Father and sons

On 28^th December 2011, Frans and his two sons, Hein and Ettienne, joined Phillip and I on “Stephe”. Hein had never caught a marlin and we were hoping that today would be his lucky day. We put to sea at about 6am and headed south. In 50m we started putting out the spread when “Proximo” called us to say they just had a marlin strike in 100m, just ahead of us. Phillip headed in that direction while Frans and I set the lines. We had 3 lines out when Frans shouted that there was a fish in the spread. Seconds later the left long popped and the reel ran. The fish was on for a few seconds then pulled hook... We quickly reset the spread and made a turn. As we straightened out, the right long came down and we were hooked up! Hein took to the chair and we cleared lines in a hurry. I transferred the rod and clipped him into the harness. In the meantime, the fish was jumping a fair distance away. Once everything was settled, Hein worked the fish to the boat like a pro. I took the leader and then tagged a nice striped marlin. Way to go! Well done! After a few quick photos, it was turned loose... not bad for 6:45am!

Frans and I set the spread and Phillip worked the area. Not long after, we had another fish come up and swat the left long but did not connect. Slowly we worked south to Diepgat and at 8:45am, on our second turn, the left short popped and the reel took off. We cleared the lines and Ettienne took the strike. The fish had only jumped once so we did not get a good look at it. 15mins later I took hold of the leader on a +-80kg Blue Marlin. After a few photos, we tagged and released the healthy fish.

The lures were back in the water in a flash and as the last drag was set, I saw a fish on the right short. It missed the lure the first time then connected on the second attempt. It ripped off a lot of line and made a commotion on the surface in the distance. While we cleared the deck, Frans took to the chair. The fish went deep and gave Frans a good workout before I took the leader. The fish angled to the surface and when it came into view, we were surprised by the sight of a +- 100kg mako shark... Not what we were expecting. After a few tense moments on the leader, we managed to get the hooks out of the spinning fish and set it free without damage to fish or crew.

Again the lines went out and Phillip worked the area. At 11am, we were busy watching a boat in front of hookup to a marlin when our right long rigger popped and the reel smoked off! While clearing the lines, the fish greyhounded out the back in spectacular fashion. Once settled, Frans took the rod and slowly but surely brought the fish closer. I took the leader and brought the fish closer. It was a good Blue Marlin of around 130 to 150kg. The hooks were only just wrapped around the bill and came off very easily resulting in the fish swimming away strongly... unreal! Father and both sons had each released a marlin before midday!

Needless to say, the lined went back in quickly but the weather turned for the worse and so we headed back to the beach by 1:30pm. Thanks to Phillip, Frans and the boys for a great few days at Sodwana. It will be one to remember.

Black Magic

On 26^th December 2011, Phillip, Corrie and Llewellyn (from Sea Queen fame) and I boarded Lappies Labuschagne’s “Black Magic” and put to sea off Sodwana. The water was an off blue and there was little current. The wind was a light NE.

We put out a spread of lures and Lappies trolled south towards Diep Gat. The morning was uneventful in fishing terms, but with Oom Llewellyn’s quirky sense of humour and classic jokes, we enjoyed every minute of the day. After several hours we only had a few half hearted chases from dorado. Several boats had reported hook-ups in the 600-700m depth and so we focussed our attention on this depth.

At about 1pm, the left long rigger came down and a very small fish thrashed on the surface. We could not decide what the fish was but treated it as s billfish. Corrie took the strike and very quickly had the fish near the boat. The identification varied from spearfish to stripey to baby blue marlin. Only when Phillip took the trace, did we positively id the fish as a very small blue marlin. Because it was still full of energy, it gave us a good run around at the boat and after several spectacular jumps, the fish was tagged and released ... all captured on my GoPro camera.

That was the last of the action we had for the day and headed back to the beach. Thanks to Lappies and crew for a great day.