No use flogging a dead horse...

On Saturday 1^st March, my Dad and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. We stopped the pipeline and filled the livewell with nice size maasbankers before heading to the ledge.

 

I put out 2 deep lines and 2 surface lines then tacked over the reef. There were no showings for quite some time, but as I worked north, there was a bit of a mark on the bottom. I was about to say that we should get a pull here when the deep bait went away. My Dad took the rod and after a nice tussle, had a 10kg cuda in the hatch. Not a bad start. I rerigged and made a turn over the same area. The showing had gone so I trolled further north. The water conditions were good, but there was very little life. No birds, no bonnies, no flying fish, no showings, nothing… Despite checking the baits and changing up a few things, we were not getting pulls and from what the other guys were saying, they were also battling.

 

The SW wind had picked up and we were in for a bumpy ride home. We decided to turn around and troll back over the ledge on the way home. As we finished the turn, the deep bait went away again. I was standing at the rod, so I took the strike and quickly had a 7kg cuda on ice. We trolled for another half hour and decided that it was no use flogging a dead horse, so we upped lines and ran back. Hopefully next weekend will see a nice big cuda in the hatch...

A battle of inches.

On Sunday 23^rd February at 5:30, my Dad and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. We were keen to try for some wahoo that had been on the 50m ledge the past few days. Our first stop was on the pipeline to get some bait, but they were few and far between. We tried several different spots and finally managed to get a few nice maasies and shad. Due to the extended bait catching session, it was quiet late when we arrived on the ledge. I wasted no time in putting out 4 hi speed trolling lures and worked north along the dropoff. Within a minute, the far surface lure went away. After a good tussle, I released a big skipjack tuna. Trolling commenced and 10 minutes later, 2 reels went away with small yellowfins. I pulled hook on one at the boat and bled the other and put it on ice.

At the northern end of the reef, I rigged up 4 baits and started slow trolling the drop. As I was nearing the edge, I looked back and saw the surface rod keel over and the reel absolutely smoked off. It was one of the fastest sustained runs I have seen in a while. I eased the drag a bit and as I started to turn, the rod shot back as something parted! The fish had picked up the wire between the swivel and the front of the bait ad kinked it off. Talk about bad luck. I rerigged the bait and continued trolling. As I trolled over the edge, the close surface bait smoked off. I looked back to see a nice wahoo break surface then take off. A few seconds later, the fish was off! The exact same thing had happened as the first. This was not good. While I was rerigging the trace, the deep rod went away. The line raced to the surface and a nice dorado jumped around on top. The fish was foul hooked so gave my Dad a hard time, but finally we had a fish in the boat. After setting the lines again, I made another turn over the same spot. Again the deep line rent away. I fought the fish to the boat where my Dad gaffed a 10kg cuda. There were obviously a few fish around, so I made another turn. It was like dejavu when the deep line went away again. This time my Dad got a 10kg cuda. With all the lines in, I rigged up a few fresh baits and set the lines. We tacked over the reef a few times when the surface rod bent over and the reel ran. I passed the rod to my Dad and was about to clear another line when the deep line also went away with a second fish. I fought this for a while but the surface fish was still taking line so I put my rod in the holder, cleared the remaining 2 rods and turned after my Dads fish. When I finally took up the rod again, the fish was off… Now we could focus on getting some line back. By now, there was 200m of line off the reel so I followed the fish to gain line. The line was straight up and down and on a long cuda rod, the strain took its toll on my Dad so he passed the rod over to me.

40kg YFT on 10kg line

When I took the rod, I could feel a heavy weight, but no head nods or tail beats… I was convinced it was a shark. The drag went up and up until the stood still and the fight became a battle of inches. 20 minutes later, there was a bump on the rod and the line angled to the surface. The fish came right to the top ad made a wake on the surface. It was black on top but flashed silver a few times. It was obviously not a shark. We raced towards it and halved the distance between us before it went down again. All that I could think it might be was a foul hooked manta ray as there had been one around the boat earlier. Slowly but surely I inched the fish up and eventually had it 10m away. My Dad had the camera to get some pics of the ray as it was not an everyday occurrence. As the fish came closer, I expected to see wings or some identifying features, but instead, I thought I saw a tail fin. When the leader came up, I saw that it was not a manta but  big yellowfin tuna. I shouted for the gaff which caught my Dad off guard. As he grabbed the gaff in the gunwale, The leader unwrapped from the tail and the fish turned side on for an easy gaff shot.

Mixed bag of gamefish

We were dumbstruck. It took both of us to lift the fish over the side after it was bled. It lay the deck full, so our fishing for the day was over. We snapped off a few pics and headed back to the harbour. The tuna pulled the scale to 39,8kg (after being bled)! What a surprise fish it was.