On the way to Compass Cay from Eleuthera today Bob says "Think I'll air out my fishin gear for awhile; and gets set up. Bob then asked me what I would do if he fell overboard while landing a fish; we went through the drill and other than me telling him that I would throw everything off the boat that would float into the water, I passed the exam. About an hour out of Eleuthera the reel spins and I do what I was taught to do, take the navigational off, steer into the waves, lower the rpms and set auto pilot. The stabilizers don't work well at low rpms, so now we are in for some rockin and rollin while trying to land a fish without a gaff, and well...not much else other than ingenuity. This bad bull dolphin measured 42" long, our "fish scale" to weigh him was in my suitcase under our bed (also known as luggage scale), but he was big, and ended up in our freezer and also will be in our frying pan tonight! Yay Bob...Go Capt!
Not only did we get the first big Mahi Mahi shown above, but just when I was starting to feel less nauseous after the rocking that went with the landing of this big guy, his reel started spinning again and I am thinking "Oh damn" So back in action we went, this time Bob actually landed him from the side of the boat while I held the rod tight outside the pilot house. He measured 45" and will be great to share with Richard and Mimi when they arrive! Our "tackle box" includes my sewing tape measure, a bottle of vodka, a pole spear (no gaff...), a hammer, a luggage scale and an old sheet to cover the deck.
#2 Mahi Mahi refused to die; so Bob says get the hammer...I said "how about the Vodka?" He forgot that Sister Janet left a bottle of Absolute on the boat from her trip with us a couple of years ago (can't believe I didn't drink it!} but a few shots into the gills and our big boy turned calm and Bob could filet it out. Postscript: 
The picture above of Vodka & Me (thanks Janet!) was taken once we arrived at Compass Cay, I was happy to see the boat Freedom tied to the dock across from us. In my opinion this is the most beautiful boat in the Bahamas (and it's a charter boat). This is a Trumpy, a Trumpy used to be a Presidential Yacht which lasted into Kennedy's administration. Bob and his friend Dan Himes did a delivery of a Trumpy across the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans to Tampa, no electronics, cable steering and a lot of fun...well let's say it was an interesting trip!
