What an adventure! Nicaragua is an undeveloped Central American nation for the grassroots fishing, surfing, or general adventure traveler seeking phenomenal fishing, uncrowded surf breaks and people that live life simply. While my friends and I primarily went to Nicaragua in 2005 for an uncrowded surfing trip we could not help but to do some sportfishing.
We were the first customers to really push our surf boat charter company to breakout the rods, reels, and tackle. It took them longer then we expected to find the gear (3 days) and we presumed we were going to be fishing with junk as we observed most of the local Nicaraguans using handlines. To our surprise they had brand new Shimano TLD setups and some old Rapala plugs they said would always produce some pescados (fish).
After a half-day of surfing we thought we would try trolling through an area where we saw some surface bait activity and birds working as well. We were a stone's throw from the rocky coastline and in no particularly popular fishing area, but it looked promising from the activity. Using a really beat-up Rapala lure and one rod/reel setup we trolled right through the surface activity with the lure set just behind our wake.
Within minutes, wack and zinggggg, and the TLD reel was screaming. We thought we had a Wahoo or similar when we saw it break the surface, but the drag and pull on the line was very strange, very eratic, almost like we were pulling a big squid through the Pacific. As we pulled our catch closer to the boat we realized we had oddly side-hooked a really big Sierra Mackeral or Spanish Mackeral. We were fortunate not to lose her as the rusty treble hook was attached to real meaty part of the fish, just enough to hold tight.
Our skillful angler Ken Rossi landed this huge one.
Our surf guide Oliver Solis and el capitan Cesar Lopes posed for a few shots too. They were all fired up over the catch since they are normally sitting in the surf break line-up with a team of surfers or running to find the surf break for the day.
This shot nicely depicts the beat-up Rapala with a lucky treble hooked into the middle of the mackeral. Please note captain Cesar's stylish TackleDirect
Visor. He was very appreciative when I gave it to him.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
