So, you know the story about the guy that walks in and begins to tell a story about a really big fish that he caught (spanning his hands out as far as they can reach) and saying, "It was this big!”? Everyone around him nods, rolls their eyes and says to themselves, “I’ve heard this one before.”
Well, I have my own fish tale to tell. I caught a fish. It was my first fish EVER, and if truth be told, Martin and David helped me catch him pretty much the entire time while I was reeling him into the boat. But still, I caught my first fish! He was HUGE!
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| My Caravalle Jack. |
That really isn’t the only fish tale that I wanted to tell, because the one I am about to tell you will completely deflate my story. So, I had to tell mine first.
About 4 days into our 6-day trip to the Galapagos, we heard the reels screaming telling us that there was a fish at the end of the line. So, Martin ran over to the rod, grabbed on to it and said, “I think this may be a really big fish!” About that moment a Blue Marlin comes jumping out of the water wiggling his sword showing us, that he, in fact, was a “big fish” at the end of Martin’s line.
Martin sat holding that rod and watching the line just peeling out without being able to reel him in at all. If you know Martin, he was not going to let some "fish" get the better of him. So, every time the Marlin would peel out the line, David (our captain) would help Martin reel in some line by circling AMARA back towards the fish. It seemed like a dance between the two, as each one did their own version of the two-step. Give a little. Take a little. This dance lasted for hours.
The fish was so strong that it broke the metal rod holder. (See below.)
After a few more hours, David jumped in and started helping Martin by pulling up the line hand over hand for at least another hour.
Sue and I even to help relieve some of the pressure off Martin by holding on to the middle of the rod as David continued to yank up the line.
Finally after 5 hours and more than half a mile of line (that Martin reeled in at least 100 times) we landed the "fish"... and he was no ordinary fish.
Let photos begin...
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Martin and his trophy Blue Marlin.
400-lb and 11' 6" long |
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| A picture of their prize. |
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| Teamwork! |
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| Now for Sue to work her magic. |
The story doesn't even end here... The next day at almost the exact same time, Martin and David switched roles and David caught this Blue Marlin which we caught and released.
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| Another Blue Marlin estimated to be about 7 feet and 200-lbs. |
Apparently, we've finally figured out how to catch fish. Here is to more fish stories in our future!
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Also, another monumental accomplishment for the Frey family is that when we crossed the equator, we were officially initiated from Pollywog status to being Shellbacks.
Festivities and lots of shaving cream were involved.
The fish was so strong that it broke the metal rod holder. (See below.)
Sue and I even to help relieve some of the pressure off Martin by holding on to the middle of the rod as David continued to yank up the line.
Finally after 5 hours and more than half a mile of line (that Martin reeled in at least 100 times) we landed the "fish"... and he was no ordinary fish. 
