The curse is lifted

At 5:45 on Saturday 8^th February, Tjokkie and I launched “ABF” at Cape Vidal. We were there for the weekend and were hoping to just have a bit of fun with the gamefish on lighter tackle than we use at Richards Bay. The reports from the previous week were not good and all the boats were struggling for fish. There was however a lot of livebait around…

Our first stop was just off the launch to look for bait. I was expecting full strings on the first drop, but there was nothing! There were 7 of 8 boats around but everyone was struggling. After an hour of struggling, I went over a current line with nervous ripples on the surface. There was a showing halfway down and as the jigs went through them, we were on. There were a few decent size baits, but most a bit small… but beggars can’t be choosers. With a few baits in the well, I headed off to Oscar.

There was no current, 27.3 degree water and purple water. I was keen to get a feel of the area so that I knew where to focus my efforts so I bombed out a few halcos/rapalas and a surface lure and started trolling over the marks. I had also promised the ground crew sushi that afternoon, so I was hoping to get a yellowfin. There was not a lot of activity on the shallow marks, but when I went over the deep mark, the sounder went crazy with good showings. They started 10m off the ground and went up for 10-15m. this was obviously the place! As we passed over the showing, one of the halcos smoked off. I cleared the other lines while Tjoks fought the fish. It seemed just too easy, but then the fish sounded and the fight changed… The drag went up and up but we could not budge it. I looked on the gps and we were going circles over the same spot. Tjoks, suffering from a bout of nausea, passed me the rod to see what I could do. Immediately I could feel the line in the rocks and realised that it was probably a potatoe bass that ate the tuna when it sounded. Not wanting to waste any more time, I parted off. Knowing where to fish, I rigged up 4 bait sticks. Still hoping for a yft, I hooked a livie onto a single hook directly to flouro carbon leader and let it out. I was busy freespooling when the reel took off in my hand. I gave it 5 seconds then tightened up… vas. The fish did not seem too heavy so I put some pressure on it to get it in and start fishing, but as the fish sounded, there was a big nod and the fight changed to a slow give and take. I upped the drag to full and held on, slowly gaining line. I peered over the side and in the depths saw a big grey shape of a potatoe bass. I gained about 10m  more, then the fish headed back down. I put the brakes on and finally it chafed through the flouro.

Finally I managed to put out 4 baits and get a trolling pattern going. I was just approaching the showing when both deep baits went away. Both of us pulled as hard as we could, but Tjoks lost the battle when his fish turned into a frayed leader after another potatoe bass ate his fish. I managed to get a 5kg cuda to the surface and into the hatch. Finally something to eat. The baits went out and I made a turn. As I straightened out, the surface livie on flouro went away. I hooked up and passed Tjoks the rod. This time he pulled the crap out of it and we could gaff a small yellowfin which was bled for sushi. On my next turn, I saw the deep rod bump and when I checked the bait, it had been chopped. I checked the other deep bait and the same thing had happened to it as well. There were obviously a few cuda around, but they were chowing skelm. On the next turn, I was trolling with the wind, so I pulled neutral to get the lines down. It was not long when the surface rod just bent then flicked back with slack line. The cuda had picked up the leader in its teeth in front of the wire and bitten off… it seemed that I just had no luck today.

At long last!

Tjoks was feeling really bad, so I decided on one last turn, then I would take him back. I checked the deep bait before the last approach and it was fine so I let it down again. I turned to go to the controls when that rod bent over. The fish took some line but not like a cuda. Thinking it might be a kaakap or some or other bottom fish, I pushed the drag past the button and pulled the $#!% out of it. The line angled to the surface the sinker came up. I broke off the elastic and kept pulling, expecting to see a bottomfish pop. When the fish surfaced 20m from us, I saw a brown shape. First I thought it was an amber that had come up, but I looked closer and saw big pec fins and the white lines on the side… it was a prodigal son! I was so nervous that I could hardly think. This fish had eluded for so many years, and here I was with one on the line. I pampered it closer but something caught my eye to the right. It was a massive tiger shark! At that point, all subtleties went out the window and I pushed the drag right up. The fish came straight to the boat where Tjoks gaffed the 12kg fish. As it started twisting, we ripped it onto the boat. FINALLY!!! The curse was lifted. At that point, I was over the moon, so I we headed back to the beach.

