On Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:57:55 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

We have made a few attempts at fishing from the Grand Banks over the
last 5 years, had a few nibbles and break offs, but nothing landed.
Since we frequently cruise through prime fishing areas, and we know
other cruisers who regularly catch fish, it seemed like we needed to
refine our technique and keep trying. Last week we were headed north
west out of Nassau towards deep offshore waters that are known for big
marlins and tuna among other things, so I decided to give it another
try. To minimize the possibility of breakoffs I decided to mount a
rod holder up on the fly bridge so that I would become immediately
aware of a strike, and be able to throttle back quickly. I also
decided to try a "SW Tom Teaser Rig" where one lure is rigged in front
of a second to simulate one fish chasing another. The resulting
action of the lures in the water looked impressively like flying fish
skittering through the wave tops.

We were trolling for less than 20 minutes when the line started
screaming off the reel, a sound that always gets my adrenaline going.
As planned I dropped back to idle speed, grabbed the rod, tightened up
the drag a little, went down to the back deck and played the fish.
The fish put up a bit of a tussle, jumped around a little, tried to go
under the boat, but a few minutes later we had a very toothy, very
ticked off, 3 or 4 ft barracuda in the boat. I'd been hoping for a
mahi-mahi but what the heck, at least we'd finally caught something:

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9044/img6100.jpg

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/503/img6106cropped.jpg

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6140/img6106i.jpg

We caught another one in the afternoon but that was it for the trip.
We went all the way across the Gulf Stream the next day without a
single nibble and yesterday went up the west coast of Florida with the
same negative results. I need another 3 fish to bring my unit cost
down from $$$,$$$ to something more reasonable like $$,$$$. :-)

Great story and pics. What did you do with the 'cuda? Eat it? I don't
know if they're edible or not, but I'd guess the flesh would be pretty
firm.
--
John H

"If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free!"
--Anonymous