Many moons ago, I remember clearly, my dad planned a fishing trip during the week. It was a late departure from home and I helped him prep for the trip. This was a R&S outing and when he was just about leaving he saw my eyes full of that sad silent desire to go fishing, but I had school in the afternoon. I was 8 years old. He asked if I wanted to join him and his regular fishing buddy uncle Luisinho. My eyes glowed and a big smile appeared. I jumped onto the old Jeep and on we went. I can still see my sister running down the walkway, as the car started moving, shouting :"He has school this afternoon!". I don't remember the rest of the day or what we caught (probably rockcods, a few grunters and breams - we fished Rio Maria a lot those days). But I sure remember how happy I was, going fishing with my dad when everybody else was at school!!!!!
Fast forward 33 years....
My last fishing outing was more than a month ago and I was craving to get into the blue. Recent reports of good couta as well as YFT, got me excited and checking the weather forecast every now and then. The weather (or maybe more correctly, the wearthermen) have been very erratic lately and it has really been the case of taking decisions 24-36 h before.
Well, last Friday was it. After a lot of stress finalizing half year reports etc, I was ready to say "Stuff it... I'm going fishing". Just like my dad, 33 years ago. And if tradition is something you need to keep (I started taking my brother fishing with me on Micaela when he was 8)... well this looked like the best opportunity to introduce my son Matheo to offshore fishing. He will be 8 in December, LOVES raw tuna in all shapes and formats, and enjoys fishing and boating. He skipped school and on we went.
The plan was simple. Quick trip, get him into some fish and hopefully bring some fish home. A couple of discussions at the club and I had a good old friend, Miguel, who I have fished with for a long time (he owned Oba Oba), but he never had a chance to fish aboard Maximvs. So it was a deal. Two firsts in the same trip.
I couldn't sleep the night before. I didn't prepare the boat and tackle properly, had guests for supper which only left the house at about midnight and yes... I was a bit nervous
The forecast was flat seas and sunny day. And that's what we had. Water temp inside the bay was 19 and out in the B1 couta grounds went up to 21.3o C. The water wasn't clean but looked yammy. Left the club at 07:30 and had lines in the water at 09:00.
The first red head rapala went in (subsurface long right), and I was starting to get ready to drop the second rod and the reel started screaming!!!! WE'RE ON!!!!
Gave the rod to Matheo and told him to reel in when the fish stopped taking line. He did a great job for a first timer and within 10 min a 5.7 kg (gutted and bled) YFT was in the fish hatch. This was great!!!!
We carried on and eventually got 3 couta 3.5, 4.7 and 5.7 kg gutted) including a douple header, in a fantastic spot with a drop of 18 to 30 m..... massive wall.... Matheo also caught the 3.5 kg all by himself!!!
By noon we had 4 fish in the hatch and the sea was flat. Matheo had his "chumming" session done. Another first. He wasn't "green", but decided to lay flat for a while, so it was time to go. The wind was expected to pick up by 14:00 so this was perfect timing.
Headed home and got to the club at 14:00 doing 22.5 knots at 4,000 rpm. Overall we did 71.7 nm and used 69 litres (0.96 L/nm). I'm so impressed with the zukes!
We saw a couple of turtles and whales breaching. All in all a great day out, a few "firsts" and a hell of a proud dad.
Maximvs has a new verified crew member!!!!
