My story starts off with a man in love with a woman. He asks her to marry him over the Christmas Holiday and she says yes. It’s all about the love. Now, for the next 18 months, while they plan their lives together, the future “Best Man” and “Groomsman” are up to no good. Just as the future groom had hoped.
Well, I am that groom and my “Best Man” and “Groomsman” planned a great Bachelor party. The “Best Man” will be referred to, as “The Dirty Hippie” and the Groomsman will be “Hubukai”. Pronounced Who-Boo-Kie.
After about 5 minutes of deliberation, we decided to go where we always go, Key West, Fl. Now, to give you some background…we’re infamous in Key West. Many years back The Dirty Hippie and myself took Hubukai there for his bachelor party and started off a tradition that will last a long time I think. We try to go at least once a year on “Guys Only” vacation. We have gone there so much that we can walk into certain establishments and they yell out “Philly In The House”, take off their clothes and we pay them. But that story is for another web site.
Now, in all the time I have gone to Key West with the intention of going fishing, I have never landed a Sailfish. I have caught plenty of Mahi-Mahi, Kingfish, Barracudas and even some rare Groupers, but never one of those beautiful Sailfish. As you can tell, this trip would probably change that.
The day starts off without a cloud in the sky, 5 slightly hung-over men who should have known better, a couple of box lunches and a desire to head out to sea. Its 6:30am and we’re late, of course. Capt. Bennett understands that we’re always late and heads over to fuel up. He has been our Captain for the past few years and I believe that he is the sole reason we catch fish when we are there. The mate leans over to me as we’re heading out and says that the wind is from the East and this means we’re going to catch sailfish, just like some Spiritual Guru. About 20 minutes after catching our bait for the day, we hit “The Spot”, now “The Spot” was easy to tell, a big buoy, a clear line between dark blue and light blue water and about 30-40 other boats.
When we go fishing we decide an order in which everyone grabs a line. There were 5 of us, and me being the bachelor got the first crank. The mate tosses out the first bait and while rigging up line number two…..a small Mahi Mahi takes off with it and a few seconds later we have dinner. Now the mate gets the rest of the lines in the water and Captain Bennett gets the kite out. Within 30-40 minutes….Captain Bennett spies a dark mass in the water and a few seconds later, we have a SAILFISH….Pete “The Flipman” was on the line. We let Pete go second because he had never been fishing for anything bigger than a flounder before. I don’t know how much time went by but Pete was smiling ear to ear when he was done. Not to long after that……WHAM! SAILFISH #2 is off and running. Hubukai took his shot and landed his fish. Not bad for being on a boat for less than two hours. Expecting a lull, I kicked back in the cabin to sit down for a few minutes. I don’t think I had been sitting down for 5-10 minutes when I hear “Fish On”. Mike “Land ‘Em” Landow brings in a Falsie that dove for the bottom like he had a 250lb eight around his neck. Within 20 minutes, , the Dirty Hippie grabs the rod and cranks in a barricuda well over 4 feet long. Nasty critter he was. At this point we have two sailfish, a mahi mahi, a barracuda and a falsie…..and its not even noon. This day has been awesome so far and we haven’t even gotten to the best parts!!!!
A little while goes by and I’m on the rod again when we nail another falsie. This guy was small but gave a great little fight…..
Now the fun begins….The Flipman is on the rod and what hooks up……SAILFISH #3. Can you believe it…..this guy has never been deep sea fishing before and hooks up with two Sailfish in one day. Amazing. He is struggling with this one when Captain Bennett goes nuts……SAILFISH #4 just took a bait…..Hubukai grabs the rod and starts his battle. Meanwhile….Flipman is getting tired but screw him……he’s going to have to work it. Oh, didn’t I mention…….SAILFISH #5 grabs a bait and starts heading to Cuba. Land Em is hooked up with than one. We have THREE Sailfish on at one time and yes, they are fight like beasts. This is now referred to as a Chinese firedrill. Hubukai lands his first and then the Captain makes a decision to back up on the Flipmans…… unfortunately Cuba is the other directions and that is where Land Em’s fish is. Pete finally gets his fish up to the boat and “Tag” he is caught. The captain set the trans in drive and takes off after Land Em’s fish….his arms are cranking away and he looks tired, very tired. He gets the fish up to the boat and the mate pulls it in for a picture….Land Em deserved that photo….Five on, Five landed in one day…….oh yeah, I have video of the three of them fight their fish at the same time. I can post the link but it’s a real big file. If you want to download it, email me and I will send you a link.
Well, its been a crazy day so far…….about 6+ hours into our full day trip…..we’re just all feeling really good about ourselves…….those guys with their Chinese Fire Drill and The Dirty Hippie and I for filming it……we out of the corner of my newly purchased, $19.99 polarized sunglass, I see a dark blue mass on our Port side…..”Pa Pa Pa Pa……..PORT SIDE FISH ON!!!!”. I finally get it out of my mouth when the mate goes flying………SAILFISH #6 is on and the Dirty Hippie has got the stick….now up until today….the Dirty Hippie was the only one to ever catch a sailfish but after only a minute or two, the fish threw the hook…..we all felt bad, the first fish lost of the day. Usually, if a fish gets off in the beginning of the fight, we let the guy stay on for the next fish and that was the plan……as I said “was.”
My friend, the Dirty Hippie, did the coolest thing a guy could do for another guy, with the possible exception of hooking him up with his sisters nymphomaniac swimsuit model friend…..…….SAILFISH #7 hit the line and it was going to be last fish of the day……and he gave up the rod to me because I had never caught a sailfish. And this fish was no slouch……probably came in well over 100lbs and 8ft long, at least. This fish took me a good 20 minutes to land but I will say it was incredible. My choice for Best Man couldn’t have been more appropriate.
The guys who took me away are the best bunch of guys, the guys that actually went fishing….got a trip to remember.
Well, that’s my story………Tight Lines to everyone!!!!
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Originally Posted by BrothaBob
