Shieldski - Cozumel, June 2008

So headed down to Cozumel with the family and friends. Got a charter with a great outfit named Tres Hermanos (3 brothers). Good boat, great captain and crew. Here's a view of us headed out of dock and beginning to get things rigged up.
My little brother and niece getting fired up for the experience.

Shieldski himself is pretty darn excited as well. I'm also excited we left the dock when we did as it is now getting pelted with rain... lol.

Had a couple of break-off's early on but finally get a solid hook up. I jump in the chair and go to work.

First catch of the day ends up being a nice nugget sized black fin.

We keep trolling and get hit again with another solid hook up. Dad jumps in the chair this time. Look at that intensity... ;-).

He boats another solid black fin, this one bigger than the last. For their size these little buggers can put up a heck of a fight. We end up boating 5 (actually 4.5) BF for the day. One was bitten in half while I was reeling it in. Probably a wahoo or maybe a shark. Someone had a decent meal.

Weapon of Mass Distruction. The first rod I ever built. Seeker blank long range stand-up tuna rod. Those blues and silvers looked really sweet up against a back-drop of 2000 feet of water.

We had her hooked up to the downrigger with a 10 pound ball of lead. Paired with my Avet 50 2 speed. Had it running deep at about 80-100 feet hoping for a big marlin. No takers this trip.

Finally we get another good hook up. Not sure what it is, but it's substantial. My line is peeling off for the first five minutes as I just wait for the train to slow. Finally we see her break the surface about 50 yards off the back of the boat. Cow Dorado, BIG cow, doing a little tail dance for us. Beautiful sight.

We get her to color and she sees the deck hand and the boat. She says "forget that" and dives deep, straight down. Once again my line is peeling off at an amazing rate. I wait for my turn to get it back. She finally tires again and I lay into her. After another 10 minutes, get her back boat side and this time she has no choice...

One hit with the gaff and sweet flip of the fish and she's in the boat. Thrashing wildly we get her in the cooler. It sounds like a couple of pits bulls going at it in the cooler. The lid is popping up with three of us sitting on it. She's not happy, but we sure are.

We get back to dock and I get to hold her for the first time. No scale on board but we estimate her at 50 lbs. and about 5.5 feet in length. That is one healthy girl. We take one filet from her and give the other filet to the boat. We ate great for the rest of the week.

Until next time, tight lines. Shieldski