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.
