Sunrise - ARC2021 - Day #16 on the SUNRISE

Fishing while ARCing
Inspired by the many fotos of former ARC participants showing off with the big fish they caught, the Sunrise crew decided during the preparatory online sessions to give it a try as well.
Once we were at the boat and inspected the equipment that was there one thing became obvious: an investment in a new reel, line, and bait was asked for!
So we went to our trusted fishing supply dealer (the nearest one) to do some shopping. After intense consulting by the shop's owner we left the shop with a brand new reel - already with 500 m .87 gauge line on it-, 500 more meters of line as a reserve, and several plastic squids and wobblers as bait.
Two days after the start of the rally, we gave it a first try. To be honest, several trials, as we had not a single bite in the first three days although we tried every type of bait in our inventory. Why? We don`t know. But we do know that the following three days we caught a Mahi-Mahi every day. This success spoiled us a little, since we weren`t able to land the next two bites and lost two wobblers which were just sheaed of at the leader section; the reason for both probably being due to the higher speed with which the boat moved as we meanwhile had met the trade winds. So a change in tactics was asked for: Once you have a bite, reef the genoa immediately and steer a course with the main sail that barely gives you steerageway. These efforts we bearing fruit since our next fish was indeed a 9 lbs. Bonito, a small tuna variety.
The very next bite was completely different, however: the reel gave a high pitched whirring noise as the fish took line unbelievably fast. Applying the reels brake only caused it to emit smoke but did not slow down the loss of line - within one minute 500 meters of line were out and parted with the reel with a snap. Two learnings from this: One big fish (we suspect a very big tuna or even a marlin or swordfish) has one plastic squid more and 500 m line more now - and that there are fish in the ocean so big that even the Sunrise crew is unable to deal with them. We had to put the reserve line on the reel and try again.
Another 8-pound Mahi-Mahi showed that the new line works and completes our catch to date.
One may argue whether catching 5 fish warrants a 400 € investment, but one thing is for sure:
Catching your dinner while being away 1000 miles from the next supermarket is priceless !!!
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