On Saturday 5th March,
we launched “Seaduction” out of Richards Bay. We were hoping to find a cuda for
the boys from Theunissen. Our first stop was at the pipe where we caught a
couple of mackerel. With the live well full, we headed south to high point. On
arrival, we put out 3 small bait lures to catch bonito for livies. It did not
take long to get 2 small bonnies which I rigged up, one on surface and one
deep.
There was no wind, but the
current was probably the strongest I have ever seen it there. With both motors
a bit above in gear, we were going backwards at 7km per hour! This proved to be
a huge challenge, as there was almost no time to work the pinnacle.
Every 20
minutes, we would have to up lines and run back to the pinnacle and look for
another bonnie. When we had one, it went into the tube and we would run almost
a kilometre north to rig baits. We were then swept over the marks in seconds. It
took 2 attempts to get our timing right, but finally presented 2 baits over the
showing and went away on the deep bait. Unfortunately, the fish missed the
hooks and we got half the bait back. It looked like a knife had sliced it off.
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| Dewald with some sushi |
We put out the bait rods and
almost immediately went on with two small yellowfin which we bled and put on
ice. Again the lures were put out and the search continued. Things went dead
for a while but eventually we caught another 2 baits. They were rigged and
trolled over the numbers. The bait lasted a whole 5 minutes before the reel
smoked off. The lines were cleared and Christo took the rod. The fish went on a
sudden long run then came to a sudden halt and there was only a heavy weight
that could not be budged… obviously a conversion… Everyone took turns fighting
the shark and after 45 mins, we had drifted so far that it was not feasible to
waste any more time on it so we broke it off.
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| Christo fighting jaws |
The wind had picked up in the
past hour and now the difficult conditions were almost impossible so we
abandoned the cuda fishing and put out the marlin lures and trolled north,
hoping to make the run home shorter. After about an hour, I saw a strange shape
coming straight towards the prop wash from the port side. When it was a few
meters away, I saw that it was a mako shark. It stayed in the white water for a
while before fading off and launching itself at the left short lure, completely
missing it. Moments later, it exploded on the japan lure and the reel took off.
A few seconds later, the fish was off as it bit through the nylon leader.
The current was relentless and
after two hours, we had not made much head way so we decided to call it a day
and head back.
