On Sunday 18th August, At and I
launched his jetski off Ponta Mamoli. I had never been on a jetski before, let
alone fished off one. It was going to be an experience. The surf was big due to
the previous days howling SW but there was a lull before the predicted NE.
Once through the surf, we headed up north and
when we were close to the area, we put out 2 speedpros and worked our way
north. There were a few splashes in front of us and when the lures were close,
both went on. This was going to be interesting! Both At and I fought strong
deep fighting fish that pulled the ski all over the show but eventually we
managed to land two big skipjack tuna.
With the ice broken, we trolled on. It wasn’t
too long before the close lure went away. I fought the fish and felt some very
quick head shakes. Both At and I were pretty confident that we knew what it
was. When it was next to the ski, we confirmed that it was indeed a shoal size
wahoo which was gaffed and loaded into the hatch. This jetski thing was quite
fun.
We trolled shallower over a few marks hoping to
catch a kaakap for supper. Almost on cue, the close lure went away with a small
kaakap. Moving north, there were a few bonnies on the surface. I dug in the
tackle box and all I could find was a white cuda duster which I rigged up on a
popping rod with a nylon leader. At trolled over his numbers and there was a
big showing almost to the surface. Unsurprisingly a reel went off. As I was
getting ready to take the rod, there was a splash out the back and the popping
rod keeled over and braid flew off the reel at an alarming rate. At took that
rod while I fought the fish on the other. In the chaos of spinning jetski and
smoking reels, my fish came off. At least we were still tight to the other one.
We had just started following it when something parted. On inspection, the
nylon trace had been sliced off. Talk about a hiding.
 |
| Not bad for a first time jetski trip |
I scrounged in the tackle box and cut up a
trace to use the last duster we had. I rigged it… with wire and put it out. We
made a few turns and after some time, finally managed to get a bonnie. The
tubes were not working so At held the bait in the water while I set the record
for fastest live bait trace ever made! With the bait rigged, At headed back to
the big showing. As we started seeing the reading, the reel smoked off. I took
my time with the fish and after a few good runs, At managed to gaff a short but fat 18kg
cuda. It was fun and games with the sharp teeth around your feet, but it found
its way into the hatch.
The bonnies had disappeared so we put out a few
dead mackerel and worked around. Soon the reel was smoking again and the ski
was being towed all over. This fish did the same as the previous one and the
result was another fat 17kg cuda.
The hatches were now pretty full but we had 2
more baits so At made another turn. I went on with a fish that fought like a
kaakap but right next to the ski, a big potatoe bass came up and grabbed it and
swam into its cave where I had to break it off. It was not the end of the world
because second bait had gone away as well and At managed to get a tasty kaakap.
With enough fish to feed the masses, we headed
home. It was a great experience and I will definitely try fishing on a ski
again.
