Early Season Cuda Session

On Sunday 31^st January, My Dad and I launched our boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. There had been quite a few marlin around and every boat was out in the deep looking for them. We on the other hand were tired of doing the same thing every day so decided to look for some gamefish.

We headed for the pipeline and caught two full strings of maasbanker. It was still early so I suggested we head for small high to catch a few bonnies before looking for cuda. Arriving at small high, I put out 4 rods with daisy chains and My Dad trolled over the pinnacle. Two rods went on with beautiful bonnies. One went into the tuba and the other into the coolerbox and ice. We made a few turns and caught bait on every pass. By 8:30 we had about 15 baits and headed to Petingo.

The water was 25.6 degrees with a slight reverse current. There were a lot of reeds in the off green water which meant I would be clearing lines often. I put out 2 wala wala, 2 bonito (one live) and a live maasbanker. We trolled up and down the wreck and on the second pass, the live maasbanker was eaten by a small fish which just flicked the rod tip before getting off. I rerigged as my Dad turned and crossed the wreck again. On the Northern point, the same rod bent and the reel ran a bit before the hook pulled. It went quiet for a while until the water temperature climbed a bit to 26.2 degrees and cleaned up to a green colour. On top of the wreck, both bonito were eaten. We both grabbed rods and tussled really strong fish. Each of us brought a 70 odd kg blacktip shark to the boat where we broke the leaders. After sorting out the chaos, I reset the lines. As we moved off the southern tip, the livie was eaten again. This time the fish picked up the nylon leader before the trace, biting it off! This was not acceptable so I climbed into the tackle box and built another trace with a slightly different hook rig. The next pass on the wreck resulted in the rod bending with a small fish. My Dad pulled in a small cuda of around 3kg (perfect for a weber!) Finally we had something. In high spirits, I put out the lines again and while I was letting the last line out, the reel took off in my hand. I put up the drag and the fish took off running. After a quick fight, my Dad gaffed a 10kg cuda ... NICE! Things were happening. Again the new baits went out and we trolled over the wreck. As luck would have it, the livie was eaten yet again. This time by a smoker! I passed the rod to my Dad who had a good fight before I gaffed a cuda of about 15kg. At this stage I had 2 livies in the water, hoping to double our chances. A short while later, we had a pull on the closer livie but the hooks missed. The water temp was now over 27 degrees and the water was quite clean. We had no further action for an hour. At just after 1pm I started pulling lines. I had one livie to go when the rod bent a bit and the reel gave a short burst. I grabbed the rod and winched the fish in. It was another weber size cuda which went into the coolbox for supper that night. That was a wrap and we headed for the harbour with the first cuda trip for the year under the belt. Now the fish just need to get bigger!

Third Time Lucky!

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.