Saltwater Crocodiles

On 16^th June 2011, Hannes Duvenage and I took Mark Beyl and 2 of his friends cuda fishing off Richards Bay. We launched “Lihann” at 7:30 and headed for the live bait reef. After catching a few maasbankers, we headed for small highpoint to look for some bonito. We trolled a few small lures around the pinnacle without any success so we changed course for Petingo Wreck, still trolling the lures. About half way to the wreck, we caught a single small bonito and put it into the luna tube. We then upped lines and raced to Petingo.

The water was a good cuda colour and there was little current. I rigged up the live bonnie, a dead one, a live maasbanker and 2 wala-wala. Hannes trolled around the wreck looking for that elusive ‘crocodile’. After a few hours of trolling without a pull, I checked the baits. The bonnie was not looking great so I converted it to a dead bait and put it out and went to the controls. I had just passed over the end of the wreck when I saw the rod with the newly rigged bonnie bump and then keel over. The reel smoked off and Hannes picked it up while the other guys pulled in the remaining lines. Hannes handed the rod over to Mark and I turned to chase it. We gained most of the line and had the fish 5 m from the boat. It was a good cuda, well over 20kg. The fish made a short run and shook its head violently. All of a sudden, the leading wire broke and the fish was gone! I could not believe it ... you could have knocked me over with a feather. How in the Hell could that happen? On closer inspection, we saw that the wire loop through the eye of the leading hook had broken! I have never seen that before ... not on #8 wire! Oh well, back to the drawing board.

The lines went back in and we trolled some more. About half an hour later, the deep bait with a wala smoked off. I took the rod out the holder and gave it to Wayne. We cleared the other lines and chased the fish. After 15mins, we had the fish 3m from the boat with the leader on the rod. I could just not reach it with the gaff. Suddenly the fish spooked and pulled off a few meters of line. As we looked at the fish, we saw 2 blackfin sharks rip into it, tearing it to pieces. One picked up the wire and bit it off. The sharks thrashed on the surface as they devoured the trophy cuda! Unbelievable. I conservatively estimated the fish at 25kg ... and we got a good look at it at the boat!

Back to trolling. I had just re rigged the baits when the same rod took off! This time the hooks pulled after a few seconds. That happens ... I suppose! By now we were a bit irritated and needed some good fortune. With 3 bad luck fish behind us, we looked forward to another shot. At 4:45, the surface bonnie was eaten and the reel smoked off. I took the rod and made sure the fish was under control before handing the rod to Paul. We chased the fish while the other lines were cleared. The fish made a few strong fast runs indicating it was a good fish. The fish settled under the boat with a good bend in the rod. Suddenly the tip shot up indicating something had gone wrong. I took the rod and looked at the reel. Paul had knocked the reel into freespool and there was an over wind!!! I quickly undid the mess and wound up the slack. Amazingly the fish was still there! Paul was finishe and said he could not handle the fight any more so we gave the rod to Mark. About 10 minutes later, the fish was within gaff range. I stuck the fish and lifted it over the gunwale. I was expecting a 20kg cuda, but when I lifted the fish over the side, I saw a head that looked like a dogtooth tuna! It was a proper Petingo ‘dile! I called it 30kg before it was on the deck ... the eternal optimist! We were over the moon and finally we had shrugged off the bad luck. We trolled until dark without another rev.

Back at the club, the fish pulled the scale to 32,0kg!!! A fish of a lifetime.

Not bad for a Sunday afternoon

On Sunday 12^th June at 11:30am, Sakkie and Ettienne de Villiers and I launched “Deep Burn”, a 21ft Yeld off Richards Bay. There was a 15knot SW blowing for most of the morning and the sea was quite choppy. We headed for Petingo straight into the wind, resulting in a bumpy and wet ride. After an hour, we arrived at petingo. As expected, we were the only boat there.

The water was 19,8 degrees with a reverse current but clean water. Etts and I rigged 4 baits, 2 bonnies and 2 wala-wala, while Sakkie slowly headed for the wreck. As we neared the buoy, I picked up the spinning rod and cast a spoon at it. In the fourth turn, I went on with a small torpedo scad which was quickly released. On the next pass, I put the spoon right next to the buoy and before I could start retrieving it, I went on with a stronger fish which gave me a good tussle before I released a bigeye kingfish. It was a bit quite with the cuda, so I gave the spinning rod to Sakkie and took over as skipper to hopefully find a lost cuda. Sakkie changed the spoon for a popper and went straight on with a torpedo scad. I made a turn and lined up the marks. As we reached the end of the wreck, the bonito on surface was eaten and the reel screamed off. Etts took the rod while Sakkie and I cleared the other lines. The fish fought deep and made big circles under the boat. After 20 minutes, we saw the fish for the first time. It was a nice cude but it was foul hooked in the flank. For the next 10 minutes, we had it within 5m but could not get a gaff into it. In this time, the heavens opened and rain poured down on Sakkie and Etts. Finally the fish came within range and Sakkie lifted it into the boat. We all estimated it at 18kg ... not bad.

The lines went back in and I trolled back up the wreck. As we neared the buoy, Etts put the popper in and was rewarded with an awesome surface chase and solid take. He brought in another bigeye which he released. As the baits passed the buoy, the wala-wala was eaten and the reel smoked off. I picked up the rod to pass it to Etts or Sakkie, but they said I should take it. Oh alright! The fish made a few runs and within 10 minutes came to the boat where Etts gaffed it. We guessed it at 22kg or so. Again the lines went out and we trolled past the buoy. Every cast with the popper resulted in a chase/strike. It was awesome fun. The sea picked up a bit and we got a good wave over the nose, drenching us all. With the wind blowing on out wet clothes, we decided to call it a day and upped lines. We happened to be next to the buoy so I put in a cast and has about 10 kingies chase the popper to the boat before one took it. Magic! We caught a few more kings before heading home. We were back in the harbour at 4:30pm.

When we off loaded the fish, we noticed that the fish were exceptionally fat. Etts took out the hand scale and weighed the smaller fish. It was 22kg! We then weighed the bigger one which bottomed out the 25kg scale ... we were intrigued and wanted an accurate weight. After weighing them on the club scale, they were 22,1kg and 26,5kg!!! Two really good fish.