Day 3 - Tuesday

A bit of something different today

Today we asked to do some inshore fishing to try and catch a Rooster Fish. This was on Garry's list of species he wanted to catch. I had caught these previously in Mexico.

The day started with rain whilst we had breakfast. This cleared by the time we left the dock. The plan was to head south along the shoreline until the tides changed and inshore fishing would deteriorate - then head out into open ocean for more billfish.

Roosterfish

The coastline

This was made up of a long black beach, presumably volcanic sand, that formed very steep beaches. Littered along the beaches were the remnants of holiday homes, hotels etc. We assumed there had been an economic downturn in their tourism industry but it turns out that a rogue wave travelled a few miles inland. It destroyed buildings along the way and ripped out a lot of the beach and took it back out to sea. That explains the following photos, especially the one with the deserted buildings stranded in the sea.

First task was to find some live bait. The crew worked mackerel feathers around the hulls of a few of the large ships that were waiting to dock. It didn't take them long to catch enough.

Then we headed along the beach trolling a variety of live baits, dead baits and lures. I had the first catch of the day - a small Jack. Garry then followed this with his target Roosterfish. Unfortunately it was only a small one but a Roosterfish all the same.

Shortly after I caught a more typical Roosterfish. 

Then Garry had a small Spanish Mackerel. This was going to be used for some lovely Carpaccio later. Unfortunately this was the last bite before the tide turned.

Deep water trolling

After heading out about 10 miles (and further south than we usually were), we slowed to trolling speed and the crew put out the usual spread of 6 - 8 rods, mainly with dead baits (Ballyhoo).

It wasn't long before I was into the first Sailfish of the day. Unfortunately it was "bill wrapped" which means that the line was wrapped around the fishes bill and it was able to use the bill's serrated edge to cut the line and be free. That was the first fish that we have actually lost this trip.

As the trolling continued I decided to concentrate on trying to get some photos of fish leaping and doing their acrobatics. That meant less video today but does mean that I had to spend less time on processing so am able to create the full blog for today rather than having to do it later.

Acrobatics

These are shots of Garry's catches as I was the one behind the camera.

Dorado spitting out the
bait as it leaps

The same fish about to
crash back into the ocean

The water spray in this shot clearly shows
the Dorado had shaken it's head violently

Sailfish starting a tail walk

A few seconds later in that walk

Sailfish leaping as it
approaches the boat

Sailfish ready for surrender

Sailfish catch shots

Garry and his Sailfish

Steve and his. It almost looks metallic

Garry with a nice female Dorado

Catch Summary

Garry

• Small Roosterfish
• Spanish Mackerel
• 2 x Sailfish
• Dorado

Steve

• Jack
• Roosterfish
• Bonito
• Sailfish
• Small Dorado

Overall Summary

As mentioned in the intro, it was different today. We got to see something other than open blue ocean and found out a little more about the area. The fishing was a little slow but we did manage to tick off that Roosterfish for Garry. We are doing a similar plan tomorrow but will not spend as long inshore before heading out. Hopefully we can both get some bigger fish inshore. 

Apparently fly fishing for Sailfish only makes sense if there are plenty of them around. If we do happen upon a number of them then we will take in the port side outrigger so that we can cast a fly to them.

A different route today