Running on empty

On Saturday 3^rd 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

Making every bait count

the hooks were in the gills and it was bleeding profusely so we kept it. After this last strike, I rigged our last livie. We were now running on empty with the bait level, so I headed shallower to hopefully find a shoal of bait.

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.

2018 St Lucia 12 x 12 Species Tournament

On Thursday evening, 25^th October, I arrived at the St Lucia Ski-Boat Club for the briefing of the 12x12 species tournament. I was invited to fish by Ockie Theunissen and Zander on Ockie’s boat “Hannock”. This was the first time that I would be fishing this tournament and from who I saw at the briefing, there was some strong competition. The tournament rules stated that a team was only allowed to weigh in 5 fish of a species for the duration of the event. There were 12 target species. For each specie that was caught on the day, bonus points were awarded (12 pts for the 1^st specie, 24 pts for the 2^nd specie, 36 pts for the 3^rd specie etc.).

On Friday 26^th at 5:30, we launched for the first day’s fishing. The weather was great, but the water was cold and green with minimal current. This was going to be a difficult few days. Our first stop was to get livies which would be essential for some of the possible target species. While catching livies, I managed to get a small sarda-sarda which we would use for cuda. With the tank full, we headed to Big Hill and trolled lures around hoping for a tuna, dorado, wahoo or billfish. It didn’t take long to get a small yellowfin and a short while later another two. With a 5 fish limit, we could only catch 3 fish on day 1 and leave 1 for each other days to score the bonus points. With the tuna done for the day, we headed inshore to look for a cuda. We rigged a few livies and the small sarda-sarda and trolled around. I was designated skipper while Ockie and Zander would work the deck and catch the fish.

Some nice Dorado for team Hannock"

After trolling for what seemed forever, we managed to get a pull on the sarda. It turned out to be a bigger sarda that narrowly made the 3kg minimum weight for “Other tuna species”. That was great, 2 species down. I suggested we run a bit further south on the ledge and troll livies hoping for a dorado or billfish. Again, we trolled for a few hours with no success. Just before we started to lose hope, the far line went away with a dorado. We were super excited, but this changed quickly as the hooks pulled. We rerigged and set the lines hoping that we had come into a good area. To our delight, the close livie was eaten and Ockie fought a dorrie. It had a follower so I flicked a bait out and went on. Moments later, Ockie’s fish threw the hook so I passed him my rod and pinned another livie. As it hit the water, I went on. Zander gaffed Ockie’s fish then the next one too. Just when we thought it was over, we had another fish go tight but unbelievably, it also threw the hook.

That was the last action we had for the day and ended up with 3 species. At the end of day 1, we were in 2^nd position just ahead of “Fintastic” and closely behind “Wave Dancer” who had 4 species.

Ockie with a GT prior to release

On day 2, we were on the beach early and had an easy launch. We knew where the live bait was from the first day it only a few minutes to get a good supply. There were a few fish straight off the launch the previous day, so we made a quick drift with livies on Chisa but never had a pull. A few boats had found yellowfin on the deeper ledge, so we headed out trolling lures. As I passed over the ledge, two rods went on with yellowfin. We could only weigh one so released the smaller one. Trolling commenced, and we soon had 2 small bonnies in the livebait tubes that we would use a bit later. We made a deeper turn hoping for a wahoo or billfish but were rewarded with two skipjack. Unfortunately, one pulled hooks but the other made it to the scoreboard as a second specie. Knowing that we had found some dorado on the ledge, I ran back to the same area and put out the same spread as the day before with an addition of a fresh bonnie that we sent deep. We worked the ledge for about half an hour when the bonito was eaten. Ockie took the strike and put some big pressure on the fish. There were some good nods then it started coming up. I could mark it on the echo sounder, so I was pretty sure it was not a shark. Soon we could make out a big silver shape of a good kingfish. The rules dictated all kingfish needed to be measured, photographed and released so we sent it on its way.

We knew that was our joker species for the day and needed to capitalize on it so we persevered with the dorado search. We did have 4 big sharks eat the other 4 bonito that we rigged for kingfish, so Zander was a bit buggered going into the last hour of the day. We were pretty desperate and eventually I saw a flying fish jump out the water near the far bait. Moments later the rod bent and a dorado showed itself. There was a bit of panic around the boat, but we managed to gaff the fish! We only had a half hour left so we quickly reset. As luck would have it, the far bait went on almost immediately. It looked like a nice fish and it had a follower. Ockie pitched a bait and went on and at the same time, Zander’s fish pulled hooks! To our surprize, that same fish stayed on the surface and followed the hooked one, so I pitched it a bait and was dumbstruck when the fish turned and ate the bait. It just hung there hardly moving. We managed to gaff both fish just in time to hit the beach.

The coveted 12x12 trophy

At the weigh-in, we ended the day on top with 4 species followed closely by “Wave Dancer” and “Bizy Liz”. The last day was going to be hectic.

On Sunday 28^th, the tension in the air was palpable as the boats launched. We had a game plan and were going to stick to it. We needed to catch our banker species so after catching some livies, we ran to the ledge and put out some lures on the second turn we got a yellowfin, but it was under the minimum weight of 5kg so we tried a while longer without any luck. The water had turned green so we moved to stage 2 of the plan and made a few deep turns and found a shoal of skippies. The very first one we got was a weigher, but the next few were too small but at least we had 1 species. We ran back to the ledge trying for the tuna but aside from a pulled hook, we had no action. With the dirty water pushing out, there was a strong colour line in 100m. We had been working the edge with lures looking for a dorado or wahoo but didn’t have a touch. At one stage I saw a big flying fish launch itself out of the green water. This was the first sign of life that we had seen and was an indicator that there was a gamefish in the area. We immediately stopped and put out live baits. This time luck was on our side and within 20 minutes the close live bait went away with a dorado. There was a second fish with it, so Zander fed it a bait and hooked up. While I was clearing the other lines, the far livie went away. I hooked the fish then put the rod in the holder to gaff the other fish. After Ockie’s fish was gaffed, he took the third rod and loaded a beautiful 16kg dorado. We had 3 dorries in the boat of which we could only weigh one, but at least we had our second specie. 

2018 12x12 Winners - Team "Hannock"

Now we had to get a third to make sure we were safe. Going into the last hour of the comp, our nerves were shot. The wind was blowing a gale and the water was a terrible colour. Despite trying all the tricks, I could not find a yellowfin and at 1pm we called it a day, hoping that we had done enough.

At the prize giving that evening, the results were revealed. 3^rd was “Bizy Liz”, 2^nd was “Wave Dancer” and we had managed to clinch the win! Aside from that, we also took prizes for the top individual, biggest Kingfish, biggest dorado and biggest fish on day 2. Thanks go to Ockie and Zander for a great weekend with some good laughs and memories. Well done to St Lucia Ski-Boat Club for a top event!