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Dad's gone fishin'Lindsay McRoryJune 26, 1996
The Far Out Islands of the Bahamas are very far apart. Usually there is little navigation to be done other than an hourly update. Denise does that while Kita does homework and I'm on the computer. We plan to make landfall each day by 6 p.m. at the latest. Most of our anchorages have been on the leeward side of small islands. The approach is not difficult. Usually we sail for shore until we reach the spot where we want to spend the evening. The trick is to gauge how fast the bottom rises. If there are reefs to negotiate, we arrive earlier. After the anchors are down we drop the dinghy, go for a swim, reset the anchors by hand, and maybe catch a fish or two. Our luck with fishing is mixed. With our heavy duty trolling gear we have only caught one cero mackerel to eat and five barracudas. Using hand lines we have caught quite a few smaller fish, but most were reef fish and not edible. But snorkeling with a Hawaiian sling hand spear, I can fish up dinner three out of four times. I think most of it has been sheer luck. Using a Hawaiian sling is actually pretty easy. The toughest part was finding one. I knew from the guidebook that spearguns are prohibited in the Bahamas and a few other Caribbean countries. I went to a dive store in Florida to purchase one. What they sold me was a pole spear with a hefty speargun tip. You would have to be one heck of a guy to drive a speargun tip through anything. These tips are meant to be used with high-powered spearguns. By comparison, a Hawaiian sling is very simple, like a slingshot that shoots a spear. The spear slides through a hole in a wooden handle and pushes into a holder that is connected with surgical tubing to the handle. The best are available at commercial fishing supply stores. The range of a sling is about five feet, which is just enough. The range of a pole spear is not more than a foot or so. Today it took only 15 minutes to spear a grouper and two jacks. One of the jacks was darting away from me, then he stopped, turned around, and put himself sideways four feet in front of me. I said, "Thank you very much," and launched the spear. Into the bucket he went. The big grouper must have had problems coping with fish life because he seemed to be suicidal. He swam underneath me and then lay perfectly still in a small crevice. Head shot and into the bucket. Once we start banking on me catching fish for dinner every night then I'm sure the fish will suddenly get smarter and my aim will get worse. Earlier today we caught a good-sized mackerel with the trolling rod. But a large and greedy barracuda ate most of it before we could reel it in. The poor fish was half-alive and only half-intact by the time we got it to the boat. Denise thought this was hilarious. I wasn't so amused. Now I know why ultra-aggressive lawyers and stockbrokers are called barracudas, because if they've done their jobs there shouldn't be anything left of your account but entrails. The barracuda issue comes up when I'm spearing fish, too. Most times after I've speared one or two, a barracuda appears from nowhere and starts tailing me. I quickly bail into the dinghy and go elsewhere. Kita remembers watching the original "Batman" with Adam West. In one scene Batman uses Bat-Shark repellent to save himself. She was wondering if Batman had any Bat-Barracuda repellent. After dinner it's time for reading and e-mail. Before bed I check the engine, walk around the deck, and review tomorrow's sail plan so it's still fresh in my head when we leave.
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The days have been long and trying, but fulfilling. We rise
before daybreak to get the weather reports and apply this information to
our location and direction of travel. If the weather is good, we weigh
anchors at sunrise.
