20 year reunion

On Saturday 12^th September 2020 at 5:30am, Uncle Louw and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. There was a bit of a weather window predicted for the morning but the NE was supposed to blow by 11am so we didn’t have much time to fish. The plan was to pull a few wire lines around for snoek and then drift back to the harbour with livies, looking for a Garrick.

On our way out the harbour mouth, I saw a few birds dipping. This normally indicates baitfish so I slowed down looking for the showing. It didn’t take long before I found a red cloud on the bottom. Uncle Louw went down with the sabikis and immediately went on with some bait. He lifted 2 nice shad and 3 maasbanker into the boat. Not a bad start. On the next few drop we were plagued by small seapike which I don’t regard as a great Garrick bait, so we released them. After about half an hour, without any more decent baits, I suggested we head north and start fishing.

Wirelining

I stopped in 8m of water next to a bit of a colour line and put out 2 wire lines with drones. Uncle Louw had never seen wire line, let alone fished with them. He was very skeptical but only 5 minutes later, we had a fish on. I grabbed the rod and winched in a snoek which immediately went on ice. Not a bad way to start. I made a few turns in the area without any more action, so I made a turn on the 12m ledge. Apart from a saladfish, it was quiet so we headed back to the shallows and as the lines went through the colour line, we went on with another snoek that Uncle Louw winched in. It seemed like he was starting to enjoy these wire lines.

In the next hour or so, we only caught one other snoek which was small enough to pass as a shad. The wind had also started to pick up so it was time to make a switch to live bait. We pulled into 4m of water and I put out 3 livies on the light spinning rods. The wind pushed the boat south at just the right speed, so we were very comfortable with the

Fishing the backline

situation. Unfortunately, there was very little action. No baitfish or chases anywhere. I suggested that we give it until 11am then we pack up, giving us 30mins left of fishing. There was a big rip just in front of us and the baits were about half way through it when the close surface bait revved like hell. Moments later, the clip released and line ran off the reel. I fed it for a while then tightened up. The rod loaded up and I was on to what I hoped was a Garrick. I passed the rod to Uncle Louw and cleared the other lines in anticipation of the bun fight around the boat. The fish headed out to sea which is not very characteristic of a Garrick, but when it

Uncle Louw's garrick

came to the surface and thrashed around, it was obviously that it was indeed a Garrick. The fish gave us a good rev around the boat, as they normally do. The 6kg line also added to the fun. It was only then that it dawned on me that the last Garrick that Uncle Louw had caught was probably more than 20 years prior. After a great fight, the fish was boated, much to our relief.

With the target species acquired, we packed up and headed home with the strong NE at our backs. Back at the club, we were informed that it was the last weekend of the Garrick comp and that not one fish had been entered yet. Unfortunately, we had not entered the comp so it was our bad luck. Be that as it may, we were happy with our results for the day.