Dorado Lockjaw

On Saturday 26th November 2011, Brent and Richardo (7 years old) Goncalves and I launched Brents “Majazane” off Sodwana. We had been there for the week for the Billfish Nationals, but bad weather had blown us off the water for all but 1 day. We decided to stay for the weekend and make the most of it. This was the first day we had seen the sun in a week!

We headed north, pulling a few high speed lures. Apart from one wahoo that chased the lure, clearing the water a few times but missing the lure, there was no action. Bret suggested we move to Diepgat where they had previously fished successfully. After a quick run, the drift baits went out. About 10 minutes later, the redeye on the surface went away with a nice dorado. It gave Brent a good go on 6kg line before I gaffed the fish. Nice! A few minutes later, 2 other dorado cruised into range around the boat, but despite all out efforts, they would not eat. I assume it was the cold water (21 degrees). The baits went out again several minutes later the other surface bait was taken by another dorado. Again, Brent had fun on 6kg and tussled for about 20mins before I could gaff. We were at the end of the drift and upped lines. Richardo was not feeling well, so we decided to troll high speed lures to the point and drop him off. About half way back, the close lure was eaten and a nice dorado took to the air. While Brent fought the fish, I tried to get the 2 followers to eat. Brent put the rod with the hooked dorado in the holder and joined in to get a second. These other fish also had lockjaw and lost interest after a few minutes. Brent brought the hooked fish to the boat and before I could gaff it, it ducked under the boat and broke off... that’s what happens when you are greedy I guess.

After dropping Richardo off, we headed to a shallow reef off the point where we caught a small kaakap (green jobfish). That was the last action that we had for the day. Thanks to Brent and Richardo for a great day on the water.