Garrick Galore

At 7:30am on Sunday the 18^th July, Jacques Spence (Tjokkie) and I launched “KC”, a 14ft ski-vee to fish for Garrick. We headed for the end of the pipeline to catch live bait. This is always the hardest part of Garrick fishing because without livebait you are dead in the water. I sounded around the marks for a few minutes to locate the bait shoals. After about 4 drifts, I found a spot where the showings looked good. Tjoks and I caught a few pinky’s, razorbellies and maasbankers but not the shad that we were looking for. I filleted a few of the razorbellies and both Tjoks and I baited up with this. We both dropped on the showing and immediately went on. Tjoks lifted 6 shad into the boat while I had 3 shad and 7 missing hooks... Game on! Tjoks had a heavy duty sabiki rig on so I held the boat on the spot while he caught bait. With the live well full, Tjoks and I headed for the south pier to look for garrick.

We arrived at 9:30 and I rigged up 3 shad, two on spinning rods and one on conventional tackle. There were a lot of people fishing off the pier and I could not get close enough to be productive. I opted to make my was along the pier working south towards the New Mouth area, along the backline. At just after 10am, I saw two Garrick chasing baitfish near the surf. This was exactly what I was hoping for. I headed for the area and a few minutes later, I saw a fish surface near the baits. I picked up the rod and held it in free spool anticipating the strike. I felt the bait rev and then there was a heavy pull on the line. After feeding the fish, I set the hook and passed the rod to Tjoks. The fish surfaced in the surf shaking its head violently. On the second breach, the hook and fish parted company and we were left with a mauled shad and 0-1 score to the Garrick, but we knew they were there. I rerigged the bait and continued along the backline and as we approached a good rip, the far bait was eaten. Again I fed the fish and hooked up before passing the rod to Tjoks. The other lines were cleared and the fish was brought to the boat. There was a second fish with it, but it refused to eat the bait that we offered it. I gaffed the fish and rigged up again.

Tjoks and I both agreed that the area we had just been through had a number of fish in it, so I turned around and headed north. We had not gone 100m when the bait on the spinning rod was eaten. I fed it and tightened up as the fish surfaced some distance away. Again Tjoks took the rod and fought a nice fish to the boat. He wanted to release it and so I traced the fish and when it was close, I cut the leader and it kicked away strongly. 2-1 to team “KC”... much better!

By now I was itching to get my first Garrick of the season and I didn’t have to wait long for a chance. We were nearing the pier when the close bait revved and then disappeared in a big swirl. I fed the fish and hooked up. At this stage, there were two other boats next to us and I am sure they were a bit envious that we were hooking up at such regular intervals (I know I would be!). As the fish neared the boat, I noticed that it had a tag in it so we put the fish on the deck, measured it, cleaned the tag and released it. 3-1 team “KC”. Great stuff.

By now, we were seeing a pattern and most of the fish were being caught on a colour line formed by the outgoing tide. I rode back to the beginning of the rip and put the baits out. We had just settled when a fish swirled between the lines. One of the shad jumped out of the water and when it landed, a Garrick engulfed it. This fish was on a light spinning rod and after I fed the fish, I set the hook. The fish ran for a short distance and then spat the bait. 3-2 ... we were slipping! Again I went back to the start of the rip and put out the baits. After about ten minutes, the far bait on the spinning rod was eaten and after feeding it, I hooked up. The fish fought strongly and after a good tussle, Tjoks gaffed a nice Garrick for me.

The other boats had moved away by now and we had the area to ourselves. Again the baits went in and 20 minutes later, when baits were in the same area as the previous strike, the close bait was eaten. I handed the rod to Tjoks to feed the fish himself. He did a great job and set the hooks like a pro! I had left the other lines in while I headed out of the danger zone and next thing the far bait was eaten again. I hooked up and we were on a double! Both fish fought away from each other any making it easy to handle. Tjoks brought his fish in first and after it was gaffed, he returned the favour and gaffed my fish. 6-2 team “KC” ... Awesome!

We had a shad and a pinky left so we rigged them both and made one last turn. Like clockwork, the shad was eaten and Tjoks fed the fish. I was clearing the other line and when the pinky was about 5m away, a Garrick came flying up behind the bait. I stopped winding and opened the bail of the reel to feed to feed the fish, but it just circled the bait and in a flash disappeared. Tjoks tightened up on his fish and I helped with the motors. The fish took about 30m of line before it spat the bait! Unlucky. 6-3 Team “KC”. It was 14:30 and we were now out of bait and the see was picking up due to a 15 knot NE wind, so we decided to call it a day. The fish were weighed and they ranged from 8-10kg. The information on the tagged fish was astounding. It was tagged 323 days prior off Richards Bay and had grown 20mm. What made it unbelievable was that it was tagged by me! What are the chances - Classic! What's more is that this was the fish that I won the Captain Morgan Challenge with! Needless to say, Ihave entered it again and who knows, maybe my ticket #13 comes up again!