They always take the big ones...

On Saturday 5^th May, David, Divan and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. We were looking for cuda which were making the odd appearance. Our first stop was at the pipeline where we caught several maasbankers. Next we headed to a reef between the ships and caught a bunch of redeye sardines. With the bait stocks replenished, it was off to the 50m ledge to have some fun with the bonnies and small yellowfin. On the first pass, 4 rods went away with kawa-kawas. Unfortunately the hooks pulled on 2 and we released the other 2. On the next pass, all 5 rods went on with small yellowfin. We kept 2 for sushi and released the rest. After a few more turns, and releasing several yellowfin and kawas, we headed for Petingo.

The water was perfect. A clean green, 23.5 degrees, slight current and a slight chop. The baits went out and I trolled around the wreck. T just after 11, the big bonnie on the surface was eaten by a fish which took very slowly. We assumed it was a shark, but it turned out to be a 12kg cuda that had been foul hooked. Oh well, you sometimes you get lucky...

Trolling resumed and about 20mins later the deeper bonnie was eaten, this time by a smaller cuda of about 8kg. Divan rerigged and I made another turn over the wreck. As we came over the northern tip, Divs and I saw the surface livebait rev followed by a bending rod and screaming reel. Dave made short work of a 7kg shoaly. Things went a bit quiet and apart from one missed strike on a livebait, nothing much was happening. At about 1pm, I trolled over a really thick showing of bait and just as I was about to say we should get a strike here, the wala on the surface was eater and the reel smoked off ... a real screamer. I immediately turned towards the fish so Dave could gain line and Divs cleared the other rods. I got right on top of the fish and next thing there was very little resistance and then the head section of the cuda popped up. It had been taxed within about 2 minutes of hooking it! Not great. The fish would easily have gone 18kg but we will never know for sure.

We fished for another 2 hours without a pull then upped lines and returned to port.

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

2012 Umlalazi Couta Classic

On Saturday 28^th April, Pierre Smit, Carl Oellermann and I launched “AVANTI” out of Richards Bay. We were competing in the Umlalazi Couta Classic hosted by Umlalazi Ski Boat Club in Mtunzini. At first light, we headed out to the pipeline to look for live bait. We struggled a bit, but finally found a good shoal of maasbankers and before long, we had a hatch full of bait.

Our next stop was at Petingo wreck. The conditions looked average, but there were almost 20 boats there! I was not keen to compete with so many boats for 1 fish, so we headed deeper to the 32m mark where the water was better and there were fewer boats. I rigged a few baits including wala-wala, bonnies, live bait and a redeye and set the spread while Pierre slow trolled over the scattered reef looking for signs of life. At about 9am, the deep wala-wala was eaten and the reel took off. Carl took the strike while I cleared the deck. The cuda gave a good fight and finally came within range for me to gaff it. We were happy that we had a fish in the boat and the pressure was off. Again, the lines went out and trolling resumed. The rest of the day went by without a touch and at 14:30 we upped lines and went to weight the fish which was 16,2kg.

The next morning, we stopped at the pipeline and immediately caught several shad and maasbankers. Then it was off to Petingo where we spent a few hours trolling without any joy. At 10am we left for the 32m mark and worked the area with the same result. At noon, we had had enough of the silence so we changed tactics to pull lures on the 50m ledge. The first pass over small highpoint resulted in a big kawa-kawa which was released. The next pass gave us 3 small jube jubes which went into the bait box, followed by a yellowfin. There was a showing at 20m so we put the downrigger out with a big halco. Almost immediately the reel took off with a big kawa-kawa. This carried on for several passes until the showing disappeared. We upped lines and headed back at 13:30 feeling better about ourselves after hearing a few reels. Our cuda earned us 15^th position and a few really nice prizes. The Umlalazi Couta Classic is definitely a good comp to be part of next year.