REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Big blue at Riding Rock

Matt releasing a BIG girl

Aaaaahhh Riding the rock! We are indeed riding the rock At Riding Rock Marina in San Salvador, Bahamas. San Sal is one of the south easterly most islands in the Bahamas. While it has basic infrastructure, it can be a little primitive. Groceries come in once a week by cargo boat ( the mail boat) out of Nassau. If you want produce or bread, you had best get it in the first day or so after the boat arrives. While it can be a little tough to supply a boat here, the fishing makes up for it. The island is surrounded by thousands of feet of water just a hundred yards from the shore all the way around. Yellowfin Tuna and Marlin patrol the waters on the north and south ends of the island.

Here you can clearly see the chopped fins

One shot of our Hatchet Marlin

Last weekend we had the Rey family and the Cordells on board. Fishing was a touch slow but quality made up for it. On Sunday we went two for three on Blue marlin. One of the fish pushed 650-700 lbs. Madelynn Rey used all of the strength her 17 year old body had to fight the big blue for 1 and a half hours before releasing it. It was one hell of a fish. Congrats Madelynn.

On another trip we caught what I feel was a Hatchet Marlin. It is very similar to a white marlin but all of its fins look as though they were chopped by a hatchet or a pair of shears. The picture shows the fishes dorsal fin got split by the line but in one of the pics you can clearly see the straight flat angles of its fins.

Those of you whom have been here know about the mosquitoes. It is hard to describe how bad they can be. They are not always bad. But on a few evenings here when the winds have died and it has rained a bit, they come out in droves. They are mean and attack in force. There is a pelican here that was beaten up and had all of its feathers plucked off of it by a pack of the skeeters.

The waters surrounding the island are about as clear as anywhere in the world. As I said before, the waters drop off to Thousands of feet a hundred yards from shore. But the area between the shore and the edge is spectacular in places. The snorkeling and diving here are world class. It is really hard to describe the colors of blue that one can see from the shore line here. The greens blues and turquoise colors are impossible to capture with a camera.