First garrick of 2019 season

On Sunday 4^th August, At, my Dad and I launched “Avanti” off Richards Bay. There had been reports of Garrick so we decided to give it a go.

We stopped at the pipeline and quickly caught a string of shad. Within minutes, half the fleet swamped us and the bait showing disappeared. After some time, we were alone again and the bait reappeared. We managed to get some beautiful bait, then headed up north. We wanted to get away from the crowds and hopefully find some cleaner water.

The further we ran, the better the water became and when we arrived at our spot, were greeted with a lovely rip packed with bait. I rigged up a few baits while At trolled along the backline. After about half an hour, the far livie went away. After a quick feed I hooked up to a fish and passed the rod to my Dad. He had not fished in a while, so he enjoyed the fight with our first Garrick of the season. When it was next to the boat, I grabbed the tail and popped a tag into it before a few pics were taken and it was released. What a great start.

The lines went out again and while I was letting out the last bait, it was eaten. I fed the fish and when I tightened up, the fish spat the bait. On closer inspection, the single hook had turned into the head of the bait. Just a bit unlucky… At turned over the same spot and almost on cue, the close bait was eaten. I fed the fish which ran quite fast before stopping. There was no tension on the line so I started winding. The line arched to the boat and the line came tight right next to the boat! The fish immediately surfaced and again spat the bait… the hook had turned again! Frustrating to say the least. Oh well…

Things went a bit quiet so at 11am we ran to another rip further north. The last line was just set when it went away. I fed the fish and hooked up. My Dad took the rod and had a hard fight with a really nice Garrick of around 12kg which was also released.

The next pull came soon after the lines were set, but unfortunately the fish didn’t swallow the bait and we were left with a mauled maasbanker. The marks did not look like a Garrick though. We had an idea of the species, but would never know for sure. A short while later, the close bait went away and after a short feed, we hooked up. Again, my Dad was on the rod and had a very stubborn fight with what turned out to be a kingfish (GT). I popped a tag into it and sent it on its way.

The wind had started picking up and the sea became choppy. We decided to head home before it got too uncomfortable.