NO PALOMETA…

My thoughts and fears came to a screeching halt when I suddenly heard a scary sound at the rear of the boat. I turned around and saw Juanito in the water looking at me, saying: “Wading ! Wading ! Palometa !”. One thing and one thing only came to my mind “Holly shit !”. Was he really talking to me? I could not think of jumping into  the water. But I did. Luckily my feet reached the bottom first. I was so relieved! It could have been my head! Then I rushed to join Juanito, the water reaching up to my belly button. I felt like I was running in slow motion, pulling a 2 ton weight..

 “STOP “! Juanito didn’t even look at me. Instead he raied his hand “Wait, don’t move”. He was pointing out a fish to me, a few feet away from where we were. After blinking my eyes several times (of course only because of the salt… and the sun..), I finally SAW that fish !! IT WAS THERE !!! At a casting distance no less. Following Juanito’s advice, I managed to make a good  cast and I waited for my guide’s orders.” Wait… Strip… Strip… Stop…”.

My heart was beating so fast. The permit changed direction and he was now aiming for my crab !!! He stopped, looked at the crab as a grayling would look at a dry fly and then give you the finger with its fin as he would swim away… I felt so bad to see it’s two fins, going away.

You get the point. No picture of me holding the Palometa that day.  For the rest of the trip, the weather conditions allowed us to catch many bones, some baby tarpon and other species that are all found in Ascension Bay… there are so many !!

I can’t wait for my next trip…