A very close shave!

On Christmas afternoon, I drove through to Cape Vidal to join At van Tilburg for the weekend. I arrived at about 5pm and unpacked my bags. At’s wife Kathy had organized a bring and braai at the day visitors picnic site overlooking the sea. It was a beautiful evening and the party ended up in the wee hours of the morning.

On Saturday the 26th, At woke me and said that he was not going to sea, but his two nephews, Riaan and Pierre, were going as well as Johan Strauss. They wanted to fish for gamefish. I said I would join them as I would much rather go to sea then sit on the side, especially on such a nice day. We hitched the boat and headed for the beach. After an uneventful launch, we were through the surf and stopped to catch some livebait. After catching a few maasbanker and mackerel, we traveled north for about 5km.

We decided to pull some lures over Oscar pinnacles to have some fun with the bonito or tuna and so we put out a few halcos and an islander saillure. We were in 40 meters of water and I had just finished setting the lines when Riaan said he saw a fish jump behind the close lure – the saillure. I spun round to see a wake forming about 5 meters behind the lure. Whatever it was, it was fast and it charged up to the lure and smashed it. The reel smoked off and I handed the rod to Riaan. The fish took about 100m of line before it slowed down. By then Johan and I had cleared the other rods and Riaan could start gaining line. After a few good runs, the fish came to the boat, tail first. It was a wahoo – Riaan’s first! He was over the moon and after a few quick photos we reset the lines. Pierre trolled over the pinnacles and we were rewarded with a double strike on the halcos. Riaan and Johan pulled he fish to the boat. They were both small yellowfin tuna of about 2,5kg … perfect marlin bait … but we didn’t have the marlin tackle on the boat, so we reluctantly released them. When I let them go I could feel the heartburn! We continued trolling and the furthest lure got eaten. The reel took off at quite a pace and I picked up the rod to pass it to someone else. Everyone looked at me and said “you take it”. Oh alright if you insist! I battled to gain line until Pierre drove toward the fish, which was still on surface. When the double and leader came out the water, I saw that it was a nice yellowfin of about 8kg. I passed the rod to Riaan and grabbed it by the tail. I removed the hooks and slid the knife into the bloodline then put it into the tuna tube. It might sound cruel but it is the best way to ensure that the fish is bled properly for sushi.

With a few tuna under the belt, we headed north to vegetation – a spot 12km north of the launch where we had done well in the past. In about 23m over the marks, I heard the close reel give a short burst. I ran to the back to see a sailfish billing the islander. I picked up the rod and put it into freespool with my thumb on the spool. When the sail took the lure, I gave it a few seconds then tightened up. It was on for a moment then off. I lifted the rod and went to freespool again. The sail came in again and did the same thing with the same result. After the third time it lost interest and whacked a halco on the way through but also missing the hooks. I told Pierre to make a turn and come over the exact same spot and we might raise the fish again. As we turned the far lure got chowed. The reel initially took off then slowed ... this was no sailfish. Johan pulled the fish in quickly and I gaffed a king mackerel (cuda) of about 6kg. Pierre worked the area a bit without another strike. I suggested we rig the livebaits and slow troll over the area. If there was one cuda, there would be another. I rigged 4 live maasbanker and a dead sardine, staggering them in distance and depth. We trolled between 20 and 30 meters using the current to push us from north to south. And would you guess it … in 23m on the mark I saw the long surface rod bend a bit then straighten. I ran to the back picked up the rod and put the reel into freespool. The line took some tension and I fed some line out. As the reel picked up speed, I put the drag up to strike and wound up the slack. The rod bent and I struck back. Almost immediately a sailfish exploded behind the boat heading in the opposite direction. The reel was absolutely smoking at that stage. I knew Johan had not seen, let alone caught a sailfish, so I handed him the rod and said good luck! I’ll never forget the look of panic on his face – Classic! Riaan and I cleared the other lines as fast as humanly possible. Johan said that there was not a lot of line left on the reel, but I assumed he was just over reacting and casually told Pierre to start turning toward the fish, I also told Johan to back off on the drag a bit. Pierre said we should calm down because the situation was under control. I thought the same, until I glanced at the reel in Johan’s hands. Holy S%*t! we were down to about 20 meters and loosing fast. I shouted to Pierre to turn … NOW! He shouted back saying “Calm down!” – Obviously he didn’t understand the severity of the situation! Adamant get some immediate action out of Pierre, I took the rod from Johan and showed Pierre the reel – which was now about 6 or 7 turns from the knot – and said “Your call!” and left it at that. I gave Johan the rod just in time because if I didn’t have two hands to hold on with I would have been overboard! Pierre spun the steering wheel left full lock and opened both 115 Optimaxes to the max. AVANTI flew around as the line came to an end and the knot started pulling tight. I grabbed the line between the reel and the first guide to create some slack on the knot to prevent it from breaking. Pierre created some slack, but was running toward the fish and not where the line was going into the water. Riaan and I were almost out of our minds trying to get Pierre to turn a bit left to chase the line and not the fish! Pandemonium! Luck was on our side and the tension slowly released and Johan could get a few turns onto the reel. I told him to keep the rod pointed at the line and wind for all that he was worth. He did very well and after we had about 20m on the reel, and I told Pierre to slow down. There was enough line in the water to keep tension on the fish’s side so we were not worried about the slack on our side. Calm was restored after we had about 100m back on the reel and the fish had settled down. Johan told us that he wanted to load the fish and because it was his first one, we didn’t have a problem with his request. After about 25 minutes, the fish was next to the boat.
We don’t like to use the gaff on billfish (unless we don’t have a choice) because it makes the photograph look terrible, so I took hold of the leader and brought the fish within reach. I took the bill and lifted the fish into the boat. We were all over the moon. After the very close call with this fish, we were very relieved to have it on the boat.

