On Saturday 25th April
at 5:30am, At, Gert, Tammy and I launched “AVANTI” out of Richards Bay. We were
fishing in the Umlalazi Cuda Classic. Our first stop was a the pipeline to
catch bait before heading to Petingo.
When we arrived, At stopped short
of the wreck and I put out a livie and 2 wala-wala. I was busy rigging up 2
bonnies when the surface wala went away. Gert took the strike and soon had a
12kg cuda on the boat. Not a bad start. I rigged up all the rods and At circled
the wreck. There were a few boats around so it made things interesting. After
an hour or so, the surface livie rod bent a bit then straightened. I picked up
the rod to feel what was happening when it was pulled flat and the reel ran. It
was a short run and quickly turned to the boat. The other lines were left in
the water while I bobbed and weaved my fish through them. Soon I had a 10kg
cuda on the boat. Not what we were looking for, but better than nothing.
Trolling resumed and on the next turn, the livie on surface went away again.
Tammy took the strike and brought in a rather small 6kg fish. I didn’t like the
downward trend in size… Something had to happen.
Things were a bit quiet for about
an hour so I decided to check the baits. I pulled in the surface bonnie and was
shocked at what I saw. The bonnie had been chopped off clean behind the pec
fins, including the wire to the tail hook. What was scary was that the ratchet never
even ticked once!
I rigged up a fresh bait while At
worked the wreck. I noticed the deep rod dip a bit then straighten. There had
definitely been a bump. I retrieved the sinker and put the rod in the holder
while I handlined the bait to the boat. The bait was near the boat when the
line ripped through my hands. I let go of the line and the rod keeled over. We
were on! At took the strike and fought another small 10kg cuda to the boat. Petingo
was just not producing the goods for us.
Lines up came and we headed back
to Zini. At least we were all on the score board.
On Sunday 26th, the NE
was blowing 15 knots and predicted to strengthen during the day. There had been
a few nice fish at high point the day before so after catching a few livies, we
headed 40km with the wind to the ledge. On arrival, we caught a few bonnies
which I rigged up live. We had gone about 100m when the deep bait went away at
speed… obviously a good cuda. Gert took the strike while I maintained a tight
line on the other livie on the surface. I felt the bait rev followed by a
sudden heavy pressure are the bait was eaten. The reel smoked off with the line
cutting a bubble trail through the water. Gert’s fish sounded and then there
were a few big bumps on the rod. The fight changed to a slow and heavy weight.
Obviously a conversion resulting in the leader being rubbed through on the
shark’s skin. My fish was still on surface and taking long fast runs. At
followed it and soon it was close to the boat. It made a few circles before
going on one last run. It was then that I felt the dreaded nods and the
conversion. After going to sunset on the drag with 50lbs line, I could still
not stop the shark. Both At and I had to grab the spool to break it off. How
frustrating! I had 2 more bonnies and again it didn’t take long before we were
on to another good cuda. This fish smoked off on surface before sounding and…
yip, you guessed it, conversion… Other boats were having a similar issue with
the sharks and from then on, every bonnie that I rigged was eaten by one.
I had no option but to rig up
other baits so I put out 2 wala and 2 livies. After a few minutes, the deep
livie went away and Gert fought a 9kg bonnie to the boat. By 12 o clock, we
were tired of fighting sharks, heavy winds and other inconsiderate skippers so
we upped lines and headed to Zini.
Our fish from the first day
netted each of us some nice prizes. Well done to the winning angler with a cuda
of 33,5kg. Congrats to the Umlalazi Ski-Boat Club for a great competition. See
you next year.
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