THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Being the only 'proper' angler on-board, I was
obviously in the best position to know how to keep
contact with the sea bed on the drift, and for my
trouble, I came away with a big stingray, which
though similar to those we catch in home waters, was
not the same species.
Even so, recognising the trip to be rip off, I didn't
bother going out again, preferring to float fish around
the harbour for all sorts of small breams and wrasses,
plus smoothhounds at the harbour mouth on squid as
the light began to fade.
I also discovered that a reservoir not too far from
where I was staying was full of large mouth bass
which would readily take a small spinner, and on
subsequent visits, even small gaudy flies.
Brace of Moray Eels
So I split my time between racking up a list of all sorts
of saltwater species you hear of but rarely get to see
back home, plus catching lots of small bass in the
reservoir. And it was there while taking a minute sat
on the rocks that I noticed something out of the corner
of my eye break surface close in just to the side of
me.
When I turned for a better look, it was gone. So I sat and waited to see if it might appear again, which
eventually it did. Three huge carp in fact basking in close, quite literally like pigs with fins.
Sadly, not having anything suitable either in the way of tackle or bait to have a go at them, there was
nothing I could do other than watch and drool. But a mental note had been made, which would prove
useful some years on in the future.
By that stage my kids were grown up
and had flown the nest. I was over at
Puerto Rico for a winter break with my
wife Dawn, Dave Devine, and his wife
Kath, and as you do being anglers, Dave
and I strolled down to the harbour which
was now a very different proposition to
how I remembered it from all those
years back.
It seemed bigger. But also, the angling
emphasis was now on bottom fishing, in
particular from a huge state of the art
catamaran called 'Katfish' which fished
for marlin in the summer and other stuff
over the winter. So, it being December,
we decided to give it a go.
Danny Cove 200 pound Sringray
They supplied everything, which for
holiday anglers meant short rods and
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