The early bird gets the worm

On Saturday 2^nd March, At and I launched “ABF” off Cape Vidal. There was an Amatikulu competition on the go that we were not aware of, so the beach was very busy at launch time. We only managed to get onto the water at 7:30 and by that time, the bait had scattered making it really difficult. After almost 2 hours, we only had a handful of baits proving that the early bird gets the worm... We decided to go and fish with the bait we had.

We stopped at the greens and I put out 3 livies. At tacked between 18m and 30m and soon we had our first pull. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a big bonito which we released. I quickly replaced the bait and no sooner had we trolled through the current line, it went away what sounded like a cuda due to the speed of the run. Unfortunately, as it slowed down, the hooks pulled and it was back to the drawing board.

There seemed to be action on the 20m depth so we focussed out efforts there. Our next pull was also a big bonito, but it was hooked in the tail so it gave us a hard time around the boat. Eventually we managed to release it and while I was clearing the deck, I heard line running off a reel, but there was no ratchet on. I looked back and saw a rod buckling. We were on with another fish. It didn’t take long to get it to the boat and you guessed it… another big bonito. These fish were now a problem as they had eaten all our big baits and we were left with only scraps of small baits. I modified the traces a bit and put out 3 baits. Things were quiet for a while and after an hour, I saw the deep rod flick. I ran to the rod and freespooled the reel until the sinker hit the ground, then wound the line tight and hooked a fish. There was not much of a fight and when it was next to the boat, we were both surprised to see a cuda which At gaffed. The hook was in its throat after being fed for a while. We were glad to have our first fish on the boat. I reset the line and in the same area, the far surface bait went away. At fought the fish which was just a heavy weight after a relatively fast first run. I assumed it was another bonito, especially when I saw it coming to the boat tail first. Only when I was about to grab the tail did I see that it was in fact another cuda. The one treble hook had snagged it in the tail fin and it was DOA.

The next hour passed without a pull so we decided to up lines and head back before the main rush.

Cuda No-show

On Sunday 24^th February at 5:30am, Terrence and I launched “Boy Oh Buoy” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to catch our first ‘cuda for the year. Shortly after leaving the harbour, we stopped at the wave-rider buoy and caught a few maasbanker for live bait. With the hatch full, we headed south towards high-point.

After an hour run, we finally arrived. The water was green with a lot of plankton… not exactly great conditions… There were 3 other boats there but none had caught any fish yet. We put out a few small lures to catch bonito for live bait, but there were no takers. The showing on the sounder was really good so I suggested we stop trolling and put a live bait in the water. Terry had just put the bait out when he went tight. There were a few small head nods before the fish came to the surface. It was a green jobfish… great eating!

The second bait was in the water for a few minutes when something big grabbed it but cut us off in the rocks. After a quick re-rigging session, another livie went over the side. This time Terry caught a rosy jobfish. So far things were looking good but just like that, it went quiet and we went back to trolling some lures for bonito. After some time without success, we switched over to bait and put out 2 live maasbanker and a wala-wala. The problem was that the plankton was building up on the lines and made them very visible to the fish. After cleaning the lines a few times, the cuda were still a no-show so we gave it up as a bad job. On the bright side, the showing on the reef had returned so I suggested we abandon the cuda fishing idea and focus on a few bottomfish. We rigged up the heavy jigging rod and sent a bait down. As it hit the bottom, Terry hooked a really strong fish that had him pinned to the gunwale a few times before it came off the bottom. After some heavy pressure, the fish came to the surface. It was a beautiful GT of around 25kg (110cm) which we tagged and released. What a great fish.

We regrouped and headed back to the mark where I sent a bait down. It took a whole minute to get a pull and I too was pinned to the gunwale. Luckily the fight did not last too long and I soon had a 12kg kingfish (85cm) tagged and released. Our day was made, so anything else was a bonus.

The showing got thicker and thicker and soon the sounder could not read through it. I dropped a jig down on a small spinning rig and immediately went on with a bonito which went into the tube. Hoping to have some fun, I rigged it up and send it down. It didn’t take long for it to attract attention and was eaten. After a short feed, I locked up and tried to hold on. There were big nods and short runs before I started lifting it off the bottom. I had it halfway up before my arms started cramping so I passed the rod to Terry. He had just as much of a fight but finally had the fish next to the boat. It was a big potato bass of about 40kg. On closer inspection, we saw that there was a second hook and leader in its mouth… it was our leader that had been cut off in the rocks earlier that morning! It took some effort, but we finally managed to get the fish swimming and back down.

Some of the boats had left so we went back to the marks. I put the jig down and quickly had another bonito, followed by another. Both went into the tubes for later. While I was playing around with the bonito, Terrence put a bait down and caught another nice green jobfish. I suggested he rig up one of the bonito but was met with resistance following the stretched and cramping arms from the previous time so, I rigged it and sent it down. It took about 10 minutes before it was picked up, but just after hooking up, the nylon leader was bitten off by what I am sure was a shark.

By now it was 1pm and we had some filleting and boat washing to do so we upped lines and headed back to the harbour after a great day on the water.