It is almost certain that 16-year-old Cody Martin is the only person
ever to catch a yellowtail amberjack by hand. It is certain that he has
been the only one to catch it by hand with the help of dolphins and then
haul it to shore on a bright blue surfboard. It is undoubtedly a story that he
will be telling his grandkids one day.
Last month a pod of dolphins was feeding on sardines in Santa Monica Bay when a large fish apparently disturbed them. Martin and his dad were watching from the Manhattan Beach Pier as the dolphins toyed with the unlucky fish and then left it floating. Martin thought that it was a thresher shark and went running for his surfboard to go help the animal. What he found was a yellowtail amberjack that had definitely seen better days.
The appearance of the yellowtail so close in to the pier was a surprise. The species has been so over-fished that they are no longer as plentiful in the area as they once were.
Martin realized that the fish was not going to survive its injuries and decided that it may as well be dinner instead. He grabbed it by the gills and wrestled it onto his board as it tried to squirm away. Sitting upright on the board he paddled back to the pier with his 40 pound prize catch. A crowd had gathered around the pier to watch the amazing catch. While dad hauled the fish up with a rope, Martin continued to shore with his board. He then sprinted back up the pier to get a second look at what he had caught. The yellowtail's body showed rake marks from the teeth of the dolphins.
Originally, Martin was on the pier hoping to make a live catch to show the kids from the Roundhouse Aquarium's summer camp, something that he would later release. His father, Eric, is director of the aquarium. The kids still got an education about fish that day, just not the one that they had hoped for.
The family did indeed have the yellowtail for dinner -- grilled with a teriyaki-pineapple sauce. The entertainment for the evening was grandpa telling stories of the old days when catching yellowtails in the bay was a common occurrence.
Sources: Pete Thomas Outdoors, Easy Reader News