At 17:00 on Friday the 24th August, Jannie Jacobs, Pieter, Wally and I launched “Ohana” off Richards Bay to do some night fishing for daga salmon. There had been some nice fish coming out the last while and the good weather forecast resulted in about 15 boats putting to sea with the same idea.
This was the first time we had launched for daga and were not sure where the fish had been eating. When the salmon are around, it seems to be a state secret for some or other reason. We arrived at the pipeline and anchored over some good structure and bait showings. A few drops with the sabiki rigs saw the live well full of shad and maasbanker, even a nice rockcod. I had an 8kg rod rigged up so I pinned a maasie and sent it down. The sun went down and at just after 6:30, I felt a bump on the livie. After feeding it for a bit, I tightened up and went solid onto a strong fish. During the fight, there were a few big head nods and occasional short run. I had a ball with the fish and after 15 minutes or so, a nice kob of just over 16kg popped up alongside the boat. Jannie gaffed it and put it in the hatch. Not a bad start!
There was a major scramble on the deck as the crew made up traces and rigged baits. Finally, when the dust settled, we had 4 baits down. There were a few minor adjustments needed to prevent tangles, but finally we were all fishing. At one stage, my bait revved a bit, but then relaxed. Soon after, Wally’s rod tip bumped and keeled over with a heavy fish. I upped my line to get out his way and noticed my bait was dead and had several small puncture holes in it ... obvious daga marks. Wally meanwhile fought his fish to the surface but after an unexpected run, the trace parted. Unlucky.
New baits were rigged and lowered. Things went exceptionally quiet and at about 10pm, some of the other boats anchored shallower than us reported a few fish coming out. I put on the sounder to check if we were still on the structure. There was one nice showing of a bigger fish so I put the sounder off again. Not 30 seconds later, my bait revved and the rod bumped. I fed then tightened up. The fish nodded twice then made a 20m run before coming up a bit, followed by a few more nods. At one point, there was a bit of a stalemate and I put a bit more pressure on. This was met by a big head nod followed by a loud crack as the line parted near the reel. I could have kicked myself! I made up another rig and sent another bait down. After about twenty minutes, I felt a strange bump. I checked the bait and again the small bite marks were there. The fish were eating very shy. I put a new bait down and as it hit the bottom, the bait revved wildly. Before I could say anything, the rod bumped. I fed a meter or so then gingerly tightened up. Solid! Again the fish made a few short runs, one of which was around the anchor line. I could feel the line rubbing so I released the pressure. Luckily, the fish swam clear and I could lift it away from the rope. After 15 mins or so, I had a 17kg daga on the surface. I wanted to tag it but the crew asked if they could keep it so I obliged.
This was the last of the action we had for the rest of the night so we returned to port. There were a few really nice fish on the other boats with the biggest being 35kg.
