The next morning the time had come for Ken and I to gamble our money away on offshore fishing.  Big money vanished from our wallets and we crossed our fingers that a boat trip would transform it into a billfish.

With that, Ken and I found ourselves aboard a big boat, outfitted with some big reels, heading after some of angling’s most prized trophies.  It was a shot and in the dark, and a shot we were willing to take.

After a long boat ride out to the “blue zone”, Ken spotted some swirling birds. The captain headed over and we set the lines out. After this Ken and I spent our time scouting the water ahead.  We were looking for any signs of life out there. Every once and a while the slow chug of the boat would flare into a roar as we sped in circles around fish that the captain was able to spot from his perch high above us.  They just didn’t want to cooperate.

About two hours in I saw a blazing streak on the surface of the water and yelled out to the mate. Unfortunately, it was only one of the many flying fish we would get to see.

Ken and I were setting out smaller trolling lures in hopes of finding myself a life list durado or ourselves life list black skipjacks. However, the durados the captain did spot didn’t show any interest.  Further, despite trolling through groups of porpoise, there were no tuna around.  We were treated by some porpoise who decided to follow our boat around for a bit.

On our way in, we passed a whole line of FADs (Fish Attracting Devices) that were clearly slacking on the job as they did not attract any fish.  Except for one.  The boat’s engines roared yet again and Ken and I strained to see what the captain had. A marlin, in full breach, was just about a hundred yards away.

In heartbreak, circling the area yielded no different results than the rest of the day.

On our way back to the marina we passed by buoys and tried for different species only to be plagued by green jacks.

The real treats of the day came when we were back at the marina.

Thanks to George, we received permission to fish around the boat docks. Ken struck first with a new blenny species.

I noticed we were in a truly fishy place…

There were plenty of damselfish around and I caught a juvenile that I could actually identify.

Beaubrummel

As well as the usual generic brown ones…

Ken spotted some small puffers and a large cornetfish that wasn’t interested in our baits.

I tied on a tiny tanago hook and poked around the docks.  I quickly lost a sergeant major and later I was treated to a tiny blenny that I didn’t even know had bitten my hook.

Reefsand blenny

I need to thank John Snow of Mexfish for identifying this one for me.  I wouldn’t have had the faintest idea!

Ken finally caught a sergeant major, perhaps even the one I had dropped!  There was just a bit more to catch though…

Chameleon wrasse

And last but certainly not least, one of us just had to catch a crab…

… and we had one heck of a time untangling it…

Yup… just HAD to catch that crab.

After that shenanigan, off we went to another delicious dinner.