Marlin Season's Not Over Yet...

I was a little afraid that the tournament last weekend might mark the end of this year's marlin fishing season. But yesterday, after arriving back on Zamami from Geruma by boat, I looked over and noted Yukibo's boat to be absent. I was happy he was out fishing, but I also whined to myself, 'but, but.. you forgot ME.'

He was in Naha with some of his staff Monday night for the closing party of the fishing tournament. They came back on the 10am ferry from Naha and I guess Yukibo got a phone call on the boat from a friend who had just had a triple-hookup of marlin out near where we fished Sunday (they landed one). So after arriving back to Zamami at 12pm, he took off at 1pm with just two of his female staff. Throughout the afternoon they had a total of 6 marlin hits - and they were only running three lines because they had so few people on the boat. Every time Yukibo tried to leave (he had a meeting at 8pm) another marlin would hit (but not get hooked). He'd circle around and go after it again, then try to leave. At 6:30pm they finally hooked up. But Yukibo had to run the boat from the bridge so the two girls had to take care of bringing in the loose lines, getting Miki into the harness, then getting the rod into the fighting chair and attached to Miki. That would've been a fun scene to watch. Yukibo knew that Miho couldn't handle all the spears herself so Yukibo called some Zamami guys who were fishing nearby. They came over and tied their boats together, then boarded just in time for the end of the fight at 8pm.

[Yukibo guessed it at over150kg, more like 160kg, but my official guess is 143kg - we'll find out today]

I was at eisa practice, but the community knew to come find me. Somebody got a phone call (and, I found out today, I got an email from Miki at 8:15!), then came to tell me. I kept an eye out and at 8:45 ditched eisa practice when I saw the lights enter the harbor. They'd been so overwhelmed they hadn't even taken the lure out of the marlin's mouth yet! I helped wash the rods down, remove the spear hooks and gaffs, and get the marlin into an ice-filled blanket to preserve for cutting up today. What an adventure! (and I wasn't even there!)