'Tis the Season for Torturing Fish

Dorado, aka mahi mahi, is popular prey in these parts
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Front page news in the current English-language paper, the San Carlos Tribune: "It's Tournament Time!" To dispel doubt as to what kind of tournament, there's a photo of a marlin standing on its tail in the water, with the Tetas in the background.

While there's no tournament this weekend, there are still plenty of gringos here in town avidly seeking close encounters of the finny kind.

The July 4th Billfish Blowout, the Ladies' International Fishing Tournament (LIFT) and the Yacht Club Tournament are all over for the year, but everybody in the charter business is gathering their gear for the 61st Annual International Billfish Tournament July 31.

Marlin on the hook. Oh, we're having a good time now!
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Nowadays, with the pressure to protect certain species, marlin and sailfish must both be released after catching, so a circle hook is required. All the fishermen get to keep is a photo, maybe a prize and fond memories of what they perceive as fun and fulfillment. They seem to view the whole process like a game of "Tag, You're It!" with the fish being good sports about it. They're not about to let a little wound in the mouth and a half hour in the searing sun on somebody's boat spoil their day.

Taxidermists are feeling the pinch, since fewer fishermen are bringing in their billfish catches to be stuffed. But reasonably lifelike facsimiles made of plastic are selling well.

However, dorado, tuna and wahoo are dead meat. I remember a dorado the Capt caught on our sailboat, a day south out of San Diego with the Baja Ha Ha in 1997. I watched it die in the cockpit, its dazzling metallic colors gradually changing as its life drifted away along with my appetite.

Sailfish meets human. "Relax, big boy, you'll be back in the water in a jiffy."
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The Rescate Tournament offers cash prizes, but the big money is in the side bets of up to $1K. Ladies of the LIFT pay $50 each to toil all day in the sun for the chance to win a crystal salad bowl, but at least they don't have to handle yucky bait, live or dead. "Thank God (it's) a lure-only tournament, so that our hands don't stink, we don't have to change and replace bait all day..." said a competitor.

So the fish doesn't even get a taste of bait to sweeten the deal a little. Is this fair, I ask you?

Yes, the fisherman is king here in San Carlos. Certainly more of a contributor to the economy than sailboaters. I even remember a big van at the marina with a bumper sticker that read "bloodonthedocks.com," but when I googled that URL I found no such site. Like the species it proposes to decimate, it's extinct.

The fish are not biting much this year, according to the San Carlos Tribune. Could it be that survival of the fittest principles are at work here? Are they getting smarter?

But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.

Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea