Well, we took our first cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I told my wife my only request was to fish at our first stop; Cozumel. We took salsa dancing lessons on the ship as my “payment” for this request. That’s right, I said I salsa danced. Be jealous.
This was my first lesson in you get what you pay for with a charter company. We don’t have a huge budget, so I chose one of the cheaper ones I could find. I figured it would get us out on the water fishing at the very least. What we got at the dock was exactly what I paid for; a cheap charter.
Two guys, a “captain” and a “mate.” Both spoke about 5 words of English. The boat looked like the S.S. Minnow refitted. The gear looked like something your grandfather had stored in the corner of his garage. There were NO gauges on the boat, no electronics (one small radio), and so on.
We got one knockdown on the downrigger 20 minutes after we started trolling. The way the bait came up it looked like a Hoo or maybe a Cuda. Then nothing for 3 hours. The “mate” pulled in the lines every so often to check the bait. Our way back line, the ballyhoo was missing it’s tail at one point. Then, just about ready to get to the dock, we got a small cow.
If you’ve never been to Cozumel, you go 1/2 mile or less off the shore and you hit a massive drop off. So we trolled right along this drop off, on the deep side the whole time. We did move out to some deeper water every now and then. We fished the side of the island between Cozumel and mainland Mexico. It’s about 10 to 12 miles between them.
So, my trip was not a total bust as we did bring a gilled creature into the boat, but next time I’ll spend the extra money to be on a nicer boat, with a crew who understands the basics of trolling.
Real quick, the “fish” highlight of the trip came in Costa Maya. We were walking down the pier to the boat, and along the way we noticed a bunch of people looking in the water and pointing. I walked up to see what was going on. I looked down in the
Hey buddy! Glad you had a good time! Sorry about the charter. You know my gaf job would have been way better! LOL. The marlin video is great! i bet you are all ready to go trolling now though. Only a few weeks dude! Glad you’re back!
Yeah man. I’ve gotta get the trailer done, get some reels respooled, set up the outriggers and we are in. Just need a nice day in a few weeks and we are out there brotha!!
Pretty sure they are sailfish swimming by the pier but
either way awesome video thanks for sharing
If your ever back down there try capt Ricks on the
mainland playa del carman cause the fishing is worldclass
They very well could have been. I never saw anymore of a fin on their back than what you see in the video. That kind of shorter triangular fin like a Marlin would have. However, they never really flared their fins so I never got to see. I guess in the excitement I wanted to believe they were Marlin.
Also, thanks for the tip. I have no idea if I’ll ever get back there but I sure know now to be in better touch with my charter and to not just trust a web page!!
WOW!!! Thats awesome we just got back from puerto morales a little fishing village in mexico, and chartered a boat (35 bertram $255.00/4 hours) and the mate was using frayed rope to catch billfish. We hooked a sailfish and he jumped and cut the line. Her first sail ever hooked she was sad. Has anyone ever heard of this before?? It was just anchor rope frayed up into a mess, no hooks just a teaser in front and behind it!!! Craziest thing I ever seen before but he did strike at it. Nice job on the pics fun times thanks for sharing!!!
Oh sorry dont feel bad our boat and tackle was exactly the same. No electronics gauges nothing but a fighting chair and a cooler. But they new a bit of english, I asked where his depthfinder/gps was and the captain smiled and pointed to his head I thought here we go!! Caught some nice snapper and trigger fish on the way in as well.
Yeah, I was about to ask my captain the same thing. But then I realized that when you can see the ledge on the bottom through the water and can tell the color of the shirts of the people on the beach, you really don’t need a GPS or a depth finder I guess. LOL!!
Actually, the more and more I look at this video, there are a few frames where the “sail” comes up sort of (about 43 seconds on the video). I guess they were just sailfish.
Adam, Charity and I are glad you two had a great time and are back safe!! Awesome videos and great pics on FB! We’ll be in touch. We still need to have another dinner and get the kids together again!! We reelly need the fan to stop so we can head out!!!
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150 www.joinrfa.orgGod is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
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Yeah, I hear ya about that big ol’ fan. I have a new problem now where I might be working full time in April. This will severely cut into my available days and ability to plan in April. But I need the work to feed the kids and keep the roof over our heads. Plus it will reset all my medical benefits as well. Don’t worry, we’ll get out there man. Kut08, if your reading this, don’t you worry either, we WILL get out there soon enough.
Yeah, the more I watch it, the more I realize I was wrong on the initial identification. Being I’m new to this and haven’t had a bill fish in the boat yet, I thought that what appeared to be shorter fins closer up to the head meant they were Marlins. I didn’t realize that when a sail stows its upper fin it looks like that. And, I didn’t realize that they had vertical stripes like that when viewed in the water. Hey, I’m new to this, what can I say.
Adam, What was that guy thinking? A gaff and a club for that little guy? LOL! Those guys keep everything too. I took the same cruise last year and fished in Cozumel. We caught some blackfin tuna that were WAY small but they threw in the box anyways. Made me sick but what can you do its their boat and their country. I sounds like you guys had a blast. That is an awesome video of the sails buddy! We need to get together here pretty quick and do some catchin!
I’ve been calling ya. I want to chat and find out what you are planning for the end of month. Been talking to your brother Dennis. I’m going to start seriously looking for days after the middle of the month. Give me a call when you can.
