On Friday 24th January 2020, my Dad,
brother-in-law Dan and I launched “ABF” off Vidal. It was the first time Dan
had been to see so I was hoping to get anything for him to catch.
We started off by filling the live well with
mackerel and maasbanker before heading north to Oscar where, after making 2
drifts, only missed one fish that pulled the hook. There was not much else
around so we headed further north to Leven point. Speaking to the other skippers,
it seemed like it was pretty slow so I headed deeper to the dropoff to try for
an amberjack. Unfortunately, most of the fish we hooked were taxed by the
sharks, but at least Dan was getting used to the feel of fighting a fish.
I headed in shallower, put out a few livies and
trolled along the 10 to 12m line. It didn’t take long to get a pull and Dan had
the chance to fight his first cuda. Near the boat, it swam around the deep line
which I had to cut to prevent a burn off. While hauling in the bait, the line
went heavy as a fish grabbed the bait. It was quite a struggle holding on to
10kg handline with a feisty fish. I managed to get the fish right to the boat
but it went on a run and a big potato bass grabbed it, resulting in a few deep
line cuts. I held on, but the line eventually popped. Dan in the meanwhile had
his fish next to the boat where my Dad gaffed it. Finally the ice was broken.
We made another pass over the mark and sure enough went on with another small
cuda.
We were all happy with the 2 cuda and could
take it easy for a bit. In the next hour we missed 2 more cuda and released 2
kaakap. Not wanting to have a long day, we put on a few lures and headed home, managing
to get a 2kg bonnies to end off the day. All in all it was a great day, great
weather and a few fish.
