The Show Must Go On

On Saturday 29^th June, Jannie Jacobs, his wife Mia and son TJ, Francé and I launched “Ohana” off Richards Bay. Our club was hosting a Ladies and Junior Competition so Jannie asked me to be deckhand on Saturday while he skipped. The competition was supposed to be a “Ladies and Junior Interclub”, but unfortunately, after the invites had been sent out to all the clubs in South Africa, we only had 1 team from PE send a team. Disappointing to say the least. As the saying goes, the show must go on and the RBSBC changed the format to a social comp and invited all members to enter. There was an overwhelming response for such short notice and 12 teams ended up fishing! Great to see the enthusiasm and support from local members.

The format of the comp was 1 point per kg and the minimum weight of 1kg. No IGFA rules and no line class. It was as relaxed as a comp could be. The weather favourable on day one and all the boats launched by first light. We headed for the pipeline and collected some live bait before heading to the ledge. The sea was a bit bumpy, but was predicted to settle. I put out 4 small halcos and an Ilander saillure, just incase there was a sailfish lurking. Jannie trolled over the ledge and as the reef started, one of the reels went off. I passed the rod to Francé who brought in a small yellowfin tuna... first points on the board. Without wasting time, the lines went out again. There were a lot of albatross around and we snagged one on the surface lure. Jannie trolled over a midwater showing and it was no surprise when 4 reels went away. Mia, TJ and Francé all fought fish while I cleared the dead line. Unfortunately the one fish pulled the hook but Mia and Francé each landed the shoalie yellowfins. TJ’s fish was converted to a shark which bit through the nylon leader after a while. We continued trolling and went away with a good fish on the surface lure. It took a lot of line and we had to turn after it to slow the run. While I was clearing the deck, the hook pulled... unlucky. A short while later, Francé caught another small yellowfin.

By now we were pretty confident that we had a good position on the leader board and decided to fish for a cuda. I rigged up 2 dead baits and 3 livies. Jannie slow-trolled across the ledge and it was not long before a reel went off. Due to a bout of seasickness, most of our crew were out of action so Francé took the strike. She fought it well but when it was near the boat, it made a fast run followed by a slow, constant pull heading to sea... another conversion. The baits went out again and two more sharks and an albatross later, we were near the end of the ledge. As we were deciding to try another spot, the downrigger rod went away. Again Francé took the strike and brought an 8kg cuda to the boat. That was our last strike for the day and we were back in the harbour by 3pm.

On Sunday, I fished on “ABF” with Martinus Mathee. We tried to get a Garrick, but they were not having any of it. Apart from a small snoek, our day was quiet.

All the competition boats launched in perfect conditions. After a long day, there were a lot of small yellowfin and the odd snoek and cuda weighed. Francé took the top individual, TJ ended 7^th and Mia 9^th due to a few more yellowfins on the ledge.

Congrats to the committee for hosting a really great social event that included the whole family. I hope that this can be an annual event, with more interest from other clubs.

First Snoek of the Season

On Sunday 23^rd June, Mike and Dale Leenstra and I launched “Beluga” off Richards Bay. We were just going for a relaxed social outing and had no plans of really fishing too hard. Mike also wanted to test his new GPS / echo sounder.

The sea was calm and a nice clean green colour. We stopped at the pipeline, but after almost an hour, we had not caught a single live bait. This often happens after a SW buster comes through. We decided not to flog a dead horse, so we headed for 5 Mile. There had been a few Snoek (Queen Mackerel) caught there the previous day, so it seemed like the logical place to start. Dale and I put out a few baits and Mike trolled along the colourline looking to find a fish. It was not long before the surface bait went away with a small fish. After much deliberation, I took the rod and winched in a small snoek ... my first for the season. The baits went in again and the search continued. After about an hour, we were quite far north and turned back to work the shallow ledge. Dale and I were playing around with the GPS when a nice midwater showing came through. We were still joking about it being a shoal of snoek when one of the reels went off. Mike took the strike and landed a nice 4kg fish. While Dale and Mike rigged and set the lines, I turned back towards the waypoint. The showing had gone, so I tacked north for a few hundred meters. By luck, we drove over the showing again and the deep bait went on. Mike was next to the rod, so he  brought in a really nice fish, the biggest of the day so far... around 6kg. I was busy turning when the other deep bait had a pull. Unfortunately it missed the hooks. The baits were rerigged and I trolled the area without another pull. I started trolling north as it seemed like thats the way the shoal had been moving. About 20minutes  later, the deep bait went away with a small fish which Dale brought in. We were keen to release it, but unfortunately it was in the gills so we kept it.

 

Things went a bit quiet for a while and we were contemplating returning to port. At one stage, Edmund Johnstone came past us and went on with a fish. He had been trolling lures and had had a few strikes already. That was enough to convince us to change rigs. Dale and Mike set the lines and I tacked back over the area we had found a few fish earlier. It was not long before we had a pull. Dale took the strike and when I slacked the speed, another rod went away. Dale got a small snoek to the boat where we released it. Mine was in the gills and bleeding badly so it went into the hatch. I made another turn and this time the japan rod went away. Mike took it and got another nice size fish to the boat.

 

It was 11am, so we decided to troll back home. We had gone about a kilometre when we spotted a shoal of halfbeaks leaping out of the water toward us. We all agreed that there must be something chasing them and when our lines came into the area, a reel went off. Dale passed me the rod. It was hardly fighting, so we assumed it was small and would release it. When it came to the boat, it turned out to be one of the biggest fish of the day, so it ended up in the hatch.

 

We trolled right into the harbour without another pull. It was a really enjoyable day and the fact that we had a few fish was a bonus. Mike and my fish weighed in at 6.3kg and 6.4kg respectively.