Huntsville High teen's fishing tale is no lie

Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Huntsville Times
Fish usually grow in size with time, with a pound or two added by the time the boat reaches the marina and whopper status achieved within a few hours.

PJ Rodriguez doesn't have to fib about his most recent fishing excursion.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, the one of Rodriguez standing beside his Pacific black marlin is worth, oh, about 660 pounds.
Six hundred sixty pounds is a lot of fish. A whole lot.

Rodriguez was vacationing at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with his family during the recent fall break. He's a senior at Huntsville High School. Between the sand, surf and seafood at the popular Pacific getaway, he and his father Paul took an offshore fishing trip in the Sea of Cortez.

Black marlin are among the world's most sought-after big game species. They are pelagic, meaning they roam the oceans. Their sharp bill is used for protection and foraging; marlin and swordfish slash at other fishes and then feed as the injured or dead fish sinks.

Some have been found in the colder waters of the Atlantic and are believed to have migrated around the Cape of Good Hope deep in the southern hemisphere. In any case, they are grand game and quite a trophy.

While trolling, the black marlin hit and Rodriguez jumped to take the rod. Remarkably, it took just 45 minutes for the big fish to succumb and come to the boat. It typically takes longer to subdue such a large fish, but Rodriguez fought it valliantly and smartly.

The marlin was so large it would not fit in the boat. In a harkening to Ernest Hemingway's classic, "The Old Man and the Sea," a rope was secured around the marlin and the jubilant Rodriguez crew returned to shore.

Hemingway's protagonist, the aged Santiago, went 84 days without catching a fish. On the 85th, the determined Cuban ventured farther out and into the Gulf Stream, where he fought a monstrous marlin for three days before landing it. On his return, with his body sapped of strength and the great beast tethered to his skiff with a rope, blood from the fish attracted sharks that eventually devoured it. Only the head, skeleton and tail remained for the astounded onlookers who knew nothing of Santiago's epic fight.

But there were no sharks to gorge on Rodriguez's 660-pounder, and slack-jawed onlookers got the full story after the triumphant return.
A great fish tale, if there ever was one.