Ripper of a day

On Sunday 30^th August, we launched John Farndell’s “Drifter” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to find a few Garrick as John had not yet caught one off Richards Bay. We stopped at the pipeline at around 6am and sounded around until we found a good bait showing. There were a lot of maasbanker, but it was shad that we were look

ing for. After searching the area, I found a spot where we managed to catch about 10 shad. With enough bait in the well, we headed north to Nhlobane.

Drifter in the backline fighting a garrick

We were the first to arrive and I quickly rigged up 3 shad. Two on surface on spinning gear and one deep on conventional gear. There were a few rips around so when we pulled the bait through the churned up water, it was no surprise when the far surface bait went away. I hooked up and passed the rod to John who had a good fight with his first Richards Bay Garrick. Great stuff!

I set the lines again and worked the next rip. Other boats had also arrived and were in the same area but were not having much luck. As the baits came out of the rip, the close surface bait revved before being eaten. John fed the fish and tightened up to his second Garrick of the day. This fish was turbo charged and gave him a run around before being boated.

With a bit of congestion from the other boats, we decided to head back south, slowly working the rips that were fading as the tide started to turn. Things were very quiet for a while but eventually the far surface bait went away and after hooking up, I passed the rod to my Dad. He had a good tussle with a similar size Garrick. When the fish was on the leader, it gave a last head shake on the surface and spat the hook. I suppose that happens.

John with his first R/Bay Garrick

We continued on out south bound route and saw a few fish chasing in the shallows. A short while later, the far bait was eaten again and when I tightened up, the rod took tension but then the bait came flying back. The leader had wrapped around the hook and then pulled the hook into the bait. This made it easy for the Garrick to spit the bait. By now the NE wind had picked up and the sea was getting bumpy. This combined with a slow bite let us to up lines and head back to harbor.