Thats a Wrap!

On 27^th December 2012 at 5:30am, Wayne, Hugo, David and I launched “Galavant” off Richards Bay. We were looking for marlin which seemed to be quite abundant. Wayne headed out to the 100m mark where I set 3 lures and 2 halfbeaks. There were a lot of boats fishing for marlin as the weather conditions were perfect. With all these boats looking for marlin, a trend could be seen and 400m seemed to be the place to be. Wayne worked the 300-500m depth concentrating on the plankton line that formed in the area.

By 11am, several boats had reported released fish and others were fighting. Our turn had to be close. At 11:30, as we moved out the plankton, a really nice blue marlin of around 200kg launched itself out the water and piled on the left long. The rigger popped and 80 Tiagra smoked off. As lines were being cleared, the fish went ballistic on surface taking a lot of line. Hugo strapped into the Black Magic harness and Wayne backed up to recover line. About 100m out the back, the marlin made a few more jumps but something was wrong... it looked tailwrapped. The line angle went down and down as we backed up, trying to put as much line on the reel before the fish went down. By the time the line angle was straight up and down, the drag was already on 14kg. The tempo of the fight slowed and line left the reel at a slow but constant pace. We upped the drag to just under full and but it was too late. The fish had died and sank to the bottom in 350m and only swell pulling line off. With the drag at sunset we turned with what little current there was to try gain momentum and lift the fish. The wind had picked up since we hooked up and was now pushing the boat forward quickly causing us to lose line. Knowing the wind was going to get worse and with it our chances of lifting the fish, I donned a pair of gloves and assisted the line out the water as Hugo wound onto the reel. Wayne did a great job to kept the boat steady in the swell and wind and after 20 minutes, we managed to lift the fish about 70m. It seemed as if the fish was slowly coming up when all of a sudden, under little pressure, the line parted near the fish and Hugo was left to retrieve about 200m of slack line. After working hard for this fish, our efforts went unrewarded... but hey, that’s marlin fishing for you... It was not the first marlin we had lost and it is definitely not the last one we are going to lose. Let’s hope the next fight goes according to plan.

Christmas Garrick

On Christmas afternoon, Carl and I decided to make a final launch out of Buffalo Bay on “ABF”. Over the past few days, we had tried a few spots to get our heads around the area. On these scouting trips, we found a few spots where the maasbankers were shoaling. We also saw a trend with water colour and wind direction which helped us with our daily gameplan.

 

In this day, the Westerly wind had blown a bit and at 3pm, we put to sea. After catching a livewell full of bait, we headed to the blinders between Brenton and the  Western Head. Carl and I were keen to try catch a Garrick, but we were not sure if we were in the correct season, place or using the preferred bait for the area. It seems the locals guard these secrets and leave the newcomers to figure it out themselves. Not to be put off by a challenge, I rigged up our standard Garrick setup, 2 surface baits and 1 deep. Carl slowly trolled between the blinders in the white water while I put out the lines. I was busy with the last line when the far surface bait was eaten. I fed the fish for a while and then tightened up... hookup! There were a few good head nods as it took some line on the surface. I told Carl that it was probably a hammerhead as we had caught several in the previous trips. I slowly brought the fish closer, expecting to be bitten off any moment. It was then that the line angled to the surface and the fish shook its head on the top. Carl and I looked at each other with the same expression. We both knew what specie fought like that... it was a Garrick! Taking it easy, I pampered the fish to the boat where Carl grabbed it by the tail and lifted it into the boat. I don’t think I have ever been so glad to catch a Garrick. The fish measured 82cm fork length and was about 6kg. Not a bad Christmas present.