A little yellow sportfishing boat named Warrior was anchored at New Bight on Cat Island when we arrived. We stopped by to introduce ourselves when we dinghied in to go on our hike, for three reasons. First of all, they are pretty much the first sportfish we'd seen actually anchored out in the Bahamas; most sportfish head for the marinas. Second, we recognized the boat as one that had stopped the night at Little San Salvador while we were there, and that meant they were going in our direction;
most cruising boats are going north now, not south, so we have really missed out on the usual social aspect of cruising. And finally, their homeport is Pierre SD. Ocean boaters from landlocked western states, unite!

It turned out that Sue and Don were pretty much at their destination for their trip, as the fishing off Cat Island is what they come for. Which is a pity, because although they're a lot older than us, they were great fun to talk with. They're fishermen who cruise, and we're cruisers who fish - so we have a lot in common.

They invited us to go fishing with them for a day, and we were eager to accept. We've seen a lot of sportfishing boats but their workings are a mystery to us. We fish a lot - well, Britt fishes a lot, and I occasionally reel in a fish, plus it takes both of us to get a big one aboard - but we aren't experts by any means. We're just sailing from one place to the next, and incidentally hanging out a few lines. But Don and Sue are here to fish, and nothing but.

And wow, do they fish! Bahamian regulations specify no more than six fishing lines, and I'd always wondered how anyone could possibly manage that many. (We use two at a time, and we've gotten them tangled several times.) Warrior's six lines lace through various extension poles and their outriggers (we always wondered what they were for!) in an intricate arrangement; then there are another four teasers, hookless lures for attracting fish. Imitation fish and squid bounce and dive, glitter, wiggle,
swivel, shine. Here, fishie fishie!

We have rods. They have RODS. Our reels are big, theirs are GINORMOUS. When we hook a big fish, whoever's reeling it in hooks a cushion behind the winch and straddles it, jamming the end of the rod between their legs to help keep it steady. The hand holding the rod usually tires before the hand operating the reel.

But Warrior has a chair with a slot for the end of the rod, and a vest that clips into the reel to hold the rod in place, and after Britt and I each reeled in a mahi-mahi we agreed that their equipment makes a big difference. Sue had talked about catching marlin, and we were amazed, knowing how hard it was the few times we've hooked them; after trying out their equipment, now we understand.

Of course, part of it's Sue. She's a large, solid woman, with upper arms the size of my thighs. Don does the driving, and gaffs the fish if they're going to keep it; Sue sets out the lures and reels in the fish. It's clear she adores doing it, although oddly, she doesn't actually like fish, so they do mostly catch-and-release.

On our outing, we kept two mahi, as the Bluebird restaurant in New Bight had asked for some. I reeled in one, Britt reeled in two, and Sue reeled in three. She was hoping for a marlin (and I was hoping for a tuna!) but we saw none. We did, however, see a very big oceanic white-tip shark cruise through the array of lures, which was really really cool.

It was a nearly windless day, so for lunch we decided to work our way into the little bay called Reef Harbour on the charts. None of our charts had any detail about it, but Warrior had seen other boats anchored there and had always wondered about it, and of course Britt and I are always up for exploring uncharted, scary entrances in OTHER people's boats.

Pretty much it was a case of finding where there weren't any breakers, and then scootching up to see the lay of the, er, water. Which is astoundingly easy from the upper deck of a sportfish, waaaayy up above the water. The reefs were clearly visible, and we found our way in and anchored for lunch.

Afterward, we fished a little more, then fished our way home to the anchorage. Warrior came alongside Windom and dropped us off; it was nearly 7 pm, and we were exhausted. We showered, had dinner (fish, of course!) and fell into bed.
- posted by S/V Windom @ 5/05/2007 [link]