After a well deserved cooldrink, we reset the lines. I was busy putting out the second livie when the reel took off in my hands. I fed for a moment then gave a quick strike – on! The fish took some line then came straight to the boat. Winding like a madman, I managed to keep tension on the fish, but as the double line came out the water, the hooks pulled on a smallish cuda (+-5kg). We had one more chop on a livie before we decided to put lures on and troll for home. Over Oscar pinnacle we managed a bonito of about 3kg which we released before heading for the beach.

We loaded the boat and parked the boat at the washbay. We weighed Riaan’s wahoo and Johan’s sailfish. They weighed 14,6kg and 29,8kg respectively. Overall, it was a fantastic day’s fishing with two ‘firsts’ ... not every day you catch 5 species of gamefish.

Competition Time

Thursday the 17th December was the briefing for the Meerensee Boat Club Marlin, Gamefish and Bottomfish competition. I was participating in the competition for the first time and was looking forward to 3 days of marlin fishing. I would be fishing on Wayne Ritchie’s boat “Big W”, a 900 Cobra Cat powered by two 300 Suzukis, moored at the Tuzi Gazi waterfront. The other members of the crew were Peet Oelson, Jaques Spence, Divan Coetzee and Nati Coetzee. Nati, Jaques and Peet had not yet caught a marlin and we were keen to get one of them into a fish.

The competition rules were tag and release for all marlin. There were prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The prizes were in the form of cash – R10000 for 1st, R5000 for 2nd and 3000 for 3rd. The entry fee was R500 per person – which was a bit steep I thought. But regardless, we were going to fish. There was also a Calcutta for the marlin boats which was set at R1000 per boat. This would go to the boat that scored the most points each day. The briefing was short and sweet as briefings should be and then the anglers took to the bar. Lines in was only at 6:00am so everyone would be fishing ‘office hours’. I felt that the lines in time was far too late. In summer, the sun is up at 4:30am so by 6am the day is almost half over considering it takes about an hour to get to the fishing grounds. Be that as it may, it was nice to wake up as a respectable hour to go fishing.

The first day to the competition started with a bang for the boat “Big Sea Hunter”. They had a stripy and a black marlin release before 9am. “Buoy ‘n Sea” released a black marlin and “Majestic” released a blue. We were unlucky with a small blue that struck a lure on the long rigger but threw the hook after two jumps. We did manage a small wahoo of 10kg.

At 5:30am on Saturday morning, we were at the mooring. We tied off and made our way to the barge in the harbour where we needed to collect our competition disc before we could exit the port and go to sea. We left the harbour mouth at 6am and headed north to the “Castle“. The plan was to work the 50m ledge going north, looking for a black marlin and then to head out deeper to look for a blue or stripy. We were pulling seven rods as there were more than enough hands onboard to retrieve lines in a hurry, so I could put out quite a variety.

On the japan I put a Pakula copy in the Lumo Sprocket colour flavoured with a dorado belly shine, headed with a medium size bird. On the starboard long rigger I put a purple and black doorknob and on the port long I put a halfbeak/blue and white Iland saillure headed by a small bird. On the port short rigger I had a Williamson bonito smoker and on the flat line I put a 15 inch off center lure. On the starboard short rigger I had another halfbeak / Islander Saillure and on the flat line I put a bonito express. The lures were fine tuned so that they popped every 4-6 seconds. The spread looked good.

