On 22 January 2011, Divan and I launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. The plan was to go and catch bait for the upcoming cuda season. I had packed the boat with 5 bait rods rigged with daisy chains and just in case, I put the 130Lbs on as well. We headed off to Small highpoint and by 6:30 we were trolling for small bonito. I had just set the lines when Divan trolled over the pinnacle. Almost immediately three reels took off. A few seconds later, the other two also went vas. Both Divs and I grabbed rods and started pulling in the fish. I managed to bring in 3 small yellowfin of about 3kg. One went into the lunatube while the others were released. Meanwhile Divan tussled with his fish and after 15mins had it near the boat. It was a nice yellowfin of about 12kg. It was bled and spined before going into the hatch. Nice! We regrouped and set the lines again. We had just turned when 4 rods went away, this time with small bonitos... perfect bait.
By 8am we had a about 15 baits. There was a great showing on the sounder and bait crashing on the surface. The area was alive! I made a wide turn and started approaching the pinnacle. Two rods went away and I winched in a small skipjack while Divan fought his. His fish was almost at the boat when the rod gave a few heavy jerks. A few seconds later, a maimed skippie came to the surface, with a marlin following it! Panic stations!! Divan held the skippie in the water to keep the marlin around the boat. I flew into the hatch and pulled out a livebait trace. My hands were shaking as I tried to untangle the trace and clip it onto the 130Lbs rod. The fish kept coming up to the skippie which would be pulled away just in time. I was frantically looking for a bait needle but had to settle for a piece of copper wire. The yellowfin in the tube was rigged in record time and popped over the side. Instantly the marlin switched on his lights and high-tailed it after the bait. I fed the fish while Divs cleared the deck and went to the controls. I increased the drag and Divs upped the revs but nothing! I could only feel the bait. I pulled it in slowly in disbelief ... how could we miss that! The yellowfin was still swimming even though it had been beaten up pretty badly. We looked to the back and saw the marlin still following the bait. We tried everything we could think of to get it to take the bait again, but the fish lost interest and faded off. Bummer!
We put the bait rods in again and continued catching bait. At about 9am we caught another small yellowfin and put in the tube. By 10am we were itching to rig it and so, without much convincing, we left the bait expedition and changed to marlin fishing. We headed out to the 350m mark and then headed back to the shallows. The wind was picking up so I suggested we pull the bait over the pinnacle where we caught it ... maybe we can at least catch a shark. We watched the sounder as we trolled over the pinnacle. At 36m, the bait revved. I grabbed the line out the clip and waited for the bite. I felt a heavy jerk then the line pulled tight. I fed the fish but nothing happened. We retrieved the line to find the bait had been hit off the bridle by a marlin ... Unlucky! Divs and I turned to each other and both said “Bait sticks” at the same time. The third rod went out when two took off. I popped one bonnie in the tube and rigged the other. We both agreed to stay on the pinnacle and hope that the fish was still hungry. On our third or fourth turn, the bait revved and the rigger popped. I fed the fish and Divs went to the wheel. We tightened up and this time the rod bent and the reel started running. The line came to the top and a black marlin broke the surface. I climbed into the chair and strapped in while Divs got out the gloves and tag pole.
After a few jumps and short runs, it was at the boat. I leaned out the chair and tagged it (Yes ... our tag pole is long) while Divs wrestled it on the trace. After removing the circle hook, we released a healthy +-100kg marlin. Great! Third time lucky ... probably on the same fish!
Our day had come to an end and we headed back. What a great end to a great day.
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