Cannibals

On Saturday 2^nd May, Bryant, Tammy and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. The Northerly wind was blowing a bit but was predicted to settle through the day. Our first stop was at the pipeline and it did not take long to fill the live well before heading out to the ledge.

Bryant with a Kawakawa

When we arrived, we put out a few small lures and trolled around the pinnacle. It did not take long before we caught 2 small bonito. These were put in the tubes and we continued trolling. After a while, the  other boats left and we could spend more time on the marks. I rigged one of the live bonnies and put it on the downrigger. I was hoping for a kingfish or something. On the second pass, there was a good mid water showing and it was no surprise when the livie was eaten. Bryant took the rod and put big pressure on the fish, just in case it wanted to go for the rocks. The fish did not fight too much and came in relatively easily. I was slightly disappointed when I saw that it was a big kawakawa of about 7kg. We unceremoniously released it and rigged up the other bonnie. After a few passes, I pulled it up to check it and found that it had been mouthed by something and it was dead.

I rigged it up to swim better and sent it down again. Bryant put out a live maasbanker on the surface, hoping for a yellowfin. As I was approaching the pinnacle, the surface livie was eaten. Bryant took the strike and quickly brought in a small yellowfin which was bled and put on ice.

There was no action on the deep bait so we pulled it in and drifted over the pinnacle. Bryant put out a live maasie and went tight on a 5kg bonnie which we released. It looked like fun so I rigged up a light spinning rod for Tammy and pinned a livie. On the next drift, she went on with a strong fish that took a lot of line. I chased after in and just as we had it under control, the rod gave a big bump and the fish was gone. I assume it was eaten by something larger. On the next 4 drifts, we hooked up to small yellowfins and big bonnies which we released. By 12 o clock we decided to run to Petingo and fish there for an hour or so. Unfortunately we never had a pull and when the Easterly wind started blowing, we upped lines and headed home.