On 29th December 2004 at about 5am, At van Tilburg and I launched his 16ft Yeld Cat off Cape Vidal. We headed for Oscar and put out 5 bait rods looking for marlin bait. There was an easterly wind blowing and the baitfish were off the bite. We trolled around the pinnacles for about 3 hours without a strike so we headed north. In the middle of nowhere, the closest rod ran a bit. I took the rod and brought in a small Dorado of about 2kg. We knew we would battle to get another bait so we rigged the Dorado and put it out.
At about 9am, the rigger revved and before I could get to the clip, it released. I fed the fish but the line never picked up. After a short while, I started retrieving the bait. I could feel something pulling on the other end but then it would let go. I brought the bait in and saw that it had been ripped to pieces by a bigger Dorado. The bait was just too big for it to swallow.
At and I decided not to look for another bait but rather head shallower to look for gamefish. We stopped at a reef in 15m of water and caught a few maasbanker. I rigged two baits and let them out. I had just put the second rod in the holder when the first reel ran. A nice Dorado jumped out the water. I brought it to the boat where At gaffed it. As he lifted it into the boat, it jumped off the gaff. The Dorado went wild and managed to get caught up in the harness. I jumped on top of it and got it into a headlock. While this was going on, the second reel took off. At and I first put the dorado safely into the hatch before I took up the other rod. The fish felt quite heavy and after putting some pressure on it, the line angled to the surface. The next thing a big sailfish tailwalked across the surface.
It looked very lethargic and after a few more jumps, it sounded. At followed it and I gained line, working the fish up. After a while, the sinker came up and At removed it. The fish came in easily and was soon next to the boat. The fish had lost its colours and was a dull grey colour. I removed the hooks (which were in the gills) and towed it alongside the boat for about 15 minutes. The fish showed no signs of life so At and I decided to load it. I tried to pull it over the gunwale but couldn’t so At assisted me. Both of us battled, thinking it was about 40kg or so. Finally it was on the deck and we continued fishing. After 2 hours without another strike, we upped lines and headed home.
We weighed the sailfish to see how big it was. It had us all guessing as it had good condition and length. It finally pulled the needle down to 55,4kg, my personal best!
