A few of us chartered a boat today to try to catch some fresh dinner. After about 4 hours of unlucky trolling, we were paid off handsomely. I caught my first Marlin. It came in at a very respectable 136 lbs. with which we got about 115 lbs of meat. We then sold most of it to the co-op for a quick $150 profit and kept about 20 lbs for ourselves. My favorite part was when we finally got it in the boat, our captain "Captain John" beat it over the head with a bat. Apparently its more humane, its a quick death as opposed to letting it suffocate. But we were quite pleased with our little adventure. 
The first part of our trip was very uneventful, a few strikes that amounted to nothing. We tried rally caps and all sorts of other good luck maneuvers. When peeing off the boat and switching from miller light to bud light didn't work, Dave got the brilliant idea to shotgun a beer to appease the fish gods. And I'm happy to say that less than 5 minutes later we were wrestling with the great beast, mono y fishing pole. It was really a great experience. Steve and I took shifts wearing it down. It jumped 5 or 6 times while we were reeling it in and it put up a healthy fight. I was worried that it would shake loose from the hook but after about 15 minutes it tired out and came up pretty quick.
For those of you taking a trip down memory lane to our last terrible idea of a deep sea fishing experience, I feel that I have redeemed not only that horrible event in human history but also our race, reclaiming us as the dominant species. (Fish 1, Humans 1. Tune in next week to find out who's on top) Its only a tiny bit sad that we killed such a pretty creature, but we plan on feeding about 10-15 people tonight from our little portion. Not to mention the countless Japanese tourists that will gladly donate a large sum of Yen to our little Guamish economy. Below is me Dave, Steve and Ben. We all live in the same condo building and it was quite the team effort to get the Marlin in the boat. You'll notice the Chamorro guy in the background anxious to slice up our prized catch. Good times.Check out Steve's Blog "Change Your Latitude" listed at the right for more pictures and an extended description of the days events.
10 comments:
Just glad I could keep the fish from getting too much further out before you muscled it back in!
-Steve
Matt, did you go to Guam for work????
Glad to seeyou sweating so much :-)
Carlos stole my comment.....which was "this is probably the most you've worked since you've got there!"
Although I'm sure applying sunscreen, washing sand off/out of your body, and bbq'ing fish isn't as easy as you make it look.
Looks like you've acclimated yourself to island living.
Its oh so nice to have a tuton contributing to this forum. keep em coming mike. yeah my SC heritage has almost left my body completely, but i spend lots of time in the water here on guam so i dont feel like i have completely forsaken my roots. while we do get to spend a lot of time working on our extraciricular activities, i do work for real sometimes, its just mostly at night which frees up lots of days to do stuff.
for instance last night i flew through typhoon Henderon on my way to Manila. it wasnt that bad, and we got in during the quiet before the storm. but tonight i go back and we hope that it will have passed through by the time we get there. next month i do the island hopper a few times. its a brutal 10-12 hr day with 6 stops at various little atolls along the way to hawaii. the consolation prise is that you are rewarded with a 52 hr layover in honolulu which im not complaining about. yeah life is tough, somebodys got to do it.
dont know if any of you have heard, but continental is reducing its capacity which means we may get forced off this little rock in a few months. we are right on the fringe of being forced back to newark and staying here, so we are trying to really take advantage while we can. we wont know anything until late august, so we are just hanging out until then.
Screw Newark - Just stay in Guam- never surrender!!!
Never mind those comments about work, I know how grueling a pilot's job really is. But, in case you find yourself back in Newark for the winter, maybe you could get a job with "Travel and Leisure" as a photographer and columnist.
When we read your blogs it's almost as if we're traveling along with you guys, but aren't you glad we're not??
Mikey, it's good to hear from you! It's like I'm listening in on a phone call..uh, not that I ever did that or anything....
Glad to see that you're carrying on the Welton tradition of catching large game fish.
As you may recall, I caught an 8' sailfish at the ripe age of 11, but unassisted by the rest of my crew. Although my fish only weighed 89 lbs, that's because the sailfish is the "Gazelle of the Gulf" and much more agile and sleek than the heavier, dottering Marlin.
As a result, all wise fishermen know that catching a sailfish requires expert skill and finess vs. hauling in a docile, lumbering marlin.
I will say however, that if you're hungry, a heavier, slower, bulkier marlin provides more substance to the famished.
Congratulations on landing a trophy fish! I remember the thrill that catching a big bill fish brings. When can I expect my marlin steaks? Oh yeah...you sold them already.
-Dad
i knew i was going to get flack for taking so long. there are not many that can compete with an 11 year old catching a sailfish. but now at least i have a picture to go along with your black and white of you as a kid.
we did feed a village though with all the meat. it was some of the best sashimi ive ever had and steve mixed up a sweet combo of herbs and spices to make them taste pretty fantastic on the grill later that night.
the verdict is out. the people want more from mike tuton.
happy flag day to neal.
Big L, glad to see your comment and welcome to bogworld..
I have no fishing stories to tell and have not caught either a Marlin or Sailfish, so I'll end my comment with a congratulatory message to Matt on Spain's well deserved victory over my cousins..good luck against the Teutons...
I still don't think your marlin compares to my red snapper.
Wow, seriously cool pics. Sounds like an amazing time.
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