Navigation 102...Sailfish 102

We have completed Navigation 101, so this must be Navigation 102. We pulled out of Nassau Harbor Sunday morning, fueled up and headed west across Great Bahama Bank towards Exuma Sound.

From 2012-05-21

This crossing is a little shorter, 25 NM or so. The water is shallow but a little deeper than before, maybe 20 or 25 feet. The catch is, it is loaded with coral heads. Coral heads can jut up shallow enough to wreak havoc with your running gear. They are extremely hard and can cause lots of damage and destruction. We conservatives from the US like to call them "Obama Heads". (What looks like a + with dots around it is a coral head.)

From 2012-05-21

We made the crossing and maneuvered through the cuts and made our way out into Exuma Sound. Exuma Sound is a large body of water similar to the Tongue. It is bounded by The Exumas on the west and Eleuthera and Cat Island on the east. It is also very deep. I, of course, had a couple of fishing spots picked out and was hoping CJM was in the mood to let me try them. Immediately after entering the Sound we found some massive weedbeds. There were a few other boats trolling around so we trolled around the weeds as well. Neither we nor any other boats that we saw did any good. The beds were so large that by the time the fish could swim out from under them, we had already trolled by.

We ran and trolled, off and on, along the northern edge of the Sound and did manage to hook a nice Dolphin. Dinner:) Then the coolest thing happened. We saw a bunch of birds, mostly on the water and swimming there amongst them was a Billfish of some sort. With some expert maneuvering of the boat, CJM got us in front of our prey. I reeled up the light tackle because I knew I did not want this fish on one of those rigs. We left out the two TLD 50's. One with a green and white skirt over a Ballyhoo and the other, you guessed it, our lucky purple and black Moldcraft Chugger. The fish first hit the Hoo and then we hooked him up on old faithful...the Moldcraft Chugger. The result was one more notch in that skirt....Sailfish number 2 for the Moldcraft Chugger!

From 2012-05-21

From 2012-05-21

From 2012-05-21

It was one of the coolest hookups, catch and releases we have ever had! And...to top off an already perfect day Scott and Karen were just arriving at Cape Eleuthera at the same time we were and were waving to us as we motored into the harbor. Time for Happy Hour.....

CTM