We took a trip to Mazatlan with the Schindler family and one event stood out.

A long fishing trip with no fish and four hours into our trip the Captain was fretting (in Spanish) about our lack of luck. We had seen some Sail Fish lolling about on the surface, but they weren’t interested in our baits regardless how skillfully we presented them.

Our trolling continued, four lines out on outriggers, and one by one, everyone in our party, 2 adults and 6 kids, started getting Mal-De-Mer, or seasick. It seems when one person gets it, it become contagious and spreads quickly. Taking turns, “chumming” for fish, Jack and I told the Captain to head back in, easily a one and one-half hour trip and as the boat came about to head back to Mazatlan, one of the four outriggers snapped, then a second, then a third and quickly, the fourth. The infirmed anglers quickly recovered, grabbed rods and the fight was on.

We had run into a school of Dorado, Dolphin, not Flipper, and the water behind the boat was churned up with the acrobatic fish. These were large Dorado, at least 25 pounds each, and on the medium tackle we were using, put up a great fight. As the fish wore down, the mate had his hands full getting them aboard, but he finally put the last one in the ice box.

Everyone was “up” for about 2 minutes, then the Mal-De-Mer hit again. We didn’t get a strike all the way in, but we kept “chumming”!