Joint effort

On Saturday 13^th September, Tammy, Tjokkie  and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. There was a small weather window in the morning before the NE was supposed to pick up so we were keen to try for Tammy’s first garrick… and we were using 3kg line to do it.

At 6am we left the harbour and stopped at the pipe. Tammy and Tjokkie went down with jigs and a small bottom rig hoping for some shad. The first few downs produced a mix of pinkys, maasbanker and mackerel. Finally we managed 2 shad on one string but as they came to the surface, the rest of the shoal followed them up. Tjokkie went down and got a full string. This went on for 2 drifts before we had more than enough bait for the day.

We headed for the south pier, but the water was brown so I ran further south into the backline where the water was a bit cleaner. We rigged up 2 shad on light 3kg spinning rigs and trolled north into the wind. After an hour, the water at the point of the pier started to improve with the outgoing tide so we opted to troll through the dirty water to get there. I happened to be looking back at the lines when there was a big boil as a Garrick chased one of the baits, in the brown water. Tammy fed the fish for a while but when we tightened up, it spat the bait. Talk about unlucky. I made a turn in the same area but had no pulls so continued to the point.

Tammy and I both fighting the same Garrick on 3kg line

The water was much better, but by 10am, we had still had no more action. Plan B was not working, so plan C came into play and we ran north, into the wind, to 5 mile. The water there was like mud and so plan D took action. We entered the bay and slow trolled along the channel dropoff working into the harbour. The wind was not pumping and we had little time left. I turned around and trolled into the wind and white horses not expecting anything to happen.

Tammy releasing a 10,5kg garrick

As we trolled over a nice bait showing, the deep rod went away. Tammy fed the fish while I cleared the far surface line. As my shad neared the boat, a Garrick came flying in from behind and chased the bait. I tried to keep it away from it, but my fisherman instinct kicked in and I opened the bail of the reel to let the Garrick eat… I mean, how bad could a double hookup really be? Both Tammy and I tightened up and went on. There was a big commotion as the Garrick shook its head on the surface. The 2 lines crossed over and we tried to untangle them before burning off, but no matter what we tied they stayed twisted. Only then did it dawn on me what was happening... we were hooked up to the same fish! From then on we had to work together to pull the fish. After 20 minutes, Tjokkie took both leaders, grabbed the fish by the tail and lifted it into the boat. The hooks were removed and a tag was inserted. I took a quick weight on a hand scale before releasing a healthy 10,5kg fish.

The wind was blowing 25 knots by then, so we headed back to the club. It took a long time and perseverance to get that fish, but it was worth it.