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- Laurie First Atlantic Sailfish
Laurie First Atlantic Sailfish
- By Nassim Joaquin
- Published 01/13/2008
- Saltwater
- Unrated
On January the 9th and 10th my girlfriend Laurie Marin Foucher and I fished with Capt. Anthony Mendillo aboard the "Keen M" targeting Atlantic Sailfish on fly in the waters around Isla Mujeres.
As usual with my luck the weather on day one was not very good. Of course adding salt to wound Anthony said they were getting around 40 to 50 bites a day before our arrival and it was now slowing down. With no baitballs in the area the method to raise fish was trolling. We fished about 8 miles northeast of Isla Mujeres and the "Keen M" raised about 20 sails of which I managed to hook 8 and land 3.
On two occasions we had doubles where I would hook a fish then pass it to Laurie then grab another rod and catch a second fish. Unfortunately both times one of us lost a fish each. The upside was Laurie bringing a fish boat side that I had hooked for her . She did a great job for someone new to this game and was a good warm up. We were consistently raising between 2 and 5 fish in the teaser spread which gave high chance for multiple hookups.
We did come upon a baitball this day but Anthonys second boat the"'Lilly M" had a dive charter aboard and they were diving on it. It seems that were searching for this experience for over 10 days so we did not disturb them.
The
Second day greeted with better weather and we decided to motor as far as we could! I 'm not sure of how many miles but after about 2.30 hours running on a nice sea we reached the south end of Holbox Island. Here we found a ton of bait and as a matter of fact as much bait that I have never seen such a sight before. Sardines by hundreds on the baitballs but they all had dolphins working them and no sailfish at all! It was really disappointing however we started to troll the area anyway. The fishing was slow but the 10 fish we raised during the day were aggressive and with 5 fish hooked we landed 2.
The big excitement of the day was Laurie catching a Sailfish without any aid from myself on the rod. She did well in hooking ,fighting and landing the fish all by herself. Laurie truly owned and earned her first sailfish on fly and it may well be the first Atlantic Sailfish on fly for a Latin American women. Never have I heard of it and certainly hope it is so.
Over 2 days we raised 30 Atlantic Sailfish, hooking 13 and landing 6. Our Cam Sigler #14 weight rods were used for 80% of the fish we caught and they performed perfectly. Next week I'm heading back for round two. This time my friend Carlos Godoy from Mexico city will be aboard and with luck we hope to get his first billfish on fly also. Until then....
Best
Nassim Joaquin
As usual with my luck the weather on day one was not very good. Of course adding salt to wound Anthony said they were getting around 40 to 50 bites a day before our arrival and it was now slowing down. With no baitballs in the area the method to raise fish was trolling. We fished about 8 miles northeast of Isla Mujeres and the "Keen M" raised about 20 sails of which I managed to hook 8 and land 3.
On two occasions we had doubles where I would hook a fish then pass it to Laurie then grab another rod and catch a second fish. Unfortunately both times one of us lost a fish each. The upside was Laurie bringing a fish boat side that I had hooked for her . She did a great job for someone new to this game and was a good warm up. We were consistently raising between 2 and 5 fish in the teaser spread which gave high chance for multiple hookups.
We did come upon a baitball this day but Anthonys second boat the"'Lilly M" had a dive charter aboard and they were diving on it. It seems that were searching for this experience for over 10 days so we did not disturb them.
The
The big excitement of the day was Laurie catching a Sailfish without any aid from myself on the rod. She did well in hooking ,fighting and landing the fish all by herself. Laurie truly owned and earned her first sailfish on fly and it may well be the first Atlantic Sailfish on fly for a Latin American women. Never have I heard of it and certainly hope it is so.
Over 2 days we raised 30 Atlantic Sailfish, hooking 13 and landing 6. Our Cam Sigler #14 weight rods were used for 80% of the fish we caught and they performed perfectly. Next week I'm heading back for round two. This time my friend Carlos Godoy from Mexico city will be aboard and with luck we hope to get his first billfish on fly also. Until then....
Best
Nassim Joaquin
