Danny Blue
I know I haven't posted in a while. I sat and wondered all day today on how I was going to cram 2 weeks of awesome fishing into one report. As I was sitting behind my desk thinking I got a call from Captain Omar on Reel Rum. I could barely hear him as we had a pretty crappy connection. He was fishing about 25 miles out and all he kept saying in Spanish was to "get the camera ready". Last time Omar called me with such news it was back when he caught his first ever Swordfish.
As he got a little closer about to where I could talk to him he told me he had a big Blue on and that he thinks it may be over 500 pounds. Dave Haverkate came in off of the Holland Cruise Ship with his 2 brothers and father. They headed out on Reel Rum a little bit after 9 o'clock this morning just wanting to "catch a few fish". Their first catch was a nice Dorado, right off the bat. After the Dorado they trolled around for a while until something big struck the white, blue, and black lure. The fish damn near spooled the reel on the first run and did so on 3 other occasions. The Haverkates passed the rod around 3 go's each person until finally about an hour later the fish was boated. It took all 5 guys to get the fish to the boat.
As the fish came to the dock, Ryan and I hopped on the take pictures and head to the weigh station. By this time a crowd had already formed around the scale as word had passed quickly around the Marina of the monster fish. Before we could get the Haverkates to the scale the fish had been weighed and it was all over the radio. "650 pounds, six - five - zero"! The family stood proud as they had their pictures taken by the random tourists walking the Marina along with their wives and friends who had also caught word and headed down themselves.
Once the fish was lowered I put the measuring tape to him and it measured 148.5 inches. That has been the biggest fish caught since I have been here, Omars first Blue over 500 pound and Jesus' 2nd largest fish just slightly behind his 700 Blue some 10 years ago!
Congrats to Omar, Jesus, and the Haverkate family for such a nice catch!
Pictures and further reports to follow ASAP, time to celebrate with the boys!!
Cheers.
-Luis
