South of the border, a fishing hex is broken

Christien O'Keeffe had seen his fair share of billfish over the years.

And he'd seen every single one of them either break the line or pull the hook.

He'd never had his hands on one for a picture or felt its power up close.

So he took drastic measures.

O'Keeffe bought a plane ticket, made hotel reservations and went to Mexico, where some of the best sailfish opportunities in the world take place in late winter and early spring.

Well... that wasn't his only reason.

O'Keeffe's Mexican fishing opportunity came in less of a macho fashion. He and his family took a trip to the vacation shorelines of the Yucatan Peninsula south of Cancun.

So while staying at a luxury resort, the family booked a trip with Bob Uecker, owner of Capt. Rick's Sportfishing Center in Puerto Aventuras. Uecker is a former Virginia Beach resident.

"My brother wanted to fish, and a deep-sea fishing trip was on my aunt's bucket list," said O'Keeffe, who grew up in Virginia Beach but now lives in Suffolk. "Nobody other than me had ever been deep-sea fishing before, so it was fun for everybody."

O'Keeffe's billfish luck changed quickly, with the first hook-up of the day only five minutes into the trip.

Twenty minutes later, he was touching and posing for pictures with his first billfish.

"It was great," the 35-year-old said. "I was always losing them before.

"My brother, Craig, had two on, but both of them got off. So he knows how I was feeling."

No other billfish struck during the trip and no fish were caught the last couple of hours. But a few wahoo were tricked into biting earlier in the day and both were brought on board for a meal later that evening.

They took some of the wahoo filets to Gringo Daves, a marina-based bar and grill where the owners will cook up your catch for you for a small fee.

The restaurant sits on the boardwalk next to a "swim-with-the-dolphins" area.

"It was awesome, a really cool place," O'Keeffe said. "They grilled it all up for us and we made fish tacos."

But as good as the food was, and as heavenly as the environment where he was eating it, all O'Keeffe could think about was that the billfish monkey finally was off his back.

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com