On 1st May 2008, At van Tilburg, Piet Joubert, Pier Smit, Gert and I launched “AVANTI” off Richards Bay. By all accounts, it was terrible weather. A SW of 20 knots was blowing, it was drizzling and the sea was unsettled. But, with the cuda season coming to an end, it was not or never to get one last good fish.
We headed straight to Petingo. The trip took us about an hour to do the 18km into a head-on sea. When we finally arrived, we were not alone. Mike Leenstra on “BELUGA” was also there and he had 2 nice fish on board already. I went about rigging 2 wala and 2 bonnies. The sloppy conditions made setting lines at the slow pace very difficult, but somehow I managed to set the 4 lines. At trolled around the wreck for about an hour without a strike. I checked the baits but they were still looking good. At turned the controls over to me saying I might have more luck in riding over a fish.
I made several figure eights around the wreck and finally, at I came off the Southern side of the wreck, one of the surface walas was eaten. Everyone was sitting on the other side of the boat to keep dry, so I was the closest one to the rod. I ran back and took the rod. The guys cleared the lines and I called At to take the rod because it felt like a nice fish. He said I someone else should take it so I gave the rod to Pier. The fish made a few strong fast runs and after about 25minutes, it was near the boat. It made a few big circles and when it was within range, I put the gaff in. At first, I did not realise the size of the fish until I lifted it over the gunwale. It was massive! The biggest cuda I had been with ... by far! It was too long to fit in the hatch of the 21ft Yeld so we lay it on the deck with a towel over it. After congrats all round, we reset the baits.
I trolled around for another two hours or so without another pull. Mike had also not had another rev. The wind was more than 25knots and the sea was getting ugly. We decided to call it a day and had dry ride back with the wind.
At the club, Mike’s 2 fish weighed 24kg and 26kg. Two really nice fish. When we finally put out fish on the scale, it pulled the needle to 36.2kg!!! A great beast. It was the biggest cuda in SA for the year.
