Originally Posted by
Jozie & Me
The guy that I mentioned in my post may be the same guy ECU is talking about. The story that was told to us during our pre-Tourney Safety brief was:
Boat hooked a good size marlin and fought it to the boat. The mate grabbed the wire leader and wrapped the wire around his wrists. As he was wiring the fish, he slipped and fell overboard. The fish was exhausted and lying on its side beside the boat. Everyone in the boat was laughing at the mate for falling in. He could not get the leader from around his hands. The fish came to and sounded taking the mate with him.
ALWAYS carry a knife on your person.
In my case, everyone on the boat was out of position. The captain was in the cockpit (always bad idea) The normal gaff man was driving the boat, I (normal wire man) was making lunch and the other mate was asleep in the fighting chair. There were only 4 of us on the boat. When the fish hit, all hell broke loose and the captain wouldn't go back up top. We fought the fish for 45 minutes or so and brought it up along side. I was taught to gaff a tuna from the underside because if you turn them upside down, they are paralyzed. I gaffed many of them that way. Captain told me to get the gaff and he would wire.
As said, the fish came up on the port side, belly to the boat, beautiful. I had a perfect shot to get him in the boat. I went to strike and the captain yelled, "Don't you hit that fish in the stomach, you hit him in the back." I pulled the gaff and put it over to strike again. By this time, the fish had drifted about 2-3 feet away from the boat still laying on its left side, belly to the boat, so I had to reach further to hit him in the back.
When I hit, the fish sounded, broke the leader and took me and the gaff with him. My belly hit the gunwale and I was headed over. The captain fell in the boat with the broken leader and my buddy jumped out of the fighting chair and grabbed me as I went out.
For the next 4-5 hours the captain and his old fishing buddy argued. His old fishing buddy was Will Fennell's dad Wallace. He is who taught me to gaff a tuna from the underside.
I did love fishing with those old codgers. Learned a whole lot. Wallace taught us, "If you learn to run a cockpit you can fish on any boat in the world. Most boat owners are in a pecker measuring contest, not a fishing contest." He was right.
Orrrr don’t be an idiot and take so many wraps…two wraps around the hand is much easier to let go of than multiple around the wrist.
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