I'm back from Nikunau and a great week it was! As you can see here's me with a yellow fin tuna that I caught on a hand line. In total, Evelyn (K33) and I pulled in 12 fish in only a couple hours, mostly skip-jack, and boy did our hands show for it (gloves are recommended for handline fishing.) So, ever since I was young I remember going out fishing with Dad and whenever he hooked-up, he'd start yelling, "Tuna!! Tuna!!" But it was fishing in Alaska so there was definitely no Tuna. Halibut, salmon, 12 inch dollies . . . it didn't matter, it was always, "Tuna!! Tuna!!" Well this was the first tuna I ever caught so you're damn right I was yelling TUNA!!!
And get this . . . so we go trolling towards a huge flock of birds feeding on the surface, so that means big fish underneath. As we troll through, Evelyn and I get a double hook-up (it was pretty common that day) but these fish were bigger than what we had been getting. As my hand almost gets ripped off and me pulled out of the boat I see Evelyn on the otherside in a similar situation. But just then my line breaks. One of our guides grabs Evelyn's line and starts helping her out. After fighting this thing for a little while they get it next to the boat and what is it? A five foot shark! Just as I think to myself, "that's a big shark, and how the hell are we going to get that into this dinky boat with our bare hands," the line breaks. Unfortunately we didn't have any wire leader for shark fishing, because there were several around us. So we had a double shark hook-up which was exciting. All in all it was a great week. And I have to thank Evelyn for the wonderful company, hospitality and well stocked food safe!
Concerning future plans I'm here in Tarawa for awhile now. The K35 trainers will be coming next week to prepare for the K35 Trainees arrival in September. So it looks like I'll be setting travel mode aside for awhile and re-entering training mode. That's all for now.
And get this . . . so we go trolling towards a huge flock of birds feeding on the surface, so that means big fish underneath. As we troll through, Evelyn and I get a double hook-up (it was pretty common that day) but these fish were bigger than what we had been getting. As my hand almost gets ripped off and me pulled out of the boat I see Evelyn on the otherside in a similar situation. But just then my line breaks. One of our guides grabs Evelyn's line and starts helping her out. After fighting this thing for a little while they get it next to the boat and what is it? A five foot shark! Just as I think to myself, "that's a big shark, and how the hell are we going to get that into this dinky boat with our bare hands," the line breaks. Unfortunately we didn't have any wire leader for shark fishing, because there were several around us. So we had a double shark hook-up which was exciting. All in all it was a great week. And I have to thank Evelyn for the wonderful company, hospitality and well stocked food safe!
Concerning future plans I'm here in Tarawa for awhile now. The K35 trainers will be coming next week to prepare for the K35 Trainees arrival in September. So it looks like I'll be setting travel mode aside for awhile and re-entering training mode. That's all for now.
Great pictures! You really look like you love your job. What's not to love. Right? You really do live in paradise. Love you!
Mom
Posted by: Mom | August 15, 2006 at 01:42 PM
I am writing an article about general stuff on Nikunau and any postal service there. Can anyone help?
Posted by: Susie Cheyne | June 20, 2007 at 05:34 AM
hey, its flea from vt. haha. i goggled your name and your page popped up. write me sometime and let me know how everything is going. later bud
dw
Posted by: david wilson | November 22, 2008 at 01:29 PM