ALIEN ROBOT SPIDER ATTACK

June has ushered in a whole new hunting experience for me. This all started after a late night party ended. We were toasted so my non-drinking neighbor was handlin the wheel. Me and my partner in crime were deep in a conversation about some song that was played at the party. That's when we noticed a giant crab creeping across the street. We hollered at the driver to stop so we could inspect and somehow this inspection turned into a capture when I hollered "get em!" it's crazy how the mob mentality kicks in without question once you toss back a few. Either way we rustled the crab into a bucket and tossed it in the trunk. We were on our merry way and discussing how he could be bait, or if it was edible. Needless to say we forgot the crab in the trunk and did not remember until late the next day. The same accomplice from the capture was sitting in the car as I ran back in my room to grab my MP3 player. When I came back he was yapping about an iguana climbing on the car or under it. I got out and looked around the car and didn't see anything so he explained that something was scratchin around on the side of the car. That's when it clicked...THE CRAB!!! We stepped around the back of the car like we had a mobster in the trunk and slowly lifted the lid. Those crabs are much faster and stronger than they appear. We slowly lifted the lid and stared around tentatively. No crab in sight! So we poked around slowly in the trunk. Still no crab! At this point I thought my buddy was drunker than I thought that night and still may have been feeling the effects so I dismissed the whole thing with the idea that he probably dropped the crab before it made it in the trunk, and he just was trippin in the car. Well...a week later I heard some scratching in the car and I know I was not trippin or drinkin. I popped the trunk again and then looked through the whole car thoroughly. Still no crab! Now we were both trippin and talking about the ghost Houdini crab that escaped from the trunk. Looking closely there were a few spots where the crab could have pushed through into the car. The next day as I drove from work the crab crawled sideways from under the seat with both claws up and waiving menacing peace signs at me. I almost sh!t myself. These crabs are not the nicest looking crabs in the world and they also bear a very close resemblance to alien robot spiders. It is hot as hell in Cuba and even hotter in my closed car. These crabs are tough as hell!! I looked these crabs up and found out they are edible and the only thing I need to do is feed them cornmeal and fruit for about a week to purge out all the crap they've eaten prior. They are actually a big food item in St John. So the hunt was on... we found out they freeze in place when you shine a bright light on them and the male crabs have a giant pincher that they use to fight and flip other males. The females are the really pinchy ones. That giant claw is more for show than purpose, they actually slow the males down a lot. But the females have two smaller claws that they weld with the dexterity of a shaolin ninja. We decided to do drive by body snatchin missions on a particularly rainy night. We'd spot em from the car, hop out with a towel and a bucket. The easiest way to catch em was to toss the towel on the big claw and grab the crab from behind while keeping the claws occupied with the towel. We got more than a few dirty looks from passing drivers. The natives always laugh at us mainlanders. I didn't care. Now I have a cooler full of crabs that are strong and noisy as hell. They sh!t all over the place and I have to dip them in water at least once every two days so they can hydrate their gills. It seems as if they all syncronize escape efforts at midnight every night. I'll be sleep then I'd see claws and legs reaching out through the makeshift cage I made to go over the cooler. They make sooooooo much noise! It sounds like a 6 pack decided to do squat thrusts in my cooler. I'm thinking about making a pen outside for these guys...I utilized my CRABHAWK again and caught up a whole mess of blue crabs. I added the pic but they went straight to the pot after that shot. I can't wait until this weekend. I'm going to cook up their land cousins and report on the flavor...

May blues

I believe I will officially state that the fresh appeal of GTMO has worn off. I've backed off of the fishing a wee bit. No spectacular pics this time. I had the most fun ever actually catching crabs with this contraption called the crab hawk. It's like a crazy reverse mouse trap. The spring holds it open until you reel it up on your line. Everybody in my office bust out laughin when I pulled it out the envelope. I had to laugh too...I mean it is called the CRAB HAWK. My fishin partner was shrieking like a hawk the whole time I was explaining how it worked. When I got out on the water it was another story completely. We had all but given up on a few good fishing spots because we couldn't keep the crabs off the bait. That got my wheels turning and I started looking up crab pots and stumbled upon this thing. It was only $20 so I went ahead and bought it. It is kind of cheap looking but it made my day. We caught a whole mess of crabs. I figured that even if it broke today it still paid for itself in good times and the amount of crab caught would probably cost the same. That same day I finally caught a shark... two to be exact. Not quite Jaws but a good start. They were so small I just tossed em back. I'm still after that 200 pounder. I did catch a 5 ft eel that I could have sworn was a monster. Eels roll into a ball when you get them on the line. I just knew I had a massive beast coming in. I realized that a pretty streamlined fish can feel heavy as hell when it's rolled in a tight ball. I was happy though because I had only been catching bait sized snappers until that point.

