rolmops

Day 8 This was the final day and I went offshore to see if we could find the tuna and the mahi mahi. We followed the birds for almost 40 miles without any luck and at that point we started trolling for mahi mahi and whatever else there might be in the water. We trolled around an hour farther offshore and then we turned around and trolled back the way we came. It worked well. We got six mahi mahi and then the fish I had silently prayed for. A Marlin!!! Not a very big one but a very complicated catch. It had grabbed two ballyhoo in one charge and we had to work two rods at the same time in order to bring it in. One line ( mine) ended up in the propeller and it broke off so now it became easier to fight it. We managed to get it to about 40 yards away from the boat and enjoyed the sight of it dancing on its tail. Then the hook tore out of its mouth and it was gone, which was not bad at all, considering we would have had to release it anyway. All in all a great last day.

Day 7 Today I left at 7 in an effort to find more Yellowfin tuna, but they were not where they were supposed to be. I had to make do with some barracudas and a smaller type of tuna that is very popular for shasimi. On the way we met a local longline fisherman and we asked him if he had seen any dolphins or birds. The answer was negative and my guide/friend became very concerned about delivering a product to the customer. It took me a while to convince him that I came to enjoy myself fishing and that I did not care much about big amounts of fish and I really did not want to do anymore bottom fishing. In the end we just trolled around and caught a bunch of bonitos which we cut up for bait. Tomorrow is my last day fishing and we decided to go some 40 miles offshore and try our luck there. Now you may wonder how much a trip like this costs. So here is a rough countdown of my expenses. The flight from Rochester to San Jose (return) is about 500 dollars, then a return ticket on a local airline to the small peninsula where I stayed is about 300$. Car Rental in September/ October is about $10 a day. A half day inshore is $ 350 and a day offshore is $1000 . Because my daughter owns several properties here there is no hotel cost for me, but September, October is dead tourist season, so Airbnb is very cheap . Food and restaurant prices are comparable to USA . You can pay everywhere with a credit card although the local fishing guides much prefer cash If you compare this to a 2 week vacation on the outer banks, you will see that it is a lot cheaper.

Day 6 . This morning there was a wicked wind blowing with 5 foot foam crested waves so I took my friend‘s advice and we waited until in the afternoon the wind slowed down and we went out. We experimented with a big dipsy diver and a magnum salmon spoon but there was no way to control our speed with the waves and the wind so we had to abandon that idea. Tomorrow we will try again with a local lure that is less speed dependent. We went back to bottom fishing heavy sinkers because now there was a strong current. That provided us with 3 big red snappers and one mackerel tuna. As the sun went closer to the sea, we decided to try and find out if the strong wind and waves pushed the tuna closer to the shore and taking advantage of the setting sun we tried trolling again. Inside of 20 minutes we boated 3 large ( around 30 pound ) yellowfin tuna. At this rate, the orphanage will have to sell the fish we bring them each day. Tomorrow we will try trolling again.

Day 5 after a night of heavy rains and thunderstorms, we left “Port” around 7 in the morning and headed straight for deep water, but even at 800 feet down, the fish had little appetite. We caught 3 ten pounder red snappers and one tilefish, using 5 ounce jigs. There was very little current and no wind. Then we trolled a couple of hours, but it didn’t produce any results. So we resorted to bird watching and floated alongside some very big sea turtles. My friend/ guide thinks that the weather pattern has caused the water to warm up too much and causes the fish to swim deeper. I think that a. Chinese fishing factory ship using 30 miles long long lines is probably doing a lot of damage as well. tomorrow I will try a different program and see what happens. For the meantime I’ll have to make do with feasting my old eyes on the seemingly endless supply of surfing young ladies.

On day 4, we were delayed by heavy rains and thunderstorms so we left late. My daughter and 5 year old grandson accompanied me, so dependent on his capability for being on a small boat in big waves and need for instant gratification we made plans. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Day three and four. I decided that day three was going to be a near shore experiment day, so we went to a small island and fished around it hoping for rooster fish. It turned out that the rooster fish were roosting somewhere else and after half an hour we went trolling for bonitos, caught a dozen and trolling at a higher speed (about 8 mph) we continued to some rock formations near the big drop off and started jigging and bait deep dropping 500 to 700 feet down. From there it was fish after fish. One drop brought up 4 groupers Another drop was 2 15 pound red snappers. The Penn Electric Fathom was a blessing because I would not have been able to bring up all that fish from that depth. My friend/guide was flabbergasted. Then instead of doing his usual 1000 yard drift, I told him to just keep going over a mud flat and we caught non stop groupers, tilefish and big red snappers. I saw that my friend was exhausted, so I taught him how to use the electric reel and he became an instant convert. We trolled for mahi-mahi and tuna on the way back home. But in spite of all effort, we did not get any. I have problems adding pictures, but I probably later today I will post some.

