AS SEEN IN THE 2004 SUMMER ISSUE

One man’s remarkable tale of his surprising pelagic encounter.
Written by Paul Castronovo  Long time South Florida radio and television personality.

"Hey, you just passed a pretty nice board!" When looking for dolphin, those are the words all fishermen love to hear though I never figured my wife would be the one saying them. She simply doesn't fish, well at least until Easter weekend 2004 she didn’t.

We had spent a week in Cat Cay, a private island in the Bahamas just south of Bimini. We left Hillsboro Inlet on Florida's southeast coast the previous Sunday. The winds were southeasterly at about 10 knots and the seas a comfortable 2 to 3 ft. Three couples, six kids and my 35 ft. Contender Hectic Daze. The women flew, the boys took the boat. The crossing took just over 2 hours. After clearing customs, it was straight to the Rum and Cokes as stories of giant grouper, tuna and wahoo filled our imaginations.

The following morning the seas were perfect with only a slight breeze out of the east. We anchored on a bumpy reef just south of Cat Cay and managed to bag a nice red grouper, a smoker king and a ton of yellowtail snapper. The women were scheduled to arrive at 4:00 pm, so with a couple hours to kill we decided to dive for conch on the outer skirts of the Bahama Bank, just inside of Bimini. Along with the conch, we managed to spear about a dozen lobsters. It's a good thing the first day went so well because it was the last time we got to use the boat the entire week.

Unexpectedly, the following morning winds increased to a steady 30 knots with higher gusts! Thank goodness for the fish, lobster and conch we got on day one as the seafood fed our crew for the remainder of the week. Nevertheless we all had a blast, but with no fishing or diving to do for the entire week, Happy Hour seemed to get underway at noon! Hmm, is that wrong?

Due to howling winds and gigantic seas, we ended up leaving my boat and chartering a flight home. Nobody needs 10 to 12 ft. waves in a 35 ft. boat. Actually, it kind of worked out for me. I knew one way or another I was going to get another trip out of the deal. I never thought the wind would honk for 3 weeks straight!

Finally, a window of opportunity opened and my wife Gina said "Let’s leave the kids with their grandparents and you and I go get the boat". Now I’m thinking "Wait a minute, how am I going fish?” My wife and I have NEVER fished together. I love my wife more than the world but she’s definitely a cruise down the Intracoastal with a glass of wine kind of gal.

To my overwhelming surprise, she suddenly says the unimaginable. "Honey, I know our vacation didn't work out for you with all that wind and bad weather so why don’t we fly over to Cat Cay on Friday, fish all day Saturday and take our time cruising home on Sunday." I was in shock! Before she had a chance to realize what she said, I booked the flight and we were gone.
Still thinking I was in an episode of Candid Camera or maybe getting X'd by Jamie Kennedy, I couldn’t believe this was happening. Before I knew it, my wife and me we’re actually reef fishing together in the Bahamas.

I often fish south of Cat, where it's all about the bottom and the current. After hitting a couple of favorite spots and only picking a few fish, I decided to head south where I hoped the current would be better. I plugged in the coordinates for a reef off Ocean Cay and sure enough, it was going off! After only 10 minutes of chumming, ballyhoo showed up, then some ‘cudas and sure enough, a mother load of yellowtail.

The quickest way to get somebody hooked on fishing is to put them smack dab in the middle of a hectic yellowtail bite. For more than two hours Gina baiting hooks, reeled in flag yellowtails and even managed to mix a few cocktails. Was this really happening? We were both having a blast! With plenty of fish in the box and a calm ocean to boot, we headed into a shallow area between two islands where you could actually see conch lying on the bottom. As Gina ran the boat, I grabbed a quick dozen before we headed back to the marina for our last night. This is when the story gets interesting.

Getting underway early to avoid any afternoon thunderstorms, I made a deal with my wife. "Look, we had a great time fishing yesterday. It's Easter Sunday and we’re planning on having dinner at your Mom's later. I promise we won't fish the entire way back unless we see a big log or a board. If we do, we’ll put a couple of lures out and see if we can quickly pick up a dolphin or two". Overwhelmingly surprising me again, she agreed!

Sadly leaving Cat and Bimini behind, aside from a few schools of skipjack tuna busting the surface the ocean was clean. Well into the Gulf Stream, I suddenly heard Gina say those exciting words every fisherman loves to hear. "Hey honey, we just ran by a pretty nice size board". We not only ran by it, we practically ran over the darn thing at over 30 knots! The area definitely looked fishy. There was a small weed line just south of the board and about a hundred yards ahead of it was a floating lobster buoy. Living up to her end of the deal, we circled the board with a pair of trolling lures and a single rigged ballyhoo, but nothing. Heading towards the lobster buoy, I began to put out a 4th bait when my wife who was driving yelled "I think something is on that one". I glanced at the rod tip and though it did appear to be bouncing a little, I thought it was only weeds. Gina then proceeded to say “No look, I really think you’ve got something!”

That’s when all hell broke loose. It was a marlin! My first marlin! Being as though the fish ate a bait on a Shimano TLD loaded with only 20 lb mono, I thought there was no way I was going to land this fish. I did everything I could to remain calm as I told Gina to keep the boat in gear. I knew one thing was for sure, I needed to stay mellow if there was even a chance of a happy ending. Then she started to jump. No, not my wife, the fish! She smoked the reel a couple of times but with the angle Gina kept the boat at, I slowly managed to tire out the magnificent fish.

I quickly realized I needed proof! Just in case we didn’t land the fish, I asked Gina to grab our new digital camera that neither of us had ever used. Totally into the whole deal, she also helped me with my gloves. I knew if I somehow managed to get the marlin to the boat, I’d have to revive it before the release. All of a sudden the marlin sounded and went directly under the engines. At this point I really thought I was going to lose the fish, but then a small miracle happened. The marlin tired and I was able to grab the fish’s bill. I removed the hook and took my time reviving the fish as Gina acted as both the captain and the photographer. We both watch in awe as the beautiful marlin happily swam off.

I couldn’t believe it. I had finally caught my first marlin. After proper identification from Captain’s Dennis Forgione and Bouncer Smith and a bit of bragging on my radio show, I learned it was a rare white marlin. Now all I need is a blue and a black to get the trifecta! The best thing about the whole trip is after we got home, I overheard my wife bragging to her fiends about the marlin we caught and how much fun she had fishing. She says she can't wait to do it all again. If that isn’t a sweet surprise, I don’t know what is!

Bio:
Paul Castronovo grew up in Lake Worth, Florida and has fished up and down the east coast since 1971. Paul currently resides in Lighthouse Point and fishes aboard his 35’ Contender. Spending most of his free time offshore and in the Bahamas, Paul is also co-chairman of the Miami Dolphin’s Fishing Tournament benefiting the Miami Dolphin’s Foundation.
Paul Castronovo can be heard on the popular Paul & Ron Show on Big 105.9, weekdays from 6:00 -10:00 am. Paul can also be seen on Sports Jam Live WPLG Ch 10, ABC TV Miami.

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