Our dear friend who has supplied us with countless fish has met his end. This morning, a major wahoo almost took him, but the fish got off and Mr. Shabby survived. Later this morning, he hooked up a nice lunch size Mahi Mahi but it got off at the boat as well.
Mr.Shabby was really looking shabby after these latest encounters. The feathers were gone; the rubber skirt was chewed to bits; and the eyes (he originally had four) were all gone. We decided to restore Mr. Shabby’s name to the Purple Wonder and give him another 30 minutes of swim time before retiring him and giving him a suitable burial at sea.
Such was not to be the case. The Purple Wonder had other plans. We were just debating whether to have egg salad sandwiches for lunch or hope for another fish when the reel just absolutely screamed. By the time Steve and I made it to the back deck, a very, very large Marlin had already taken several hundred yards of line and was tail walking all over the place behind the boat. I cranked down the drag on our 50 pound class tackle as far as it would go and the line just continued to just scream off the reel.
Our attempts to stop the fish were futile. I have no idea how big it was, but it was huge – the biggest marlin I have ever had on the other end of the rod. There was nothing for us to do but cut the line before it spooled us and wrecked our gear. When the line parted, it sounded like a gun went off.
Farewell Mr. Shabby (I mean Purple Wonder) – I am sure that was the kind of end you wanted instead of being retired to the bottom of the tackle box.
Your replacement (Son of Shabby) alias the Pink Wonder is now in service. He has a lot to live up to.
1120 Local TIme – May 11, 2011 – May the Purple Wonder rest in peace wherever you are.
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