Woo hoo!! This Mahi-Mahi (or Dorado for our Spanish-speaking friends) was such a ride! This was my first ever open ocean fishing experience - and what an experience it was! This was down in Nicaragua near the invisible oceanic border with Costa Rica. The wind was howling all day, which of course means the waves were HUGE - rocking the boat every which way, your butt was numb and spine jarred from every abrupt whack of a wave onto the boats hull. As a testament to how rough it was: we had access to all you can drink beer on the boat, which was hardly touched because the whole time we were simply holding on for dear life or trying to not get sick! With our ability to spot birds, a tell-tale sign of fish in the immediate area, reduced to nearly nothing with the white-capping waves, we went nearly the entire 8 hour trip without a single hit. Finally, while working our way back into shore, a brief but torrential down pour over took the boat leaving us soaked and shivering. As if it was a test of our worthiness, just after the last drops hit the water, the line began flying off the reel faster than I'd ever heard, with this incredible zipping noise that let us know we were in for a fight! I was the lucky one called back to test my hand at it. After a 15 min fight, forearms burning like never before, I reeled 'er in! And WOW, what a beautiful fish it was!
March 16, 2015