On Sunday 6th January
2013 at 4:30am, Mike and Dale Leenstra and I launched “Beluga” off Richards
Bay. There was already a moderate north wind blowing and it was forecast to
increase to 25knots.
We headed up far north to Dawsons
and in 100m we put the marlin lures out. By 8am we had found some activity in
the form of birds and flying fish. There was a good colour line that formed up
north and ran from shallow to deep. We worked along this line and in 600m were
rewarded with a nice dorado that came in on the left long but faded off to the
shotgun and ate the smaller lure. It was no match for the heavy gear and
quickly found its way into the hatch. Dale and I were resetting the spread and
had one last rod to go when Mike and I saw a marlin come up on the left short
and crash the “Ruckus”. With the fish taking line, we made short work of
clearing the deck. Mike told me to take the strike and after some deliberation,
I was in the chair and clipped in. The fish was relatively calm up until that
point, but that quickly changed as it took off greyhounding, dumping a good
350m of line and making the reel hot to touch! I was well into the backing when
it finally slowed down and Mike followed it to allow me to gain line. I fought
the fish for about 25minutes before Dale took the leader and brought a nice
120kg Black Marlin to boat side. We removed the hooks and revived the fish a
bit before turning it loose. Great stuff!
The sea was getting rougher and
the wind was doing an easy 20 knots by this stage. Mike tacked back in the
trough slowly working south. We worked the 200 to 300m depth and after about an
hour, a small stripey came in and whacked the right long out the clip. It then
faded off to the shotgun, but came in and totally missed the lure before fading
off. Another boat in the area had seen 2 stripeys but did not hookup so we
focussed our efforts in this depth. At about 11:30 there was a bump on the left
long and when we looked back, there was a big splash and swirl. The fish missed
the lure and faded off to the shotgun where it made a half hearted attempt at
it and disappeared.
By now the wind was doing 25knots
and the sea was big. The lures were being blown around and so we decided to
slowly head back. Again at 250m I saw a fin behind the right short. This was a
big “Tube” lure on the 130Lbs tackle. I ran back to the rod and teased the fish
a bit. We were rewarded with a good size blue coming up and grabbing the lure. While
we cleared the lines, the reel ran for a good 40m but then stopped as the hooks
pulled and the fish disappeared.
That was all the action we had
for the day and we were back in the harbour at 13:30. In all it had been a
great day. Thanks to Mike and Dale for giving me the strike, I really
appreciate it.
