Date with a Daga

On Saturday 29^th July at 3pm, Hansie and I Launched off Richards Bay. There was a stiff NE blowing so we had a bit of a bumpy ride up to groenkop. We put out a few rapalas and trolled the area hoping to get a pull. After a while, the close rapala went away and I managed to get a small snoek. Trolling continued but there was no further action.

We headed a bit south and deeper to a reef in 24m to check if we could catch a few small salmon that had been coming out. On our first drift, Hansie caught a few small rockcod and soldiers. There were however a lot of small fish pecking the bait. With a good showing, we decided to put the anchor down and see if we could get some better fish. Once the anchor had set, we went about bottom fishing but the small fish were relentless. At one stage Hansie came up with a small mackerel that got snagged on one of the big hooks. Immediately I pulled in the bottom rod and went down with a few old jigs. Before they hit the bottom I was on and brought up 3 mackerel and a maasbanker. After another two successful downs, I handed Hansie the rod and rigged up a new sabiki on a second rod and went down. It was absolutely ridiculous how much bait there was. Operation bottomfish very quickly changed to operation bait fishing and soon the live well and coolerbox were filled with mackerel.

I was busy bringing up a string of bait when one was converted about half way up. I picked up Hansie’s bottom rod and pinned two livies on the small hooked bottom trace, sent it half way down and put it into the rod holder. I did the same with my bottom rod, but sent it to the bottom. The sun went down and the baitfish went off the bite on the bottom so I put the bait rod away. Things were strangely quiet but we were hopeful that the bait would have attracted some fish. Hansie had just lifted his bait to check when I noticed my rod keel over into the water. I struggled to get the rod out the holder and in that time, the line jumped off the back of the reel and wrapped around the shaft of the KP. Luckily the fish didn’t make any sudden moves and I could spin the reel backwards and sort out the mess. When I tightened back up again, the fish was luckily still there. I was pulled flat to the gunwale and tried to get the fish under control. There were big head nods and strong, short runs. All the time I was worried about the small hooks I had on the trace, so didn’t over pressure the fish. Eventually, the fish began to tire and I could bring it to the boat. It was a good size daga salmon, probably 25kg or more. My first in probably three years! The hook that it was on had all but opened, so it was just lucky that I got it out.

I rerigged the rod with a big single hook and pinned another livie, hoping for a cracker. Hansie in the meanwhile had rigged up his bottom trace with two big dead baits hoping for a rockcod. His bait was not down too long when he hooked a nice fish. It gave him a bit of a go before he could get it to the surface. It was a lovely catface rockcod. One of the biggest I had seen in a long time. It was just over 800mm long so about 6kg. Hans was pretty chuffed with himself and quickly sent another bait down. This time the bait soaked for a while before he hooked up… and boy was it a proper fish. Hans was also pinned to the gunwale under heavy pressure! I decided to lift my line and watch the fight from a safe distance, offering moral support and running commentary. After a few laps around the boat, the fish was close enough to see what it was. A big old skate came to the top, whipping its tail about furiously. I grabbed the leader and cut it off, narrowly missing a lashing as it took off.

I put on a fresh live bait and went down while Hans caught his breath. The rod was in the holder again while I checked on the livies. I happened to glance at the rod and again saw it keel over with the weight of a fish. I grabbed the rod and managed to keep the line under control as it made a run. It felt like another daga so I gave the rod to Hansie who had by now recuperated. The fish gave a great account of itself before I could gaff another good daga of over 20kg.

I was still hoping for a cracker so rigged another bait. Hans was still keen on getting that big rockcod so went down with another big dead bait. It was about 10minutes before he jammed a fish that had big head nods in the beginning, but then started making slow strong runs. I again lifted my line and watched the fight. Eventually the fish was close and the tell tail big bubble popped the surface. It was no surprise when a big raggie came to the surface. I reached over and cut it off as close as I could and it swam off.

Things went very quiet after the shark and the wind had dropped totally. To the south, we could see the predicted SW cloud bank building, so we pulled the anchor and headed back home after a great evening’s fishing.