Wonderful Wasabi Afternoon

Yesterday, Carey and Karen invited us all to an afternoon of fishing on Wasabi – their new fishing boat.  They actually bought the boat on Kwaj from Skip; it’s name used to be Kemosabe.  They have done a lot of work on the boat, and it looks great and was a very comfortable ride. 

Due to my propensity for seasickness, I don’t go out fishing often, but it has been pretty calm and fishing sounded like more fun than sweating on Cherokee all day.  Don’t get me wrong, I love reading, but it’s nice to vary the routine of our days.

We headed out shortly after lunch.  The plan, as I understood it, was to go out the bridge, then run the reef back to the only actual pass.  We were hoping for wahoo (ono) or yellowfin (when we saw bird piles). 

Looking out from the boat towards the bridge.   

We had five lines running.  Too bad you can't see the outriggers.

After about an hour and a half of nothing, we started seeing bird piles. TC & Paul reeled in the first fishes – aku!

Oops, I missed TC reeling in his fish.  (I was opening the cooler for him to put in.)  Here's Paul working hard to reel in the fish, though.  

Carey stepped back from behind the wheel to reel in a fish as well.  Another aku! 

Carey's got his game face on!

On this trip I even reeled in my first fish ever (not counting fishing in a pond). 

It looks like my fish is insanely heavy - I thought it was.   I am not sure I'd even be able to reel in a fish bigger than an aku.  

Dang it!  I am blocking the picture of my first fish ever!

Then I got my second!

I am more at ease with the second one.  Look at me in the fighting chair.   I know this is normally used for big fish, but the belt doesn't work for me.  I'm too weak.

You may be wondering what belt I am referring to.  It would be this stylish accessory.

Unfortunately, I think you need more strength than I've got.  Actually, it's more likely you just need practice.  

Another action shot.   

We chased bird pile after bird pile and all we got were a ton of aku.  Not that I’m complaining.  I was just happy that we didn’t get skunked.  Plus, TC and Paul (and the guys who came out from Kwaj for the tournament) said that the aku around here are so much bigger than those around Kwaj. 

Plus, I got to investigate what the aku were eating.

Isn't he cute?  He's fish food!

After getting a dozen aku (see below), we decided to head back along the reef the way we had come.  We’d gotten distracted by the bird piles, so it was too late to go the 11 miles down to the pass and then 11 miles back up to our harbor in the lagoon.  As we ran along the reef, we saw a few dolphins that jumped and spun for us.  I’m always filled with delight whenever I spy a dolphin.  It doesn’t get old.

Paul shows off an aku while Cary continues to clean them out.

We filled our cooler!

As we ran along the reef, we were hoping for wahoo.   We got a fish on one of the lines that was on the outrigger (which had a bigger lure).  Paul started reeling it in.

Paul reels it in, while Karen snaps pictures.  After we realize it is a bigger one, Cary helps pull the line by hand.  

It was a big one – much bigger than the aku.  We were all getting excited.  A wahoo, perhaps? 

Karen snapped a picture of me snapping a picture.  We were all excited to see what big fish we'd hooked. 

Alas, it was not to be.  However, it was a MONSTER grouper.  Okay, it might have been the biggest grouper I’ve ever seen.  We hauled it and then let him go.  He was kind of stunned on the surface and then quickly swam down.  He was pretty fast for a grouper. 

Yikes, look at the mouth on that thing! 

Karen shot above is slightly better, I think, because you see the ocean through his mouth/gills, but I got a shot too.

Check out this guy's teeth!

TC tries to get the hook out, so we can release him.  

We headed in after that and went around giving away our fish to some of the other boats and some locals.  Then, we had Cary and Karen over to Cherokee for some fresh aku poke, plus TC made the citrus-mustard marinade for some yellowfin we still had.  Yum (for them, though I did have a small taste of both).