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| 18kg wahoo |
At about 3:45pm we were about 2km
from the northern pinnacle, we put out 2 trolling lures to see if we could get
a tuna or bonito. There was one boat on the reef sitting right on top of the
pinnacle. We trolled as close as possible so that we could also work the
structure. As the lines went over the bump, both rods went off. Terence and I
took the rods and brought in two 5 kg yellowfins. The lines went out again as
Hansie made another turn. The lines had just straightened when I saw the far
rod get hit, but the fish missed. I ran to the rod and started winding the
reel. Almost instantly the rod buckled and the reel smoked off. The fish took
probably 100m on the first run and stayed on surface. I managed to get most of
the line back when the fish went on another smoking run on the surface, its
tail splashing as it went. Not long after, the fish was next to the boat where
Werner gaffed it. It was a good wahoo of 18kg. There seemed to be some action
on the lures and the other boat slow trolling had not had a pull so we opted to
continue trolling. I was busy putting out the second line when the first went
away with another yellowfin. Trolling north back up to the pinnacle, we had an
on/off and when we passed over the reef, the same rod smoked off. Werner took
the strike and had a strong fight with a nice fish but close to the boat, there
were a few big head shakes and the hook pulled. There were some new teeth marks
on the lure, so we were sure it was a wahoo. It was getting dark so we made one
more turn. Again the far lure went away with a smaller fish. This time the fish
was a really big Sarda (stripes bonito) of about 6kg.
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| Terence's 1st Cracker |
With the sun down, we sounded
around and threw the anchor. We fished for bottomfish for a while with very
little success so we moved a bit shallower. With the anchor set, we put down a
few baits. It was not long before Terence got a good 7kg Scotsman. Knowing that
there had been a few cracker around, we put down some bigger baits. There were a
lot of small fish around, but when they went quiet, we knew there was something
bigger down there. Terence got the pull on a whole squid and got bent over the
gunwale properly. The fish was very stubborn and made big head nods. Finally the
leader came up and the fish popped on the surface. It was a lovely fish of
24kg. a first for Terence. Well done
We fished for a while longer, but
the peckers and barble took over so we packed up and headed home after a great
trip.
