Gone with the wind

At 6am on Tuesday 1 May, Carl and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. There was a 20 knot SW wind predicted to come through at 11am so we wanted to get a shot in before the wind came up. The first stop was on the pipeline where we made 2 drops and had 2 full strings of maasbankers. Livebait was sorted in 5 mins! Next stop small highpoint...

We arrived on the pinnacle and set a spread of small bait lures. The first pass over the pinnacle almost always indicates if there is anything in the area and when we had nothing on the first turn, we knew we were going to battle. After half an hour, I found a showing near the surface and 2 rods went on. Carl released a big kawa-kawa and I caught a small frigate tuna. A while later we had a triple on frigates but only got 2 of the 3. I made 1 last turn and was rewarded with a small yellowfin which was bled and put on ice for later. We upped lines and ran to Petingo to fish for cuda before the wind came up.

On arrival, the conditions were perfect. North to south current, clean green water and no other boats in sight! What more could you ask for?! BUT, what was in sight was strange mist on the southern horizon. It looked ominous... the SW was obviously early and we were running out of time. I quickly rigged the baits and set the spread. The last line was being set and Carl was busy turning back to the wreck when the surface live bait was eaten. Due to the turn, there was a lot of slack in the line and not enough tension to set the hooks. The reel ran for a second when the hooks pulled... damn! I replaced the bait and commenced the trolling pattern. The sea was like glass but in the distance, the cigar shaped cloud was fast approaching and a fine ripple was heading our way. As the “nervous” water reached us, the SW started to blow ... within minutes, the sky went from sunny to overcast and misty. The wind strength intensified and was soon blowing 18-20 knots. We made a few more turns but when the spray from the white horses looked like spindrift, we packed up and headed home. I am positive that if the wind had come through a bit later, as predicted, there would have been a few fish. Oh well, that’s fishing for you... at least we had some sushi J