Beast of the Bay

On Saturday 7^th September 2013, Dean, Andrew and I launched “ABF” out of Richards Bay. We were looking to catch a Garrick for Andrew as he had never caught one before. We set off at 6am heading to the pipeline to get livebait. On the way out, we saw that the water in the bay and out at sea was dirty, the worst that I had seen in a long time. There was also a really big swell that made things worse.

On arrival at the pipe, we set up 2 bait rigs and baited up with sardine before sending them down on a small showing. There was absolutely nothing! I sounded around looking for some signs of bait but no luck. The other boats there also had nothing so they moved off to look elsewhere. Knowing that if you don’t have live bait, you were dead in the water, I persisted. After an hour of trying all my marks, I had one last one to try. As I sounded towards it, I found a good showing and as the guys went down, they went tight on bait. They lifted 2 mixed strings of shad and big maasbankers. I made another drift and the same result. I called the other 2 boats to the spot before moving off back to the harbour.

I stopped on the point of the south pier, but the water was absolutely filthy. It was so bad that I suggested we move to another spot. Inside the bay, the water was marginally better, but the visibility was still less than a meter. I spoke to a few other guys in the bay and they were all struggling for bait. None had a strike yet. Not having many options, we rigged up a few live baits and slow trolled along the dropoff of the shipping channel. By 10am I was out of ideas so I suggested we go to the club and buy some takeaways and some refreshments then head back into the harbour to wait out the day. By 10:45 we were back fishing. The NE wind had started picking up, so I anchored up on the Port side of the channel in the lee of the casurinas. This was the only area with clean water so I was feeling a bit more confident. We were sitting on the dropoff in 13m of water with 2 baits out the back on balloons in the deep water and 2 flatlines on sinkers straight down. It did not take long before the far balloon broke off and the reel gave a short burst. On the surface there was a small splash followed by a small shark breaking surface with the shad in its mouth. After getting rid of it, I reset another bait. We had just cracked open a beverage when there was a big swirl and commotion out the back. The far shad jumped out of the water a few times with something on its tail. The balloon broke free as I saw a nice Garrick break surface. I was expecting the reel to run, but nothing. I waited a while before checking the bait, which was still alive and well. Oh well, I guess it was just its lucky day... not ours.

The wind was picking up quickly and with it the waves in the bay. This 20kt wind was causing havoc for me as every few minutes, the balloons would trip the links to the line. I tried everything from inflating them less to adding water to them. I was at the point of using a stronger trip, but that would hinder the strike. Needless to say, I was frustrated. To top it off, while this was going on, a small shark ate one of the deep baits resulting in a good tangle. It was time to regroup... so I sat back and had a cold one. With a new found energy, I reset all the lines and managed to get everything right.

At about 13:00, I saw one of the deep baits rev. I walked closer, just incase. Moments later the reel took off like a cuda. I fed the fish for about 15 seconds then tightened up. The rod keeled over and the reel continued running as if it were still in freespool! I handed to rod to Andrew, hoping it was a nice Garrick. Dean and I cleared the other lines and lifted the anchor. By then, the fish had taken close on 200m off the reel heading straight into the channel. When the run stopped, Andrew slowly but surely gained line. After 20 minutes, the fish was straight up and down.

We were all guessing what it was. It ranged from a zambizi shark to a honeycomb or diamond skate. The fish took us into the dirty water and visibility went down to about 2m. When the fish was quite close, I saw a glimpse of a white shape in the murky water. It did not go white to brown like a skate would, and a shark would not come up belly first... On the next turn, I confirmed that it was not any of the above but that it could be a big salmon as the length and shape was about right. Finally, the leader cleared the water and we could not believe our eyes... it was a beast of a kingfish! It made one more turn before it came within range of the gaff. I lifted it into the boat and was shocked at the size of it. We snapped off a few pics before heading back to the club.

A crowd had gathered around us when we off loaded and everyone was anxious to know the weight. It eventually pulled the scale to 28kg! A real beast for the bay. This was one of Andrew’s bucket list fish which he had tried to catch for many years. Well done Andrew.