Left San Jaunico, aka Scorpion Bay, after getting some really fun waves there, two days ago. We left that morning, dragging the lures, as always. I was just settling down for an afternoon nap, the boat was sailing along under full main and jenny nicely, making good time, when the fishing line started screaming. Gabe was the first one to it and by the time I made it on deck he was fighting what seemed like a monster. Fireball coaching him “tighten the drag….play him…not too much!” The line was zipping off the reel, thought for sure he was going to spool us, run out of line! I pulled in sail to slow the boat. Then the other line we had out started screaming! Fireball jumped on it and started playing a second one. I pulled in all sail and started the engine.

We’ve caught 10 bonito tuna on the way here, a good fish, decent fighter and yummy on the BBQ. Fireball, our hunter, got 2 mackerel at anchor one night and could have filled the boat with them but we weren’t sure if they were good eating, they were delicious. He has taken with his speargun 3 perch, 3 calico bass and 2 sheepshead, all great eating! We’ve also been given 11 lobsters from the local fishermen and in return threw them cold beers. We can’t take lobsters ourselves, as it’s not only illegal for us to but it’s thier lively hood. However, we sure have seen a lot of lobsters in the water. Almost all the spots we’ve been snorkeling with or without our speargun the locals have come out to make sure we’re not taking lobsters or abalone. Usually a friendly “pescado solomente” is all it takes and they’re on thier way. We were asked to go back to our “ship” once by a group of nervous young guys who came out to check us out. No worries, we’re here as visitors and didn’t want to cause any bad feelings.

So now, we’re out in the middle of the ocean and I have Fireball fighting a big fish on the port side and Gabe fighting, what seems to be a bigger fish, on the starboard. I’m keeping the boat pointed into the wind mostly but maneuvering so the fish don’t go under the boat. Fireball’s fish is coming closer and I get a first glimpse of a yellow fin tuna, a fish that’s on my bucket list to catch. It’s quite a bit bigger than the bonito we’ve been catching and we’re all really excited! They’ve been playing these two for about 20 minutes so far. I gaffed it and we got it onboard, holy cow that thing is big and still not wanting to give up, Fireball put a knee on it and quickly dispatched it. Wow, what a beautiful fish, 29” and about 25lbs. Biggest fish we’ve ever caught, any of us , anywhere, anytime. Gabe is tiring as we’re watching him, Fireball takes over because Gabes left forearm is cramping. It takes Fireball another 15 minutes to bring this one in close enough to gaff him, and he’s in the boat. 36” and about 40lbs! OMG we’re eating tuna for the next few days.

It took Fireball two hours to clean these two fish. One of the fillets as big as an entire bonito. What a beautiful thing, living, somewhat, off the land. My poor hunter hasn’t been able to spear anything here in Santa Maria Cove because we need to finish the tuna first. He’s pointed out there’s all kinds of fish just rite over there that look delicious. Having tuna again on the BBQ tonight with the Admirals homemade teriyaki, yum. Two local fishermen just stopped by offering lobsters, no thank you we’re having tuna.

Tor