Yesterday the weather was beautiful in Yap.  The sea was flat and there was just the slightest breath of a breeze.  Yap Divers boat captains and dive guides were out with the Manta Ray Bay guests and a few others from other hotels on the island, the only boat left on the mooring was Popou.  Now for those of you that have been to Yap, you will know that Popou is the island’s largest dive boat.  What many people don’t know is that Popou is also the largest private fishing boat on the island too.  It is often chartered privately to go out several miles to catch the “big“fish, which is why Manta Ray Bay has Yap Anglers as part of its folio of services for guests.

Taz & Grandpa Reeling 'Em In

But this day was a day for family, which is why the crew of Popou consisted of Bill and Patricia Acker, their daughter Valerie and the newest member of Yap Anglers Val’s son Thaddeus (known to us as Taz).  Also included were Ken “Figgy” Foelger, a long time friend of the Ackers, William, the boat captain and Teolu, our head of maintenance; all are like family and last but not least me!  When fishing from Popou, we often use as many as eight lines as we trawl around the island, but before we did that, Taz had a crash course from his Grandpa Bill on fishing.  And yes they landed a small fish within the first five minutes.  Taz was a little shocked at first.  I’m not sure whether it was from striking lucky so early or never seeing a fish before, but he was calm before too long and eventually seemed pretty pleased with himself.  The afternoon went on very nicely landing a fine number of good sized Wahoo and Barracuda, as we ate snacks and had a few glasses of ice cold beer fresh from the Stone Money Brewing Company to celebrate each catch.  (Taz had juice!)

Telling Fishing Tales - They Learn Young

We arrived back to the hotel just as the sun was setting and examined our catch and were pleased to give the kitchen a super fresh supply of fish for the evening menu on the Mnuw.  All in all a very nice afternoon and one in which I hope Taz will remember as the day his grandpa taught him how to fish.

A Fisherman, His Pole & His Catch