Our day of deep sea fishing was a success! We went out on one of those $55 rod and reel inclusive fishing trips today. This was our way of 'seeing how it's done' when it comes to fishing. Good chance to try the whole thing out without getting our boat all messy!
We arrived and explained that we were total novices and would need instruction, which the 'Mate' Eric promptly agreed to. We watched all the more experienced fishermen jostle for prime spots at the stern (back) of the
boat. Some had made reservations for these special places. We sat in the sun and watched how they prepared bait (gross!) and set up the rods and reels (no rocket science here).
We had a lovely motor out to the fishing grounds, past the last races of
Race Week (today is the last day). The anchor went down, the motor went off
and rods were at the ready. Actually ours weren't, 'Uh, what do we do now?'
Eric very kindly came over and said, 'You put the bait on like this and let
the line out until the hook hits the bottom.' End of lesson! (And we paid
55 bucks each for that!)
Okay, we'll give this a whirl. Bait on, hooks sinking, sinking, sinking
(we're in a hundred feet of water here!). I kept feeling little tugs on
mine and Eric informed me that I had a bite and then walked off. 'Hey, wait
a minute - that wasn't covered in the lesson! What do I do?!' Reel it in.
I did and caught a fish!!!
To be fair, it was not a big fish. It was not even a medium fish. It was a
6 to 8 inch Grunt (Steve insists it was 6, I however, being the actual
catcher of the fish know it was at least 8). Wooohooo, I can catch fish!
Because other people were not catching fish as successfully as I, they moved the boat. Whereupon I proceeded to catch another fish! This one was a big fish, an Amberjack, 23 inches. Eric measured my monster fish, told me it was an inch too short and THREW IT BACK IN THE WATER! Thank goodness Steve
had been quick with the camera and has photographic evidence which proves I did indeed catch a big fish. Please note that although Eric is holding the fish, I caught it - I just didn't want to touch it (as you may tell from the photo, fish have blood).
We fished for the rest of the day, but didn't really catch anything more.
Lots of other people caught other big fish (mutton snapper was the fish of
the day). We did learn how to put bait on the hooks (again, gross and why do
they not give out Wet Wipes here?!), we watched trolling, Steve watched
gaffing and removal of hooks. At the end of the day, we went back to the
dock and Eric filleted my little Grunt fish along with several Yellow Tail
and a Porgy for us. So we left with enough fish for a fresh fish dinner!
One of our favourite ways to prepare fish - Fish with Brown Butter and
Capers
Fresh fish
Butter
Capers
Melt the butter in a fry pan until it darkens to a light shade of brown.
Saute the fish in the browned butter until cooked to a state of flakey.
Sprinkle a couple / three teaspoons of capers in and give it all a good
stir. Enjoy with salad and a glass of wine.
It was the best fish we've ever had!
We arrived and explained that we were total novices and would need instruction, which the 'Mate' Eric promptly agreed to. We watched all the more experienced fishermen jostle for prime spots at the stern (back) of the
boat. Some had made reservations for these special places. We sat in the sun and watched how they prepared bait (gross!) and set up the rods and reels (no rocket science here).
We had a lovely motor out to the fishing grounds, past the last races of
Race Week (today is the last day). The anchor went down, the motor went off
and rods were at the ready. Actually ours weren't, 'Uh, what do we do now?'
Eric very kindly came over and said, 'You put the bait on like this and let
the line out until the hook hits the bottom.' End of lesson! (And we paid
55 bucks each for that!)
Okay, we'll give this a whirl. Bait on, hooks sinking, sinking, sinking
(we're in a hundred feet of water here!). I kept feeling little tugs on
mine and Eric informed me that I had a bite and then walked off. 'Hey, wait
a minute - that wasn't covered in the lesson! What do I do?!' Reel it in.
I did and caught a fish!!!
To be fair, it was not a big fish. It was not even a medium fish. It was a
6 to 8 inch Grunt (Steve insists it was 6, I however, being the actual
catcher of the fish know it was at least 8). Wooohooo, I can catch fish!
Because other people were not catching fish as successfully as I, they moved the boat. Whereupon I proceeded to catch another fish! This one was a big fish, an Amberjack, 23 inches. Eric measured my monster fish, told me it was an inch too short and THREW IT BACK IN THE WATER! Thank goodness Steve
had been quick with the camera and has photographic evidence which proves I did indeed catch a big fish. Please note that although Eric is holding the fish, I caught it - I just didn't want to touch it (as you may tell from the photo, fish have blood).
We fished for the rest of the day, but didn't really catch anything more.
Lots of other people caught other big fish (mutton snapper was the fish of
the day). We did learn how to put bait on the hooks (again, gross and why do
they not give out Wet Wipes here?!), we watched trolling, Steve watched
gaffing and removal of hooks. At the end of the day, we went back to the
dock and Eric filleted my little Grunt fish along with several Yellow Tail
and a Porgy for us. So we left with enough fish for a fresh fish dinner!
One of our favourite ways to prepare fish - Fish with Brown Butter and
Capers
Fresh fish
Butter
Capers
Melt the butter in a fry pan until it darkens to a light shade of brown.
Saute the fish in the browned butter until cooked to a state of flakey.
Sprinkle a couple / three teaspoons of capers in and give it all a good
stir. Enjoy with salad and a glass of wine.
It was the best fish we've ever had!
(Just a side note: Gaff Magazine is now following my Twitters. I am not making this up, I can show you the email!)
Sounds like a fun day! I am glad you had a contribution of some yellow tail etc to your Grunt fish for the meal, but exciting. Eric sounded and looked like the classic fish charter operator, perhaps a $20 slipped to him might have provided more one-on-one? They have had a rough year with the price of diesel from what I read. Anyway......wash n fold is a great treat even for landlubbers! A good 10 days of great weather approaching, are you off to the Tortugas now?
ReplyDeleteNo sight of proper winds and weather window for the DTs, and unfortunately we're getting close to the time to head back for our UK trip. These cold fronts keep getting in the way! (Did the $20 thing, think fishing is probably as simple as his instructions!)
ReplyDelete