On Sunday 24th May at
5:30am, At, Tammy, my Day and I launched “AVANTI” out of Richards Bay. We were
hoping to get a few cuda that had been around. We stopped on the pipe line and
quickly caught a few livies before making the long run to High Point.
On arrival, I put out 5 small
lures to look for bonnies. At trolled around for a while but had no luck. I put
one of the lines on the downrigger and didn’t wait long to have a pull. It was
a big kawa kawa that we released. On the next turn, we had another pull but
this time it was converted and the leader finally chafed through. We trolled for
about an hour, releasing a few small yellowfin before we finally caught a
bonnie small enough and swam it live on the surface. I rigged up a wala-wala
and put it down 20m as well as a live maasbanker on the downrigger. At trolled
around the showings and the pinnacle and soon the rod with the wala keeled over
but shot straight as something broke… I retrieved the line and found that the
fish had picked up the leader before the wire. Unlucky. I rerigged and trolling
continued. A while later, we passed over a good showing and again the rod with
the wala keeled over as a cuda chowed it. My Dad took the strike and had a good
tussle before I could gaff an 18kg cuda. Finally, a fish in the hatch.
 |
| Typical Murphy's Law |
Not long after, I saw the rod
with the live bonnie give a quick flick then there was nothing. I retrieved the
line and found just a bit of skin left on the one hook. The back hook was
missing and wire had been bitten off… and it was pretty thick wire…
With the lines out, we decided to
look for another livie so At made a few turns on the pinnacle. It didn’t take
too long and we were on with 3 bonnies that went into the tube. I rigged up two,
one on surface and one down deep. As we went over the pinnacle, a shark ate the
deep bait. I pulled it to the boat and where it was calmed down before being
cut off. A similar fate lay ahead for the other 2 bonnies over the next 20
minutes. I was pretty much over the sharks and opted to put out a few dead
baits and a small live maasie. At moved to the southern point of the ledge and
trolled into the current. There were a few nice showings down deep, but the fish
were not eating. I decided to play “Murphy’s Law” and rigged up a long 10kg rod
with light leader and wire. I pinned a small live maasbanker which went out on
surface a long way back. Within a matter of minutes, the rod went on and I
pulled in a tiny yellowfin that I released before setting the line again.
 |
| Back breaker of note! |
Things were a bit quiet but then the long rod keeled over and the reel ran. This
fish took a bit of line then went deep followed by a smoking run. I was sure
that it was a small tuna that took the bait and was now being chased by a
shark. This run continued for a while before it stopped and there was just a
solid weight which I could not budge. At followed the line and I retrieved what
I could. When we came close, the line angle surfaced and there were some big
head shakes. I thought it could be a hammerhead, but next thing, the fish took
off on surface with the line bubbling through the water. At chased after it but
even at speed, I battled to gain line. The angle went down again and the rod
tip indicated constant tail beats. I was having a dejavu experience from last
February…Some people never learn from their mistakes! This was without a doubt a big yellowfin.
 |
| 33.5kg YFT after a shark bite |
For an hour I tussled the
fish putting as much pressure as I could. It had been on the double a few times
but could not get a good look at it. It sounded again taking a lot of line. I
was pretty buggered by then and decided to free spool hoping it would stop
running and come to surface. After giving it slack for a few minutes, At
followed the line and the fish angled to the surface. Most of the line was back
on the reel so I could put pressure on it again. The leader came up but the
afternoon sun made it extremely difficult to see the fish. My Dad took a gaff
shot, but the fish spooked and went down a few meters. I leant back and it felt
like the fish just gave up as it came straight to the surface. Only then did I
see that a shark had grabbed the tail. My Dad gaffed the fish and needed help
lifting it over the gunwale. I was absolutely broken. My arms were like jelly. Long soft rods and big tuna are not a good combination. Even though the fish was bleeding from the tail, I
raked the gills to bleed it properly. By now it was 4pm so we headed back to
port. The yellowfin weighted in at 33.5kg…
