Wylde Fish!

WYLDE FISH!

Friday 20 March will go in the books as an epic fishing / sailing day, in the morning at watch handover I heard the fishing rod make a “wzzzz” “wzzzzz”, but that could also be seaweed. But then “wzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”! The fish took a big run with the lure. This is something big! Taylor got the rod from the holder and started cranking the reel. This fish wasn’t going to give up like a Tuna usually does after a few minutes. I took the wheel and sailed the swan dead down wind. After about 15 minutes of battle we got sight of the fish. The tail fluke was awkward, much bigger then any other fish I have seen hooked, I had never seen it before. And then I saw the bill, whoa! It was a Marlin! Something I would never even think about of catching.
Taylor did well, he kept the line tight, and we where able to get the tired fish alongside the Swan. We opened the bulwark door and then Francesco took a pair of socks as gloves and was able to get the fish on board. 

Now if you have never seen a life Blue Marlin, your jaw will drop open, it’s an extraordinary beautiful fish, very sleek, very strong and build for hunting other fish. When Francesco sat on top of the fish so Taylor could unhook the fish, the Blue Marlin fought for it’s life, and when it flipped, Francesco flipped with the Blue Marlin, impossible to keep such a strong fish still. I would guess it weighed about 15 kilo’s. We decided that this “youngster” had at least another day to live, we took plenty pictures and films and then she went back to the sea This was a juvenile Blue Marlin, But we will never know, it was only 3 minutes on deck.

Then in the afternoon, another ‘wzzzzzzzzz’. We hauled in a beautiful female Mahi mahi! Merel and Francesco did a complete section on the Mahi mahi, together with all the trainees. All the organs where dissected and examined. There was a fish inside the Mahi mahi, and this fish had also eaten a smaller fish, which was still inside it. A beautiful example of the food chain! 

The Mahi mahi will be in the pan tonight, and we will all enjoy it!

Position: 27 ° 30’ N 54 ° 35’ W
COG: 140
Wind: ENE, 10 knots

Jeroen