On Saturday 3rd
November, Tjaard and I went up to Cape Vidal for the day. There had been
reports of a lot of dorado around, so we made sure we were there as early as we
could. When we drove onto the beach, we saw that the launching conditions were
terrible. Probably the worst I had ever seen at Vidal. Several crews were
waiting to launch and only after an hour or so did the conditions improve to
the point where we could get close to the water.
Eventually at about 7:30 we were
on the backline and started looking for bait. There were large shoals
everywhere, but they were proving a bit difficult to catch. After some time, we
had a few baits to start fishing with. We headed south and at the beacon we
came across a nice current line in 25m. I put out 3 livies and worked the area.
It did not take long before I spotted a dorado swimming behind the boat. I
brought the close bait in a bit and from nowhere another fish charged in and
grabbed it. I hooked up and passed the rod to Tjaard before bringing another
bait. This bait was also quickly eaten, and I hooked up. The first one was at
the boat, so I put the rod I was holding in the holder and gaffed the fish.
Tjaard then finished the fight with fish number two. Not a bad start.
I rerigged and made a shallower
turn. There were a few dolphins around and soon they started eating out
precious livies. After having 2 baits stolen, I suggested we move away from the
area to preserve our limited bait stocks. We ran about a kilometre south and
set the lines. Just as we had the last line out, the far bait went tight with
another dorado. While Tjaard was fighting this one, I hooked another fish close
the boat. They were not the biggest fish which meant they came in quickly and
we could reset the lines. I was about to make a turn to head shallower when the
far line went away. When I tightened up, the line went down deep, a sure
indication that it was a tuna. This hard fighting fish gave Tjaard a good run around
before I could gaff and bleed it. Seared tuna steaks … check!
There were definitely a few fish
in the one small area, so I doubled back on my tracks and sure enough we hooked
up to yet another dorado. This one was very small, but
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| Making every bait count |
While moving shallower, the wind changed
to SE and it was like someone threw a switch. For about 2 hours, none of the
boats had any action. This gave me some time to prospect the shallows. In about
15m, I saw a bit of a showing. As I dropped the jigs, the close livie went away
and we hooked up to another dorado. Tjaard took the rod while I tried to get
some live bait. The showing was getting better and better. On each drop, I
caught a mix of mackerel and maasbanker and soon had enough bait to last a
week. At the same time, Tjaard had the dorado at the boat where I gaffed it.
The tide was turning in an hour’s
time. I didn’t want to beach on the high tide, so I suggested we head out to
the deeper water for the last 2 hours before we head back. On the tide change, there
were a few sailfish hooked and I was hoping that we would also get a chance at
one. Just before the ledge, a movement caught my eye. As I turned, I saw a
sailfish free jumping next to the boat. At one stage I thought it was going to
end up in the boat. Unfortunately, despite making a few turns in the area, we
did not get a pull. At 2pm we upped lines and headed back to the beach with 6
dorado and a yellowfin.
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