Got into mexico on monday. walked around to try to get some info on a charter. (thanks for all of the recommendations, just couldnt afford the big boats). ended up finding a stand beside the pier and talked to the booking agent. told him that we were interested in catching bills and yft. stressed to him that we would release all of the bills and he told me that there would be no problem with that.
left at 630 am to beat the other boats to “the bank”. on the way out i had a talk with the captain reiterating that we wanted to release any bill that we were to catch. he assured me that it would be no problem. arrived there around 830 and started trolling. about 20min later somthing hit the two long lines. i dropped one back and the captain dropped the other back. i gave it a basic 6 count and slid the drag, nothing. the captain said it was because i didnt wait long enough. the captain missed also. found a huge school of sardiens an jacks and pulled in all of the lines to site cast. located a couple fins and the mate casted to the first sail, hooked up. the girlfriend took the rod for her first sail, and bill. as she was fighting it, we saw more fins about 200 yards away. put the boat in gear and spread over to them, and casted. hooked, number two. i fought it for about 20 min before getting it in. the girlfriend landed her’s while i was fighting mine. both fish to the boat by 10am.
unfortunately, both fish were not salvageable. hers had her stomach out of it and mine was hooked very deep and basically dead when it got to the boat. i was pretty upset with the capt and tried to figure out what had gone wrong. first and foremost, they were using j hooks. we asked them to switch everything to circle. second, he said that he was letting the fish eat for about 14-18 seconds. seems a little long to me? im not a huge billfisher, but isnt that too long? also, if we were using circle hooks and he would have let them eat this long, would they still have been hooked inside, thus killing th
That’s just the way they do things over there…on a side note, those sails are really big. The first one is a hoss. It’s a shame they had to die though. Hopefully, some people got some meals out of it. Your intentions were honorable; there’s something to be said for that.
2005 236 Sailfish
225 Yamaha 4-stroke
Question???
Say you do hook a fish and they are dead by the time they get to the boat. Like a under sized flounder, anything eatable.
What do you all do? Just throw the dead fish back in to feed the others?
Or do you keep them to eat, I guess that would be rough explaining to DNR.
I release 99% of what i catch, but if he swallows the hook and he is going to die, i bring it home and eat um, don’t want a fish to go to waste. That is how i ate my first shark… They are tasty if cooked right.
2502 trophy twin thirsty 175 mercs
“If you don’t stand behind our troops, try standing in front of them”
Why are you apologizing for something that you enjoyed and paid to do, don’t listen to all the ignorant conservationists on this site. They eat them over there feeding their familys and so on, Besides, you don’t look that mad in your pictures, as far as drop back- drop back as much as you want, whichever way will hook the fish is the right way. When you go to another country you abide by thier rules, if this makes you mad then don’t pay for a fishing charter to catch you sails when you know they slay em. If I saw your american ass coming down the beach and you asked if we would release all sails, I would look at the mate - wink - and say sure we will. Sounds like he hooked you
ob-
no, im not saying that i didnt enjoy it. i enjoy fishing anytime and anywhere possible. actually, the girlfriend made sure that most of the people on the dock got some fish. i understand that they are a poor country and it would be hard to turn down meals if they were in your face everyday. just makes you think that if one boat takes 2-3 per day, 20 boats out of that port, 365…guess he did get me.
25’ Mako CC
Twin 150 HPDI’s
Chasin’ Tail
For Sale