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.

Dropping off crew

On Sunday 7^th August, we launched “Avanti” off Richards Bay. We had a few of At’s friends on the boat looking for a Garrick. Knowing there was not much bait on the pipe, we opted to look on the shallow reefs near the nets and within 20 minutes, we had a hatch full of shad. The guys needed to leave for Pretoria at 11am, so it was going to be a short session. 

We headed to 5 mile and ducked into the backline. I rigged up 3 lines and At trolled through the rips. It took about half an hour for our first pull. I fed and hooked up the fish which ran straight into the backline. I handed off the rod and was busy clearing the other lines when the 40 lbs leader parted. Bad luck. We were back at square one. About an hour later, on the deep side of a nice rip, the short surface bait went away. Again I hooked up and passed the rod over. The fish didn’t do to much and was quickly next to the boat. I grabbed the tail and lifted it into the bot where it was tagged and released.

At made another turn while I let the new baits out. On almost the same spot, we went away again. This time the fish put on a better fight and took some time for me to get hold of the tail. This fish was also tagged after a few quick pics, then released. We had high hopes for another fish, but by 10:30, the had been no more action and we had to head back to drop the guys off.

It was still early, the weather was great and we had some bait left, so we decided to fish into the afternoon. We made the short run to the south pier and I had just set the last line when the first one went away. I passed the rod to Hendry who hooked up onto a shoal size Garrick. It gave him a good rev on the spinning rod and finally I managed to tail the fish and get a tag into it. Trolling continued, but it had gone quiet. 

The wind had picked up a lot and we were battling to maintain position so we headed to the north pier to give it a few minutes. Just before 4pm, the deep bait went away. Hendry fed and hooked up a good sized fish that gave him a nice fight before I could leader it. After tagging it, it was released and we called it a day.