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Written by Trudy and Graham |
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Prior to departing Florida, we spent considerable time reading about offshore fishing and the various delicacies awaiting our arrival in the Bahamas. In anticipation of welcoming some of this seafood aboard, we equipped our boat with a sturdy trolling rod, a lightweight spinning rod, a Hawaiian sling and enough support tackle to fill a small tool box. Despite being keen to get started, it wasn’t until we’d been in the Abaco region of the Bahamas for a couple of days before conditions were right for us to start experimenting. For our first attempt, we trolled a line in the shallow waters of the Sea of Abaco from Marsh Harbour to Little Harbour with little success except for catching bucket loads of seaweed! By convenient happenstance, later that evening we encountered a couple of young men disembarking a sport fishing so naturally it didn’t take long to introduce ourselves and ask their advice. Primarily their suggestion was to troll “anything yellow”, and keep it “deep” while traveling the shallow waters of the banks, then use as many lines as possible when offshore. So it sounded like we might at least be able to find a yellow lure in the tackle box, even if we were restricted to a single line. The opportunity to test the new suggestions soon presented itself in the form of a 60 mile trip from Little Harbour to Royal Island, Eluthera. Since we would be offshore traversing the 3000’ canyons of the Northeast Providence Channel for much of the trip, Graham selected a large blue and yellow fish-shaped “swimming plug” as his weapon of choice. The instant this monster disappeared below the surface and started to dive to its design depth, it created enormous tension on the line and bent the rod nearly 90 degrees! Although it certainly felt like we’d hooked something big, when we slowed the boat down and retrieved the line, all we had was the lure itself! Seeking a more manageable solution, we soon changed over to a simple surface running cedar plug for the remainder of the journey. As we came up over the drop-off near Eleuthera, there was a brief moment of excitement when the reel drag started to click. Sadly it didn’t last long, and all we “caught” were some deep scratches in the wooden plug, and a souvenir fish tooth. Something had at tried to bite the lure rather than the hook! Apparently weren’t going to be eating fish for dinner any time soon…
After getting settled in at Royal Island, Graham went snorkeling near the entrance to the harbour, and became rather excited when he spotted two 24” Nassau groupers swimming around a large coral boulder. As soon as he returned sporting his Hawaiian sling, these astute fish decided to hide until the clumsy human had given up due to fading light. Next morning, Graham decided he was going back to “finish what he’d started”, but made the same mistake of getting in the water unarmed to take a quick look around. As before, the intended targets stayed around long enough to be seen, but disappeared instantly the spear was in his hands. Luck was not totally against us however, as a smaller, and not so wise Nassau grouper found itself at the wrong end of Graham’s spear later that same day. After cleaning and grilling his catch, Graham and I shared a tasty afternoon snack with two very interested cats! While underway on the banks from Hatchet Bay to Rock Sound, we decided to try one of our yellow jigs, and an hour or so later we were amazed when line began to spool off the reel. We both jumped up, and Graham pulled in the line as I located the tools ready to deal with our new dinner guest. Luck was on our side, and we were very excited to land a 3-4lb blue runner jack. Within a very short time Graham had the fish filleted and in the fridge, so out went the line again, ready for anything else which might happen along. (Ed’s note: why do I get nominated for all the messy jobs?)
A short while later the clicking started again, but by the time I’d retrieved in the line, the fish had disappeared along with the lure; the snap connector on the leader looked like it had disengaged during the previous de-hooking procedure, then straightened out under the load of the larger fish. We tried again with a second jig of the same design, but this time something immediately chew off the wiggly tail, leaving behind just the hook! With mounting frustration, we switched over to our cedar plug (intended for offshore trolling), and hooked yet another large fish in next to no time. As Graham worked the reel, he announced that it appeared to be a four foot long great barracuda, and would therefore be released just as soon as he could separate those fearsome teeth from our hook! Not wishing to repeat the barracuda episode, we rapidly swapped the cedar plug for our one remaining smaller plug, and promptly lost that (along with a significant chunk of line) to another barracuda. This time, the fault was an inexpertly tied knot joining two sections of monofilament which had previously been mangled in a nasty encounter with some whirling wind generator blades. Fortunately, we were soon able to replenish our depleted fishing supplies at a couple of establishments in Rock Sound! On December 22, 2002 an offshore transit from Rock Sound to Allan’s Cay in the Exumas provided the next opportunity to tow the cedar plug. About half way across, the line started to run, and this time it was clear we were in for a pretty good work out. As we brought the fish closer, it was obvious that we’d need both the gaff and fish billy (a softball bat), but neither of us had considered preparing the boat for the bloodbath that followed. We eventually landed a 10-15lb yellowfin tuna, and spent the next hour cleaning the blood from the cockpit, chart table and galley, then an additional hour filleting the fish and scrubbing the cockpit again. Needless to say, we both ate and slept well that night!
With four large fillets in the fridge, the next challenge facing us was exactly how to eat all that fish; what a wonderful problem to have after all our previous frustrations! It tasted absolutely exquisite freshly cleaned, and later that same evening we enjoyed seared cutlets which were definitely large enough to completely fill our bellies. At the same time we also made ceviche so our catch could “cook” overnight in freshly squeezed lemon juice, and needless to say, that was eagerly devoured (along with a glass or two of cold wine) at lunch the next day. There was one more evening of seared cutlets, a dinner of tuna chunks in a mushroom sauce on Christmas Eve, and finally, curried tuna chunks for Christmas dinner and Boxing Day lunch. (Ed’s note: This might sound like a lot of repetition, but we both really like tuna, and were keen not to let any spoil by keeping it too long.) So our advice to those considering fishing while cruising would be to have lots of lures. Be prepared for losing a few along the way due to equipment failure, operator failure or very fierce Barracudas. Don’t plan on having fish dinner until one presents itself ready to be cooked. Take lots of lemon juice, lime juice, onions, spices, herbs, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and white wine. Last but not least, invest in a copy of “The Cruiser’s Handbook of Fishing” by Scott and Wendy Bannerot (ISBN 0-07-134560-4) along with a pictorial fish guide for the area you plan to cruise. Crew: Trudy and Graham Norbury, and their cats Sylvester and Shadow
Written and edited 6th January, 2003
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