On Saturday 30th March, Jannie, Wessel, Marinda, Ruan and I launched Jannie’s 21ft Yeldcat “Ohana” off Richards Bay. We were fishing in the 2013 Richards Bay Bonanza. The plan for the day was to run out into the deep water and look for tuna or marlin. The previous day several boats had reported hooking big tuna and the odd marlin, so we were keen to give it a go as Wessel had not caught a marlin yet.
We headed straight out the harbour and set lures at around 150m. After trolling out to the 1000m contour, we found large flocks of birds feeding on bait fish. After a while, a pod of dolphin joined the fray. We worked the different bait shoals and finally found one that had what we were looking for. As we approached the birds, big yellowfin tuna breached the surface, their sickle fins almost reaching their tails! We made several turns around the shoals with the long lines pulling through them, but could not get a pull. Other boats in the area were having the same problem. After a few hours, we opted to head in shallower to see if we could find more willing fish. In about 650m, there were more shoals of bait with small bonito mixed in. We had one of these small tuna grab the right long, but could not pop the rigger. All you could see was the little body flashing behind the lure. I went to retrieve it and as I took hold of the line, Jannie shouted that he had seen a fish coming in. I thought he was referring to the bonnie, but suddenly the line ripped out my hand and the reel took off! Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the hook pulled. Obviously something had eaten the bonnie off the lure while we were trying to clear the line, but missed the hooks.
The day was drawing to a close, so we trolled toward the harbour. There was a pinnacle on the 50m ledge between us and the harbour, so we decided to pull over it and then pull the lines. By now, the water was very green and all hopes of getting a fish were gone. As we came onto the ledge, all of us were looking at the sounder to see if there was a showing. Wessel turned back for a moment and then shouted “There it goes!”. I heard the rigger pop and the 80lbs reel slowly ran. I was not impressed as I thought someone was playing the fool and had hooked a bucket on the line while we were not looking. Is it was, the line surfaced and we saw a big splash. By then we realised that the strike was legit, but was probably a dorado. On the next splash, I caught a glimpse of a bill. I thought it was a sailfish as we were in 47m of green water. Wessel got into the chair with the rod while we cleared the other lines. Within 10minutes, the leader was on the rod and I brought the fish closer. I was very surprised when I saw the fish as it turned out to be a small black marlin! With the fish next to the boat, we removed the hooks and turned it loose. This was Wessel’s first marlin. What a great feeling, especially considering Wessel had fished the Bonanza for 10 years!
There was a good showing on the sounder so I put out a halco on a bait rod. Jannie turned over the pinnacle and we went away with a small yellowfin tuna, which we kept for dinner. After that, we upped lines and headed back. Thanks to Jannie for a great few days on the water.
