On 13th January 2019, Hansie and
I launched “ABF” off Vidal. There had been reports of a few fish there so we
were keen to see what our first launch of 2019 would produce. After a bit of a
wet entry, we stopped on the backline and started looking for some bait. There
were big shoals of slender scads on the surface but they were very skittish and
very difficult to catch. After about an hour, we had a suitable amount in the
bait well. The forecast was for the NE to blow later in the day and there were
a lot of boats on the point so I took a gamble and headed north to the greens.
After a short run, we stopped at
vegetation. I went about rigging up 4 livies, 2 on surface and 2 deep. There
was a current line on 32m and another on 22m so we tacked between them looking
for a fish. We had just passed through the deeper one when the far surface bait
went away. I fed the fish a bit before hooking up. Way out the back, a dorado
bounced around. I handed the rod to Hansie who brought the fish in relatively
quickly. When it was next to the boat, we saw that there were a few small followers.
I has a 1kg rig onboard with a live bait already pinned so, I pitched the bait
to them. Within seconds, the smallest fish grabbed the bait. After a short
feed, I hooked up. The fish ran a bit then settled but, the original fish was
now causing a problem as the lines were very close together and the other 2
trolling lines were also still out. After a bit of fancy footwork, the lines
were cleared and both fish were in the boat.
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| A Personal Best prodigal son |
We had drifted quite a distance
while fighting the fish so we ran back to where we found the fish. I was busy
putting out the second line when a dorado grabbed it. I fed it a bit and then
hooked up. Hansie took the rod and soon had a nice bull dorado in the hatch. I
rerigged and managed to get all the lines out. We tacked into the shallow
current line and just started turning when the mid water bait went away. It was
not a fast fish so we had an idea of what it might be… The line angle surfaced
and the fish made a big wake on the surface. Hansie closed the gap on it and soon
I had the fish on the leader. A short while later, Hansie gaffed a nice
prodigal son… my personal best of about 13kg. This is not a fish I have caught
many of so it was great to get one.
Soon after the prodigal, on the
same current line, the same rod went on. Hansie fought a nice dorado to the
boat but it made a dive under the boat and the hooks pulled. Not the end of the
world. The mid water bait seemed to be hot and just we had turned to head
shallower, it went away again. This time it was a faster run and we were not
too surprised when a cuda came alongside. There seemed to be a quick flurry of
cuda pulls just as the NE started blowing and in a short time we had 3 pulls
but only managed to get 1 more in the boat. At 12 o clock, we packed up and
headed home after having a great day.
