Fish story

Some people have asked if we've been doing any fishing. Well, yes we have. People come here from all over the world for the fishing, and the marinas are loaded with big fishing boats. But they haven't been going out since we got here. "There's no fish here this time of year" we're told. I'm not sure what that means. We can still buy good cheap fish tacos, and the fish markets still have lots of fish for sale.
When we were in Marina San Jose (near Cabo san Lucas) at Christmas time I was talking with fishermen on vacation who were catching lots of fish. In fact, we met a particularly friendly young captain on our dock there who took an interest in us. We had been towing a "tuna rig" from a hand line on the way down with no success whatsoever. He determined that the line was too short and that our boat speed was too slow for the big plastic hoola skirt to be of any use. He checked out our saltwater rod and reel and said that this is what we should be using. He also gave us a couple of lures that would jiggle and dance even at our speed.
On our first trip out to the island a few weeks ago, I tossed the lure in behind us, let it run out for a hundred yards or so, and waited. It wasn't long before the reel went wizzzzzz which meant that a fish was taking the line. Oh Boy! I grabbed the rod, gave it a jerk and tried to feel what was going on at the other end of the line. There was definitely something there, pulling on the line with a fair amout of strength, but not jerking the line the way I remembered from using lightweight tackle in Minnesota years ago. So I started trying to wind it in. After a couple minutes, all of a sudden, there was nothing on the line anymore. Gone, just like that. I reeled in the line and found that our lure was still there, so back in it went.
About 15 minutes later, wizzzzzzz. I grabbed the pole and this time gave it a big jerk to try and set the hook and, sure enough, there was something on there again. And it was bigger than last time. I still couldn't feel tugging like when a small fish is on your line. Just this serious hard pull. This thing was taking a lot of line, so I tightened the drag as much as I thought the line could stand and then we began. I'd get to crank some line in, then it would drag some more off the reel. I'd get some in, and then lose it back. Finally, it felt like I was making more progress than I was losing. We kept looking behind the boat expecting to see this big thing leap out of the water, but no such luck. Still cranking, still loosing some. Then, after 30 minutes of fighting this thing, it was over. The fish was gone. It had gotten off the lure again. ##$@%^&&%$#**&*%.
Since then, I've caught a number of small - 6-8 inch - fish on the lightweight spinning rig which get thrown back in, and we've had the big rig in the water some more, but no more wizzzz.
We will keep trying.......... E