At 1pm on the Friday 27th September, Danie Schoeman Jnr and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. The forecast predicted that the SW wind was going to come through in the evening and that the weekend would be a blow out. It looked like this would be our only chance to get onto the water. I had just arrived that morning from a trip to Canada, but knew that the fish would be feeding before the front, so put the jetlag on hold to get into the action.
We stopped at the pipeline where Danie pulled up string after sting of maasbankers. I, as well as other anglers from the area, don’t rate maasbankers as a good bait for Garrick and would much rather use a shad or pinky. However, after half an hour of catching only maasbankers, we had no option but to use them. With a dozen or so maasies in the livewell, we headed for the south pier.
As we slowed down, Danie and I each started letting out a line. I asked Danie to check the drag on the spinning reel he was using as I was not sure if it was set correctly. As he flipped the bail over, the rod bent over and the reel ran... he was on! I cleared the line I was setting and readied the tagkit. Danie fought a shoal Garrick to the boat where I tailed it, measured (770mm FL) and tagged it before turning it loose. What a start.
We set the 3 lines again and worked the area. Just before turning back, the close rod tip revved followed by a nice Garrick boiling on the surface. The line ran off the reel, but for some or other reason, the fish spat the bait. I turned back to the area and the far line went off. While feeding it, the reel stopped and the fish disappeared without hooking up. Our stats were not looking good but at least we had confidence in the maasbankers!
With the lines out again, I trolled around the point. It did not take long for the next reel to go. This time it was the long bait. I hooked up and made short work of another small Garrick which was tagged and released (900mm FL). We had drifted a fair distance so we ran back to the point and reset. Danie was busy with setting his line when I saw the deep bait rev followed by a strike. I fed some line then hooked up. This fish ripped off a fair bit of line then came in easily. It gave Danie a hard time on the leader but eventually made it onto the deck for its tag and release (920mm FL). Life was good...
I took us back to the point while Danie got the gear ready. As I slowed down 3 lines went out. I had gone about 50m when the long bait went away. I passed the rod to Danie who hooked up to another shoal size Garrick which was also fitted with a tag (870mm FL). By now, had the process licked. I would ride up to just short of the mark, Danie would put out the 2 surface lines while drove and put out the short deep line. By the time the lines were set, the fish would mark on the sounder and the strike was imminent. This time it was the short deep line that went away. I fed it a bit but when I tightened up, there was just slack line. I wound like hell and the line cut through the water towards the boat. When the line was straight up and down, it came tight and the fish took off. This fish gave me a bit more of a fight and when it showed, we could see why. It was a nice fish of over 12kg (1080mm FL) which was also fitted with a tag and sent on its way.
The light was fading so we made one more turn. Like clockwork, just as the showings came through, the deep line revved followed by a strike. I passed the rod to Danie who hooked up. This fish also took quite a bit of line so I followed after it to save some time. This fish did not want to come close but after some heavy drag, we changed its mind. While it was turning next to the boat, there was a second one with it but despite presenting a bait, it never ate. This fish was just hooked in the lip with the single hook, so I was soft on the leader but finally boated it. We were both surprised by the size of it but decided to release it anyway. We estimated it around 15kg (1100mm FL).
The wind had dropped, the sun had set and our time was up so we headed back after having a really great afternoon.
