At 6:30 on Sunday 23rd
August, Tammy, Terrance and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. We were
hoping to get our first Garrick for the season and if we were lucky, a snoek or
two. Our first stop was on the pipeline to look for live bait. I sounded around
for a while and found big shoals of Maasbanker and mackerel. I tried hard to
find some shad but after an hour and a half that we tried, we only found two.
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| 11.8kg garrick on 6kg line |
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| Terrance's first garrick |
It was getting late so we headed
north past groenkop. There were quite a few boats looking for snoek so I rigged
up two fillets and two lures and trolled around. There was a lot of life in the
water with whales, dolphin, diving gannets and shoals of redeyes. Closer to the
backline, there were a few boats working a small area. I headed in that
direction and started to see big bait showings on the sounder. Only then did I
look back and see all 4 rods with a slight bend in them. Tammy and Terrance
retrieved the lines and to our surprise, each one had a small shad on them.
Realising that the showings were shad, I drifted the area while Tammy and
Terrance cast spoons at them. Every cast was a shad and when they were near the
boat, they were followed by hundreds more. It was amazing to see! This also
meant that we now had an excellent supple of livies.
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| Terrance's second garrick putting up a fi |
The snoek fishing was abandoned
as everything that we put out resulted in a shad so the snoek had no chance to
get to the lures. I rigged up four rods, one 6kg spinning rod for Tammy and
three conventional 10kg rods for Terrance. All four were rigged with live shad
and once set, I putted into the backline. The water had quite a few dirty
patches and it took a while before it cleaned up with the outgoing tide. After
about an hour and a half, and several position changes, we found a spot where
the bait was being smashed in the breakers. It did not take long before the
close surface bait on the spinning rod was eaten. Tammy fed the fish and
tightened up. The fish took quite a bit of line so we cleared the other lines
and followed after it. After a strong back and forward fight, the fish was
gaffed and hauled aboard. It was a nice size Garrick considering the line class
it was on.
With the first fish under our
belt, the pressure was off and we could relax a bit. While the lines were out,
I headed back north to where we started and set out 3 rods to look for
Terrance’s first Garrick. It did not take long before the close surface bait
revved. I picked up the rod and felt the bait get eaten. I let it run and
passed the rod to Terrance. When it had fed enough, he tightened up and tussled
his first Garrick to the boat. In true Garrick style, the fish put up a fight
at the boat but I finally managed to grab it's tail and haul it on board. It
was quickly measured, tagged, weighed and photographed before releasing the 7kg
fish. Great!
Again I headed back to the
starting point and set 3 more baits. There was a swirl in the breakers, so I
made a sharp turn to try intercept. When I came back in line and we had not had
a pull, I retrieved the close surface bait and saw that it had tangled with the
far line. While I was undoing the tangle, a Garrick came up just behind the
boat and tried to eat the bait. What a cock up! I bit the tangled leader off
and let the other line go so that I could feed the fish, but it was too late
and I was left with a squashed bait. We regrouped and continued trolling with
three tangle free fresh baits. I was busy heading deeper along a colour line
when the reel with the far bait gave a short burst. I fed the fish and came
tight to another Garrick. I passed the rod to Terrance who released his second
Garrick for the day. |
| Tammy on her second fish before releasing it |
By now the pattern was clear and
it was just a matter of following the same routine. Run up to the northern
point, set 3 baits and troll past the shoal of bait and you were almost
guaranteed to get a pull. On the next pass over the spot, I went tight on a
fish and managed to tag my first garrick of the year.
The next fish Tammy hooked
up and had it at the boat in a few minutes before it was released. It seemed
too easy but again we ran to the start and set up. This time, it was near the
southern end of the marks when the far bait revved. I put the reel in freespool
and waited for the pull. After a short feed, I tightened up and fought my
second Garrick of the day. It was also weighed, tagged and released. It was
getting late so we opted to make one more turn and if we didn’t get a pull,
head home. Apart from two good chases in the backline near our baits, it was
quiet so we upped lines and ran home. Tammy’s fish weighed in at 11,8kg and set
the benchmark for the Club’s Garrick Derby. In all it was a great day that
won’t soon be forgotten.
