On Sunday 11th May at 5:30, Hannes Duvenage and I
launched “Lihann” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to find a cuda or two. We
stopped at the pipe and caught some bait before running to the ledge to catch
some bonnies.
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| The best cuda bait! |
On arrival, I put out 4 daisy chains and a small halco.
Hannes made a turn over the pinnacle and all the rods went on. It was a bit
hectic, but when it was over, there were 12 small jube jubes in the hatch on
ice. With the bait so thick, I suggested we spend some time stocking up on
bonnies cause you never have when you really need them. We made several turns
with the same result. The problem was that the daisy chains were so tangled
after every full house that it took quite a while to fix them up before we
could get going again. Also, with only 2 people to man the 5 rods, it was
interesting to say the least.
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| Kingfish on a 2/0 hook |
At one point, with 5 rods on, 3 rods were left in the
holders. One of the lines went deep and the reel started running at a constant
pace. I told Hannes that something had eaten the bonnies, probably a potato bass
or a shark. I reached over and put the TLD 25 onto sunset which slowed the run
somewhat. After we cleared the other rods, I took up the rod with the
conversion on it. Luckily it was on 50Lbs line, so I could put some serious
pressure on it… whatever it was. Hannes was sorting out the tangled daisy
chains while I was huffing and puffing with the long rod doubled over. Finally
the fish started coming up and 5 minutes later, I was surprised to see a nice
kingfish on the surface. It had one of the daisy chains 2/0 hooks on the corner
of its mouth, 3 of the other hooks in the gills and the last in its stomach.
Unfortunately it could not be released.
By the time we were done, there were enough baits to keep us
going for a long time. With all the activity on the surface, we were sure that
there would be quite a few kings around but we were not interested in catching
them and would rather look for cuda so we ran to Petingo where we fished for
the rest of the day. Unfortunately we never got out cuda, but at least we had
enough bait.
The king weighed in at 18,6kg.
