11/12/14

To the north leaving big fish glory behind. A combination of factors, not the least of which was the very limited number of bites for a full afternoon of hard effort, called for a change of pace. Every voyage has it's distinct technical qualities. On this occasion catching and altitude took precedence; a little bit of breeze in the forecast and a little room left in our Mexican limits were persuasive motivators.

A lot of fishing later the goal was achieved. The ridge, so perfect, so calm, so incredibly productive during the past five or six days, took a downhill turn. Nothing more than a simple revolution of the natural cycle, the high and low ebb and flow of ocean fishing, the easy money, one stop shop of a few days prior came to a screeching halt. We had to get on our horse and find 'em today. With the help of our present "buddy boat", a running joke between us and our colleague on a matching ten day trip, we did exactly that. Systematically overturning stones as we worked along the ridge day's end, and a timely call from our friend, produced the jackppot. We got all "fixed up" on nice grade yellowfin tuna with a little time to spare.

Now for the last species on the variety list. Elusive thus far the ridiculously abundant dorado of weeks past have been not so much on this run. We've actually dedicated quite a bit of time and effort to the endeavor thus far for a paltry one in the hatch. But it is not over. The two of us, credit again to our "buddy boat", are in full search mode tomorrow. Working up together in much improved weather and sea state separated by ten or twelve miles the advantage of such skirmish line strategies can not be overstated.

We don't rely on anyone to do our fishing and finding for us, history irrefutably describes those facts, but we do rely on each other, and I'm glad for it. The ocean has a way of shrinking one down to nothing in painfully obvious ways. Friendships on the high seas, developed over decades of working together offshore, go a long way toward achieving consistent success, and maintaining sanity.

Photo today features a man who enjoyed a small piece of his fishing sanity restored. Suffering a painful defeat in a battle with a big cow a few years prior, today Royal Star veteran Steve Bernd settled the score. This beautiful 205 easily did the trick and whetted his appetite for something more. These big bruisers have a way doing that to an angler; the calling for another, bigger fish is very difficult to ignore. And that's enough with the rhymes today.

Tim Ekstrom

Photo Here...