The Devil's Backbone - Part 7 of 8

Saturday – June 9^th

Sammy knocked on the door at 4:30 with coffee.  I told him that I didn’t need any.  We were supposed to meet in the parking lot at 5:15 for breakfast so we could be to the dock by 6:00.  I didn’t plan to eat much anyway so I slept another hour and ran to meet the guys.  I got there when we were supposed to leave and still had time for a piece of toast and a cup of coffee.  I took a couple of Dramamines so I wouldn’t get seasick.  They warned me that I might get drowsy but that would be better than getting sick.

We got to the docks and split into two teams.  The Botana boys on the other boat consisted of Sam and Joe from American Iron and J-Mac from Steel Thunder Outfitters.  J-Mac was a little sore from going down on his bike a couple of days earlier but he was there with a smile on his face ready to go.  I found out later that the name Botana came from a strip club in town that they visited on their previous trip to Mazatlan. We called our team the Boomers.  Billy, Mark, Chris and I are all over 50 so we went with the Baby-Boomer thing.  There may be another strip club somewhere named Boomer but I have no idea. 

Since there already was a lot of testosterone on the trip, the whole competition thing incited some real tough talk between Billy, our tour leader and Sam, from American Iron.  I didn’t care much because, like I said, I am not much of a fisher-guy.  As a matter of fact, I don’t even like fishing.  I haven’t been fishing since I was 16 and even that wasn’t much fun.  However, I am here and Billy went to the trouble of putting the whole thing together so I would go, I would participate and I would do my part to have a good time and help the team.

We would have to go out over 20 miles to where the fish were.  They tell me that this time of year is great for fishing.  We would be bill fishing.  That means the fish we were out for have a bill, like a sword or pointed end.  Sailfish are the most common.  They range from 70-130 pounds.  We also might get into some Marlin which can go over 200 pounds.  They also mentioned Swordfish but that would be unlikely.  We might see a Dorado, which is also called Mahi Mahi in Hawaii. 

It took about an hour to get out to the area we would fish.  We got our lines in the water and guessed numbers for who would go in which order on our boat.  Mark won so he would go first, Chris second and I got the third spot.

We were only there about 10 minutes when Sam on the other boat hooked a Sailfish.  It took him about 10 minutes to land it and that started the whole testosterone thing between the boats again.  It was the Botana boys (them): 1 and the Boomers (Us): 0  By the way, we would not keep any of these fish.  We caught them and let them go.

A few minutes later Mark from our boat hooked a Sailfish.  It was great to watch him work the fish.  Like me, he didn’t have much fishing experience either.  He listened to the guide tell him what to do and got the fish to the boat.  Now the score was tied.

About 30 minutes later, Chris hooked another Sailfish and landed it.  I missed most of it because the Dramamine had kicked in and I slept most of the trip.  However, I didn’t get sick.  I woke up long enough to see Chris land the fish and for us to yell to the other boat that we were now leading 2 to 1.

Joe from American Iron hooked another Sailfish and landed it quickly.  The score was tied again.  All four fish that were caught were Sailfish and were 80-90 pounds.  I was next.  I was excited but I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  I laid down on the bed in the cabin and I was out again.  I heard someone yell fish on and I jumped up and went out the chair in the back of the boat.  The guide handed me the pole and the line instantly started running out.  When it slowed I pulled on the pole and about 250 yards behind the boat I saw this huge fish jump.  They said it was a Marlin and it was over 200 pounds.  I got to work that fish for only a few minutes and the line went slack.  I lost it.  I guess it was because I was still partially asleep and I guess Marlin are tougher to land and, oh yeah, I had no idea what I was doing too.  In any event I get a short experience of what it is like to tangle with large fish.  However, I did not help my team by landing the fish.

We spent a few more hours out without any activity.  The score was still tied.  We were just talking about heading in when the other boat started yelling we knew that meant that they had a fish on.  We expected to see J-Mac working the fish because it was his turn.  Instead, it was Mike the cameraman working the fish.  J-Mac must have been a little more pain from the accident than we thought.  It took Mike about 10 minutes to land the fish.  That started a huge round of trash talking from the other boat.   We trash talked back but as we turned for home we knew that the Botana Boys were the winners.

We got back to the doc and put the award ceremony on film for the TV show.  The prize was a baby hog, a tie in to the motorcycle thing.  Sam was so excited that he kissed the pig on camera.  A cute ending to a great experience.  I had a great time fishing but it is still not on my top 20 things to do on vacation.

We got back to the hotel and spent some time in the pool.  We met for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.  We didn’t eat much or drink much.  I guess everyone was pretty spent after a day of all of the fishing excitement.