Fishy Advisory

There have been substantiated reports of several missing fishes filed from the beginning of February through April. All fish are advised to stay at home and be especially wary of free food. Scientist have concluded that this phenomenon may be abductions by two legged aliens in floating saucers. They have not figured just how the abductions occur but they believe it has something to do with a "lucky hat" found at the scene of a recent homicide. This hat has been seen near the areas where the alleged disappearances have occured. There are also unsubstantiated reports of fish refusing to swim because they are paralyzed with fear. Fish of Guantanamo Bay are encouraged to know several large members of the species have escaped by the use of brute force. This method of escape is being investigated but is not considered viable because the aliens seem to have compensated and are abducting members of the fish race with renewed vigor in April. For the sake of your life all fish beware of the lucky hat...

The all nighter

Hello again. I started April out with a bang. I got a team together and we decided we would spend all night on the water. If you look at the pic you already know who the big fish award goes to. All in all we caught about 35lbs of fish for the upcoming fish fry. 20 lbs of that was my one lunker. Turns out fishing for snapper is alot like fishing for catfish. I read that they regularly eat crustaceans but I catch the big boys on fresh fish heads exclusively. I guess they get picky as they age. Catfish are the same way. You can catch a small cat on anything from soap to rotten corn but to get the lunkers fresh native fish is the way to go. I'm still formulating a plan to catch jaws. Since they are supposedly able to detect one drop of blood in a million gallons of water you'd think that was an easy task. I have put all types of chum in the water with no luck yet for my toothy foe. I have to specialize and go out by myself to play the wait game with the sharks. So far I haven't found a fishing partner that patient yet. I have limited time here in Cuba so I'll keep my lines wet as much as possible for the next few months...

2nd GTMO Lunker

It was another one of those nights. Can't sleep went fishin. I traded in my G-ride for a heavy Chevy. At least now if I wanted to I can go more than 23 mph. Either way I took my new used ride out to the pier. Since I have windows and doors now it makes it a little harder rollin out but I figured a way to get my 7ft rods in the car. I just roll down the window and stick em in that way. Either way I got out and the fish just weren't biting. I was trying my hand at artificials but they were not havin any of it. So I went to my old fallback (natural bait). I found out that these little rock hard animals stuck to rocks make damn good bait for little fish. You have to pry them up with a knife though otherwise you'll have no luck detaching them. I looked them up and they are called copepods. Also another good bait is sea snails.You can find them crawling over rocks too. They pop up easy though, no tools required. The only thing is with the snails they are hard as hell. You'll need some wide grip pliers and a slab of concrete to get them out that shell. Once you pry the copepods up you can cut them out of the shell kind of like scooping out an avacado. I put my loadof escargot on a small hook and jigged around some rocks I could see from the shore. Then of course I got my first bite. I pulled in a little nipper called a squirrelfish. Now I had some real bait!. Of course I pulled out the Lunker buster and tossed the whole fish out far into the surf. After about an hour of reeling in and tossing in different spots I figure the big boys wouldn't come in this close to shore due to the humongous lights above. So I relocated to a different spot at another beach. My little bait fish had been beat the hell up and he was no good as live bait anymore so I cut him up into four chunks. The best part to use first is always the head. The head pumps out the most blood on a fish since the gills heart and most of the viscera is tucked right behind it. SO I tossed the head out into the surf and took the next cut and tossed it out a little further down the beach. What's cool about this spot is the locals have set up pvc rod holders jammed in the rocks. Now I don't have to worry about my rod flying into the ocean like before. After a little wait the fellow in the cooler lit into my little rod. He didn't put up much of a fight though. A couple of runs and a few head fakes then a hard lug in. I knew he was big from the feel of the rod but he came in easy. After that the crabs destroyed the rest of the cut bait. The head is also good for them too. They can't munch through the head like the rest of the soft flesh. I loaded this guy up and headed in. I didn't weigh him but he felt like a solid 12 lbs. I'm now a certified threat on land and sea. All fish better beware because I'm still on the prowl...

