On Saturday 9th
February at 5am, Mike and Dale Leenstra and I launched “Beluga” out of Richards
Bay. We were competing in the 2013 Heavy Tackle Billfish Inter Provincials. We
headed North and put lines in at 100m. At 200m, we were greeted by large shoals
of bait with birds working them. On our first pass, the rigger popped but the
reel stood silent. The tip did have a slight bend in it. Dale pulled the lure
in to check it and found it to be a baby yellowfin tuna of about 2kg... The
live bait tube failed and so we released it in favour of pulling lures for
blues and stripeys. At 8:30, in 250m the left long popped and the reel took
off. As we were clearing the lines, there was a splash out the back but then
nothing! The hooks had pulled... On closer inspection we found the telltale
signs of a billfish on the leader. It was 10:1 a stripey that managed to get
the hook over its bill, but not in its mouth. Lines went back in and we worked
the area. The day passed by quickly and by 2pm, there had been no more action
so we upped lines for the day. The tally of releases was a dismal 1 blue marlin
between the 8 boats.
On Sunday 10th, the
wind was blowing 15kts at 5am. The weather committee made a call to allow the
boats to sea and by 6:30 everyone was fishing. The sea was bumpy, but fishable.
We worked the same area as the previous day and managed to get a nice wahoo
within the first hour of fishing. We were hopeful that there would be some good
fish on the cards for the day. After trolling for several hours, it became
apparent that there were very few fish around and but the end of the day, there
was again only a single release of a black marlin. Not exactly fireworks.
On Monday the 11th,
the last day of fishing, all boats put to sea but the water conditions had
deteriorated and the cold green water was out past 400m. We worked the colour
line and the deep, but saw nothing. As the day wore on, anticipation changed to
hope and hope changed to desperation... and finally despair. Finally, at 11am we had a pull on the left
long but it turned out to be a yellowfin tuna of about 10kg. By 13:00, the wind
had picked up to over 20kts and the call was made to call off the final day.
There were unfortunately no fish caught by any of the boats.
Thanks to Mike and Dale for a
good few days on the water. Hopefully next time there will be a few more fish
around.
