Salt Water Fishing With All Your Five Senses - Part 1

Sensing My Way
Leaning back and tilting my head upwards slightly, I felt the warmth of the sun’s invisible infrared rays on my face in contrast to the coolness of the waters swirling around my hand as it dangled over the port gunnels of our wooden launch. My eyes were closed but I could sense nearly everything around me. Gently the hand-hewn launch lurched and rocked as waves passed beneath the weather-beaten worn green painted prow. I tried not to let the roar of the 15 hp outboard distract me from the rhythmic “slap, slap, slap” from passing swells of brine.

Photo: My fishing guide Pepe gaffs and hauls in a Pacific Ocean coastal Albacore

Licking the spray from my moistened lips with my eyes still closed, I let the sides of my tongue try to identify the salty elements. It was warmer than my hands said it would be. It tasted good. In this part of Colombia’s Pacific coast there was no industry for miles so I never gave pollution a thought. There, I could just make it out now. Dolphins splashed and chattered just off the port side.

They Just Want to Play
I opened with salt-glazed eyes to try to catch sight of them. It wasn’t difficult to spot them at all as they crested and dove mere meters away. It was no problem for them to exactly match the speed of our boat. They were keeping up with us – or were we keeping up with them? Sleek gray and black they toyed with us passing us first on one side, then the other in a “tag” game of sorts that we were definitely losing.

“What do you think they want?” I asked aloud to Pepe, my locally-based fishing guide.

“They just want to play for a bit”, he answered in the Spanish of the region, glancing over at the still racing black and gray shapes now streaming off to port.

“Will they affect the fishing?”

“No, actually they’ll help.” This broke me from my trance. I sat bolt upright.

“What do you mean, they’ll help?”

“When they dive, I’ll power down and we’ll set up our first trolling run or drift.”

“You mean they’ll let us know where the fish are?” I asked incredulously.

“Yep. They sure will.”

And true to Pepe’s words, they did.

Five Senses Needed
With the coconut-palm-tree-lined coast just within sight, you needed to use all five of your senses whenever you fished. Each sense provides you with key information. Important information that helps in catching fish – all kinds of fish – under all kinds of conditions.

Our four finny friends dove. We cut power to troll, swinging in a lazy “U” to mark the area where they went down.

“We’re here”, Pepe announced.


… to be continued in part 2 of “Salt Water Fishing With All Your Five Senses” …

Larry M. Lynch is an expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. Need professional quality, original Salt and Fresh water Fishing-related articles or content for your Blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? For more tropical fishing articles, information, or a no-obligation quote visit my tropical fishing and travel blog with photos at: http://whittlewadeandhook.blogspot.com/