On Saturday 7th February
at 10am, Tammy, Tjokkie and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. The weather
forecast was totally off and instead of the predicted 5 knot wind, it was
blowing 15 knots. We had waited a few hours and only at 9am did the conditions improve.
The plan was to just take the boat for a run to test the motors after their
service, so there were no big fishing plans.
I headed to the pipeline to look
for some bait … just in case. After drifting around for an hour, the sea got
better and better. There were only 4 light game rods on the boat, so I
suggested we run deeper to the colour line and troll a few livies around,
hopefully for a dorado or something.
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| Tjoks with a 14kg YFT on 8kg line |
When we stopped on the ledge, the
water was purple and 27,4 degrees. The current was ripping the southerly wind
made things slightly uncomfortable but it was very fishable. I rigged up 2
surface lines and 2 deep lines and tacked the reef moving backwards at 3-4km
per hour. It did not take long to find some showings and shortly thereafter the
deep bait had a pull. Tjoks took the strike, but he was convinced that it was a
shark so he gave the rod to me. I could feel that there were head nods and a
few short runs so I wasn’t convinced that it was a shark and fought whatever it
was to the surface. In the clean water I could see silver number plate with two
other fish following it. As it came closer the followers disappeared. The fish
turned out to be a Cape yellowtail of 7kg. No wonder it was so strong. With a
fish in the hatch, the day was already made so we could relax. The lines went
out again and about half an hour later the far surface bait went away. Tjoks
took the rod and settled into a strong fight. This fish was on 8kg line, so he
had some fun and games but after half an hour managed to get a nice 14kg Yellowfin
on the boat.
We fished on for another hour
without a pull so headed back to the harbour.
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| Marius with a Bigeye Kinfish |
On Sunday 8th February
at 6:30, At, Tammy, Marius and I launched “AVANTI” off Richards Bay. The weather
was almost too good to believe. We briefly stopped to get some livies then
headed to Petingo. The water was gin clear and we could see the wreck and bait
fish hanging around it. The surface was like a mirror and we knew that it was
going to be a slow day.
I rigged up a few baits and we
trolled around looking for a cuda. About an hour later, the surface bait was
eaten by a small hammerhead which was released. A while later, At trolled over
the wreck and I put down a small lure on the flick stick. I managed to get a
small Bluefin kingfish which was released. On the next turn, the deep livie
went away and Marius fought a strong fish that bumped its head a lot. After a
good fight, he had a nice bigeye kingfish of around 5kg at the boat. At noon,
the easterly wind picked up and on our last turn another hammerhead ate the
deep livie. It was clear that there were no fish interested in our offerings so
we upped lines and headed home.
