REPORTS FROM THE RIP: The outbreak monkey

Burke caught his first Blue Marlin and got thrown in

Capt Max slupping wasabi

The past few weeks have seen very pretty slow fishing here in Casa De Campo. The last week was brutally rough, with 25 to 30 kt winds nearly every day. The main body of fish has yet to show up here. But they do every year, so we are all waiting.

Bordom on the docks brings about all kinds of interesting stuff.
A couple of days ago Capt Max bet his mate that he could eat an entire tube of Wasabi paste. We all stood there in amazement as Max took it like a man. He said the worst part of it was the burps later that night. He is a better man than I am.

We have fished a little and had limited luck so far. We have hooked and lost a few and caught some fish. One of the Fish we caught was a Blue Marlin that could not have weighed more than 30 lbs. As Capt Tim Richardson of the Ambush said " It was kinda like a blue marlin... only smaller". We actually had one even smaller chase up a bait as we cleared the spread but it did not eat.

Well as it Does every season about this time, We have run out of American milk. The boss flew in commercially last time but next time he will be flying private, so the pilot should be able to sneak some thru customs. We met some crew off of a yacht here and talked the Stewardess into smuggling a little milk off of their boat. Dan And I each savored it as if it was a fine wine.

Casa De Campo had their 2016 Season kick off party/ banquet last weekend. They really did a great job. Somehow they found a rock group that played southern rock. The food spread was so over the top good. Its a good thing I did not see the deserts before my main meal or I would have saved more space. Keep up the good work Vilma. Looking forward to the Gringos vs the dock attendants this sunday night.

Dan and I drove the boss to the airport in Santo Domingo on Sunday. On the way back I had to drive Dan through the town of Boca Chica. Boca Chica is an odd place. During the day the main street is full of art and t shirts and tourist junk. at night it becomes very MUCH a different place. I went there one time at night and have no desire to ever go back. As one of our guests puts it, " Boca Chica is where the Outbreak Monkey went to retire". So Dan and I are riding down the street taking in the culture and we actually drove right past a guy in a monkey suit. ( The out break monkey?)see pic below

Look at the size of the snapper next to my hand and the mullet are not much bigger.

Now I have to get a little politically incorrect and talk about the local fisheries. I get the fact that we are in a poor country. I get the fact that they have to make what they can with the resources they have. But on a recent trip to the grocery in La Romana Dan and I took some pictures of some ridiculously small fish. Like I said I get the fact that some people here can just not afford a big chunk of tuna, but for a store much less for a country to condone killing 3 - 4 inch long snappers is ridiculous. Lane snapper are fairly prolific when fished sensibly. Killing and selling a snapper that small is doing no person any good. The 8-10 inch grouper in the case were not any better. I sure hope that someone stands up and realizes that there is no way to have a sustainable fishery of any kind by raping the resource like this. This is an awesome country but they have to make some changes.

Some of you that have read this blog in past years may have heard me speak of a guy named Pedro. Pedro is kind of a misfit Dominican that hangs around here. There are a few more pics below of his adventures.