On Sunday 1st March, my Dad and I launched “Selfish”
out of Richards Bay. The last few weekends had been very windy so we could not get to
sea. The forecast for this day was good with a light SW. We left the harbour at
6:30 and stopped on the pipe for bait. After scratching around for a while we
found a shoal of bait and filled the livewell. From there it was off to the
ledge.
The water was beautiful. 27 degrees, purple and good
current. To feel the area a bit, I put out 4 high speed lures and trolled
north. About 20 minutes later 2 reels went away. Both of us brought in skipjack
which were released. The trolling resumed and a few minutes later, I noticed
something in the swell about 40 meters away. It was a marlin finning down the
swell. All attempts at pitching a bait to it failed and after a few minutes, it
moved off. Still nice to see.
When we reached the northern point of the ledge, I rigged up
5 lines. 3 on surface, one on a sinker and one on the down rigger. The sounder
showed a thermocline at 30m so I set the deep baits at 35m and 25m. As the
current pushed us south, the 25m bait slowly went away. I took the rod to feel
what was going on. There was a bit of weight, but then it would come up a bit
before going heavy again. After a few minutes, the hook pulled. It felt like a
small fish that had been foul hooked and was spinning in circles. Guess we will
never know. I checked the other baits and continued on.
 |
| A greedy shark with new braces |
A while later, the same rod bent and took some line. I put
pressure on it and the line angled to the surface. There was a lot of weight to
whatever it was, but it was not really fighting. After 10 minutes. the sinker
came up, which was removed. Only then did we see the brown shape of a shark. I
got it onto the leader and broke it off. It sulked on the surface for a bit
before fading away. While rerigging the rod, the dead bonnie I had out on
surface went away, also very slowly. I pulled the fish to the boat and it was
another shark. We assumed that it was a second shark that came up to look at
what the first shark was up to. On closer inspection however, we saw that this
shark had my other trace in its mouth! I could not believe it. Oh well, you
learn new things every day.
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| 30kg YFT on 10kg cuda rig |
The day had been exceptionally quiet and after passing over
all the marks without a pull, we opted to pull up the lines. One by one I
retrieved the baits and packed the rod away. There was one rod to left and as I
was going to retrieve it, it keeled over and the reel smoked off. I passed it
to my Dad and then turned the boat to chase after it. The fish sounded and the
constant head nods indicated that it was a tuna. The 10kg line did little to
budge the fish so the drag went up over the strike button. 15 minutes after
hooking up, my Dad was buggered. The long rod, heavy drag and deep fighting
fish combination does not go well together. I was passed the rod and
immediately felt uncomfortable. This was going to be a struggle. I pulled as
hard as I dared for 15 more minutes and finally had colour of the fish. At the
same time it must have seen the boat as it put its head down and took a bunch
of line and I was back at square one. Inch by inch I lifted the fish, using the
swell to help me. Finally I had colour again and this time managed to keep its
head up. after several big circles, the tuna broke the surface and my Dad
gaffed it. It was a good one! I was glad that the fight was over as it was not
enjoyable. But it was a really nice fish though…
We headed back to the harbour where the fish weighed 30kg.
Not too shabby.