Day 2 we went about 25 miles to the canyons hoping to find diving birds and dolphins, but there were no birds or dolphins or tuna, after four hours of searching we went back closer inshore and did some tile fishing at 700 feet down. We got 3 groupers and 4 tile fish. Then the wind picked up and things changed. while bringing up the jig, a large yellow fin hit my jig and supplied entertainment and dinner. Right after that while lowering the jig a very big mahi mahi hit the jig and jumped about three foot high into the boat and then jumped out again while spitting the jig out. We ,including the mahi mahi, were dumbfounded. The fish just stayed next to the boat staring at us and we stared back. Then it took off. afterwards we went back to the little beach where the boat is docked. Tomorrow I will out for 8 hours to try and catch some rooster fish.

This is the first day of my pacific side Costa Rica vacation. Today was deep sea time. We trolled for half an hour and caught one barracuda and 12 bonitos. The barracuda was for bragging and eating and the bonitoes were cut up for bait. then we picked up the gear and moved on to deep dropping. We fished at roughly 500 feet and we were lucky enough to catch a few 10 pound groupers, some tyle fish and plenty of red snappers, in short, way more fish than we can eat. I have an understanding with a local orphanage and they gladly accepted all the fish we gave them. This is the first time I used a Penn 30 Fathom Electric and being a 75 year old fart I happily ignored all the jokes asking me if I wanted the fish pre chewed on my plate as well and let the electric reel do all the 500 foot heavy lifting. I also was able to do more drops. Tomorrow is an off shore day for sail fish yellow fin and mahi mahi

The haywire twist does not work well on wire, but I did do a 300 + 100+100 with a few feet of 50 pound test mono in between. This gave me the choice of running 300, 400 or 500 of the boards all with one rod instead of three. The mono is not only a marker but it is also the place to put in the clip so the wire does not get damaged

I tried that, but the 19 strand has a very peculiar problem. you cannot put your finger on the line to slow the line a bit when you let it out, because the single wires are so fine that when they even get slightly pressed by a finger, the line changes shape and then the single strands start breaking off. Mathew, the owner of Torpedo wire told me this.

After having sworn off copper because of all the birds nests if created, I moved on to Torpedo weighted steel ,mostly the 30 pound test and now also the 45 pound test. I wanted some 500 foot lines, but Torpedo had only the 400 foot available so I looked farther into the field and found 600 feet offered by Reaction Tackle. It is the same thicknes ,weight and color, but that is where the comparison ends. It started with the way the line came off the roll . The wire was wound very irregular with tighter and looser windings. Then some off the wire fell loose onto the ground and it started twisting up around itself creating... you guessed it, a birdsnest but not the fairly easy undoable mess that copper causes. I honestly expected the Reaction wire to act just like Torpedo wire, but where torpedo is soft and does not knot up when it accidently comes off the reel, this Reaction stuff is just plain bad. Just try and see for yourself I do not work for or get commission from Torpedo for writing this, but my advice is to stick with Torpedo wire until the quality of the competition improves. It would be nice if toredo would make 500 foot rolls.

It is still early and the water is still warm

I went to NAPA and read the info on the Aluminum bright. It will clean bare aluminum, but it does not work on painted surfaces. But going to Napa gave me another idea. Using paint stripper cleaning of the hull to bare aluminum and then repainting the hull with the exact type of paint needed to keep the hull clean. I placed the boat under a hoist so I can raise it enough to get everywhere I need to put the paint stripper and immediately afterwards spray it with selfetching primer. So thank you for your inspirational suggestion.

I am in Rochester

After a season of having slipped my boat in Sandy Creek I took it home to service and clean it, but it seems that the scum is impossible to remove. I tried starbright gel ,slimy Grimy, Toilet bowl cleaner, scrubbing and pressure washing. All the scrubbing is starting to remove some of the paint but the scum does not come off. I am seriously considering having the hull sandblasted, but before going that way, I would like to know if there is some magical cleaner. Does anybody have a magical trick ,or Is sandblasting the only solution?

No I do not want to show off or hang them on the wall of my garage. It is for my dogs. I own 2 very large golden retrievers and they love to chew on antlers. I have run out of antlers and need a few, They don't have to be beautiful just chewable. If you have any laying around that you don't really care about shoot me a pm. Thank you.

Thanks for posting this. Trolling especially when using autopilot sometimes makes one pay less attention than one should. I installed a very loud horn on my boat to help people rouse out off wherever their head is at. As for having to do a safe boating course, you can lead a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink.