Equipment Failures

After a day of touring San Salvador we got to try our luck fishing this new territory. The spread was pretty much the same although we have shifted to a little more blue and white since our big Marlin was caught on a blue and white Islander/Ballyhoo rig. Old dependable, purple and black Chugger, has still been the most consistent bite so we rigged up a second one. We trolled south towards Sandy Point, then continued on around the south end of the island to the southeast point. As we neared Sandy Point we saw some wild bird action including this Frigate diving down after bait fish. It was a classic Guy Harvey picture.

From 2012-06-03

And as we suspected he was on a Big Dolphin. Since we are mostly in the catch and release mode, we did not get a picture of this fish as we were busy trying to get him released safely and the hook came out just as we were pulling him in through the transom door. Convenient, huh? However, here is a pic of Leann fighting the fish just prior to the "catch and release."

From 2012-06-03

We did catch a second Dolphin and decided since we did not have any fresh fish for dinner, we would take one.

From 2012-06-03

And...the view Columbus had of land from Fernandez Bay....

From 2012-06-03

The only other catches for the day were a small Blackfin Tuna and a Cuda. We had something with teeth, either a big Cuda or Wahoo bite off our blue and white Islander so we were bumbed about that. Then, we had a strong bite on a Dolphin colored Moldcraft Chugger. That's when the equipment failed us. On setting the hook, the line broke. Time to check out all the drags. After much deliberating and testing we decided the line was OK but must have had a bad spot costing us a shot at another Big Blue. Old reliable did have a couple good strikes as well and upon examining the leader we discovered there were rough spots on it above the lure indicating a billfish strike.

We changed out a couple leaders and changed a few hooks and rigged a few fresh Ballyhoo rigs getting ready for the move to Rum Cay. Fishing report later.

CTM