Kirk and a bonita fish

We went out to Art Walk last Thursday and ran into our friend Kirk. He said he was planning on going out on a fishing charter and had a few extra spots. Would we like to go? Ummm, yah! Britton has been out fishing with Makaira one other time, but I had never been.

Since we had made drunk plans, we weren’t sure if Kirk would remember that he had invited us. When we arrived at 6am in the Rincon Marina he wasn’t there, but the fishing boat was waiting for him and us and shortly thereafter he arrived.

Rincon Sunrise

It was a beautiful morning. I rarely wake up in time to see the sunrise, but I have to say they are nearly as spectacular as the sunsets here. If you are morning person, sunrises in PR are gorgeous!

A chilly winter morning (~70 degrees haha)

I was a little nervous that I would get sea sick, but I remembered what I have learned about sea-sickness and that is mainly to keep your eye on land or at least the horizon and never look down for long.

Britton and Randy

We trolled with lures for about an hour and this boat can move! It was really fun having the wind blowing through my hair, jumping the waves and occasionally getting sprayed with water. However, we never got a bite on any of the lines. Trolling is for the really big fish like swordfish or sailfish.

Sun and sea!

So we cruised on back near the shore on the southern side of Rincon and Anasco and could see the devastation from the hurricane on that side. It was different to see it from the sea as opposed to land. You can really appreciate the fury of Maria there.

Whole buildings collapsed into the sea

Near the shore the shipmate Josy worked his magic with the nets and pulled in quite a few sardines that we would then use as live bait.

Josy’s got mad skills!

Dumping the fish into the holding tank

Now we were ready to do some fishing! Pepe and Josy helped to bait all the poles and threw out a few of the sardines to draw up some fish (as well as to attract the sea gulls).

Richie and me fishing

I broke my rule of looking down when the fishing line would get wrapped up a little around the rod, and I began to feel a little queasy. I asked Britton to take over my pole and only about 10 minutes later he was reeling one in! It was awesome! A large king mackerel! Holy mackerel!

Britton’s mackerel

Soon thereafter Kirk and Richie both pulled in some fish.

Richie and his fish

Pepe (the great captain!) and Kirk with another mackerel

Josy filleted the mackerel for us. They say that although the bonita is a type of tuna, it’s better as cat food than as human food…so we didn’t take that back.

Josy prepared the fish there on the boat

Although I didn’t personally reel in a fish, I had a wonderful time and was stoked that I didn’t get sick at all! I must be getting my sea legs! I always enjoy seeing the Rincon peninsula from the sea because it just so beautiful!

Hey I did catch a fish! haha

Me and Kirk on a majestic tropical morning

Kirk still doesn’t have power at his place, not even a generator so he encouraged us to take all the fish we could since he has no refrigeration. We made plans to meet up with our friend Dawn who said she would cook up the mackerel that evening.

We enjoyed the best, freshest fish dinner with friends!