Deep Sea Fishing

At the beginning of October our friends Tara and Cathy invited us to go deep sea fishing. They are avid fisherwomen and go frequently with a guide named Chito. Amy and I don't do much fishing. We've taken the boys to Green Lake in Seattle a few times to catch sculpin, and have done a fair bit of crabbing (mostly to give away to friends) but never deep sea fishing. So of course, we jumped at the chance!

The weather was not great, but since it was not actually raining, we decided to go for it, figuring the cloud cover would at least keep the temperature somewhat cooler. Our first stop was near the shore to pick up some bait, which Chito caught expertly with a weighted net. After dropping the fish in the live well, we headed out to the big blue through a pass in the reef.

Chito catching some "sardines"

First batch of bait in the live well

Matt and Cathy on the ride out

 We used a variety of rods and tackle, but were not having much luck until Chito started trolling for tuna. Tara and Cathy were garcious enough to let us take the rods first, so Amy caught the first fish, a little tunny. I caught the next fish, another little Tunny, and then Cathy hooked into something enormous that snapped her line clean in two.

Amy, somewhat surprised by the extremely wiggly Little Tunny in her hands

Now he's under control

A Little Tunny

Tara hooked a very large barracuda and after a lively fight Chito managed to gaff it and bring it on to the boat. Just a few minutes later I also caught a barracuda, and was amazed by the strength of this animal. With some helpful coaching from Chito (and a precisely placed gaff) I managed to land it.

Tara's barracuda

Casting!

Matt's barracuda

We were pretty much skunked the rest of the day, except for one more little tunny that Amy landed. Unfortunately she swung the fish a bit wide towards the front of the boat and inadvertently "fish slapped" the ladies but they were very good sports about it.

Now that's a big fish!

After we got back to the dock, Chito cleaned and filleted the fish right on the spot. We only took one fish worth, and I marinated it in a cilantro-lime-garlic mixture for a few hours before frying it up and eating it with dinner. Both boys tried a bite, but it is safe to say they are not fans of tuna.

Dinner

Deep sea fishing was definitely a unique experience, and I might try it again, especially if it is on a sunny day!