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A RIDICULOUS LUCKY FISHING
& SAILING DAY
By Ronnie Ramos

It was Palm Sunday, or Domingo de RAMOS in Spanish. Ramos is our last name; and it happened to be an incredible day, or, let’s say, a RIDICULOUS LUCKY DAY.

To here, this story may sound like an old fishing story. But please, keep on reading since this time is a real fishing story and for the very first time, Robbie, my twin brother, was the hero of the day. (Robbie has been my hero in other categories, but never in fishing.)

Back to our RIDICULOUS LUCKY DAY, on this specific day, we caught nine (9), yes 9 dorados and a Wahoo!!! You will probably ask yourself: “What is all the fuss about for only ten fishes?”

OK, I know you are ready to quit reading, but will you believe one mahi mahi was a 56-pound “bull” caught with a 30# line aboard a sailboat?

The weekend before, during the Ponce Yacht & Fishing Club Light Tackle Dorado’s Fishing Tournament, I got pumped after two days of good fishing aboard Topo Villamil’s Bertram 38’. We caught 16 dorados and finished third.

This time I wanted to challenge my luck and skills and decided to go in my sailboat, Campechano, a Hunter 43’, along with my brothers Robbie and Jerry. Dr. Sammy Rodríguez, a fishing maniac; and Tuto and Joel Santiago —the father and son duo who sailed with me from Venezuela to Salinas— joined me that day.

On this day, we sailed due South from our place in Salinas. By 0900 hr. we were at “the drop”, a well-known fishing area seven miles off the coast. The activity was good, since there were birds all over; but they were chasing small tunas. Before noon, while steering the sailboat, Tuto saw a lonely “tijereta”. The adrenaline started to pump in everybody’s veins, since the “tijereta” was diving faster than the kamikazes that infamous day over Pearl Harbor.

As soon as we got close to the “tijereta” I got a strike in my 50# rod; seconds after, Joel got another, but in a 30# line. All aboard yelled: “Son dorados, son dorados” as they started jumping. Things were going fine until Sammy, the maniac, the bible, the studious, the reader and really, the only person aboard with some serious knowledge about fishing could not resist and decided to throw his ballyhoo overboard with a 30# line. It was Sammy’s first sailing/fishing experience.

Suddenly, a monster jumped some 50 yards away. “Joel, yours is really big! Go for it” I yelled. “That one is your dorado, mine is far away,” he yelled back. Then I realized it was Sammy’s. We had a “tripleta”! The pandemonium aboard was something that I will be ashamed to describe.

I handled my rod to Robbie while yelling: “Bring it in, and fast”. I went after the gaff and stepped on the lower transom. Minutes latter, one dorado was aboard. There were no high fives, since there were no hands available. At that moment, I took the helm. I knew Sammy was “running out of gas” since he kept slipping and sometimes falling. Luckily, since I was steering close to Sammy, I kept him on his feet most of the times. Remember that we had ours sails up.

Jerry, the one with the least fishing experience, also wanted to be part of the action. As soon as Joel landed his dorado, he threw his bait overboard with his brand new $76.50 casting rod, one of those Wal-Mart’s combo daily specials. Sammy, the only real fisherman aboard, yelled at Jerry: “I think you are doing a mistake”. Although I agree with Sammy, especially since Jerry had a 20# line. I really wanted him to land one. I believe this might be his first dorado.

Less than a minute later, Jerry started yelling: “I got one, I got one, I got one” and kept on yelling non-stop. Boy, was he happy! The only big problem aboard was that there were three brothers yelling at the same time and Sammy’s voice could not be heard. Tuto was quiet handling the sails, but Joel had also joined the Ramos brothers. Now the pandemonium was on its peak.

Luckily, Jerry’s dorado was a “small” female (15-20#) and he was able to board it quite fast. Then it was Sammy’s turn to yell: “Reverse, reverse, I must have 600 yards out” “What?” I yelled back. “Prepare to reel in. I am going to tack and go after the fish” as I tacked the boat.

Sammy was reeling in so fast that his right hand was almost invisible. Then his veins started to dry up and his hand became more and more visible. The line slacked up and nobody knew were the monster was. The yelling stopped. “Se fué” I heard. After a long minute, Sammy said: “Ronnie, your maneuver was too aggressive”. I think he was very kind at me. I kept quiet since he was darn right. I expected him to reel in 600 yards in couple of minutes, but his veins were as dry as the Sahara.

All of a sudden, the line went under the boat and I said to myself: “We are dead duck”. After close to 40 plus long minutes, I was certain that the battle was lost. Then Robbie started to yell again. He took the tip of the rod as deep as possible into the water trying to untangle the line, without being successful.

Then he asked for a diving mask. “What?” everybody yelled back, except me. I know that he is capable of doing very weird things. While Robbie was waiting for the mask, Tuto, Joel and Sammy were all stunned. Jerry was still all exited with his dorado. I finally found one mask I used in my younger years while snorkeling around Caja de Muertos. While Robbie was preparing to dive, I heard Sammy mumbling. I am sure he was praying.

Robbie went down for the longest 10 seconds I have ever lived. He showed up and yelled: “The line is tangled in the rudder, is wrapped around the keel (winged) and is coiled around the propeller”. Without hesitating, he dove again. “He must be crazy”. I am sure everyone must have been thinking. Again, all but me, as I am used to Robbie’s crazy and wild maneuvers.

This time he comes up with the fishing line in his hands and yelled: “Grab this and start pulling bunch of suckers”. We were again all stunned, or at least I was. I never though this could happen. Joel, the strongest and youngest (by far) got the line and started pulling bare handed while I cut the tangled line and re-tied it to the line Joel had in his hand.

Then, a well-rested Sammy again took over for at least 30 more minutes. Joel did a beautiful gaffing job while Robbie helped him board the huge monster. This time there were many available hands for the high fives. Sammy lay in his back and looked like dead while displaying a huge smile.

Later, I found out that Tuto had caught another dorado. When? Don’t ask me. All I know is that it was landed during the pandemonium. In the afternoon, our good luck kept up, as we found a floating log. Four more dorados were caught along with a beautiful Wahoo.

For many years to come, this Palm Sunday will be remembered, as a RIDICULOUS LUCKY FISHING DAY for the RAMOS and Robbie was the hero!

Article ©Copyright 2006 La Regatta

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