Weekend fun fishing...

At 5am on Saturday 1^st Feb, Jannie Jacobs and I launched “Ohana” off Richards Bay. There had been a few cuda around so we were hoping to stock up on our fresh fillets. As per usual, we stopped at the pipe to get bait. A few maasbanker and mackerel later, we were on our way to the ledge to look for bonnies. Despite near perfect conditions, there were no bonnies to be found, so we headed to the 32m area South of Richards Bay.

Rigging a wala in a glassy sea

I rigged up 5 lines and Jannie trolled over a few of his marks. There was a slight reverse current but the water was a great colour and the temp was 25 degrees. Just on the shallow side of out marks, there was a good current rip with a few birds dipping in the white water. As we trolled closer, Jannie saw a cuda clear the water ahead of us. This was definitely a place to spend some time. As we trolled into the area, the surface rod with a dead bonnie went away. I was busy with the rod when the surface livie went away as well. Jannie took that rod while I tried to clear the other lines. I had put my rod in the holder but when I had cleared the lines and picked it up again, the fish was off. On closer inspection, the #9 piano wire had been kinked off. Meanwhile Jannie brought his fish to the boat where I gaffed a 5kg dorado. Lines went out again and before I could get the 3^rd rod out, the surface livie was on. It turned out to be a hammerhead shark.

Again lines went out but by now the current had moved quite a way off of the reef so after trolling along it for a while longer, we worked out way back to our original marks. The wind had dropped off totally and things were very quiet. There were a few boats bottomfishing ner us, so we trolled around them hoping that the movement of the bait / fish being brought up would attract some gamefish. Halfway through the turn, the surface wala-wala went away followed by the surface livie. After clearing the other lines, we fought both fish to the boat and put two 10kg cuda into the hatch, much to the disgust of the guys bottomfishing next to us. After rerigging, the lines went out and Jannie made another turn. In the about the same spot, the surface wala-wala went away. I took the strike and had another cuda in the boat, probably around 12kg. After this fish, the wind swung to the East and everything went dead. Despite trolling for another 2 hours, there was no more action so we headed back.

Cuda in ice water

On Sunday 2^nd Feb at 6:30, Wayne Ritchie and I launched “Da Boys” to look for some cuda. Again we first got some bait before heading to Petingo wreck. There was not a breath of wind but a SW wind was predicted to come through at midday picking up to 20knots. Hopefully we would have a fish by then. We arrived at the wreck and there was only 1 other boat there. The water looked good, but there were a lot of big jellyfish despite the water being a good temperature. I put out 2 wala wala, 2 livies and a bonnie and trolled around the wreck looking for the area with the most life.

After about an hour, the surface livie went away and Wayne brought in a small cuda of around 4kg. We were happy that we had broken the ice and could now relax a bit. I trolled over the same area and on the turn, Wayne said that there was a bump on the surface wala. I checked the bait and true as nuts, the wala had been chopped, missing all the hooks. This sometimes happens when you get a strike on the turn as there is not enough tension on the line to set the hooks… Oh well, that happens.

Cuda Boys

At around 11, the SW slowly picked up. I was hoping that this would switch the fish on. I had just turned to line up the wreck for another pass when the deep livebait went away. The fish shot to the surface making a bit of a commotion on the top before taking quite a bit of line. Wayne fought the fish and after a few nice runs, had a 10kg cuda in the boat. The wind speed was slowly increasing and the rain started to fall. I made another 2 turns but had no more luck, so we upped lines and returned to port with some fresh fish for supper.