Fishing the High Seas – June 13, 2009

Once again awakened by our expensive flying alarm clocks, we stirred our coffee and made plans to fish. We backed out of the slip at the crack of 10 o'clock, filled our bait tank with what looked to me to be fair sized fish and headed for open water. Captain Jeff took over tactical control of the helm with Admiral Marc calling the shots on when and where to drop lines.

Neither Dave nor I were fishing. Dave served as official photographer and documentarian of our voyage and I, well, I hate fishing. In fact, I am by far the least seaworthy of the whole crew. It's not like I don't have the experience. After all I did serve in the United States Navy and spent an entire fourteen days aboard ship off the coast of Vietnam, North Korea and the sea of Japan. That however, is an entirely different story. We never fished during my entire naval career. I get seasick. The constant pitch and roll of a fishing boat does not sit well with my inner ear. However, I didn't want to miss this time with my brothers, brother-in-law and nephew. My brothers love to fish. I hung on and did my best to be somewhat useful and at least do no harm. Despite the best efforts of both the crew and wildlife to distract me and the deployment of the staysail, one of the unique aspects of the Grand Banks, to counteract the roll of the boat, I managed to deplete the contents of my stomach at an inopportune time.

On our way out to the kelp beds we rendezvoused with a group of dolphins that were driving up a school of bait fish. Circling round and round they drove the fish tighter and higher so their mates could feed. Not only the dolphins fed but dozens of gulls, terns and pelicans also shared the feast. It was actually the birds that drew our attention to the dolphins. As we drew nearer one of the dolphins came over and rode the bow wave of the Grand Banks. This is a sight that is always thrilling. Unfortunately, we were unable to capture it and share with you.

Since the rising bait fish attract not only the attention of aerial predators but larger fish in the sea as well, the Admiral passed orders to heave to and drop lines. Richard immediately hooked a twenty two inch barracuda but not for long. A sea lion rocketed in and expertly separated fish from hook. He then surfaced with the fish, tossed it into the air and shook it mockingly in our direction as if to say, “See who is king here!” Over the next few hours we fed bait fish to the sea lions, gulls, terns and even a few catch fish. The three fisherman landed five good calico bass. This was after waiting for a half hour with no lines in the water for the sea lions to give up and harass a different boat. With some difficulty, we hauled up the anchor and drove home.

Jeff again cooked up a great dinner from the fruits de mer and we all slept soundly that night.

Next: Sailboats don't roll!