The Wedding Party Fishing Rodeo

For Tuesday, Chad, the groom, arranged for a full day of deep sea fishing for those of us that made the big journey for his wedding. I know Joan, the bride, wanted to go as well, but she was in charge of spa day. 17 of us chartered 4 boats for the day in search of tuna, mahi, and marlin. Stacie, Chad, John, and I were on Monkey Biz II for the day.

Stacie was the sole female of the group, but managed to catch the first fish of the day. She brought in a mahi when we were only about 15 minutes out of the harbor. It was a good size for her to battle and I was excited to see her catch something. It’s a good thing she caught something so early, because with the rough waters and the excitement, she ended up chumming the waters for us. You have to realize how rare this is for Stacie. In the 10 years we have been together, I have only seen her throw up twice. She may have an upset stomach or not feel well, but she just never gets sick that way.

John caught the next fish for our boat around noon. He brought in a nice 66lb striped marlin. If you’ve never seen the crew bring a big fish in the boat, it is quite brutal. They go all Capone on the fish with these half size aluminum bats so it doesn’t flop around all day.

Since Stacie and John already had a fish each, Chad and I did 30 minute rotations to finish out the day. We were heading back to shore during our last 30 minute cycle and hooked a blue marlin. It was Chad’s turn in the chair and after a good struggle, the beatings began and the crew was able to bring in all 143lbs. While this fish was on the line, it did the classic leap and that was fun to see. I got the big ole goose egg for the day, but was happy that it was Chad’s turn because we were there for him. This catch gave him the best fish for the day within the group, so he won the bounty and it gave him a free day of fishing. I guess since the fishing was a freeroll, he dropped some cash to send the fish off to be mounted. It will be displayed in his hangar / toy box in Vegas this summer.

The other boats had brought in some catches as well, with only 1 boat coming in fishless. The crews cleaned up the fish and gave some to Chad. This gave him more than enough to cook out for 40 people that evening. Stacie and I didn’t make it for the dinner, but those that did couldn’t stop raving about how good the fresh fish tasted. We wimped out, but sleep was calling for us. Some of those people are hard chargers and lasted until after midnight even though we initially met up at 6 that morning.