I've been away...

Diana's story reminds me of one of my own... I was in Mexico, but on the other side, in Tulum, on the Carribean. I had hired this gringo to take me fishing, but he rented his boat to a German TV crew and they ran it up on the reef and put a hole in it... so I end up hooking up with this other guy, a Mexican, let's call him Pedro, and he agrees to take me out the next day... he has all the right tackle, I'm told.

I meet Pedro early the next morning, he introduces me to this short Mayan guy, turns out the Mayan guy's the skipper, not Pedro. The Mayan guy speaks a little Spanish, so do I, but he speaks no English, and I speak no Mayan.

So Pedro hands me the rod and reel... and old, old red Penn reel (maybe a 309?) that's just green with corrosion. The line is sun-baked and cloudy, and the rod is a Diawa rod with the tip broken off... but not fixed, just broken off, and 6 inches of rod still there, with the line coming out of the second guide. So the Mayan skipper gets two baits, they're small rockfish-looking things. I try to ask him if that is enough, and he seems to understand and tell me that it is... well, he's the skipper, right?

So we set off, push off the beach, through the swells, out to the outside of one of the coral reefs there. The skipper fillets the baitfish, and cuts each fillet so it has two sort of "legs" to it, and a tapered shape. He then hooks up the steel leader and hook to my line and baits the hook. Off we go, trolling faster than I've ever trolled before. I hold the rod & reel, there's no rod holder, so I don't have a choice.

So I try to ask the Mayan skipper, "when the fish bites, do I set the hook, or do I give him line?" He pretends to understand and it seems he tries to tell me to just set the hook as fast as I can. O.K. He's the skipper. So the first fish hits, and BAM!! I set the hook. I try to start reeling, and I realize that this reel is so corroded that the handle will turn, but the actual little plastic end of the handle, the part you hold, will not turn... so it's a bit hard to reel. Needless to say, no fish, no bait. I bang the reel on the side of the boat a little bit, work the handle back and forth, and get it to free up a little bit. We troll around for another 15 minutes, second fish, BAM!! set the hook, nothing. I check the hook I'm using, it's none too sharp. Neither was I, or I would have checked that to begin with. I should have stayed in my hammock this morning.

I ask the skipper for the stone he's used to sharpen his knife with, and I sharpen the hook with it. He looks at me as if I'm from Mars... I don't think they ever sharpen their hooks.

We troll around for another 20 minutes, and BAM!! Another fish on, again I set the hook, it seems like he's on there for a couple of shakes, but then again, I get a bare hook back with no bait.

O.K., I'm on my last bait now, I attempt to ask the skipper again, to make sure there was no confusion... "Do I set the hook right away, or do I give the fish some line?" He seems to understand, and seems to tell me, GIVE HIM LINE!! WHY HAVE YOU BEEN SETTING THE HOOK?

O.K. We've got that settled. It's getting really light out now. We troll around for about 45 minutes, and BAM!! fourth fish hits the bait. I give it line, I count to ten, tighten the drag (did I mention it was like ON or OFF drag?) then reel down slow, and boom, I feel the fish, and looking off the back of the boat, I see this maybe 3 foot barracuda jump from the right to the left... about 60 feet, it swear, in what seemed like less than a second... he just jumped, was travelling horizontal to the sea, about 3 feet off the waves, and was back in the water 60 feet later, all in the blink of an eye... and then I felt him get off. I reel the rig in, and the steel leader, which was almost as corroded as the reel, had broken right where it was folded over and crimped to hold the hook.

Long story, sorry. Lesson learned? Bring your own gear. I wish I had brought my 965 that time. Last time I went, I left a rod down there, so I don't have to carry it on the plane again.

-N.