On Saturday 6th
October at 5:30, Hansie, Tjaart, Buffel, Iwan and I launched "Mitsu-fishi" off
Richards Bay. There had been a few dorado and marlin around, so we decided to
give it a try.
 |
| Iwan's Sailfish |
We headed up North and set the
lures in a depth of around 80m. The water was only 23 degrees and had a green
tint to it. We slowly worked north along the drop-off. There were a few birds
around and the odd flying fish, so we were hopeful that we would find
something. At about 8am, I saw a movement behind the right short, but was not
100% sure that I was seeing what I was seeing so I didn’t raise the alarm.
Moments later, the rigger popped and the reel started running. There was a bit
of weight to the fish and from what I thought I had seen, I was 100% sure it
was a billfish. The line angled towards the surface and a big sailfish stuck
its head out the water and thrashed about. We cleared the lines and put 9 year
old Iwan in the chair. This was the first time he had ever been in a fighting
chair but he did an exceptional job right from the beginning. After a few jumps
and a few runs, Iwan had the fish on the leader and just like that, Iwan had
caught his first billfish!
 |
| Double up on dorries |
The lines went out and trolling
commenced. We followed the drop-off and in about 250m, the right long rigger
popped. The fish pulled line off at a constant pace and so we cleared the
lines. The lure I was retrieving was halfway back to the boat when it was also
eaten. Immediately a nice dorado cleared the surface. I left the rod in the
gunwale and let Iwan wind it in while his dad was in the chair with the other
fish which we had not seen yet. I gaffed Iwan’s 13kg dorado and put it in the
hatch while Buffel brought his fish in. It was also a good 17kg dorado which
was also boated.
That was all the action that we
had for the morning. Later that day while heading home, two dorado chased the
lures down but never connected.
