April 18th, 2010 Royal Island, Exumas to Little Harbor, Abacos

The run from the Exumas to the Abacos is about 50 miles to the first cut at Little Harbor. We were up at 5 am.. and greeted by cloudy skies and very little wind. We made some coffee and waited for daylight. At 6:30 we hauled in the anchor and were off. Once out of the lea of the islands there was a dying swell of about 4 feet and 10 knots of wind from the NE our course was due north so we got the jib and main up and lowered the RPMs down to about 1000. (idle speed plus a little)

We were alone on the ocean. As the morning progressed we did see a couple of freighters and by noon met 4 sail boats that had left Little Harbor heading south. For the most part though, we had the place to ourselves in very comfortable conditions.

Kathy made a great breakfast of poached eggs, grits, and a bagel for breakfast and then fried some tortilla chips for lunch that we had with the end of leftover white chili.

We had three lines out all day but no bites. There was lots of floating seaweed which is usually a good sign even if you have to clean the baits every 20 minutes. I was waiting until we were 1 mile from the Little Harbor waypoint to haul the lines but started a little earlier than that hauling in one of the hand lines. As I grabbed the other hand line something hit...With the line in one hand I yelled at Kathy, who was below, and pushed the throttle to idle. Then the reel on our boat rod started screaming. Kathy let the jib sheet go but we were still making to much way. I tied off the hand line with the reel still screaming and we rolled up the jib dragging two fish. With only the main up Kathy steered into the wind and got our speed down to about a knot. The reel finally stopped making noise so I started reeling as fast as I could. There was no resistance for a while but eventually I felt the fish. The boat rod was set on the port side but the fish was swimming parallel to us about three boat lengths to our starboard. So far the two lines hadn't crossed but that was about to change if we didn't do something. I couldn't move the fish on the rod so Kathy got the gloves on and hauled the fish on the hand line in about half way our about 50 feet beyond our stern. She tied off the line on a stern cleat, got the gaff ready and cleared the cockpit.

By the time she was finished I had made some progress and could see both fish from my vantage point. The fish on the rod was a large bull and the other was a nice female. As I worked the larger fish toward the boat Kathy snuck behind me and took the rod walking backward towards the bow with the rod tip high. After a few seconds I had the fish gaffed and in the cockpit.

We set the rod down, uncleated the hand line, and before too long had the second fish gaffed and on the floor as well.

The fish were 44 and 48 inches long respectively, but the male was at least twice as heavy. The weight difference was 40 pounds to 20.

We got the lines organized as we worked our way through the cut and washed down the cockpit with buckets of saltwater. We found a suitable place to anchor behind Lynyard Cay, got the sail covers on and began butchering fish on the foredeck.

We'll keep as much as we can but will have to give half of it away due to lack of space in the freezer. Kathy spoke with Nancy of "Solitaire" and they will take some as will "Savage Son" when we see them.

By this time we were both tired and so dinner was leftover beef and noodles and cooked carrots. We watched some video and went to bed earlier than normal.