LOGBOOK 03: Fish were jumping everywhere

Date: 01/04/96
Time 2:15PM PST
Lat: 123'45W Lon: 34'49N
Course 180T @6K
Wind N10 Air 68F Sea 55.1F
Barometer 1024 steady

Had a fair nights sleep in the bunk. Through the night the wind has dropped and gone to the north. The center of the stationary high pressure area that has been sitting out here for days had enough gumption to move over top of me and park again. It makes for very light air.

This morning I put the #3 out to starboard on a spinnaker pole and have the genoa flying to port behind the main. Wing and wing as we say. With the genoa catching the air spilled off the #3.

A nice slow day. I am taking the opportunity to work on the "do list", which never gets done, and to relax.

Fishing: Over the years I have come to the conclusion that fishing from a sailboat at sea is a waste of time. I or my crew has always brought along tackle and occasionally a good eating fish is caught. But usually it is a Bonita, a lowly member of the tuna family that tastes so strong I can only handle it for one meal. And I love fish. Fish is supposed to taste like fish, not ruined with lemon. But a Bonita, a whole tree of lemons wouldn't help. This time I did not bring any fishing gear. I did make one attempt to pick some up but the store didn't have anything suitable for hand lines.

Yesterday I wish I had looked harder. While writing yesterdays report after the photo session, I looked up from the monitor to see that I was surrounded by seagulls and a flurry of activity in the water. I had entered into a huge school of feeding tuna. Fish were jumping everywhere, as far as a quarter mile to each side and in front of me. I used to fish in schools like this around Guam where they went on for miles. You can see dark patches in the water thick with bait. And its not just the tuna and the their meals to be. The tuna are also being hunted by sharks. Near Guam I have seen patches of water red with blood from dozens of sharks tearing at their meals. When you get one of these guys on the line, you better get it in fast or you'll be landing a shark instead.
Southward we go. John Oman.