Fishermen's Fleet Reports

“Marcella quiere albondigas”. A simple statement, made by one Enrique Lucero, that set us off on a successful adventure. While it may not seem to you that the fact that Marcella, Enriques' wife, wanted meatballs is the kind of statement that would set the great wheels into motion, you, my friend, would be wrong. While perhaps not as historically seismic as “Let them eat cake”, it would none the less shape our day today. This was my annual birthday fishing trip, a little early due to scheduling conflicts, but a tradition that I have faithfully observed since about 12 years of age. The meatballs in question would be those made of marlin. Enrique and I have had a pact for several years now. We will, together, take one marlin per year, the rest must be let go. (Note #1). None of our clients this year had taken any marlin yet, but we've seen a few, and as previously reported the conditions are ripening for the pelagics which join us every year about this time. I enjoy fishing with Enrique. I try to move around throughout the year, attempting to fish with each of our regular Captains as a gesture of respect to them and as an opportunity to communicate with each of them one on one for a whole day. Is Enrique the best of our 14 regulars? About one 14th of the time, but he and I have a personal bond that has formed and grown over the years. Forged in the fires of kidnapping, neonatal torsions, and other countless situations requiring us to help each other we have become fast. We share a similar attitude about many things. We want to have fun, and have similar senses of humor, with attempts at clever word usage and with a dark edge, kinda like an abalone. We trust and enjoy each other, and have fished together enough to function well as a team, helping each other out and giving each other shit in about a 1:1 ratio. Fishing with Enrique is a little like watching Barry Bonds at the plate ie., he swings from the heels most every time. No base hits for this boy. In the words of Captain Chris, “Go Big, or Go Home.” While perhaps not the most effective style if you're hitting for percentage, it's a joy to watch and he connects enough to make it worth the risk. We started this trip by loading up on cocineros just north of Punta Perico. It didn't take E much more than about 10 minutes to load a dozen of these robust little jacks, all croaking their frog like songs. While he was doing this I was preparing the old Trembling Webley. My favorite rig right now for fish between 50 and 200 lbs. is a Cal Star 870H blank, 8 foot long, rated for 40-100lb line, acid wrapped with All American Tackle roller guides, and an extra long butt to facilitate my long arms. With it I use a Penn Baja Special. If you are not familiar with these reels, they are for my money the best of the old school reels. 4/0 size and rather narrow spooled, they have double dogs, and a traditional star drag. I know that lever drag reels are intrinsically stronger, but these reels are smooth, strong, and reliable. That is spooled with 100lb. Spectra topped with 50lb mono. I terminate that with a Bimini Twist which monkey paws to a 80lb fluorocarbon wind on leader. The extra length of the rod affords the fish a little more leverage, but it also allows me, in my less than agile state, to maneuver around the boat and motor when playing fish. Properly armed and with great bait we headed out to the buoys from the 88 bank south. Buoy after buoy we trolled bait by and around, with no good luck at all. There was bait at man of them, concineros, zebra fish, but none of the small yellow tail that have been so evident over the last few week. But no dorado, and no billfish. The ratio of shit slinging to helping was rising into the yellow, as we visited a couple of dozen buoys. Enrique decided that we should head back in and try Punta Perico for some amber jack, so we followed a southerly string of buoys back inside. We were slow trolling bait when we saw at least two marlin jumping ½ mile ahead of us. We continued to putt slowly, and we approached the next buoy the Baja Special begin to click. Clickety, clickety just a little. Maybe the bait was nervous, maybe he was fencing with an aquatic swordman. Then the clicking began in earnest and I removed the rod from the holder and pointed it sternward. It was certainly a fish, but he never hit 2nd gear, just steadily pulling line. When I was just about ready Enrique gave me the high sign, and I clicked the reel into gear. Using a circle hook demands a certain amount of patience, and I resisted the Giant Mexican Macho hook set. The line began to peel off in earnest and I raised the tip, but not as far as I had intended. Fish on. It was a 65 kilo striped marlin and after a few seconds he decided to go Walenda on me, not only greyhounding but taking vertical leaps, a good 2 meters out of the water and attempting to touch his bill to his tail, sideways. For a good 10 minutes he spent an absolute minimum of time in the water, just using it to develop escape velocity. This was as aerial a fish as I've seen, a good thing by me. With he and I both working on getting him tired he was to the boat in 20 minutes. “ALBONDIGAS” we chanted in unison, and Enrique was showing off his pearlies. Our task complete we headed back to PP for a shot at the aforementioned AJ's, but it was not to be. We soaked concinero for an hour, and other than alarge mail sea lion that became impaled on E's circle hook we had nothing. That big bull was pissed off. We ran at him in an effort to regain as much line as possible, that spectra is pricey, and cut it off 20 yards short of the offended mammal. Back to the beach we went, having accomplished our purpose, and having a great day. ars cut down the dead marlin count within our fleet by what I would estimate to be 90%. I know that this will not mollify some of you, and I'm sorry for ruining these 3 minutes of your life, but this is where I draw the line for me. 'Nuff said. NOTE #1: I know that some of you will become inflamed upon reading that we took a marlin. I understand, and in our defense we limit ourselves to one a year. We have also over the years reduced the number of marlin killed by our Captains and clients by an estimated 90%. I understand that that might not meet with your criterion, but it's where I draw the line. 'Nuff said.