Baby Black

On Saturday morning at 5:30am, At, Fanie, Tammy and I launched “AVANTI” at Cape Vidal. The SW was blowing about 15-20Kt so there were very few boats launching. After negotiating the surf, we went about looking for live bait. At tried a few spots before we found a good showing and soon filled up the live well. While Fanie and Tammy were catching bait, I put out a livie on a circle hook, just in case there was a dorado around the bait shoal. When we had enough bait, I brought in the trap stick and the hook had been neatly bitten off.

It was pretty protected in the bay so I rigged up 4 lines, 2 deep and 2 on surface, and At tacked in and out moving south with the current. It did not take long to get a rev. This time it was the deepest bait that went away and Fanie managed a nice dorado. At made a turn over the same spot and the far surface bait went away very slowly. I thought it might be a sailfish, but when Tammy had it close to the boat, it turned out to be a dorado that was hooked in the gills. In the next half hour, we had 2 big sharks eat the deep baits. I was busy making up a few new traces when the medium rod smoked off and Fanie had a bit of a tussle with a nice cuda of around 10kg. Again we trolled over the same area and the japan reel smoked off. Tammy took the strike but something was wrong. the fight changed to that heavy weight that we all hate. While this was going on, I looked into the water and about 4m down was another big shark just waiting for us to bring a fish to the boat. We broke off the taxman and rode away from the area and regrouped. With fresh baits out, we tacked over the same depth that we had the previous pulls and quickly went onto another cuda. I was afraid of losing it to another shark, so I put the drag to sunset and pulled like hell. Luckily the fish stayed on and was next to the boat in a few minutes where At gaffed it. I was still rigging a replacement bait when the medium bait went away. Fanie took the rod and was told to pull the fish double time and soon had another nice cuda on the boat. A short while later, we had a full spread out again. This time it took about half an hour before we had another pull. I took the strike and again went right up on the drag. Within a few seconds, I had a yellowfin on the leader but it managed to evade the gaff and took off straight down where a waiting zambi had a free lunch.

With the shark in the vicinity, things went a bit quiet so At trolled a bit north to move out of the area. Eventually the far surface rod went away and Fanie took the strike. At saw a few dolphins in nearby so he sped towards the fish before they could take it. As it came past the boat, I put a gaff into a nice dorado. It was pretty quiet until I lifted it into the boat. The tail touched the side of the hatch and it went mental, jumping off the gaff. In the commotion, a treble found its way into the back of my leg and now both dorado and I were hopping around the deck. Finally we subdued the fish and I could painfully remove the unwanted body piercing… I felt like starting a new trend… something like the “Hook yourself Challenge”… I nominate you!



Small Black Marlin on the leader

Our bait stocks were pretty low so while the lines were up, we ran back to the bait spot and filled up on a few better size mackerel and maasbanker. The lines went out and At trolled south to where we had the pulls earlier. It did not take long before Fanie got another cuda. I rigged a replacement bait and put it out a few meters and went to attach a weight. I then noticed a dorado flying in and grabbed the bait. Unfortunately it missed the hooks. I brought in the close surface line and saw the dorado come flying in from the side and grab the bait. I fed it before striking and a good fish took to the air. It gave me a good fight and soon had the biggest fish of the day in the boat.

Tammy's first billfish

The wind had died down a bit and the sea was looking really good. Both At and I were convinced that some time or other, we would bump into a sailfish… a fish that Tammy had not caught yet. With this in mind, we persevered until the afternoon. Things went very quiet and so I checked the baits but they were all good. After about an hour, At turned back towards the point to head home. We were both looking at the far surface line when the rod bent a bit then straightened again.
I walked towards the rod when it suddenly keeled over and the reel smoked off. I thought it was a cuda by the speed it was going but then, way out the back, there was a big commotion as a small billfish tore up the surface! Both At and I shouted simultaneously “MARLIN!”. It was probably the smallest black that I have ever seen, but it thought it was a grander by the way it was jumping. Tammy took the strike and At slowed the run by chasing after it. There was a lot of line in the water, but she managed to get the fish to the boat in about 15 minutes. After a few jumps, one almost into the boat, I managed to get hold of the small bill and pull it over the gunwale. After a few quick pics, we revived it and sent it on its way. Awesome! With that, we unanimously decided to head back home. 

