No, not some kind of Mexican jail (as we are still within sight of the penal colony’s lights at night), but the fish I caught for dinner. Actually two dinners, at least.

He measured 23 inches and made dinner for two nights. Delicious!

I tried fishing from Charisma and was hoping to catch some more of those bass we caught back near La Paz, but no action. So I decided it was well past time on this voyage where I tried some trolling from the dinghy.

Looks a little silly, but resulted in dinner...

I took a few passes through the cove and one out around the corner trying a couple different lures. No joy. On the end of the last pass, with my last lure (an old beat up Rappella with tooth marks from a barracuda I caught in the Caribbean), the pole bent double and the line started running off the reel. I immediately stopped the dinghy and tightened the drag. Solid pull, couldn’t budge whatever it was. I thought I was hooked on a rock and was thinking about how to fix that when this “thing” started pulling the dinghy through the water toward the rocks. Uh, oh. (Should I add at this point, that there was a panga with some of the fishermen aboard anchored about 30 yards away and relaxing with a smoke before going back to their shacks. They were duly entertained by the silly gringo yatista being towed around the cove by a giant fish).

So…I have some kind of monster from the deep towing me to sure oblivion on the rocks. What to do? Fortunately the engine was still on, so I gingerly put it in reverse (I’m holding the pole with my left hand and both legs and working the engine with my right hand). Some movement. More reverse. Even more movement. I couldn’t reel him in, but I could tow him! So, rocks averted, I started to tow Moby Fish out to deeper water. Backwards. The Mexican fishermen were thrilled with the afternoon entertainment. Once out in the deeper part of the cove, my Barred Pargo was tired and submitted. I didn’t know what I had until he came out of the depths. Once to the surface, I saw what a beautiful fish I had caught and knew it was some kind of rockfish (which are good eating-the whole purpose of this exercise). So, I bonked him with my trusty fish bonker and pulled him on board to the sound of gentle, polite clapping and smiles from my amigos in the panga. The gringo uses some silly techniques, but he gets his dinner.

So, back to Charisma to proudly show off tonight’s dinner and time to make some fillets. They looked just like snapper, except lighter in color and cooked white. Delicious. We have enough for two or three nights. Thank you Mr. Barred Pargo. Pictures to come.

The fish book describes him thusly; “To 2 ½ feel and 30 pounds. A deep-bodied snapper found skulking in caves and around rocks. Edibility: Excellent.” We measured the one I caught. It was 23 inches.