May 16, 2013
By Rick Ryals
A great start to the 2013 Abaco season.
Fishing trips are a whole lot like Christmas, so much of the fun comes from the preparation and anticipation. I've been rigging blue and white Ilanders on 200 pound mono leaders for the better part of 3 months. Our crew has spent every weekend aboard the new Dos Amigos IV rigging every kind of teaser, and every outrigger set up you can dream of. Our pulleys have pulleys, and we have enough backup Ilanders to slow the boat down.
To make matters worse, we even worked in a little fishing when we delivered the boat to Abaco Beach Resort last weekend. Wouldn't you know it? The first bait of the morning hadn't been in the spread long enough to run up the outrigger before a blue marlin crashed it, jumped, and threw the hook. Then came the dolphin. I will never understand the blue water that complain about dolphin while they're marlin fishing. I loved my first dolphin as much as any fish I've ever caught and if I get to the point where watching a dolphin streak into my spread doesn't tickle me, I'll take up golf. The trip ended with us going 0-3 on blue marlin, with a fat white marlin released by my longtime friend Dan Parker.
Now it's almost time to go back for a whole week. Every night this week I've lied awake like a 10 year old during the third week of December with visions of the Hope Town Lighthouse keeping me wide awake. In short, I'm a wreck. I've seen more late night TV than I've seen in years. Who knew Johnny Carson wasn't even on anymore? You wouldn't believe what you can buy on TV at 2am.
Saturday morning we'll board a plane for Marsh Harbour and seven days of hard core blue water trolling. One thing's for sure, I won't miss my flight. After a very long year, Christmas has finally arrived. Anybody want to buy a ShamWow?
