On Sunday 14th
December, At, Tammy and I launched “AVANTI” off Cape Vidal. The easterly wind
was blowing about 10 knots and the sea was flat. But as most know, when the
easterly wind blows, the Gamefish get lockjaw. We set about catching live bait
and once the hatch was full, I rigged up a few while At trolled deeper. I only had
the first rod out when the reel smoked off. Almost immediately a dorado cleared
the surface, doing cartwheels out the back. I had another rod in my hand at the
time and when the fish came towards the boat, I could not get to the reel fast
enough to take up the slack and so the hooks pulled. Unlucky.
I rerigged and this time managed
to get all the lines out before the medium bait went away. I was on the rod
very quickly and managed to get a small bonito to the boat. It was a decent
bait size so I put it in the tube for use later. About an hour later, we had
not had a pull so At made up a trace for the bonnie. I rigged it up on a strong
popping rod and was still busy letting it out when it was eaten. I tightened up
and went onto a very heavy fish. The line surfaced and a big zambizi shark
rolled on the surface. After giving it a dose of 20kg drag, the leader rubbed
through. I was convinced that the zambi had been following us and that was why
we never had a pull.
 |
| Jono with a small black on a dead bait. |
One of the other boats reported that
they lost a small marlin. That was enough to convince At and myself to change
over from live bait to dead bait and increase the speed to cover ground. I put
out a weighted teaser close to the boat. There were already 2 baits rigged so I
put one out a long way and another just next to the teaser. I went about
rigging the other baits when I heard the reel with the close bait give a short
burst. I ran to the rod and put the reel to freespool, holding the bait in
position with my thumb. I felt a fish pull and fed it for a few seconds before tightening
up. The rod loaded up and line tore off the reel. The line angle came up and a
very anger baby black marlin went mad on the surface. Tammy cleared the far
line while I fought the fish. It was a great fight with plenty surface action
and a few deep sounds, but within fifteen minutes At had the leader and brought
the fish aboard for a quick pic before releasing it. Nice!
I rerigged and managed to get 4
lines out before the far one was taken. Unfortunately the fish pulled the hook
leaving me with a mauled trace. Things went quiet so we put a bait on the down
rigger. At trolled over a deep showing and the deep rod went away. I had a
relatively quick fight with about a 4kg bigeye kingfish before releasing it.
Things went dead after that so we headed back home.
