That's My Story

SOMEONE ELSE’S RIFLE

Originally published week of April 1, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

My own epiphany came about 45 minutes into the battle. Biggest fish of my life to that point. It was 20 years ago and I had never battled anything larger than an 80 pound yellowfin.

A huge black marlin had swallowed..no INHALED.. a little yellowfin tuna we had dangling off the stern of the panga. You have to be careful what you wish for.

I was paying for it now. Back and shoulder aching. No rod belt. Sweat running into my eyes burning with sunblock. Rod cramping my fingers and the rod butt (sans rubber cap…just a hard metal gimble) digging into every part of my torso putting round bruises on my dark skin that would last for the better part of a week…like an octopus had gone on a hickey fest…

The big billfish had sounded and we had not seen it since the first five minutes of the battle. It was bit like Spencer Tracy in “Old Man and the Sea. This thing was silently towing us out to open sea…backwards!

In the heat of battle and delirium of fatigue, you think of goofy stupid things. You paid all this money and hurt like hell and you wondered what the heck you were doing. This wasn’t like the magazines! No glamour in this at all! Where’s that bikini babe they always show in the pictures you see next to the guy in the fighting chair?

And, for me, at that point the fear hit me. I hated this. Yes, hated this. It was not supposed to be like this.

Back in our hotel room I had top shelf gear. I had really prepped for this trip. (In fact we had borrowed gear from Pat McDonnel!). Every rod was matched up. Every reel was tuned to it’s lethal best. But we had decided to take only some light gear today to whack some small punk football tuna off San Jose del Cabo. So, being pretty cocky, I left all my heavy gear back on the beach. Even my rod belt. Ha! We didn’t need artillery for these baby tuna! Small boats (pangas) is where you catch small fish!

Well, it was fine until the big marlin hit. And it just happened to hit the rod I was now holding in my aching arms. At one time, it might have been a fine stick…back when Pancho Villa rode. But now, the wrapping was coming off. One guide was held on with duct tape. One guide was busted. One guide was missing. Another looked like it had been glued with string! The rod top was twisted completely over.

It didn’t stop there. The straining line going “blink blink blink” at higher pitches like an overwound guitar string… the skipper nervously informed me 10 minutes into the fight was “mas o menos” (more or less) two years old! It had dusty salt residue on it and was not translucent. It was more a brittle opaque green. And the Penn 6/0 reel…As it creaked and strained and the drags slipped and skid and stuck and ached like my burning back, was covered in rust and oxidation and had a bent handle!

But while were were banging little tuna on our smaller sticks, this is what our panga captain had baited with one of the small fish and tossed overboard to drift in the chum. That tuna was now in the belly of a pissed off black marlin.

This wasn’t supposed to be like this because I was gonna do a big fish on MY good gear, not this stuff I wouldn’t have bought in a yard sale!

There’s an old saying, “Don’t go to war with someone else’s rifle.”

A man know his own tools. Davy Crockett wanted his long rifle Betsy. BB King doesn’t take the stage without Lucille.

There’s a lot to be said for that. I’ve fished in many places in the world and have seen great gear and so-so-gear and not good gear on boats. They would probably all catch fish but in the middle of a big fight is not the time to be wondering if the reel will misfire. Is the line old or is there a fray somewhere deep in the spool? I was an hour into the battle and it’s all I could think about.

The reason I bring this up is I get a lot of questions about whether it’s worth it to bring your own gear. I don’t quite know how to answer that. Sure, with the new baggage regulations, it’s a pain in the butt to haul around plus you get charged too! And those few reels…well, as one client told me…”My wife says she could pack 4 more pairs of shoes if I left 3 reels home!”

Baja rental gear runs the gamut from state-of-the-art stuff to well…swap meet specials. I’ve run into a lot of folks who really wouldn’t know the difference between a lever drag or a spinning reel. For them, rental gear is fine. But I imagine most of you reading this column at least have some knowledge of fishing. Maybe not.

Sure, there’s plenty of times when either you don’t have the gear or you simply cannot bring your own stuff. Understood.

I just know my own weapons. I know where it’s been and how the line was put on it. I know if the drags were checked and how much tension I can put on a rod to hurt a fish. It’s not that I distrust any one else’s tackle wherever I travel. It’s just that I trust my own tackle more. And, if something happens…well, I have only myself to blame.

Anytime you have a bait in the water in Baja, you have the opportunity to catch the fish of a lifetime. But those opportunities don’t come by often. In the middle of that battle is no time to question whether the gear in your hands will suddenly blow up on you.

Oh…I did finally get that marlin. Two hours. 400 pounds. It towed our panga 17 miles out backwards. Twenty years ago, it turned out to be my first photo in WON. If I know Mexican panga captains that skipper (great guy!) is still using that same rod. And he’s using it on YOUR next trip!

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.