Another sunny day in Cabo!

Outdoor Chef El Kurto was up and out the door early today. I am on a quest for the elusive Marlin one of the worlds greatest gamefish. We left the harbor full of anticipation on 29' charter boat called the El Pescador out of Cabo San Lucas. A sharp right turn past the arch took us out into the mighty Pacific Ocean. We were out at least an hour and we were in the aqua blue deep water that Marlin prefer. We put out 5 lines with plugs and started trolling. The captains job isto spot the fish on the surface resting by seeing his fin or tail. We trolled for 3 hours in the deep water and not a fish in site. The captian then decided to turn left and work our way back into the Sea of Cortez where he thought there was calmer water and would make spotting fish easier. Larry and Steve the two guys I was fishing with are from Lewiston, Idaho; and had invited me to join them on this trip, I felt lucky to be in good company and with some guys who were just as excited to see a big fin as I was.

We dozed in the sun while the captain kept a watchful eye out and all of a sudden he shouted and lept from the fly bridge to the poles and cast a live bait out. The Captain had seen a marlin sleeping on the surface. We looked for a while and he brought the live bait in, it was missing a chunk out of its middle but no hook up.Then we moved on and a few minutes later the captain did the same thing only the fish bit hard and then we were HOOKED UP to a STRIPED MARLIN of some size. CHAOS ENSUED and Larry fought the fish like a pro for the next 30 to 40 minutes while I videoed it all. The fish jumped a few times and put up quite a battle for us. We landed the STRIPED MARLIN and the Captain said it was bleeding heavily and it would probably die, so we decided to keep it. High fives and photos were in order as the fish was strapped to the rear of the boat. We hung the fish on the scale and it weighed 185 lbs and was approx. 8 feet long. A REEL Beauty! After weighing and filleting I was fortunate enough to be able to keep 1/2 of the meat. We had bbq'd Marlin for dinner this night which the flavor was out of this world. Stories abounded around the outdoor grill and all wanted to know how we landed The Big One! I will bring home the rest to be smoked, grilled and baked in several different ways. ADIOS for now from Outdoor Chef El Kurto