Picking Up Crew

On Saturday 13^th August, At, Hendry and I launched “Avanti” off Richards Bay. We had had some success with the previous weekend with a few Garrick and we were hoping to get a few more. We battled a bit for bait but eventually had enough to go and fish. We tried a bit on the point, but nothing happened. The dredger was also operating in the area, and we didn’t want to get into trouble, so we headed south into the backline. It was much calmer there and we could work the area a bit. After about an hour or so, the deep line went away. The fish took off and I kept feeding it. When I tightened up, the line shot straight into the backline and flew off the reel. Everything looked good when suddenly the fish was off. I reeled in the bait and it was in perfect condition… it must have wrapped in the leader. Unlucky!

We turned to work the spot a bit more, but after spending some time there, we didn’t have another pull. We were expecting a friend to arrive at about 11am, and we said we would fetch him at the club and then go fish some more. We trolled towards the harbour and I happened to be watching the rod tip on the close livie when it started revving. There was a swirl out the back but I could not make out what it was. It looked to be a hammer head from how it was tracking the bait. Hendry and I pulled in the baits and the fish followed them to the stern. Only then did we see that it was indeed a Garrick. It chased the baits a few times on the surface, but only half-heartedly took the one and spat it out before eating it. 

Juri fighting his first garrick

We upped lines and went to fetch Juri. He is a laugh a minute and was super keen to catch his first Garrick. At headed back to the same spot where we had dropped the first Garrick and on our first turn, the close bait was eaten.  The bait was on a really light bass rod so we were in for a good fight. Hendry fed and hooked up the fish before passing the rod to Juri. The fish took a lot of line and put up a good fight for half an hour. It was Juri’s first Garrick so we gaffed the fish for him. He was over the moon.

The wind had picked up a lot so we headed back to the harbour and saw a good colour line near the pier. We put out 3 baits and made a turn. Not long after, we had a pull on a Maasbanker, but got the head back. Moments later, the far line went away. I hooked up and passed the rod to Juri. This fish took a lot of line and kept him busy for a while before I could tail a really good fish. It was tagged and released in good condition and measured out at 12.5kg. That was the last pull we had so we headed back.