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Dominican Republic Charter 2017

1K views 11 replies 11 participants last post by  Anonymous 
#1 ·
The family and I spent a week in Punta Cana at Bahia Principe. Prior to the trip I spent some time researching charters, but did not reserve anything before went down. One of the charters that caught my eye was Gone Fishin, which seemed to have some good reviews and was reasonably priced. When we got down there I inquired through one of the many companies booking excursions and Gone Fishin was the charter they used at the resort. My brother in law and I booked a shared charter out of Cap Cana. Things started out typical for how things seem to go in the Dominican. Pickup van was late, then spent a crazy amount of time picking up other people from different resorts. We finally made it to the marina and a nice looking boat slid over to the dock to pick our group up. As we were boarding the van driver told my friend and I to wait and said we were going on a different boat. Finally a beat up boat made its way over to us, and we were told that was our boat. We waited for the other group to arrive then idled out of the marina into the blue water. Almost instantly we were met with 4-8 foot swells that had 6 of the 9 anglers turning green. Unfortunately for these people they spent the 4 hour trip in the cabin or running to the back of the boat to puke. One guy did not make it, so the deck hand earned his money cleaning the mess up :D That left 3 of us left to fish. We were trolling dead baits on the top of the water and after about an hour a marlin appeared slashing at one of our baits. That happened 2 more times, before finally one committed, leaving behind nothing but the head of the bait and the hook. Our captain had no electronics, but was constantly turning the boat, chasing schools of flying fish. Finally we hooked up and what a fight it was. We took turns fighting the fish in the broke ass fighting chair. One of the sick anglers tried a turn but flew out of the chair cutting up his leg. 3 of us primarily fought the marlin, which jumped countless times. Everytime we had it up to the side of the boat, it would scream drag and we would have to start over with the captain backing down on the fish. I don't think I have ever been as gassed fighting a fish, but it was a completely different type of fishing. After about 45 minutes, we finally won the battle.





After that I was set, but we kept at it picking up some Mahi Mahi before heading back in. As luck would have it the other boat never made it out to the marlin grounds as most of the passengers got sick and asked to be taken in after an hour.

On our last full day I did some surf fishing near the resort on a public beach. Finally started connecting on a small swimbait. For the morning session I did not bring my phone, but went back in the evening and got a pic of this guy. Nothing huge, but caught one fish in the morning that was decent size and had my drag going for awhile.



Outside of the fishing we went snorkeling and swam with nurse sharks and stingrays as well as plenty of time on the beach and at the pools. Never felt a sun as unrelenting and punishing as here, so happy to be back although I heard it was very hot here too.



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#3 ·
I know the marlin are even a step up (in gear as well) from tarpon but I can relate as it sounds like the same fight. You kill yourself getting the thing to the boat and then bzzzzttt there goes another 200 yards of line, and you start over. We've had big tarpon on (200+ lbs) and I'm not exaggerating when I say it can go two plus hours as we're on light (relatively) line with a superheavy leader. It's a rush though! My cap'n used to say "It's not that I WANT to hurt you guys, it's just my JOB." Heh.

So anyways call me jealous, sounds like a great experience and overall fun time for the fam. :thumbup:
 
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