fill you in on Emerald Bay Marina tomorrow - we'll be here for 3 nights.

Mike

23 37.781 N, 75 55.048 W