Being a damn fine angler in the first place, Pilchy probably didn’t really need my Expert “back seat fishing” advice vis-à-vis when to pump and when to wind, but I administered the said advice regardless, and at +100 high decibels for that matter. Here we were: Our first attempt – after the season for that matter – and we had a 6-7 foot fish in the air! “HOW GOOD IT THIS,” we both thought and shouted as Steve made good progress and forgot to level-wind the line correctly onto my TLD reel (sorry mate – you deserved that!)

Marlin fishing is the first thing I would prescribe to the afflicted individual. Typically this involves a boat ride to cobalt blue water somewhere. Possibly it’s the salt air that helps.

The GT’s must have had a mid-term exam coming up, because they were certainly schooling up beneath the mothership (I’m on fire with the puns!!). In fact I managed to get one to the boat myself that night, even though I had to frantically apply some “rag drag” to the reel to help slow Trevor down and eventually turn him without burning my thumbs completely off on the braided spool (NB. Sinesy, a Trinidad would have totally smoked that fish without the need for such an emergency measures.) Even though I’m only a scrawny little prick, this fish felt pretty heavy and might have nudged 60 pounds on a dodgey set of scales.