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I’ve just returned from the 4th annual Sportsman’s Magazine sailfishing trip to Mexico, where my father and I went for the first time. After seeing the advertisement months ago, I decided to take my 81-year-old father on the trip of our lives. Many smaller fishing trips had been arranged in the past with my father and me, but this one was the longest and with the purpose of doing something neither one of us had ever done—catch a billfish.
We left out of Baltimore, flew down to Cancun, and hopped a bus to the Sunscape Resort at Puerto Aventuras. Before I get to the fishing, let me just say the resort was great, with all the good food you could eat and all the drinks you could want. The resort has lots to do, with swimming pools and beaches and activities galore. I thought we were just going to be staying in some fisherman’s hotel and fishing during the day. Boy, was I wrong. The accommodations were fantastic.
Now onto the important news! The first day was filled with meeting our fishing group, looking around the marina at the boats, and getting settled in. We got to the docks at 8 a.m. on Sunday. At 9 a.m. we slipped away to the inlet. The waves were kicking pretty good, and in less than 15 minutes we had our trolling lines in the water, where we were in 750 to 1500 feet of water within sight of the resort!
We trolled for around an hour and a half when the first white marlin hit the line. Dean, the youngest at 21, was the first up and made short work of reeling in a nice fish. We got it to the boat, took a great picture, and released him so he could make some other angler’s day in the future. After a 45-minute troll, we hooked up with two of the nicest mahi-mahi I have ever seen. Mike and Gary reeled these in and they went at around 30 to 35 pounds each. These fish were jumping and giving quite a show all the way to the cooler.
After some more trolling the ballyhoo in front of our little friends of the deep, we hooked up with another white marlin. This time it was my turn, so I hopped in the chair to fight it. Before I knew it, a second white marlin was on, and my father needed the chair. There we were, father and son, fighting our first billfish in each of our lives at the same time! We fought these fish together until mine was at the boat. We released him and went for Dad’s. The captain and mate were working hard, backing down, and after a great fight got the fish in the boat, took a picture, and it was back into the big pond. It was the greatest 25 to 35 minutes of my 38-year fishing experience!
The mate put the lines back in, and within minutes a beautiful sailfish hooked up, and a real gentleman by the name of Michael Bean, who has been battling cancer for some time, reeled in this fantastic sailfish. What a day we had. It was time to head in.
Back at the dock, we managed to get our mahi-mahi cooked at a restaurant, “Gringo Dave’s.” It was fresh and very well cooked. The rest of the days found us trolling, catching a few marlin and sailfish among some other fish like mahi-mahi. The rest of the days were not as wide open as the first, but they were still very good, and we all enjoyed ourselves very much. Much of the excitement came as we hung out at the dock with the 60 other fishermen, seeing what they brought back in or hearing of what they got to release.
Seeing these guys and gals with smiles and suntans and lots of stories was the best. There was story after story of sailfish fights, marlin battles and all kinds of mahi-mahi to go around. One gentleman caught the biggest mahi-mahi I have ever seen. It was huge, measuring 63 inches and weighing in at 37 pounds.
On the last few days, I got to watch my dad reel in a large sailfish after a spectacular fight in which the fish jumped around nine times. I also watched as another nice gentleman, Harold Yates, reeled in his first white marlin ever. He was 78 and my dad is 81. They were both in the Korean War and they fought fish sitting next to each other at the same time. It was something to see.
On the last day, I got a chance to fish with Mike Bean, the son of Michael Bean, and we hooked up with five mahi-mahi at the same time. That’s right, five rigs in the water and all five hooked up at the same time. It was great. We trolled a while longer, caught a barracuda, and then I hooked up with my personal best 54-inch mahi-mahi. He put up a great fight, but in the end, landed on our plates.
Mine is just one story of this great trip. There are many others, and we all had a great time. If you can slip away next year south of the border with this group, I highly recommend coming along. The price was great and the fishing was even better. My thanks to Sheri and everyone involved in putting this on.
