On Sunday 20th June, Terence and I launched
“ABF” out of Richards Bay. I had never caught a black musselcracker so it
seemed like the perfect time to target one. After catching a few livies, we
headed down south to a few numbers that I got from a friend.
It was the first time that I had anchored the little boat but it was all smooth sailing and everything
worked a treat. With
the anchor set, a cuda trapstick out the back and Scarborough in hand, I sent
down a live maasbanker. It didn’t take long and I had a pull, but it wasn’t the
target species. It was nice to get a decent soldier in the hatch though. The
next bait I sent down was a live shad. It was only down for a few minutes when
the rod bumped with a good bite. A short feed and I hooked up. There was some
weight and big head nods. I was pretty sure it was the right one. The fight was
short but memorable and when I saw that big number plate down deep, I felt like
a child opening a present on Christmas morning. Terence helped gaffed it and
loaded it into the boat. It was by no means a monster but I think its better
that way as smaller fish normally taste better than monsters.
It is such a great feeling when you target a
species and achieve success. I can remember my hands shaking for probably half
an hour after catching it, battling to pin another bait. Eventually we had
lines back in the water and the waiting continued. There seemed to be quite a
few fish around from radio reports so we were confident that we could get a
second fish. A while later, Terence put down a fresh slinger fillet and hardly
had time to settle when he went tight on a fish. It was also one of those out
the nursery and even though it was size, we decided to tag it and let it go.
That was the end of the day for us. I was super
stoked to have ticked off a bucket list fish.
