On Saturday 9th July,
we launched Tyron Gruar’s “Kaskasi” off Mapelane. We were fishing in the
Mapelane Junior Interclub and I was the manager of the U/16 Richards Bay team.
Hannes and Gideon Steenkamp and TJ Jacobs were in the team. After a bit of a
wet launch, we headed for St Lucia swimming beach where we filled up on live
bait and then headed for the 50m ledge.
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| TJ with a nice Wahoo |
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| Gideon pulling a yellowfin |
There had been a lot of small
tuna around the previous week, so that was part of the game plan for the day.
We put out 3 large halcos, a small kona and a smaller rapala then trolled north
into the current. After about half an hour, we went on with a small yellowfin
which was quickly boated. I happened to look at one of the lures that we had
been pulling and saw some proper teeth marks on it. It must have happened in
the last few minutes, as the lure was brand new. Trolling commenced and every
half an hour or so we would get a pull from a small yellowfin. By the time we
were at the northern tip of the reef, we had 6 small tuna. We were only allowed
to weigh 3, so we needed to look for a different species. I suggested that we
run back to a mark that we trolled over earlier that had some good showings and
make a drift. Maybe for a cuda. Tyron came into the area and slacked off the
speed to look for the showing. In the meantime, I put out 2 halcos just in
case… As we were nearing the marks, the close lure went away at speed! Hannes
took the rod while TJ started retrieving the other far line. Almost
immediately, the rod was pulled flat and the reel smoked off as a second fish
grabbed the lure! Unfortunately, Hannes’ fish pulled hook while TJ fought his.
There were a few good smoking runs along the surface, leading us to believe
that the fish was a wahoo. Sure enough after about 20 minutes, I gaffed a really
nice one.
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| Richards Bay U/16 Day 1 |
Being a species comp, we needed
to look for another species to double the points. But even though we tried
really hard for a cuda, we never had another pull and headed back to the beach
at 2pm. The wahoo weighed 18kg and the small yellowfins were between 4 and 6kg.
Enough for 2
nd place for the day.
On Sunday 10
th, we
again headed to the livebait spot and caught some bait but didn’t want to spend
too much time as the day was shorter than the previous day. Again we headed to
the ledge to troll for the yellowfins. Relatively quickly, we got out 3
weighables but then had a shark tax a tax us and take the best halco with it.
We opted to look for another specie as the 3
yellowfins would not win us the comp. Tyron lined up the boat for a drift and
while he checked the GPS, we let out a livebait on surface. While still
freespooling, the reel took off and we went on to a better size yellowfin which
unfortunately pulled hook at the boat.
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| Day 2 Mapelane Junior Interclub |
With the drift line sorted, we ran to
the top of the reef and drifted back. Knowing there were a few bigger tuna
around, we put out a fluorocarbon rig with a livebait. While TJ was feeding it
out, it was picked up but after a short run came off. On closer inspection, the
flouro had been bitten off. Unlucky! We put on a piece of wire and made another
drift. This time it took a few minutes to get a pull and after tightening up,
the fish made a few good runs before it was at the boat where I gaffed a cuda.
Now the hatch looked better. Unfortunately after a few more drifts we only got
a shark.
At the weigh in, the 3 yellowfins
weighed between 4 and 5kg and the cuda went 12,6kg. There were a few other nice
fish that were weighed, and we ended up maintaining our 2nd place.
Thanks to everyone involved.
