So near yet so far

On Wednesday 17^th September, my Dad and I launched “ABF” out of Richards Bay. I had reports of a lot of Garrick coming out so I was keen to try for the 1kg line world record again. The night before I had put on some new line and set the drags. This is quite a delicate procedure as you can imagine…

 

We launched at 6am and headed to the pipe. We battled to find shad but there were massive shoals of mackerel, maasbanker and redeyes. After scrounging around, we happened upon a small reef that had the right showing on it. I went down with the jigs and brought up a full string of shad… Perfect! There were already a few boats around the pier so we opted to head to the backline to be on our own. I rigged up 2 livies on the ultra-light line and we trolled around the rips. It did not take long to get a pull and after feeding it a bit, I engaged the reel. The line started taking tension but before the reel started turning over, the line parted… What the hell! I put it down to the fish swimming into the line of something like that. I had a spare rig ready to go so I in no time, I had 2 baits out again. About 15 minutes later, we had a pull. I fed some line then tightened up. This time the line held and the fish headed into the backline. Luckily the surf was very small so my Dad could keep the boat close. After 10 minutes or so, we had the fish close to the boat and we could get a look at it. It was a shoal size Garrick. My Dad said it looked big enough, but I was not convinced. We decided to fight the fish as if it were the right size … just in case. It swam north towards the pier staying in the surf. All we could do is follow it until it decided to come out. We were on the fish for half an hour when it made a move out of the surf and into deeper water. It sulked around the boat for a while before heading south to where we had hooked it. As it went through the rip, it surfaced near the boat but I could just not get the leader in hand. It had now spooked and ducked back into the breakers. This made our lives hell as every wave pulled 10m or so of line off the reel. At one stage we were in 1.5m of water surrounded by foam and swirling sandy water. The fish was buggered and was being rolled around in the shore dump! By some miracle the line held and the rip pushed the fish back out to deeper water. An hour and 20 minutes after hooking the fish, I had the leader on the rod. I wrapped it about 4 times and pulled it to the surface where my Dad gaffed an exhausted fish. I quickly weighed it on a hand scale but it did not look big enough. Back to the drawing board.

I rigged up another two rods and trolled livies in the same area that we had the previous pulls. It was only 10minutes before we had a pull and again, as I tightened up, the line parted under almost zero pressure! I was livid! 1kg line is so difficult to get hold of in South Africa and the line that you do get is of a shit quality. If anyone knows of a place that can get 1kg IGFA rated line (that does not over test or under test by a mile!) please let me know.

8.0 kg and 7.8kg Garrick on 1kg line

So not I had lost all faith in the Ande and Platypus line that had let me down. Fladen was obviously the best line so I had no option but to only fish with 1 rod. Trolling this 1 bait around, I had 2 pulls, both from small sharks which just bit the bait in half. By now the tide was changing and the surf was picking up. We ran to the point of the pier and drifted the bait as we moved towards the backline. The rod tip bumped as the shad revved and then the reel ran. I fed the fish and tightened up. Everything held and the line angled towards the pier where there were about 30 rock and surf anglers with their lines out. My fish swam around one of them and then headed away from the pier. I told my dad that it was going to cut me off, but we could try follow the fish and lift the line over the boat. We did this and it worked! We were in the clear. After 20 minutes, the fish surfaced near the boat. Again, it looked a bit small. I increased the drag a bit and put as much pressure on it as possible. To my surprise, the leader came out the water and onto the rod. I wrapped it a few times and pulled the fish up. It popped up on the top where my Dad put a gaff into it and lifted it into the boat! Nicely done! Unfortunately it also looked a bit small.

The sea was getting big with the strengthening wind so we headed back to the club. The fish were 7,8kg and 8,0kg, just 1kg short of being a record. I have now caught 6 garrick on 1kg line and all were between 7kg and 8kg. Im just hoping the next one is big enough for the record!

Record breaker!

On Sunday 14^th September, Tammy and I launched “ABF” out of Richards Bay. We were looking to break the ladies 3kg line class SA record of 9,2kg (currently held by my sister). We headed out to the pipeline to catch bait but after an hour, we had not caught a single shad. There were plenty mackerel, maasbanker and pinkys but not what we wanted. By 7:30 we decided to go and pull for Garrick with the bait that we had so we headed off to the pier and started trolling.

We were fishing two 3kg spinning outfits that had produced a fish the previous day. After an hour, apart from one Garrick chase next to the boat, it was quiet. The conditions were perfect though so we persevered. I received a call from friends that found a big shoal of shad close to where we were so we immediately upped lines and ran to them. On the first down with the jigs, I brought up 5 nice shad. In 3 downs, there was enough bait in the hatch to last the entire day… Just shows you how important it is to have good friends on the sea!

By not, there were 6 boats around the pier so I moved away from the area. After a few hours without a pull, I heard a report that there were two Garrick caught off the pier. We upped lines and headed back to the area but did not want to contend with all the boats. I noticed that the water in the backline was beautiful with nice rips and colour lines so I ran a bit south to work them. The second line was just out when we had a pull. Tammy fed the fish but when she tightened up, she got the head back. It was a shark. Two fresh baits went out and I trolled on the edge of the rip, just in the clean water. I had just trolled through good looking water when I saw 2 garrick chasing razorbellies on the surface. I made a sharp turn and moved through the area where they had been. Nothing happened… I made another pass but still nothing.

Beautiful Garrick on 3kg line

I was beginning to think I was doing something wrong as I knew the fish were there but we were not getting the pull. I was about to move on when something told me to make another turn. The lines had just straightened out when the close bait started revving. Tammy picked up the rod as the bait was eaten and started feeding it. I cleared the other bait by speed, making sure nothing was going to eat it on the way in. I put both motors in gear and Tam started winding. It was a textbook hookup with the tackle loading up and the line racing into the backline. I headed out to sea to get out the surf zone while the Garrick tore up the surface between the sets of foamies.

Possible World Record Garrick

 After 10 minutes, it moved out the backline and I could get close to it. The leader came onto the rod and just when I thought I would get a quick gaff shot, it took off on a strong run. This happened about 5 times and only then did we see why the fish was acting so strangely… There was a second Garrick with it. Every time they would get close to the boat, the freeswimming fish would get a fright and take off. The hooked fish would see the freeswimmer spook and would do the same (adding to the stress levels)! This caused some tension between skipper and angler. Considering the trying conditions, Tammy did an excellent job on the rod and after an hour, the fish finally surfaced near the boat. Tammy presented it well and I managed to get a gaff into it. We were ecstatic! The fish was the biggest one we had caught for the season!

We headed back to the club to get the official weight. It came in at 13,6kg!!! If everything is approved, this fish will beat the existing Woman’s SA, All African and World Record! Well done Tammy!