March Madness

March has been full of firsts for me. I snorkeled in the ocean for the first time in my life. I made about five open water dives and I caught a lot of weird fish. One thing about saltwater. You can never guess what the hell u might catch or when u might catch it. I have included a few pics of the weirdness I have encountered here at GTMO. That fishy fellow hoppin out of the cooler was an especially funny story. I decided I wanted to go fishing. Nothing out of the ordinary. It just happened to be 1in the morning. I hopped out the bed with visions of fish dancin in my head. I had to catch the tide going out so I was in a rush. Needless to say I left a few crucial things. First of all, I forgot the ice. You never go fishing without a cooler of ice. It is one of the most useful things you can bring. It keeps your drinks and bait cold, and once you do catch some fish it keeps em fresh if you don't have a livewell. After about 3 mins in ice most fish(except catfish) pass out since they are cold blooded. Well either way I didn't have any ice. I also forgot a lot of important tools. Needle nose pliers (for plucking hooks out of toothy mouths), multi-tool (Gerber for us military folks), Kabar (for real ornery fish and anything else that goes bump at night) and nail clippers (quick snip fishin line). Well all of the above items are metal. All of my metal items happened to be drying off on the shelf. Saltwater does a number on metal so a good rinsing in fresh water and oiling needs to be done after every trip. Either way I left damn near everything I needed. Of course this night would be the night I needed all of those items. I broght my usual rods. The Lunker Buster (Penn Levelwind) and my bait fish yanker(light spinning rod). Well of course everything worked out bass ackwards. I caught a eater size snapper on my heavy rod. I learned before (the hard way)that fish tend to bite the hell out of you when you stick you fingers in to retrieve a hook. Since I was without tools I used what god gave me. I bit the line off (I know ewwww). Right as it popped loose my lil rod shot off the deck like a rock out of a sling shot. I made a sad attempt to grab it but it was gone in a blink. I had that moment; you know when you debate whether or not you feel like jumping in to get it. I probably would have but I didn't even see it. Whatever grabbed it took off in a big hurry. At that point I was pissed to the inth level of highest pissedivity. And then that fish had the nerves to get out in the surf and completed an aerial display to rival that of the Blue Angels. I just muttered under my breath things that I can't write. Well I had almost had enough fishin that night but I couldn't give up yet because out of four casts I had hooked into two fish in the span of thirty minutes. Any fisher will tell you thems is some damn good fishin odds. So I loaded up my Lunker buster and tossed it out past the waves. In about 5 mins I felt a faint tug. I figured damn another bait stealer cleaning off my hook. So I started reeling it in. The tugs didn't stop so I figured I caught a brave lil reef fish or somethin. I say he's brave because the hooks I put on the lunker buster are pretty big. They usually keep the lil nippers at bay and off that rod. Either way I reeled him in. Then a miracle happened. That wasn't a lil fish. I had snagged the line from my other rod. To make it even better it still had Mr Aerial Acrobatic Fish on the other end. I pulled it in and dragged the rod end out the water. Then the fight was on! That toothy feller in the cooler gave me a great show complete with airborne head fakes, tailwalking, and a couple of good runs. I pulled him in and that was enough action for one night. The next problem was getting that hook out of his mouth. One look at those teeth and I cut the line on that one too. I tossed him in the cooler and he got to thrashin around like a wild banshee. I figured I'd cool him off so I stopped by the ice machine on the way home. Nedless to say he did not appreciate the ice treatment. I had to snap a pic. That fish had been out of water at least 15 mins and he still wanted a piece of my finger. The next day I went out on the boat and caught the rest of the fish pictured. I got a new fishin bud. We are on the same wavelength when it comes to fishin. March has been fun. I also got my dive certification. My next class is underwater hunting (AKA spear fishing). You can't be a real angler until you hop in the water and beat a fish at his own game...

THE BEAST

24 Feb 2010

This will go down as the day I caught my first GTMO lunker. What's crazy is that I almost didn't even go. Sam was leaving Saturday and we had been talking about fishin since I came here. I was put on a maintenance detail on the other side of the island that was supposed to last 7 hrs. We started at 0830 and was headed back by 1030. You know what that means (Fishin time!) Just by chance I bumped into him at the ferry and it was on. We gave the fisherman’s shake and planned it out. We stayed on the water about three hours. The wind picked up a little so it was slightly choppy. He was catchin a couple of Lane Snappers intermittently but none of em were keeper size. I sat out there for 2.5 hrs with not so much as a nibble. I always say go big or go home so I had 5/0 circle hooks with a 100 lb wire leader 50 lb trilene line and all heavy duty snaps and swivels with a 2oz egg sinker. Basically a big-time Carolina bottom Rig. He caught one more of the lil ones and I was like "man give me that lil fish, he bout to be bait". I snipped his tail off and slid the hook in. Nothing brings the big boys in like fresh blood. I tossed it out on my big levelwind rod and let it sit. In the meantime I worked various spoons and jigs on my light action spinning rod. While I soak my bait I always work on my topwater skills. It's not like fishing is 100% action. Gotta pass the time some kinda way. We had about 20 mins to bring the boat back without a penalty fee. I had just said "lets pull the anchor and head back". No sooner than the words came out of my mouth the drag on my big rod started hollerin. I grabbed it and the fight was on. I thought I had a shark the way the line was peeling out even with the drag set high. I knew it had to be a monster. I loosened the drag because I thought the line might snap. He takes off like a torpedo again stripping about another 40 yards from my reel. It takes a bad ass fish to bend my power stick rod, but that rod doubled over like I caught a Volkswagen! I told Sam “shit I might run out of line!” My reel looked like it had about 50 yds of line left so I had to play hard ball. I started taking up line about 1 foot at a time. I had to slow him down so I set the drag a little tighter and tipped the rod to get him up out the deep. The longer he stayed down there the greater chance he had of entanglement. It took me about 25 minutes of yoyo wrestling with that fish to tire him out. He got up to the boat and we proclaimed in unison "shit, no net!" One look at that mouth armament and we decided lipping him wasn’t a good idea. So Sam reached out and grabbed him by the gills with a towel wrapped around his hand. Sam wrestled him in the boat and that fish was mad as hell. I thought he was tired but he got his second wind when we pulled him out the water. He flopped so hard I could swear it looked like a midget doin jumping jacks. It took another 10 mins to get him in the livewell. We got him to the Marina and we got big fish honors of the day. A little Filipino guy told us he’d fillet it for us if he could keep the head (said it makes a damn good soup). That sounded fine to me. Now all I have to do is figure out how to fry this fish when my only cooking utensils consist of a spoon and two plastic bowls…