Yesterday was sort of a unique experience. We got up at 7:30, had a quick breakfast, and headed over to Sunset Cay for some fishing. The group consisted of Dad, Carolyn, David, and me. We arrived at Konrad Murrer's place (which is beautiful) and proceeded over to his boat which is a 50-foot Cabo fishing boat (the Rolls Royce of fishing boats) with two 900-horspower supercharged diesel engines. The sound they made when the captain started the engines was the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. Also on the boat was of course the owner Mr. Murrer (who is a very nice German fellow who's been at Ocean Reef for many years), Captain Charlie, and the mate Jen. We pulled away from the dock and headed to the Atlantic.

Our first stop was to catch the bait fish called Ballyhoo. We used little pieces of cut up squid (and fishing rods) to catch those along with a net when they would come in close to the boat. After we caught a sufficient number of Ballyhoo (pictures provided) we headed to 120 feet of water which is just east of the reef (which is why Ocean Reef is called as such, as it is next to the largest coral reef in the continental United States). Then four fishing rods were baited with the Ballyhoo and we trolled along to catch Sailfish. When it was all said and done, each of the five fishermen caught a Sailfish and only one got away (we were five for six). In addition we saw a few other Sailfish but either couldn't get them to bite or they were caught by other boats. After I caught mine, I went up to the tower with the Captain who is probably about my age. The wind up there was probably pushing 30 knots (which is really windy) and the waves were enormous. But it was awesome to hang out up there with Charlie, chat a little, and take pictures of the Sailfish. The conditions were perfect for catching Sailfish but horrible for fishing as the winds were up and very cold and the water was extremely rough. But it wasn't all that bad, and one gladly trades rough seas for catching five Sailfish. Jen worked her ass off like I've never seen. She was constantly baiting hooks, reeling in the hooks with seaweed on them, baiting more hooks, and catching the Sailfish. After a fish was hooked, she would hand the rod to the next person in line, and that person got to reel in the fish. I caught a little baby Sailfish, and Carolyn caught a 100+ pounder which was probably as big as Carolyn is. So it was an exciting day for sure.

It was cool to talk with Charlie about his background and such. He is from Long Island, New York where he learned to fish and such. One thing lead to another, and he ended up in Key Largo. He was recruited by Jen's husband and now works with Mr. Murrer. Apparently they all live in Homestead in the same community, which I thought was fascinating. It is cool to imagine the fishing community all in the same place sort of like a family. And since Charlie is so young (my age), I bet he is having the time of his life. Jen is one of the coolest women I've ever met. She's also rather young (I would bet her early thirties?) and is one of the best fishermen I've ever seen. She hardly took a break the whole trip and has an outstanding personality. You know the personality type: witty, loud, a bit assertive, but very nice and just fun to be around. She's probably the perfect female drinking buddy and at the same time big sister. So when you mixed all the personalities on the boat, you had a nice group of characters.

So we finished the day up and headed home. And what an outstanding day it was. The last order of business was to raise the flags. You put up one flag for each fish caught, so we had five flags waiving proudly as we came in. Had we been in the Sailfish tournament the day before, we would have tied for first. So I really can't express what a great day it was. Plus we saw a few dolphin swimming abound on the way back which was neat.

>>View the PICTURES<<

The rest of the day was sort of lazy. We were exhausted from fishing so we took showers and lounged around. I'm currently reading two books at once which doesn't make much sense, but then again when do I make much sense. I'm reading Complications which is the account of a surgeon's training in general surgery (a task I will become completely familiar with in a few months) and the other is Birds Without Wings which I've spoken of previously.

Then it was time to head over to the Angler's Club for dinner. Dad invited Konrad over and we all met at 7:00 for some din-din. This particular night was a "cook-out" which really means buffet. Of course the buffet is the grandest buffet you have ever seen. We ate lots of food, drank lots of drinks and had a generally good time. Konrad had several stories and shared a few with us which were all very interesting. Then dinner was over, and we went home. Carolyn and David went out afterwards, and I went to sleep. It was a full day.