July 15 2007
Arrival day, Allene and the kids are here with me along with three clients, Vince Driscoll, Craig Miller and Eric Hill.
The airline lost one of my bags, the one with all my fishing gear in it, very stressful evening with no word on it all night. As always with the first day of a trip had to spend the afternoon finding all of our kayaks and paddles, several of them are missing, taken to Palmas.
July 16, 2007
First fishing day.
First touch of the water and I can tell it may be tough out there, the temp is maybe 70 degrees, should be in the 80’s, and is very green.
We headed to the lighthouse with the intent of getting Roosters, Vince hooks up pretty early on a nice size Dorado, forty plus pounds, we get to see it jump several times but it comes unbuttoned. Pretty slow for quite some time after that. Once again it is Vince that gets bit this time it sticks and appears to be a Rooster. After a good long fight, he has it up and indeed it is a big Rooster likely 45-50 pounds.
He was having a hard time reviving the fish so I dove into the water to try and help. I dove down with the fish to try and get it going, it started to swim but popped back to the surface. I tried it again and this time I watched as he swam away, this was one of the coolest things I have done.
That was it for the day, no action after that at all. The wind came up at about 11:00
Back at the room I got the word that my luggage had been found and should arrive later this evening.
Had to go to Palmas to get the rest of the kayaks back.
July 17, 2007
Windy this morning and stayed that way all day.
SLOW, SLOW, SLOW not a bite for the group and windy all day.
New clients arrive today, Eddie and Lee.
July 18, 2007
Calm winds in the morning did not last long, we started deep jigging off La Ribera for one snapper for Eric but nothing else there.
at least nothing to brag about
Headed back to Punta Arena and Eddie got a nice Rooster off the lighthouse at about 30lbs
That was it for the day. The wind came up very strong and forced us in. Lee, Eddie and Vince all ended up in the water from the strong winds which was pretty scary.
July 19, 2007
The strong wind from the day before died but turned over the water to a very chilly 68 degrees. Wanting to try something different we headed offshore several miles hoping for the BIG fish, we never got outside of the cold green water and the fishing was dead so we came back inside to the lighthouse to more cold green water. The big thrill was a skippy by Eddie right by the sand and a bit later we had a great show of small mantas jumping just off the beach. A few minutes later I spotted a large shadow just outside the beach and we went to check it out, it was a HUGE manta. The wing span had to of been 12 feet, even Alonso said he had never seen one so big, I hope the video came out better than the still shots. It had two big Remora on it's back that were an easy twenty pounds each.
Lee finished the day with a small rooster.
I hope I am in as good of shape as Lee when I am his age, he was a stud.
Much bigger surf at the beach is making for some rough launches and landing.
July 20, 2007
Headed way offshore with high hopes, but very large swell and cold water was all that greeted us. Came back in to La Ribera and jigged, Eddie got a Pompano but lost it at the kayak. No other action, the wind then came up very strong again to the point that I had to land Lee’s kayak for him in the high surf. So far this trip is a major bust, slowest fishing I have ever had here. Just not normal conditions for this time of year.
The Sullivan family came in today, as did Mark and Casey Hunter maybe they brought us some luck
July 21, 2007
Better conditions today, first day of no wind, at least not until 2:00.
Fished the lighthouse at first and saw a school of Roosters but no biters. Jim Sullivan did get a nice Jack about 16-20 pounds.
Saw very little else up there, but green water so we loaded up and went north to Scott Glens, where we saw a school of Jacks right away. The first hookups were on needles
pretty bad when you have to post pictures of needles.
Jim caught another Jack and Several Dorado were seen in the distance jumping but no takers.
Casey hooked into a good fish that blew up his POS reel, don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. We got him on the Panga and did manage to get it in. It was a real nice Jack about 25 pounds.
That was it for the day. Eddie and Lee leave tomorrow so just three on the boat.
July 22, 2007
Best day yet and more normal conditions though the water is still colder than it should be.
We headed over to a spot off La Ribera and did some jigging with MegaBaits, I hooked up first, from the Panga to a Morado, kind of a red Amber Jack then Alonso got one. Mark got a good size snapper
and followed it up with a Morado then a real big Amber Jack going 35-40 pounds.
Things slowed down and we headed to the lighthouse. About half way there Casey decided he was not well so we brought him back to the hotel. On the way in, only a mile off the beach we saw a Marlin jumping. At the lighthouse the water was still a bit green and cold but we gave it a shot anyway. Just north of the point Jim Sullivan hooked into a big Rooster, it gave him a great fight for about twenty five minutes. When it was landed Alonso said it was 50-60 pounds.
Nothing after that but it stayed calm the rest of the afternoon, which was nice for a change.
No more client trips so I will be taking out the family tomorrow, hoping for Marlin.
July 23, 2007
Loaded up the family, my wife, son and daughter plus one kayak onto the panga with hope of getting one of them a bill fish. Flat greasy calm in the morning, so we decided to start the day jigging off La Ribera. My son got the only fish there, another nice Morado.
Things were looking good for a great day, there was a lot of bait in the area and it just looked fishy. We followed the bait schools offshore looking for bill fish but saw only the occasional Tortuga, sea turtle, and small sharks. We got the call that the bill fish showed up closer to the beach so we raced back in. Alonso suggested that I jump in my kayak and troll while they trolled from the panga to double our chances, so off I went.
About twenty minutes into this I saw a jumper about a ¼ mile away so the adrenalin level jumped a bit. I called them over the radio to let them know where I had seen it, five minutes later I got a call back that my wife was hooked into a good one.
I paddled as hard as I could to get back to the panga, all the while they were following the fish. I got to see it jump and tail walk and was now bummed I was missing the fight, I really wanted to get it on video. This would be my wife's first Bill fish.
The fish started to come to the boat which meant I had a window to get on with them. I jumped on the panga and lifted the kayak aboard. In that small amount of time the fish made a smoking run away from the panga and we were to slow to react. The reel got down to about four wraps and the leader snapped. I think I was more bummed than my wife. She was just happy for the short fight I felt to blame for taking the attention away from the fish and making her lose it.
Losing the fish seemed an omen and the wind gods flipped the switch and it got real nasty real fast, so we called it a day.
July 24 2007
Day off no fishing just hanging out with the family, no big deal the wind is blowing again anyway.
July 25 2007
Up early with Jim Sullivan looking to paddle to blue water, but alas the wind is blowing early again so we walk the beach fishing the surf. Even this is dead due to the cold water.
Spent the rest of the trip doing the same thing,
Waking to the wind, walking the beach, then hanging in the pool or reading. I guess it is not so bad.
We did spend one day up at Palmas just to do something different and show our friends the more resorty location, not really my style but very nice. We had a great lunch there, which I am sorry to tell you Vince, had ICECREAM for desert. And plenty of cocktails at the swim up bar.
When we got back to Punta we were greeted by a passing storm that dumped rain on us pretty hard, just par for the course on this trip.
We had a great group of clients on this trip who made some very tough fishing and conditions very tolerable. It would have been hell with anyone that was not so understanding. I really thank them for joining us on this trip and for being so awesome, each and every one of them.
Heading back in October to what we hope is more normal weather and water.