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.

A Flash in the pan. Some things just work.

This post is a bit different from all the others. Normally I just write about the basics of where we fished and what we caught. I decided to let you all in on a little secret that has been working for me for a few years now, especially for dorado and sailfish.

Years back, I had a few discussions with my spearo mates regarding the flashers that they used. There were many different configurations and theories about them but the basic concept worked … and worked well.

I decided to make my own flasher, but for ski-boat fishing, taking into consideration the pros and cons of diving flashers.

Since then, I have tweaked them to a point where I am really happy with their performance. So much so that I do not fish without them. I first made them public knowledge after a convincing win at the St Lucia 12x12 species comp. Dorado were not very easy to come by and every day we managed to get our numbers. Most were on the rod right next to the flasher.

Next up was the St Lucia Snoek Derby where the top performing teams were pulling them. There was then a request to make a smaller version for the snoek and it proved dynamite.

I then wanted to know how they operated from a diver’s point of view so I gave it to a mate on the south coast. His feed back was great. The flasher made no metallic noises, they had twice the action in the water and on the odd occasion, the fish would swim up and actually grab the flasher.

I then turned my focus to the smaller billfish. Heading to Morocco to fish for white marlin. Trolling at around 5 knots, I put out a flasher behind a trolling weight. It swam just below the surface so that we could see anything coming up behind it. I was pleased to see several fish raised by it. Granted, we did also have a dredge in the water and other teasers, but it was interesting to see how the fish would become more aggressive around the flasher than the straight running teasers.

Here at home in local waters, I trolled two flashers off the stern while pulling swimbaits for sailies. It worked a treat, not only for sails and dorries, but also for the small 20 to 40kg black marlin.

This December, I tried it while live baiting for marlin. We had a live bonito swimming on the starboard side and the flasher on the port stern cleat. I’m not sure if it brought the fish in, but we caught a black marlin for out efforts. What was interesting is that a big hammerhead came up to look at the 5 flasher blades before it spotted the lone bonnie. This gave us time rip the bait in and save it.

I have been lucky to play around with different methods to incorporate these flashers into my fishing and now use them when slow trolling for gamefish, on the surface and on the downrigger, when fishing for sailfish, off the riggers and in the small dredges I make and when drifting. They are surprisingly versatile and I will not be caught without them.

If anyone is interested in buying a set or two, drop me a comment with your email address and I can send you the prices.

Below are some of the many fish taken with the flashers.

Cat and mouse

 On Sunday 6^th September 2020 at just before 7am, Terence, Andre and I launched Terence’s “Marakas” off Cape Vidal. It was the first launch for the boat and with the surf being a bit unsettled, Terry asked me to take the boat through the surf. After a bit of bob and weave, we were behind the backline and looking for bait. We were lucky to get some really nice mackerel and maasbanker before heading north to Leven Point.

Bluefin Kingfish

About a kilometer south of the point I slacked off the speed and Andre and Terry put out four lures, hoping for a snoek, kingie or bonnie. The big swell made it difficult to get in close, but I managed a depth of around 6m. We had just gone through a nice rip when a reel went off. Terry took the strike and had a good tussle on the light gear with a beautiful bluefin kingfish which was released.

The lures went back out and I worked the area for a bit without any more luck so I headed north along the 12m line. Terry and I were discussing the area when a good showing appeared on the sounder. Moments later all four reels went away. One pulled hooks while in the holder, but the other three stayed tight and we managed to boat 3 shoal cuda. What a bargain! I had marked the spot so without wasting any time, we put out the lines. Just as the third rod was out, the showing started. Again, 3 rods went on with one pulling hook and two being boated. It was great to see the fish eating lures as it is much easier than rigging baits so I made another turn. Just as I was approaching the spot, a pod of dolphins pulled in front of us and the showing disappeared. I made several turns but the cuda had vanished.

Shoal size cuda

Hoping to find them a bit deeper, we changed over to live bait and slow trolled the area for a few hours without any pulls. We decided to make one last turn then go back to lures. As we were turning, I saw a splash and big swirl near the surface bait. There was a lot of slack in the line due to the turn so I ran back and cranked on the reel. The line came tight and the rod loaded up, followed by a few head nods. The fish went on a bit of a run so I passed the rod to Andre and helped Terry clear the lines before going back to the steering. The fish wasn’t doing much but when Andre put the drag to strike position, the were a few big head nods and the line angled to the surface where a nice sailfish climbed out. We knew it was going to be a tough fight… not only because of the light tackle and the 12kg leader, but we also noticed that the fish’s bill was broken so that would make it interesting around the boat

Over the next half an hour, we played a game of cat and mouse with the fish only jumping a few times, conserving its strength while it headed offshore. We had the fish in the “leader” several times before Terry could safely grab the bill, narrowly missing the hooks. We took a few pics then revived it before turning it loose.

Terry and Andre with a Sailie

With there not being much action, we decided to put on the lures again. I trolled over all my usual spots, but there was no action, so I turned to head home in the backline. We had just gone through a good looking area with lots of bait when the far lure went away. Terry took the strike and had a strong fight with an unknown customer. We were not making much headway in the fight and to make things worse, the pod of dolphin that had scared the cuda away, were back in town and heading our way. A few minutes later, the fight changed and we were now pulling against one of the dolphins that decided our fish was an easy meal. We had no chance at pulling the fish free from the dolphin’s grip and after putting max drag for a while, another dolphin swam into the line and parted it off.

With that, we called it a day and headed back to the beach to clean fish and have a cold beer. Thanks to Terry and Andre for a fun day on the water.