December 6, 2007. We left Miami at 0700 for a fifty something mile trip to Rodriguez Cay. Rodriguez is about the half way point on our way to Marathon.

Tuckers been feeling better and things are back to normal with him. On the plus side of his bowelular distress was the fact that he’s become comfortable going out on the bow of the boat and “taking himself for a walk”. When we were trying to teach the dogs (unsuccessfully) to “go” on the boat one of the books we were seeking guidance from suggested not looking at the dogs if they decide to do their business on the boat. The dog is more apt to go if it’s not in front of his master. So every time he’s gone out we watch him out of the corner of our eyes to make sure he hasn’t fallen off the rolling deck. Today while sailing down the Hawk Channel, Christy was seated near the bow and Tucker reached a new level of dog/master comfort.

I’ve never been interested in fishing. I always felt that it was stupid to waste the day standing at the waters edge with a string in the water hoping some fish was gonna happen by and impale himself on my hook. It’s funny how perceptions can change.

I mean, I still think a day fishing is a waste of time but since we’re here….. We usually drag a hand line and today we were using our pole as well. We had the pole out for about ten minutes and “fish on”. After a couple of minutes we hauled in a 1 ½ lb Yellow Jack. We let him go because of the same old crap, he didn’t look big enough to feed two and we don’t know how to clean a fish anyway.

An hour later we caught a small Spanish Mackerel, maybe less than a pound. We throw him back as well. We call over to Jim on Freedom and ask him if he knows anything about fishing. It turned out before he was a college administrator he had considered becoming a professional fresh water fisherman. I know that hindsight is 20/20 but I think he probably made the right choice, anyway….. He’s been in more tournaments than he can remember and he’d love to give us a fish cleaning lesson. Our luck has changed, now we’re ready to assume the role of Hunter Gatherers.

Right after the phone call, another fish is on the line. Christy reels this one in and giggles the entire time as she fights a Spanish Mackerel that weighs an easy 3 pounds. That one was a keeper so there would be a fish fry in our immediate future. Shortly thereafter we pulled in anther 2 pounder and we were thinking, one more, and that would be plenty of fish for a few meals. An hour or so later, the reel started screaming as something big was tearing off line faster than I could have ever imagined. Our reel is in a holder on the stern rail of the boat and in the ten seconds it took to get from the cockpit to the rod whatever it was, had spooled our reel. We didn’t have anymore line on board so our hunting/gathering was done for the day. But we are looking forward to next time…..

Once in and safely tucked behind Rodriguez Cay we dropped the hook and quickly launched the dinghy. Then it was over to Freedom for our fish cleaning lesson. Jim made it look easy and it turned out to be less messy and a lot easier than I had envisioned it to be. So now armed with this new skill set we have become complete anglers. Lol.

After the lesson we retreated to our boat so Christy could take a short swim (and clean the hull) and then it was back to the Freedoms for a fish dinner. After dinner Jim showed us a picture of a big ass Barracuda that they had landed and released during the day. He also caught a few Spanish Mackerel as well. All in all it had turned out to be a fine day.