People say that Mahi Mahi are as common as rats in a dumpster. We had managed to catch every type of fish here, apart from the Mahi Mahi...until today.
We left Guadeloupe for Antigua with a warm 7 knot breeze and a benign north east swell and pointed Toodles to Antigua 40 nm away. Being fairly uneventful, and with Heidi (the autopilot) in charge, we decided to ordain Toodles with noodles to make it more comfortable at the helm. After Gary had finished making inappropriate gestures with the noodles, we got to work.
We were in the middle of nowhere when we came across three buoys marking fish pots. Unbeknownst to me, Heidi was given discrete instructions to sail close by. Suddenly Gary jumped to attention. He had seen a Mahi Mahi break the surface about 15 metres from the lure and charge from the buoys right at it. The Mahi Mahi's bull head was pushing a bow wave as it charged. Gary began making unintelligible sounds even before the rod began to scream. I slowed the boat and attempted to interpret Gary's yelps of excitement that were really instructions on turning the boat this way and that. The fish jumped through the air, showing off its iridescent colours.
We had a brief "discussion" regarding whether the fish was too large to keep. The rule is that it must be able to fit in the chilli bin (aka cooler box) or it gets thrown back.
"It's not going to fit in the chilli bin" said I
"I need a bigger chilli bin" he retorts
"You're not going to get a bigger chilli bin"
"Get the knife"
"What for?"
"So I can make it fit in the chilli bin"
With head and tail removed, and with a bit of persuasion, it fits in the chilli bin.
We pulled into English Harbour on Antigua with a fridge stocked with fish fillets and a well scrubbed cockpit. After offloading some of the fillets to a fellow New Zealand boat, we sat down to a Mahi Mahi dinner - Fish Puccata (fish cooked in a garlic, lemon juice and white wine sauce with capers) and a side of sun dried tomato risotto. My cooking is improving!
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