No Winter sails...

On Saturday 21^st June, Tjokkie and I launched “ABF” at Cape Vidal. We were hoping to get Tjoks his first sailfish. The bay was exceptionally sanded and this made for an interesting launch to say the least. Safely behind backline Tjoks caught a few maasbanker while I rigged up a few sailfish baits.

When we were ready to rumble, the 4 baits went out as well as a teaser. I worked the area from the point to the lighthouse tacking between 20m and 45m. A bit deeper out, the birds were working big shoals of bait and there were 15-20kg yellowfin crashing everywhere.  I had to keep reminding myself that we were not here to catch gamefish but rather sailfish and so I kept working the shallows. Another reason for staying away was that there were a lot of gannets and albatross around and they were guaranteed to divebomb our baits and waste valuable trolling time.

 

It was relatively quiet for some time, with only a half-hearted strike from a small tuna, so I headed a bit north. Just off the slides, the left short bait was eaten and after feeding it a bit, I tightened up and passed the rod to Tjoks. The line came to the surface and there was a splash out the back as a nice dorado jumped around. It has choked down one of the biggest baits and was battling to breathe. I gaffed the fish and quickly got it in the hatch where it went mental! Well at least we were not mombakkies.

 

We trolled around for a few more hours with 2 more strikes by gamefish but left us a cleanly chopped off head. It was getting late so I suggested we go and get a tuna for sashimi that night so we quickly ran to Oscar pinnacle and free lined 2 live maasbankers on flouro leaders. I was busy letting out the bait when it was eaten by a small yellowfin. The fish gave me a bit of a run around but finally Tjoks got hold of the tail. After bleeding it and putting it on ice, we made another drift. The baits were just out when one was eaten. Tjoks fought the fish and I gaffed another yellowfin which was also bled and put on ice. With enough tuna fillets, we changed back to the sailfish baits and trolled back to the point where we upped lines and beached.

Being shown up by a Girl!

Tammy fighting on 4kg

On Sunday 15^th June at 7:30am, Tammy and I launched “ABF” out of Richards Bay. We were just going for a casual days fishing and to enjoy the beautiful weather. I stopped on the pipeline and both Tammy and I went about fishing for bait. With a livewell full, I suggest we head to small high pinnacle. There had been a few bonnies around, and thought it would be fun on Tam’s light 4kg spinning rod. Just before running out there, I made a quick double, joined a few meters of 40Lbs flouro leader and tied on a 1/0 ultrapoint Mustad. The bonnies did not stand a chance!
 

When we arrived at the pinnacle I was surprised to see that there were no other boats. I stopped close to the mark and pinned a small live maasbanker before casting it out a bit and passing the rod to Tam. I told her to let the line out a bit while we made our way towards the pinnacle. The sounder was already showing the reef and a big showing, so I pulled neutral to drift. Tam asked how much line she should let out and only then did I notice the line flying off the reel. I calmly said “just close the bale arm, you are already on”… As she clipped the bale over, the rod loaded up and the small spinning reel smoked off! The chase was on.

My Deckhand at work

The fish was all over the place taking heaps of line as it went all we could do was follow until it slowed down. Slowly Tam put line back on the reel and but after 20 minutes, the fish was still making good runs. Every time it would sound and then make a fast run, we assumed a shark was on its tail. After 45 minutes, I could see the fish down below making big circles. It was a nice yellowfin. The double came up but the fish stayed just out of reach before taking some more line. A short while later the leader was on the tip but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a big brown shape materialise and the yellowfin made another short dash under the boat. Luckily, the shark disappeared as fast as it appeared and Tam could get the fish back on the leader where I gaffed it! MAGIC!

With a long, hard fight behind us, we decided not to put out another bait for tuna and rather focus on some eating fish so I rigged up 2 live mackerel and 2 maasies. Two up top and two down deep. On the first pass over the southern marks, the deep mackerel went away. I took the rod and fought a nice 15kg cuda to the boat where I finally got a gaff into it.
 

Tammy's 24,6kg Wahoo

I reset the lines and worked the area. It was a bit quiet, but eventually I saw the surface bait rev a bit before the rod bent a bit then flicked straight. Looking back, I saw a big swirl on the surface. The bait had been chopped cleanly, missing both single hooks but kinking the wires properly. I checked the other baits and saw that the other surface bait was missing… The baits were quickly rerigged and just as they were set, the one rod slowly bent over. I wound into the fish and it gave a few really big head shakes. Tammy increased the speed a bit (just incase) before taking over the rod. I had just cleared the other lines when the fish absolutely rocketed off! It left a big trail of spray and foam as its tail cavitated on the surface. I swung the boat around and gave chase. At one point, we were on the plane and the fish still taking line! After about a kilometre (with the strong current), the fish settled and fought deep. Tam gave it everything she had and started to lift the fish. I looked into the depths and saw a long silver fish circling upwards. When it broke surface, I put the gaff in and lifted a beautiful wahoo into the boat. What a great fish! It was way too big to fit into the hatch so we wrapped it in a wet towel on the deck.

13,6kg YFT on 4kg line

There was still a little time left to fish so I run back to the marks and started setting the lines. While letting out the second line, the first one went away. Looking back, we saw a 15kg yellowfin clear the water before going on a deep run. I took the rod and pushed the drag right up. The fish never had a chance to turn and within 5 minutes, it was gaffed and bled before going into the ice. We knew that with all the fish, there was a lot of cleaning work to be done so we upped lines and headed home. Tammy’s yellowfin weighed 13,6kg (a possible Ladies All Africa Record) and the Wahoo weighed 24,6kg. It was an awesome day out!