We were on the Vidal beach at 6am on Sunday the
8th November 2020. After a bit of celebrations, the night before, we
were a bit sluggish to say the least. Luckily the launch was as easy as the day
before and we were through the surf in no time.
The live bait catching session was a carbon
copy of the day before and we struggled to get 15 baits. Eventually we had enough
to start fishing and it didn’t take long to get a few pulls. Unfortunately, we could
not do anything right and pulled hooks on 4 cuda in a row. This was getting a
bit out of hand and after a bumper day the previous day, we were having a tough
time.
 |
| 36.75kg Sailfish on 3kg line |
I had put my 3kg outfit a short distance behind
the flasher, rigged with a maasbanker on a circle hook, hoping for a sailfish.
Unfortunately, the previous day only resulted in dorries and this day, I only
had a cuda chop. At around 9:30, on the inward tack, Terence noticed the maasie
revving on rod tip. He sounded the alarm and I rushed to the rod just in case.
Just then, the reel started running so I freespooled a bit then tightened up.
There was some heavy weight and a few head nods. I had a pretty good idea of what
it was and sure enough, the line angled towards the surface and a good size
sailie went mental on the top. I slacked the drag and ran to the controls, rod
in hand, while Andre and Terry ran to the back and cleared lines. I got the
boat going after the fish which was not about to stop jumping. By the time it slowed
down, Terry was on the controls and Andre had the gaff at the ready. With the
fish on the top and a full compliment of crew, we closed the gap on the fish,
hoping that it would stay on top. All of a sudden, the double line came out the
water followed by the leader. I tipped the fish which then ducked under the
boat. I put the rod down deep under the motors and moved to the starboard side
where Terry could now see what was happening. He chased the fish in very tight
circles without any line coming off the reel. We inched closer and I managed to
get the leader on the rod. I wrapped it around my hand between the reel and
first eye, then heaved the fish closer. Andre made the gaff of the century and
stuck the fish perfectly in the head. We all grabbed the fish and lifted it aboard.
The fight took a whole 7 minutes! The result was a 36.75kg sailfish on 3kg tackle!
What a great fish. Awesome job to the crew!
The lines went back in and I had just
straightened out on the inward tack when the far line went away. At the same
time, a nice big sailie cleared the water but when it landed, the reel went
quiet. The hooks had pulled! Unlucky. Andre had just reset the far line when
the rod keeled over and he was on. The fish fought very strangely but came to
the boat easily. Only then did we see that it was a small cuda hooked in the
tail.
By now it was 11am and we knew there was a lot
of cleaning work to do so we headed home to weigh the fish and do all the required
admin work. Thanks for a great weekend guys!
