We were sailing into Hatchet Bay late afternoon in early December and I started to reel in the lure that I had been lazily trolling behind Alembic as we cruised along the Bight of Eleuthera. Suddenly, I had a solid strike and a fish came completely out of the water as it hit my lure. The fish made a couple of good runs but tired quickly so I was able to reel it in and land it successfully.
The fish was a wonderful King Mackerel measuring nearly 36″ long. I cleaned the fish immediately and had over 6 pounds of beautiful fillet. As much as I love to catch fish of this size, it can be a problem for us since we do not have a freezer on board allowing us to preserve big catches. Furthermore, King Mackerel has a wonderful white flesh but it is best if it is cooked within a couple of days.
The best solution was to find someone to share the bounty. No other boats were in Hatchet Bay but we left the next day for Allan’s Cay where we found another cruiser at anchor. Our cruising companion was more than happy to take 1/2 the fish off our hands. We felt relieved that the food would not go to waste.
Karma took notice of our gesture and we were rewarded several days later. We anchored for the night near Highborne Cay with several other boats. The next morning an inflatable approached from a large catamaran that looked to be a charter boat. A friendly sailor pulled alongside and asked if we would like extra food since they were ending there charter and had too much. We gratefully accepted a large prepared meal of marinated pork and a couple of 6 packs of soda. Not bad payback for a few pounds of King Mackerel!