Friday, June 12, 2020

I'm free!!! First launch after lockdown.

Sunday 12th June Terence, Oom Andre and I launched “Marakas” out of Meerensee Boat Club. This was the maiden voyage for Terence’s new boat, a 17ft Yeld Cat, as well as out first launch after lockdown. The idea was to just take the boat for a spin and get some salt water on our skin. Just a general soul soother after being locked up.

We had heard that the live bait had been scarce so we caught a few razorbellies in the harbour before heading out to sea. We scratched around at the usual bait marks, but the water was terrible and there was zero showing. Terence took us North to look for better water but it was nowhere to be found so we headed deeper to the 50m ledge. There were a few birds and a bit warmer water, so we put out a few lures and tacked along the reef, adding new marks to the gps as we went.

After about 20 minutes, we caught a small frigate which went into the bait box without too much pomp and ceremony. Terence had just set the lines again when we went on again. This time it was a bit better fish and Oom Andre took up the fight. We were all surprised to see a dorado pop out the water. Not a common fish during the winter, but very welcome indeed. It gave us a bit of a runaround on the deck when it jumped off the gaff, but it was good to get some blood on the deck.

Apart from a few Albatross that grabbed the surface lure, we had no further action so we headed back to the harbour. There was a huge swell running, but the water around the pier looked good so we rigged up 2 livies and drifted around the point of the pier. It didn’t take long to get a pull but unfortunately the bait was ripped off the hook before I could tighten up.

No further inquiries for the day, so it was “Home James”.

Congrats on your boat Terry. I wish you calm seas and screaming reels.


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