On the afternoon of Tuesday 23 March, Frans van Rensburg, Leon Maree, Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee and I jumped aboard Fran’s 40ft Powercat “Trinity” for an evenings broadbilling. The plan was to run up north to the 50m ledge and load up on mackerel and then troll konas to the area we intended to start drifting for swordfish.
We arrived at the mackerel spot and went down with 3 sets of sabikis. As they hit the bottom, all three of us were full lines. We pulled in several impressive strings of 30cm long mackerel and put them in the live well. There was still alot of time before it was dark, so we travelled until we found blue water (+-120m of water) and put out 5 konas and trolled north into the current. There was a strong SW wind blowing and the sea was very unsettled. To make matters worse, there were several squalls that came through with pelting rain. Things were not looking god for the rest of the evening.
At about 17:30, we were in 500m off three trees area when there was a loud crack. Leon and I looked back in time to see a marlin tail walking away from the boat. We looked at the centre rigger line which was now hanging limp. We then realised that the marlin had picked up the line in its mouth before it took the lure and the line snapped, without even breaking the elastic in the rigger clip. What bad luck.
By now it was almost time to put out the broadbill rigs, so we pulled in the konas and began to drift. We were fishing 3 80Lbs outfits, all rigged with live mackerel on 14/0 circle hooks and 300Lbs trace. We used +-1.5kg break-away weights and staggered the baits at 20m, 40m and 60m. The 20m and 40m baits were sent away from the boat with balloons attached to the line with elastics.
By 6pm we were set up and the wait began. We were drifting from deep to shallow and our line indicated that we would cross through the area known as the ‘Drukgang’. At 8pm, Michael and I had lit the fire in the braai and were braaiing boerewors for supper when the 20m line was hit. The reel gave a short burst and then the fish pulled line off at a slow, constant speed. Leon fed the fish and then eased up the drag. The rod keeled over and the reel took off. The fish ran like a freight train straight down taking about 200m in a flash. Frans climbed into the standup harness and we passed him the rod. The fish was incredibly strong and it took Frans quite a while to get it close to the boat. When the light stick came to the surface, it would go left then right and then swim under the boat causing a few anxious moments for the crew. Leon took the boat ahead of the fish and manoeuvred so as to keep the fish behind us. The fish had been within 30m for about 20 minutes but we could not get it closer. All the time, the fish was shaking its head violently and we could clearly see the lightstick being pulled through the water from side to side with each head nod. The elastic from the balloon finally came out the water indicating that the fish was 20m away when it made another dive straight down taking about 150m before slowing down. Frans did a great job on the rod using the swell to lift the fish and get it swimming on the surface about 30m of the stern with the lightstick about 5m underwater . Everyone on board was at the ready for when the fish came within range. It seemed victory was only moments away when without warning the 300Lbs leader parted near the hook! Words cannot describe how we felt. There was an eerie silence that came over the crew and we all knew that that was the fish we were after all the hours we spent on the sea at night ... the Holy Grail of angling ... Xiphias Gladius, the mighty broadbill swordfish.
Leon took us back to the starting position of our previous drift and we reset the lines. Once everything was settled, we all went into the cabin for supper. At about 21:45, the 20m bait was taken. Leon fed the fish and then hooked up. It came to the boat quickly showing itself to be a small hammerhead shark of about 10kg, which was unceremoniously released.
The lines were again reset and the drift continued. About half an hour later, the 40m bait was taken. This time Divan was first to the rod and he hooked up. The fish took about 50m of line straight down then came to the boat where Michael traced it. Again it was a hammerhead shark of about 35kg.
We set about rerigging and after the 20m line was set, I started with the 40m line. The bait was down about 20m when I felt the bait rev wildly. I held onto the line to feel what was happening down there. Every now and again, there would be a tug on the line, but it was very subtle. I pulled the line in to check the bait and found that it was dead and was covered in what looked like small pin holes. Leon said that it could be sarda Orientalis or striped bonito which have teeth that make similar marks. I rigged a new bait and sent it down. We had just settled when one of the balloons with the lightstick inside passed behind the boat, not attached to anything. Something had broken the elastic. We checked the lines and found that the 20m line had broken free of the balloon. Leon retrieved the line to see what had happened. I took the trace and pulled up the weight/lightstick/bait. As I was about to lift the bait out the water, I felt the line pulling back. I held on tussled with this creature for a moment and then lifted it into the boat. Leon had been right on the money. It was a striped bonito and it had the circle hook firmly in the corner of the mouth.
The drift continued and every hour or so we checked baits. We had no more action and by 5am we were about 20km south of the harbour mouth in 740m of water. We upped lines and headed for home with all of our minds racing with new ideas that we would try on the next trip out searching for a broadbill.
