Fish...

Viridian
Tue 4 Apr 2023 14:26
08:00 local time
Location: 07:20.893S 099:43.328W
COG: 252
SOG: 6.9 kn
Wind: 110 16.0kn

We have finally reached the Trade Winds and it was like someone had thrown a switch. We went from 4 knot winds to 15 knots in just a few minutes.
We are now sailing with full Mainsail and Staysail - there’s now too much wind to sail comfortably with the genoa, but we are making good progress.

Up until now we have been trolling with various different lures but with the same amount of success….nada; nothing; zero - not a sniff.
Since the Galapagos it has been a different story. We pass over various shallows patches (3000m!!) on our passage and this is where you can find fish. The upwelling of the current brings nutrients near the surface and this attracts the little fish, then the little fish attract the bigger fish.
Two days ago when i was reeling in the lure Ed saw something chasing it. When the lure got closer we saw that it was a large swordfish, which grabbed the lure (green squid - my go-to bait) but fortunately then dropped it. It was some sort of marlin and would have been far too big and much too dangerous for us to manage.
Yesterday I was trying again with my green squid and got a proper bite. I started reeling it in and could see that I had caught a fair sized Mahi-mahi, but it was jumping all over the place and eventually fell off the hook.
Later in the day i was fishing again and suddenly heard the line start to scream. I jumped up and started increasing the brake on the reel, but the line continued to whizz out without slowing. I kept increasing the brake until the line finally slowed, but the rod was literally bent at 90 degrees. I took the rod out of the rod holder and started trying to reel the fish in but i couldn’t make any progress at all - the load was just too great. After a few moments the line went slack and when we reeled it in we discovered that the stainless steel leader attaching the lure had broken and we had lost the squid. God only knows what type of it was, but it was much stronger than me.

Sadly i have now lost my green squid, but I will keep on trying - if at first you don’t succeed and all that….Soon we will get one the right size and i will land it!