Michael Rensmeyer's 1st Bonito.
Harry with Pacific Bonito.
Saturday, May 24, 2008 out of San Diego on
Paparina with Mike as Captain, Jarrod Co-Captain, crew Michael
Rensmeyer and Harry
Estep; to Coronado Island off the
Baja, Mexico
Norte. This day was long in planning and
almost came to an
abrupt end as it began with me ending up in the Emergency Department at
Scripps Mercy
Hopital. Thanks to the Doc and his staff I was on and trolling within a few hours.
Now to the
fishing: we headed south from Point
Loma with a
compass bearing of 196. Skies were partly cloudy, wind calm at 2-5
kts, but the chop was still rough with a 4' swell out of the NW. We
decided it would be best to stay off plain and cruise at 8-9knots until the chop calmed.
Once we crossed the international border into Mexican water we backed off to troll at 5-6 knots. I rigged the Tuna Stick / Penn
International 30 with a Silver/Blue
Mackerel Rapalla.
We had decided that Hook-up sequence would be Jarrod, Harry, Michael, then me. Unfortunately, that didn't go as planned. No sooner that I got the drag set on the Tuna
Stick did the Penn 30 start wining, suddenly we were hooked-up to a hard fighting Bonito. I turned to see that Jarrod was at the helm signaling me to take it. It was really exciting landing the first fish on
Paparina. Jarrod did an excellent
job keeping the boat steady while Harry gaffed.
For the
next few hours we
patently waited the next hook-up. At times a few unnamed
comrades took naps down below. The day was shaping up to be both exciting and relaxing. As I was at the helm, suddenly Harry jumped from his relaxed position in the cockpit,
grabbed the
Calstar with the
Shimano Tyrnos 20 and began fighting his catch. I yelled for help on the gaff while I back the speed to 2 knots. Michael answered the call from his nap below and we had our second Bonito on board. As soon as we got the line back out it was Michael's turn, he immediately had a real nice fighter hooked-up. Harry gaffed the large Bonito right through the heart. As soon as this fish was on board it shot off the gaff and proceeded to repaint the back of the boat Blood Red. All the commotion of getting back
hold of this fish had gotten Jarrod up from his afternoon nap.