My Trophy Queen

Staff photographers don’t often get an opportunity to also enjoy the fishing action they are on board to capture, but this day off St Lucia delivered a fish of a lifetime! Everything promised to be an exciting day as we all admired the early morning light aboard the deep-sea boat being towed to the St Lucia main beach. This would be my first time launching off the beach, before only witnessing it as a spectator - exciting times ahead! But first more important matters needed to be attended to as the beautiful golden light could not go to waste. Jumping off the boat I took the time to get some photos of the boat, Free Spirit on the beach in all her glory against the dunes. It’s not every day I feel this excited for an assignment and after getting all the angles I hurry back onboard. Let the adventure begin. I have barely a moment to pack away the camera when I am shoved into a seat and told to hold tight, this all escalated very fast. Next thing I know the boat lurches forward and we’re off. Water sprays past me as I am launched up off my seat, luckily these are padded because the landing is anything but soft. And just like that we’re at sea. As I get up, I am firmly reminded that this is no calm water dam as I plan to go one way, but the sea has a different idea. Swaying I crash into Jaco, as a result I’m asked if it isn’t a bit early to be drinking (?). But after a while I find my sea legs, and I can start to admire the scenery. It’s a beautiful day, light rolling waves and a golden coastline with high dunes to behold. “You’ll see now how easily they catch livies, we’ll have the well full in no time” states Jaco, famous last words. A couple casts later and only two were in the well. As a result, the skipper announces plan B - we troll for tuna with plastic baits. After a late breakfast and what feels like an eternity the lines suddenly set off, all at once. Being the newbie on board a rod is shoved into my hands and “reel, reel, reel!” is screamed at me. I have no idea what I am doing or what is going on. Because all four rods went off at the same time there is a big mess of lines. While trying to manoeuvre all the rods over and under one another my line suddenly goes slack when my fish comes off. The other three land their small tunas in no time showing their experience. Not wasting any time, the lines are out again and moments later a reel runs again. Colleague Charmagne pics up the rod and exclaims that its fighting like a giant! At this point I learn that taking out a big heavy expensive camera on a rocking boat with salt water spraying all over is not a great idea. In no time the lens is covered in spray, so its back to the bag with you, the GoPro will have to do for now. As Charmagne battles what she swears is a giant I get all the footage and photos I need using the hardy GoPro. “Ag no man” remarks Charmagne as we all notice it’s only a small tuna that has been foul hooked in the side of the head, no giant for her. But a fish is a fish and photos are needed. A quick clean of the lens and the big camera is back in action, the wide-angle lens making her catch look more like the fight she experienced. “Off to a new spot” calls skipper. As I look off the back of the boat as we run to the next spot, I have some time to reflect on the morning’s action. There’re really some things you can only prepare so much for and the rest is experience. Exposing the expensive gear to as little of the elements as possible is a setback but luckily, we have some backups, rugged GoPro’s and waterproof smartphones. These will need to do for the majority of the work, and they will cope just fine. Arriving on our new spot we try to catch some more bait fish. It quickly becomes clear that the struggle is real today and it is not meant to be, with only a few fish to show for our efforts. After a quick rigging job, the lines are back in the water. Looking out over the ocean I suddenly see a grey hump - dolphins have come to investigate! Being my first time, I got quite excited, dolphins are some of my favorite animals and seeing them so close was a real treat. The rest of the team however was not as impressed. I quickly found out why, as one after the other our baits were meticulously stolen from the hooks! Every time a rod went off it was reeled in with despair as the bait was gone with no bigger fish to replace it. The last line was different though, while reeling in ……… proclaimed “no wait there’s a fish on here!” Bang! - the rod was in my hands and I was in for something new. This wasn’t like anything I had fought before, the rod end digging into my side as I try to pull whatever is down there to the surface. “It’s a race against the dolphin!” I hear from behind me and I reel with all my might. Arms getting tired but no time to rest. Surely this can’t be a little tuna or something, I think to myself and a while later I am relieved when something bigger shows its colour in the blue water. One last tug and reel turn and a beautiful Queen fish is on the boat. What a fight, what a rush! After a quick moment to catch my breath Charmagne asks me to lift the fish for some photos. Easier said than done, as any strength I had in my arms is gone, but sitting and resting the fish on my lap we get a few nice photos, this being one I will remember for the rest of my life. Tobias Weber Sitting on the front of the boat to come down from the adrenaline high I am so content with what just happened that I don’t even care if we catch anything else for the rest of the day. At least that’s what I thought then and there but after a snack and something to drink the desire for more fish quickly returns. A while later we are all quite happy to start heading back to shore for an ice-cold drink, but as we are trolling back to the launch beach the rods go off one last time, delivering a nice fighting King mackerel for Jaco and then a smaller one for myself. Not the same fight as the queen but lots of fun to catch as well. Jaco Grimbeek Although we didn’t catch a load of fish the experience in itself was well worth it. The crew of the Free Spirit made it so enjoyable that the fish were just the bonus to top off the day. Volg die skakel vir Charmagne Grimbeek se weergawe, en ook meer oor Free Spirit Charters in St Lucia. Tobias Weber's king mackerel on the front cover.