This one’s for Dave

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, in this case approximately 400 of them. At first glance, the picture is of me with a sailfish catch and release flag. Pretty ordinary stuff. However, there is more to the story.

 

Last year, my brother David passed away unexpectedly. If you are a regular reader of this article (if there is such a thing), you know my brother. We fished together all the time. So, Dave was in The Daniel Island News nearly every week.

 

This year, Elliott (my son), Brody (the amazing fish finding and stock trading dog), and I are fishing to remember David. For every billfish that we catch and release, we are making a donation to the South Carolina Memorial Reef. Thus, our recent obsession with blue marlin and sailfish.  

 

Learning to catch blue marlin and sailfish has been a challenge. Every week we set out to be heroes (by catching and releasing the target species). Only to be humbled and return to the dock as zeroes. It is discouraging but we are learning together and that makes it OK.

 

On Saturday, Elliott, Brody, and I set out once again to be heroes. We were 30 miles offshore when the sun came up.  

 

Elliott looked at me and said, “Today is the day.”

 

I laughed because he says that every time we fish offshore. Then, after a momentary pause, I replied “I think you are right.”  

 

We began fishing 59 miles offshore in an area with a 2-degree temperature break. Shortly after we began trolling, a blue marlin attacked our squid chain and Spanish mackerel teaser. Elliott quickly deployed a rod rigged with a magnum size Ballyhoo. The marlin refused to eat it. Dejected, we watched the big fish swim away.   

 

A few hours later, a sailfish attacked the teaser. Once again, Elliott deployed the pitch bait. This time the sailfish switched to the bait from the teaser and we hooked up.  

 

Total elation! It was the first time we successfully performed the “bait and switch” technique on a billfish.

 

In billfish circles, it is customary to fly a release flag each time you catch and release a billfish.  After releasing our sailfish, Elliott handed me a flag saying let’s fly this one.  

 

It was a custom flag with the phrase “This one’s for Dave.” I laughed. Behind my sunglasses there were tears in my eyes.

 

Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.