Cape Vidal Jnr Comp

On the weekend of 25^th and 26^th May, Cape Vidal Ski-Boat club hosted their annual Cape Vidal Junior competition. The rules were simple… one fish per angler per day, biggest gamefish wins. Knowing there were some excellent skippers and anglers in the fleet, and it was their home water, we had to think outside the box if we wanted any chance at taking a prize. Because some of the juniors were still small, it was stated at the briefing that adults were allowed to assist them, especially when it came to their safety.

On Saturday 25^th May, Wayne, Lorenzo, Julio and I launched “Galavant”. The conditions were perfect… no swell, no wind, lots of bait. On the backline we caught a few livies. They were on the small side but would have to do. While we were drifting, I managed to catch 2 small bonnies which I kept alive for later use. Reports from the week before were that the fish were on the ledge but the current was flying at 4knots. This was going to be a problem similar to what I experienced the previous weekend.

18.6kg Amber

I suggested that we try to get a live bait down to the bottom as friends had been getting all their fish deep. With a big weight on the line, I let a bait down close to the bottom and quickly felt a strange bite. I waited for the rod to bend, but nothing. On closer inspection of the now dead bait, I saw that the bait had some rough sandpaper like marks on it… The next bait that went down had the exact same thing happen to it. This had to stop so I opted for one of the small live baits that we had, hoping that the fish would be able to get it into its mouth a bit easier. This worked like a treat and very quickly, we were hooked up to fish. It tussled a bit then started coming up easily we were pretty sure it was a bottomfish so we gave it to Lorenzo to bring in. With Wayne’s help, he brought the fish up and near the top, the line angled to the surface, just like a bottomfish. When it popped, something looked very strange… It was too long to be a bottomfish. When the leader was on the rod, we saw that it was a good size amberjack! We all scrambled for a gaff and managed to lift an 18kg fish into the boat!

36.7kg Amber

Our bait stocks were a bit low and the wind was picking up so we put on a few trolling lures and headed along the ledge and then shallower. It was very quiet but finally managed to get a strike that turned out to be a yellowfin of about 4kg. At 1pm it was lines up so we headed back to the beach for weigh-in. Out amber was the biggest fish for the day followed by two wahoo (12kg and 14kg).

Our plan seemed to have worked, so with the conditions for day 2 predicted to be a carbon copy of day 1, the game plan would stay unchanged… If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

On day 2 we were on the water bright and early, but the bait just refused to work with us. In an hour we only managed a handful of bait, but the fishing time was only until noon so that would have to do. Just to break the ice and get on the board, we trolled lures along the ledge until we found a bit of a showing that looked like gamefish. I changed up the spread and put out 2 lines.

Kaakap released

One on surface for a dorado and one down deep for hopefully another amberjack. The boat trolled slowly into the current but we were being swept backwards at 6km per hour! As soon as the showing started, the deep bait went away at an alarming speed. I had an idea that it was another AJ so I put the breaks on it in a big way. I was almost pulled overboard while Wayne sped forward to keep pace with it. Finally, it slowed down and started coming up. There were no more big runs, only a few head nods so Julio had a turn on the rod with Wayne’s assistance. In the next 20 minutes, Julio felt the burn and almost gave up, but stuck with it. When the leader came up, we were all dumbstruck at the size of the fish. I had never seen an amberjack that big before. Wayne gaffed it and needed some help lifting it overboard. It was a fish of a lifetime.

There was not much time to waste, so Wayne took us back to the top of the drift (which was a long was away) and I set up the baits again. This time we had a kaakap take the bait and after a quick fight Lorenze released his first kaakap. Wayne’s sister was on the boat for the day to take some pics and when we hooked another fish, we gave her the rod. About half way up, it was taxed by a shark and she brought the head of a potato bass to the boat. We could clearly see the zambie circling below waiting for the head.

30.3kg Amberjack

After that we managed a few bonito on the surface line before the deep line went away again. It was a similar fight to the first amberjack and when the fish settled, Lorenzo and Wayne managed to lift the fish to the surface. It was another huge amberjack, just a bit smaller than the first on. The fish was boated just in time for lines up so we could get to the beach just in time for weigh-in. The fish were a jaw dropping 36,7kg and 30,3kg respectively. Absolutely phenomenal fish.

Well done to Wayne and his boys on some amazing fish.