A visit from Boy Jaws
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sat 14 Apr 2012 19:16
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Having set the alarm for the ungodly hour of 0530 we kicked
each other out of bed, made the ubiquitous early morning cuppa and set sail
westwards out of the San Blas islands. We were leaving with a heavy heart as the
weather was just perfect and we would have preferred to spend longer in the
Holandes Cays. But our secret cash printing machine had run out of ink and we
were down to the last $20. Mind you that didn't stop the persistent Mola
sellers from trying and sell us something.
Having caught quite a few edible reef fish in recent weeks we
were hoping for some decent sized pelagic to get our teeth into. Consequently
the tiny hooks were put away for another day as Skip ferreted in the locker for
the monster lures we trail behind us trying to kid a big ocean fish that its
something worth eating. Neither of the first two lures worked in the
initial 20 miles which was rather disappointing especially as we'd heard
there were Wahoo in the vicinity. And that's a fish worth catching any day of
the week. Time for a lure change. The two cedar plugs with wicked
looking hooks were reeled back in and given a damn good talking to for their
poor performance. A fake dancing and diving fish was deployed on the
starboard hand line. Just as the port hand electric reel was being released with
an awesome looking 9 inch fake diving fish we'd bought in Roatan Skip spotted
that the starboard line was loaded up with something that had taken the lure and
was currently being towed along at 5 knots behind the boat. The electric reel
lure was quickly reeled back in so as not to cause an almightily tangle with the
other line whilst the 'Admiral' urged that, like Corporal Jones, we should
remain calm and not panic. This new policy arched back to when we lost a huge
tuna in the San Blas. It unexpectedly took our favourite Rampala lure that
we'd had since Portugal. The lure had already been retired once on
health grounds due to so many bites having been inflicted on it by ocean
predators. The loss had caused a near mutiny between Skip and the 'Admiral' as
the Tuna, approximately 10 dinners worth, had been brought alongside and
then lost, taking our favourite lure with it. There would be no more
mistakes!
The 'Admiral's' eagle eyesight spotted a difference in the way
this fish looked as it trailed behind us through the water. This comes from
having direct experience of being stalked by Barracudas whilst
snorkelling and having seen lots of jumping Mahi Mahis so such
knowledge is to be taken seriously. Indeed it did look rather different. So,
remaining calm, the gloves were donned and our new special hooking device
crafted during a dull windy day in San Blas made its debut. Like a gaff
only different it remains a closely guarded secret weapon from which Skip
guarantees never, ever to lose another fish at the final moment. We'd publish a
picture but its still top secret and in the prototype developmental
phase.
Funny, usually these fish flash and reflect when the sun is
shining but this one didn't - it looked grey and shadowy, in fact almost
menacing as we started to hand reel the line round its spool. Then it became
apparent that this was not an ordinary catch as the recognisable dorsal fin
broke surface to reveal we had caught a relative of 'Jaws'. At about 3 ft
long this must be boy Jaws and for us an unwanted capture. Now with damage
limitation in mind we had to retrieve the lure without loosing a finger, hand or
whatever. So our secret weapon was wielded, it being a much larger
detachable hook mounted on a 4 inch cut off from an expensive old
wooden deck broomstick. This is then slotted into the open end of an
extendable aluminium pole and once the hook is firmly engaged in the fish the
pole is detached leaving a stout line attached to the hook. (Dash, now we've
gone and revealed the secret of the device). Setting the much larger hook into
its cavernous mouth having got the blighter to the starboard aft steps gave us a
better control over the vicious mouth. It was now time for the
delicate operation of removing our expensive triple hooked lure from its mouth
which amazingly it patiently waited for Skip to do, although to be fair with two
hooks embedded in it's mouth it didn't have an awful lot of choice in the
matter. Slowly, with fingers trembling the triple job was extracted using
our fisherman's forceps. Bingo, we had our expensive
plastic lure safely back. But we now had to recover the big hook
which is where the major flaw in the plan was revealed. It was never designed
for catch and release duties. The shark also cottoned on to this flaw
as well and subsequently launched into a frenzy on the back steps with Skip
desperately clinging on to the heavy duty line attached to the huge hook
attached to the sharks mouth. Hollywood thoughts of sliding down into the
cavernous mouth were obviously exaggerating
matters although seriously at risk were our large fenders as we
imagined each of them bursting under spiteful attack from the mouth full of
teeth now trying to effect its getaway.
  Gawd
!!! We
need a bigger boat
It's true to say that until you've experienced holding on to a
thin piece of rope with an angry thrashing 3 foot shark on the end you've
never lived! But just as Skip couldn't have had any more fun if he tried a
further design flaw was exposed by our short-lived guest as the hook and
broomstick piece separated from the line due to a faulty carbine hook and the
grey mini-monster with the steely cold eyes ('Admiral's' words) slid down the
steps and back from whence it came. And we weren't a bit sorry to see it go !!
Hope the next guy has better luck with it. Now we have to rebuild the
secret weapon.
  The
lure is huge
.................................................. ..........and
we have very small fenders
!
and we will hotly refute any claim that we have over dramatised these
pics!!! |