Wrapping up the year

On the last day of 2010 at Cape Vidal, I awoke to the sound of relatively heavy rain. We had planned to fish for marlin with Mike Buyskes on “Thresher One”, a 21ft Tomcat. After checking out the sea and weather, we decided to give it a skip. Back at camp, we made breakfast and lounged around. By 10am we could not take it anymore and decided to launch ... come hell or high water!

At 10:30 Mike and Mearl Buyskes, Bryant Beukes and I were through the surf. There was a light SE blowing but the sea was great. Mike had found a likely looking are on the GPS along the 500m contour that he wanted to work so we headed straight there. Twenty minutes later, we were at the spot and we went about setting 4 lures on 50Lbs and 80Lbs rigs. Mike then worked the contour from 450m to 600m. There was a great upwelling and temperature break along the edge of the contour and after trolling for about an hour, we started seeing flying fish, skipjack and spinner dolphin.

We had just turned at the 450m mark and were right on the edge of the rip when I saw a fish coming into the spread on the starboard side. The short rigger popped but nothing. Mike kept his course for a while when the short port rigger popped and the reel ran for a bit before stopping. By that stage I had the pitch bait amongst the lures but the fish was not having it. It wanted the big lures. I told Mearl to wind the lure to its original position and after retrieving 5m of line, the bill and dorsal of the fish broke the surface behind the lure and smashed down. This time we were hooked up! After a scramble to clear the other rods, the deck was cleared. Mearl took the chair and strapped in. The marlin stuck its head out the water showing it to be a small stripey ... Mearl’s first. The fish was a bit out gunned with the 80Lbs rig, and was at the boat in 8 minutes. It was cleanly hooked so we got the hooks out and turned it loose. Great!

The lures went out again and Mike continued to work the area. At about 2pm, another small stripey came up on the short starboard lure. I pitched a halfbeak to is but the fish was just window shopping and after a half hearted look, it faded off. Despite working the area for another half hour, we could not raise the fish again. At 2:30pm we upped lines and headed for the beach. What a great way to spend the last day of the year!

Twas the day after Christmas

On 26^th December, Alan and Bryant Buekes and myself launched Allan’s 19ft Yeldcat “Baccus” at Cape Vidal. By 5:30 we were through the surf and headed for Oscar. When we arrived at the southern pinnacle, Bryant and I rigged a few small halcos and daisy chains and started putting out the lines. Before I could place my line, Bryant’s rod went away. After a quick fight, he brought a beautiful little yellowfin of about 2kg ... a perfect bait! I rigged it on a 20/0 circle hook and bombed it back into the water, keeping it close to the boat and away from the sharks. Allan took a course deeper and we waited until we were in 60m before I let the bait out.

The sea was very uncomfortable with the SE wind of around 15 knots and we bumped our way out to 500m before turning. In 400m, I saw a small swirl between the boat and the bait. I went to the back to see what it was. There were two Dorado cruising with us. I quickly grabbed a bait rod with a daisy chain on it and cast it out. The Dorado came over to look but lost interest very quickly and swam off. I took out a mackerel and hooked it onto the back of the daisy chain and left it to wallow in the wake. We continued shallower and at 300m, the bait rod with the mackerel took off. I fed the fish and tightened up. A small Dorado climbed out the water a few times before coming to the boat where we loaded it. At least we had something to eat. After turning in 60m, I headed out towards the ‘hole’ off Vegetation. The sounder showed the bottom falling away and minutes later, the rigger popped. I fed the fish and tightened up. We were on for a few seconds then nothing. I fed the bait back with no result. After retrieving the line, we saw that it was a small shark and only the head of the bait was left. It was back to Oscar to look for bait.

Bryant and I set the bait sticks and Allan trolled over the pinnacle. Allan had just passed over the deeper pinnacle and was moving shallower when one, two , three, four ... five rods went away ... a full house! I grabbed the closest, shortest rod and quickly pulled in a small frigate tuna. It was badly hooked so I put it into the hatch. By then, Bryant had a small yellowfin next to the boat which I grabbed, unhooked and bombed into the luna tube. Bryant grabbed another bait rod while I readied the two marlin rods. Alan brought in another small yellowfin that I quickly rigged and bombed into the water, keeping it within a few meters of the boat. Alan headed deeper off the reef and away from the sharks while Bryant pulled in another beautiful yellowfin which I rigged on the 50Lbs rod. The last rod also had a yellowfin on it and this one we released ... our good deed for the day. With 3 beautiful baits, we were pretty confident.

We had just settled when I saw another 2 dorado cruising in our wake. I grabbed a baitstick, hooked a mackerel on and flung it in their direction. Immediately the smaller one grabbed the bait. I fed it for a bit then hooked up. It came to the boat very quickly and it had a follower ... a nice bull Dorado. Bryant flicked a frozen mackerel at it and hooked up. The bull went mad, jumping over my line and burning me off. Unlucky! Bryant managed to get his 12kg fish to the boat where I gaffed it for him.

At about 2pm, I saw the spare bait rev. Seconds later a shark appeared behind it in hot pursuit. I grabbed the line and pulled the bait away. Bryant did the same with the main bait while Alan opened the motor and sped away. Both baits were fine so after about 200m, we slowed down and put them out again. We had just settled when the main bait was eaten. After feeding the fish for a while, we tightened up but there was nothing. Just the head came back. We transferred the spare bait to the main position and continued trolling. Our bait in the tube had died due to being badly hooked so this was our last chance. In 120m the rigger popped. I fed the fish but when we tightened up, there was nothing. Again just the head came back. That brought our day to a close. It was obviously not our day ... maybe next time.