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Saturday, March 12, 2016

CRANKY IN COSTA RICA – part five


CRANKY IN COSTA RICA – part five
Yes there were four parts already, right here.  This is it...promise

Catching…again


On our third and final day we were back to sailfish catching.  We shipped out on the same boat with Captain Alex and mate Panther.  The catching was as good as it was the first day.

I’m not sure if the fish attacked the baits differently than they did on day one, or if we were better at spotting them, because on many occasions we could follow the fish’s tail and fin as it swam up to the bait.  This was exciting to say the least.

Captain Alex always saw the fish before it took the bait.  When I was up top with him I could tell when a fish was near.  It was like the calm before the storm. 

One particular time there was a lull of over an hour between strikes.  Panther was half way up a ladder resting.  I was on top talking to Alex.

“A h   l i i k e   N e w   Y o r r k.   M y   b r r o t h e r   l i v e s   i n   

N e w   Y o r r k.

H e ‘ s  a  d o c t o r  a t…”

Suddenly he went silent.  Panther slowly came down off the ladder.  I saw nothing, but knew something was up.

“O n   t h e    r i i g h t   P a n t h e r.”

Wham!  FISH ON!!

This day, like the first we each brought four fish to the boat, another total of sixteen.  Catching a fish is fun, but watching is just as exciting, sometimes more.  When you are bringing in the fish you have to watch the reel to know when to let the fish run, and when to crank in line.  You miss many of the spectacular jumps and tail walking during the process.  Watching these fish take out line and jump is worth the price of admission.  Sometimes the fish would seem to be down deep and suddenly he would be leaping three feet out of the water and seventy-five yards from the boat.

Sometimes while fighting a fish, another fish would leap out of the water and you didn’t know if there were two hooked, or one was just leaping while attacking bait fish.

Sailfish were not all we saw.  There was a manta ray,

There were dolphins swimming and leaping around the boat.
 
We saw several turtles,


And on two occasions a thresher shark leaped straight up four feet out of the water multiple times in a row. 

In short, catching or not catching, there was always something to see and to be amazed about.

At the end of this day, I think we were all ready to head home.  I know I am too old and too weak of back to haul these fish in without a few days rest.

I am not much for photography and especially videos.  I prefer to just enjoy the moment and not worry about saving it.  To give you a taste of what this catching is about, I stole this video from YouTube:


Enjoy…we sure did!

Once again thanks to my brother for this great trip.  This more than makes up for when I was just a little tyke and you would hold me down and drop lugies on me…or when you left me on Catalina Island and told me some baby goats were really wild boar and could rip me apart…or when you got boxing gloves for you birthday and knocked me out for about a minute…or when you told me killer whales would bash in the boat and eat us all…or for many atomic wedgies!  This more than covers all that.

I have just one more thing to say to you.  You may be a great brother, but

I GOT ALL THE SPACEMEN!!*



*Unless you are one of maybe sixteen non- relatives who have read "Maybe It's Just Me!" this means nothing to you.  I guess I'll have to post that story soon.

15 comments:

  1. sounds like you had a great bit of nature spotting and appreciating.

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  2. Love the dolphins and turtle, and that shark! Leaping like that, beautiful.

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  3. Fun, fun, fun!! And a sunburn?

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  4. Good to know sibling rivalry is alive and will -- and kicking!

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  5. I'm glad you had a great time and the opportunity to cross this off your bucket list.

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  6. How fun and I loved all the stuff your brother did to you and how you still love him. Great posts on a wonderful adventure.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  7. Uh--yeah, that "spaceman" story is now necessary.
    Congrats on such a super trip and am glad you and your brother mended those sibling fences.

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  8. I LOVE this series of posts Joe. I've got to find a way to get down there for some fishing.
    Thanks.

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  9. A wonderful trip, and i'm with you about making the memories being more important than capturing them all on film.

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  10. OMG that sounds like fun! I love fishing, though I probably wouldn't be able to reel in anything that big that's actually fighting (I once reeled in a 22 pound northern pickerel, but its fighting days were mostly over). Costa Rica is the one country still on my bucket list, just for the scenery and the bird-watching.

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  11. Wow! That's more aquatic species than you could find at Sea World! The rooster fish and manta ray would be my favorites.

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  12. Wow on the dolphin jumping...that alone would make a trip like this worthwhile for me!

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  13. Wonderful trip and great of you to give kudos to your brother. I think you're a good pair.

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  14. You sound more excited about this trip than my husband is about March Madness! I'm with you! ... although, when I looked at your pics and that video, all I thought was, "That's a lot of water with no land in sight, huge hungry fish, and a small boat.

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  15. I FINALLY got to catch up on this post and I am SO happy you all had such a great time, and seriously, what a great brother. Most importantly, what great memories.. That's the stuff of life and wow, in this trip alone you've got it in spades. So wonderful. Loved all the pics and the videos. That rooster fish your bro got was a very cool looking fish. I'm kinda' happy you can't eat 'em. :) Yay for you Cranky. All of these posts made me smile.

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