First I must tell you that I have been humbled. I was so proud of the 385 pound Marlin we caught last month but last week was the all Micronesian Tournament and Becky and I went down to watch the weigh in. A husband and wife team from Palau brought in a 551 pounder. Now that fish was a monster.
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| 551 pounds |
Saturday was the local monthly Billfish Tournament and I was again lucky enough to be invited to crew on Ronnie’s boat. John and Hugh were again on board and a friend of Ronnie's named Gary who is from Renton WA but has been living here aboard his 38 foot sailboat since 1998.
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| John |
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| Ronnie at the helm |
We left the dock at 6:00 AM and were soon out of the lagoon and in the open ocean. This time the sea was much rougher than last month. The swells were 4 to 6 feet and the wind was blowing around 20 knots. Ronnie’s boat handles the ocean well but we were tossed around all day.
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| Hugh not feeling well. |
The fishing was great but the catching was lousy! We had two really good strikes that took everything including the swivels. We had one marlin on but it must not have been hooked well enough and spit out the lure. We did catch one 20 pound yellow fin tuna and two small (7-8 pound) skip jacks so there was fish to take home but a big goose egg for tournament points. Fortunately for us, of the eight boats in the tournament only one had a qualifying fish and it was a small marlin weighing in at 131 pounds. So Ronnie stays well in the lead for the years total points in the annual competition. I count the day as a success because I didn’t get seasick (Hugh did) and still went home with a nice piece of tuna. Just another tough day as a Cabana Boy.
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| Trolling at 9 knots |
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| Ronnie and John looking for birds |
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| Our fishing platform |
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