We worked the same area as the previous day with no action. At about 9:30 Wayne made a turn in 200m and headed shallower for the 100m mark where we had marked some bait the previous day. Divan and I were busy changing the port flatline when the port long rigger popped. I fed the halfbeak back for about 5 seconds then put the reel to strike. The 80Lbs standup rod buckled and the reel took off. Everyone ran for a rod and cleared the deck. I kept the fish under control while lures flew into the back of the boat. I was lucky enough to be looking back when the fish came out the first time. What a sight! The blue rocketed out the water full body length. As it hit the water it was airborne again. I shouted to the guys to look at the great show, but everyone was too busy clearing rods. The fish greyhounded from left to right then doubled back to the left. It must have jumped 30 times in succession. By now, everyone had cleared the deck and was watching the fish give a beautiful display. It was Nati’s turn on the rod, and we quickly got him into the black magic harness. I handed him the rod and helped clip him in. This was the first time he had ever been marlin fishing, so I coached him as the fight progressed. The fish stayed on the surface and Wayne could back up on the fish to regain line. After 20 minutes the double line came out the water followed shortly by the leader. As I took a few wraps on the leader, I could see the fish swimming strongly 7m down with all its lights on.

The competition rules stated that the photograph of the fish had to be bill in hand before it qualified as a release so I had to take hold of the bill! I knew that if I took the bill at this stage, I would be beaten to a pulp (the fish would also sustain unnecessary damage) so we decided to fight the fish a bit longer. Not that we had much of a choice because the fish then decided to sound, taking about 100m of line in the process. Nati was sweating properly by now but hung in there until the leader was in reach again. I wrapped the leader and pulled the fish a bit closer. It was still very strong and with a flick of the tail it pulled the leader from my hands. With its head down, the fish headed down again. Nati was now fighting for his life and trying to stay onboard with 12kg drag. The fish stayed deep for about 20 minutes but the fight had suddenly changed. The rod tip indicated that the fish was shaking it’s head constantly while it was taking line. I called to Wayne that I thought the fish had tail wrapped. Nati could not gain an inch, but the fish also didn’t take anything. I assumed the fish was dead and put the reel into low range and showed Nati how to use the swells to gain line and get the fish coming up. Every time the swell dropped, Nati would gain a few meters. As the swell lifted, he would slowly drop the rod tip so as to keep the line he had just gained and then lift at the top of the swell. This worked a treat and within 10 minutes the fish popped up next to the boat tail first.

I unwrapped the leader and pulled on the trace to get hold of the bill. The fish looked like it was not going to make it but we thought we should try to revive it anyway. Wayne kept the boat moving forward into the current and Divan and I held the fish upright alongside. Peet and Jaques were the designated camera men and took the required photos for the competition. After about 25 minutes the marlin’s tail started moving slowly from side to side and the colour came back. I reached down to remove the hook and the fish bit me on the thumb. From that bite, I could feel that the fish was gaining its strength! After 30 minutes, Divan and I turned the fish loose and saw it slowly disappear into the depths head first with the tail swaying back and forth. What a great fish. Everyone on the boat estimated the fish at around 180kg give or take a few kilograms.

The time was 11am and there was still time to fish so the lines were reset. At about 2pm I saw a dorado cruising in front of the boat. It arced to the left then saw the lures and came flying into the spread. Always an amazing sight to see. The fish ate the short rigger lure on the port side and hooked up properly. Peet pulled the dorado to the boat in a few seconds and Wayne gaffed it. He unceremoniously whipped it into the fish hatch before it created any more havoc.

That marked the last of the action for the day. We were the only boat to release a fish so we won the Calcutta for the day.

On the Sunday morning the weather was perfect. We headed out to the deep and put the lines out. Wayne worked two good current lines at 350m for a while before we caught a yellowfin of about 10kg. After the yellowfin, we had a small billfish on the port short rigger that teased with the small purple and black stripy tickler but didn’t get a hook in. At about 12am the bank of clouds from the south built up and the southerly wind came through at about 15 knots. It gradually strengthened to a point where the competition was called off. There were no billfish caught, but there were some good king mackerel (between 20kg and 26kg) and musselcracker (between 20kg and 31kg) caught. At the prize giving, we won the Calcutta of R6000 which we donated to the local autism school. All in all it was a great competition. Thanks to everyone on the boat for making it a great competition and well done to Nati for catching his first marlin.