Plenty of Fish in the Sea

     One of the major points of excitement on the trip was fishing. Darv went all out before the trip and outfitted himself with the best equipment to get some action. And it paid off. By the end of the trip we were often catching and releasing the fish. Of the 28 days we spent on the ocean, we ate fish 26 of them. Without catching fish for dinner, we might have been rationing our last canned goods. But as it was we ate really well. Darv was also master chef in the Galley. He brought a toolbox full of spices and wasn’t afraid to use them! After our first disappointing Tuna loss, we were so excited to catch our first fish, a small Dorado. After that the fish kept getting bigger! We ended up naming most of our lures and we had our favorites by the end of the trip. They all found a special spot in our hearts. 

Here they are from left to right: Green Machine, Gorgeous George, Red Baron, Show Girl, Elton John, and Marilyn Monroe. They all look a little worse for wear after all the action they saw. Especially Marilyn, who had a lot of her platinum blond locks bitten off.  

 Here are some pictures of all the delicious fish Darv cooked for us! Mom and I made the rest :)

This is called 'Poke' and we made it with fresh Dorado. It's raw fish with marinate. Man is it ever tasty! 

Darv cooking on the gimballed stove 

FIsh tacos on the sea!

Happiness is ... 

  

     We had two really big  prize catches, a 50 lbs Dorado (Mahi Mahi) and a 70lbs Wahoo. I had no idea how thrilling it would be to catch such enormous fish. My adrenalin was always pumping when we had a fish on the line. I even reeled one in myself! When we got a strong hit on the lure and we knew it was a big fish it was all hands on deck. Darv would masterfully reel in the fish and then as soon as it was close enough to the boat Dad would gaff the fish in the gills and we would pull it into the boat. They would often be flopping around powerfully so I would pour vodka into their gills to calm them down. Mom would be behind the wheel steering us safely. Darv always had to go up on deck to bleed and filet the fish, and often it had to be done in rough seas. I don’t know how he did it, but were thankful he did! Afterwards we would scrub down the deck from all the blood. Soem of the fish we caught while we were motoring and some were caught while under sail. The best speed to catch fish was between 5-7 knots. 

The fish look so beautiful and colourful when they swim in the water!

Dad gaffing the Dorado! He always hooked them on his first try, so we started calling him the Gaff Master 

The big guy is in the boat!

50lbs Dorado 

You can see how they lose their pretty colours very quickly after being caught

Measuring up. 52 inches long 

The fish is almost as big as mom!

The Gaff Master and Darv 

The fish was too big to bleed inside the boat so we had to drag him in the water by a rope 

 Ok,I had to get a picture with it too! (I'm holding up a local newspaper from my hometown. You send them pictures of yourself from your trips around the world holding up the newspaper and they publish them. Were hoping for front page ;) ) 

The Wahoo. Caught with 'Show girl' lure 

Wicked stripes!

70lbs Wahoo 

     The official fish caught by rod and reel: Dorado, Blue Fin Tuna, Bonita, Wahoo and Bill Fish. Fish caught by spear gun: Sheep’s Head, Parrotfish, Grouper, Mullet, Scup, Octopus, Lizard Fish, Red Snapper and Lobster.    

Bleeding a fish 

Trolling all day every day 

Darv's tarp he used to fillet the fish 

Feeding the family 

First time reeling in! 

My first catch! Dorado! 

My biggest catch ever and the Dorado 

After trolling at night for days without catching anything Darv finally caught this .. thing! It was a bit of a mystery fish but we thought it was part of the Bill fish family maybe. Of course he saved his mandibles.  

Mom named it 'Ugly fish' 

We couldn't eat the fish fast enough and without a freezer on the boat and this particular fish was going bad. So darv dragged it over the side of the boat hoping to attract a big fish. About an hour later Dad heard some splashing while he was on shift, when we looked over the side of the boat it was gone and the rope had been chewed right through. We suspect it was a shark, or at least a realllly big fish   

Marilyn Manroe. The platinum blond with red lips 

More beautiful Dorado  

       

Skip Jack Tuna 

The first red meat fish we caught on the trip 

The Skip Jack Tuna flipping his tail fast 

Gorgeous George makes his debut  

Awesome stripes on a smaller Wahoo.  

Darv saved this Wahoo as it had some orange rope (still in Darvs hands) caught in his mouth. We released him after. 

     I’m glad that I took so many pictures of the fish we caught because they were absolutely breathtaking! I never considered fish very beautiful until this trip, now I definitely have a new perspective. 

Some pictures of the fish caught by speargun: 

Atlantic Sheep's Head 

Octopus 

Parrot fish and scup 

Giant Oyster!