Fish! Fish!

As the line spools out, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, a cry goes up,”Fish,Fish!” and its action stations! I race to the helm and slow the boat down, Carolyn grabs the net, Paul runs back to help reel in the mighty beast and Hubert relays the instruction to slow down more as this one is a fighter! Even Grace, the Worlds’ Best Dog, is in on the act, peering through the hawser hole ready to serve in whatever capacity she is called upon.

We all knew what to do as this was our third fish of the day and by gum this one would be dinner! Hubert caught the first one, a healthy sized barracuda which we reeled in and let go to fight another day. The Bahamian guy on the fuel dock told us they were good eating but we wanted some mahi mahi or grouper, something we were more familiar with.

Fish number two was a no show when the line was pulled in. Grace meanwhile had a lovely time licking the deck where the barracuda lay, no wonder she was up for it when the line went the third time!

So here we are, fish number three. Great excitement all round, shouts of glee and huge effort from the men. The reeling goes on for a while until they catch sight of a beautiful bull dolphin fish (mahi mahi in Florida. No we were not catching dolphins!) and Carolyn grabs the camera to record it all for posterity. And then, in the wink of an eye he’s off the hook, dinner no more.

” What were you going to do with him if you caught him?” asked Carolyn. “Eat him!” they replied. ”Where were you going to clean him?” I asked. “In the galley“ came the reply. Not sure how I felt about that. I thought the swim platform would be a better option personally.

Alas, this is why it’s called fishing not catching.

I defrosted chicken.

Sian