Entourage

The wind and swell arrived.  It was a lumpy start which just got bigger as the day went on.  I jumped in on a strike which turned out to be a wahoo that ate the skirt clean off a teaser.  The silly 40 lb fish stayed with the dangling teasers as I swam back, posturing at the suspended lures until it almost choked on a leader it didn’t see.  The next fish was a blue.  It hit the same pink squid chain off the right rigger that was so popular yesterday and then transferred to one of the new Fathom Offshore clear, soft head, prototype lures.  Andy and Brandon from Fathom stopped by the gallery the day before I left to drop off some new designs to test.  This marlin loved it!  He grabbed the soft head and would not let go, tearing line off the teaser rod in Keith’s hands.  He eventually turned and headed straight for the boat, the lure still in his mouth.  He was now body out, mouth open, hookless lure still in his mouth.  It was like a marlin running of the bulls.   I must admit I thought twice about getting in with this guy!

Family Group

I jumped in to find nothing.  He was gone!  As I made my way back to the boat 100 or so yards away, I heard a series of clicks and squeaks.  I couldn’t see anything in the crystal clear water but knew quickly that I was not only hearing but feeling the sonic waves of echo location from a pod of dolphins.  Just as I got back to the marlin door to climb on board, a pair of spotted, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins buzzed passed.  Up ahead I saw another larger family group enjoying the pressure plate of water pushed by the bow of Click Through.  They were relaxing, playing, and even mating, quite happy to whizz past me in small groups, I’m sure wondering what the hell I was doing there.  Half an hour later I got on the boat.  Life is good!

Tomorrow morning's forecast is for 10′ seas and 23 knots of wind.  Click Through is putting hooks back in tomorrow after two days of helping me get my in-water shots.  I’m going to put on my long lens and relax in the air-conditioning of the salon, maybe watch a few movies.  I will try for some jump shots in the rock and roll weather.  It’s not conducive to getting in the water. It will for sure be a while before I can beat today's entourage.