Fish On (pictures to follow)

At last. After one and a half gazillion miles of towing a 4" lure behind us we finally hooked and landed a tuna. We were 180 miles from nowhere. It had just got light. I handed over from my watch to Jen and Marcus. The rod had just been set up for the day's session and I was in the aft cabin half asleep. Suddenly I heard the reel scream. Oh, that'll be another plastic bag/bit of seaweed/piece of fishing net/tin of spam (delete as appropriate). But no, it's a fish, a real live fish and just eating size. Once I had turned it round it came in like a bream.

Could we find the killing alcohol? No. Could we find the squirting syringe to squirt the alcohol into his gills to kill him? No. In the end I bought him (it turned out to be a her once we gutted her) and Tony the Tuna (well Tina the Tuna) was safely on board.

Although she was jumping out of the water as she was reeled in she must have had a heart attack or something as she was dead when we handed her out of the water. Gilly, whose fish factory skills from aged 18 came into play, got me to sharpen the knife and she then gutted it and cut it up into steaks and fillets.

Lunch = sushimi with soy sauce, wasabi paste, cucumber and bread
Dinner = seared tuna with salsa sauce and boiled potatoes

Thanks to all for your fishing advice over the past few years. If anyone has Mike and Maureen's address please forward the blog address to them. www.yachtpetronella.blogspot.com

Pictures of the famous catch to follow.

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