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Ocean Take-Home

By Jan Nesset

I love the ocean. Who doesn't? But all things ocean are in short supply in the Four Corners. Fossils don't count. I'd have a perfect world here in Southwest Colorado if I could surf, the hang-ten kind that requires a board and ocean waves. I prefer waves up to 8 feet high but on my good days can handle 'em a bit bigger. But it's been a while from when I last surfed a wave of any size. I miss it.

So I was excited to visit Hawaii and Oahu's famed north shore where surfers from around the world come to surf giant winter waves. I knew May is not a time to find big waves but I did expect to find good surfing. Unfortunately, the day my family and I visited the north shore, the ocean was calm. We saw few surfers, all of them sitting on their boards waiting for rare sets of waves no more than 3 feet high. The sets were so small and random that I didn't even try to go surfing. It was a tough call considering our schedule held no opening for a second try.

But I did go fishing. I've held a wish, not one important enough to put on my bucket list, but a wish that's been with me since I've been a kid. A wish-upon-a-star wish. I've always wanted to strap in to a seat and fight a marlin. Whip-zing! - there it was! An outrigger on the fishing boat broke free and the line went taut on a bowing rod. Immediately, the heavy pull from the sea began to drag line off the over-sized reel. Out there, way out there behind the boat, a hooked marlin danced for its life.

"Fish on!"

Having drawn the King of Spades, the high card, I was back in front of the line of four anglers to reel in the next fish regardless of its species. Up to now we had on board three small skipjacks - a variety of small tuna that ends up in cans labeled "light" tuna - and a short-billed spearfish that a guy from Kansas fought on light gear. Strapping into heavy gear, I began reeling in a striped marlin - a wish coming true! Fighting the big fish was work as hard as it looks in media, 40 minutes from hookup to landing of this fish. The sweat-dripping-off-the-end-of-your-nose kind of work. My right arm is still remembering it.

What a beautiful fish, this wish fish! The boat's captain said that striped marlin in Hawaii average 60-70 pounds and a little online research shows it running 25-125 pounds in Hawaiian waters. The captain estimated the fish to weigh "at least a buck 40 (140 pounds)." I weigh a buck 65. It was obvious that the marlin and I were indeed very close in weight. With big fish, even with coveted wish fish, size matters. I don't know why. It measured 8'5" long.

I now have a good fish story, a sizeable one, and I've brought it home. I stand corrected: There is ocean in the Four Corners. I brought some home. Granted, it's not enough ocean to float my surfboards. But it's good to be home, the place where I prefer to do my wishing and where the vast majority of my wishes come true out my front door!