On Saturday 25th
February at 6:00, At and I launched “Avanti” off Richards Bay. At wanted to
catch some bait for the upcoming Top 10 Species Tournament at Cape Vidal. We
stopped at the pipeline and found a good showing. Both of us went down with
jigs and came up with full strings of maasbanker which went into the live well.
The current was running strong so we drifted off the spot quickly. I took us
back to the numbers, but the shoal had moved so I sounded around to find
another showing. Every so often, there was a nice showing and we would get a
string of two. In about an hour, we had enough bait, but they were all
maasbanker. I suggested we go to the 45m marks to see if we could get some
mackerel.
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| At with some bycatch |
On arrival, there was a small
showing a bit off the bottom so At went down and quickly hooked a few baits. About
half way up. The rod keeled over as something ate the string of bait. While At
was rerigging, I took us back to the start of the drift. Being a bait fishing
session, we did not have any gamefish tackle or gaffs with us, so when I rigged
up a live maasbanker on a small spinning rod, I knew I was looking for trouble.
I passed the rod to At and he let the bait out while I sent down the jigs. Just
as At wanted to put the rod in the holder, the line flew off the reel. He fed
the fish for a bit then tightened up and went on to a strong fish. I cleared my
line and sat back to enjoy the show. The fish came in surprisingly easily so we
both thought it to be a bonito or small tuna. It had not taken any line and
soon we had colour under the boat. As the fish came closer, the shine got
bigger and bigger until we could make out the shape of a nice yellowfin. With
no gaff, I had some fun on the leader and eventually managed to grip the tail
and lift the fish aboard. It was a hefty 12 or so kg fish. A surprise to us
both. It was bled and put on ice. After a few more drifts without any more
bait, we headed back to the harbour.
