On Saturday 29th 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.