A quick weekend at Vidal

On Saturday 6^th December, we launched AVANTI at Cape Vidal. On the boat was At van Tilburg, Tammy, my Dad and Uncle Glen. The SE was blowing so we opted to fish for some Gamefish off the point. Tammy and Glen had never surf launched before so they were pretty excited to experience it.

Once on the backline, At sounded around for bait showings. After scratching around for a while, he found a proper showing and we filled the livewell with mackerel and maasbanker. I rigged up a few baits and At trolled out to 35m then tacked back. There was a good current line at 30m so we focussed our efforts around it. With the strong N-S current and southerly wind, we drifted along the line and slowly moved south. Things were relatively quiet apart from 2 small sharks that ate the deep bait.

Off the beacon, the far surface bait went away. As I tightened up, a dorado cleared the surface.  Passed the rod to Glen and turned to clear some other rods when all 3 other rods went away as well! We had a full house on dorado… Unfortunately one of the fish kinked off a wire but the other 3 were still connected. My dad had his fish at the boat relatively quickly and there were 2 followers. I pitched a live bait to the fish but they wanted nothing to do with it. When the dust had settled, Tammy, Glen and my Dad each had a dorado in the hatch. Finally, some fresh fish to eat!

We continued drifting past the lighthouse but didn’t have another pull. I suggested we change tactics and fast troll some baits back to the point along the line so that we could cover more area. I rigged up 4 dead baits and At tacked up the current line moving north. It did not take long to get a pull and after feeding the fish, the circle hook was set in the corner of a nice yellowfin’s mouth. My Dad fought the fish to the boat while we cleared a few lines. The baits were just hanging in the water when a dorado came flying in to grab one. Unfortunately it too turned off at the last second.  The tuna was then gaffed, bled  and put on ice. I did a quick bait check and noticed that one of the baits had been chopped behind the head by something with teeth. I rigged up a few more baits and put out a 4 rod spread. Shortly after, the close bait went away with a dorado that missed the hook. It turned to the next bait and hooked up. Glen took the strike and brought in our biggest dorado of the day… Nicely done. By now we were near the point so we upped lines and beached.

On Sunday 7^th December, Tammy, At and I launched “Avanti” at 5:30am. There was no surf to speak of and we were soon on the backline. The plan was to fish for marlin but with a straight Easterly wind blowing, we knew we would battle to get bait so we caught about ten maasbanker before heading to Oscar. The current was ripping at over 4 knots and the upwelling was unreal. I put out 5 small lures while At trolled around the pinnacles. After an hour, we had not had a pull so I rigged up a dead maasbanker and swapped it out for one of the close lures. We passed over a mid-water showing and as luck would have it, the maasbanker was eaten. Tammy took the strike while I cleared the other lines. A short while later, we had a 6kg yellowfin in the livebait tube. We had drifted nearly a kilometre while fighting the bait so we trolled lures north and deeper before I rigged up the bait on a 20/0 circle hook. Trolling into the current, we were moving backwards at 5km per hour. We were about off the point when the bait revved heavily. I grabbed the line out the rigger and felt slack line. I quickly pulled in the line and when it came tight, the yellowfin came flying out the water with a big swirl behind it. Being overcast, we could not see what was chasing it and so when I felt the bait get eaten, I fed whatever it was. When it came time to tighten up, there was nothing… I wound in the line and found that the 500Lbs leader had been bitten through… obviously a big old hammerhead.

We did not want to have a late day, so I put out the bait lures again and At trolled towards the beach. As we passed over the current line in 40m of water, the dead maasbanker went away again. Tammy took the strike and brought in another 6kg yellowfin which we bled and put on ice. With a fish in the hatch, we upped lines and hit the beach.