Carriacou to Martinique a fishing tale

With the Elephant still firmly in the room for where the boats next destination is,we have decide to head 126 NM north to Martinique. This will act as a shake down for the boat before we commit to a bigger crossing.
One last tuna steak in the original slip restaurant Holger joins us and becomes our one friend to wave us off. We leave at about 10pm. We slip through the anchored boats in the dark and out into the open ocean the coarse is not far from being due north. The big decision for now who gets to sleep first. We are doing 3 hours on 3 hours off rota system while there is just 2 of us. Rob wins the paper scissors stone and is off to his pit. Beutiful clear night with 15 kt breeze, I can see te lights of Hillborough as the boat starts hit her stride.
By the time the morning comes Rob is on watch and is rattling through cupboards to get his fishing stuff together. The fish in these parts can be big, and our equipment isn’t. Luckily so far the biggest we have hooked is about 15kg. Things are about to change.
We have slid past Marrieu and Bequia through the night. And as the day gets going we are just clearing St Vincent. We have a steady 18kt easterly and a 1.5 metre sea. Progress is good. There is a sudden sizzle of the reel. Rob wearing not much more than his pants springs to life like superman’s grandad. He grabs the rod from the holder and has tug. Nope he’s says its got off. The truth is it didn’t Know it was hooked and was cruising behind the boat. Rob began to wind in, and check his gear. The extra tension in the line must of caused the the hook to bury into the fish. It felt that, shook its head above water and then took off for 300 unstoppable metres. The reels drag system could not stop it. The only way we would get this fish in was to stop the boat and organise a 2 man fight. We are about 6 or 7 miles off shore in the channels between st Vincent and St Lucia and we head up to wind to stop the boat and sort it out she just gills along at 1.5 kts. We spend the next 2.5 hours!! Tag team winding and pulling the fish towards the boat. Every time it gets close, it sees the boat and tears off another 50 metres. Eventually rob starts to pull on the line with a gloved hand and we are up to the swivel attatched to the leader. We can see the fish clearly now, a yellow fin tuna around 5ft long and google suggest would weigh about 80-100kg. S H one Tee what do we do now. Luckily fate saved us, just as were in touching distance one shake of the head and gone.
we were several miles off coarse and pretty tired. Time to get the boat sailing and have a cuppa. Now 2 or 3 hours behind schedule we decide On an unplanned stop in St Lucia. For a good nights sleep. We slip late Into Rodney bay marina past the last few super yachts in the bay and through the narrow channel, to our favourite spot on the super yacht quay. We are so small you cant see us. Quick beer and bed.
Early breakfast then the 20 mile hope to Marin in the SE of Martinique.
Time to Vittle the boat for a big trip. But where too!!.Read more