Checking new boxes

On Sunday 13^th June 2021 at 6:30am, Dave, Dale and I launched off of Wellington point. We headed across the bay, in what felt like sub zero temperatures, towards Amity Point. There was a bit of a swell, so crossing the bar was not as easy as my pervious trip, but we managed to get through without any issues.

We were hoping to catch a few end of season Spanish mackerel, so we stopped at a spot where Dale had caught live bait previously. It took some sounding around before I found the showing, but when I did, Dale and Dave both managed a few full strings of mackerel (slimies) and maasbanker (yakka).

We did not have a live well on the boat, so a coolerbox was filled with water to keep them going. It was a bit of a mission adding fresh water to the box, but it was part of the game.

We headed out to Sevens reef and rigged up 3 livies, two down deep and one on the surface. I rigged the surface bait on my trusty KP reel so I had to hold the rod while trolling.

The current was ripping north to south and there was a lot of slime in the water… never a great sign. Luckily the mackerel could handle the extra speed we needed to gain ground against the current and work the reef. After not seeing much on our first pass over the reef, Dale made a turn to approach from a different angle. We were in mid-turn when there was a splash on the surface where my livie should have been. Moments later I felt the weight on the line and I went tight with a fish. It didn’t take much line, so we kept the other lines out while I brought the fish in between the other lines. I could feel the continuous thumps in the rod indicating that it was a tuna species. A short while later, I had the fish at the boat where Dale gaffed my first Long Tail Tuna. Not a big fish by any stretch of the imagination, but a tick box none the less.

1st Longtail Tuna

With a fish in the boat, the monkey was off our back and we could relax a bit. Some of the baits were dying so we only had a limited number of mackerel left. We put on a fresh round of bait and made another turn. There was a bit of a showing on the bottom followed a short while later by a pull on the surface bait. The fish dropped the bait so I free spooled it back and went tight. This fish took a bit better run so we were hoping it was a Mackie, but those tell tail thumps on the rod suggested otherwise. It was with disappointment that we saw a big bonnie (mackerel tuna) next to the boat. It was unceremoniously released.

The rest of the morning was dead quiet so we opted to put out a few rapalas an troll around, just covering ground. We had gone a few hundred meters when the far lure went away with a smallish fish. Dave brought it in and just before we could see it, it went on a short erratic run followed by big head shakes, then just a heavy weight. It had been converted. We fought the shark for a while before breaking off.

The rest of the day was very quiet so we headed home at around 1pm. Thanks to Dave and Dale for a great day on the water a good laughs around the washbay.

Moreton Bay Tuna Hat Trick

On Saturday the 17^th April at 11am, Henk, Carl and I launched Henk’s boat out of Moreton Bay, Brisbane. This was the first launch I had made since I immigrated to Australia in March. The plan was to just have a bit of a look around the bay and see if there were any interesting spots.

Henk knew the area and stopped at a few marker beacons in the bay. I opted for a set of sabikis, Carl was casting a small spoon and Henk had a soft plastic. We caught a few small snapper and yellowtail scads (I don’t have a clue what the local names are yet) before moving towards Amity point on the northern point of North Stradbroke Island. The weather was beautiful, and there was basically zero swell, so Henk suggested we head to sea through “The Bar”. It’s the gap between the Moreton Island and Stradbroke where you need to weave your way through the sandbanks and breaking surf. Similar to the gap between Benguerra Island and Magaruque. It can get really dicey when the tide is running out.

With the flat sea, it was an easy crossing. We stopped on an old ship wreck on one of the sandbanks but despite our efforts with lures and live baits, we didn’t get any pulls so we headed south to a well-known pinnacle. There were great showings, but they were mainly small goatfish and some weird little fish that I had not seen before. After a while we decided to pull a few rappies around and we had not gone 50m when a reel went off. I took the rod and managed to get my first Aussie yellowfin which we bled and put in the hatch for sushi. With no more action on the we trolled deeper to another big pinnacle. As the structure started climbing, there was a big midwater showing on the sounder. Just then a reel went off with what turned out to be a big kawakawa. I made another turn and the surface lure went on. Carl caught a small skippie which we released. Its not often that you get 3 tuna species in a day, so I thought it was pretty good. I continued making turns around the spot and we had continuous action from skippies and another yellowfin. At 4:30 we called it and made the 60min run back to the boat ramp.

I am really looking forward to “ABF” arriving. There seems to be some potential in the area and it will just take some time to figure out what’s going on.

Thanks to Henk for that great day out.

Weehoos

On Saturday 6^th February 2021 at 7am, Wayne, Willis, Dereck, Rian and I launched “Galavant” off Cape Vidal. It was just a boys weekend to get away a bit, so there were no plans nor expectations of catching anything too spectacular. Besides, an Easterly wind was predicted for the day and that normally means poor catches.

We stopped off on the bait marks to look for some livies. There were big showings but they were not eating the clean sabikis. Luckily, we had brought some sardines with and after tipping the hooks with small pieces, we started catching a few. The shoal soon came up from the bottom and were just under the boat. I started chumming a bit and they went wild. At one stage, they were eating the sardine I was holding in my hands. The gopro footage is very cool. After fishing in this aquarium for a bit, we headed up north to Vegetation and put out a few baits. It was very quiet but as the day went on, we started getting a few pulls. Unfortunately, the fish were not hooking up and by 11am we only had one 10kg tuna on the boat from 7 pulls. 

We decided to make a move and head deeper to see if there was an amberjack on the drop-off. Rian and I sent down livies and I managed to get a proper pull. The fish had me pinned to the gunwale for a bit until I managed to gain a few meters and get its head up. Rian took over the rod and felt some heavy pressure as he heaved the fish off the rocks. It was a long way to the surface and eventually a beautiful tropical yellowtail came up. It was Rian’s first and nothing could wipe the smile off his face.

Rian with a weehoo

The next drop resulted in another hookup with a good fish that gave Willis a strong tussle. There were big head nods and some strong runs thrown in… the fish fought too. Unfortunately, halfway up, there was a heavy weight followed by a freight train run that couldn’t be stopped. Just then, the leader was bitten through by what we assume was a taxman. There was not much more action after that and just when we were about to pack up, a mate of mine called to say they had found a net a short distance away. We headed in that direction and on arrival there were a few dorado to meet us. I changed the rigs to a short nylon leader and a single hook with a livie pinned through the nose. We slow trolled these just behind the flasher and managed to get 3 quick dorries. When we came close to the net, Rian cast a bucktail and went on with a small fish that looked like a sarda sarda.

Dereck's weehoo

When it was in the boat, we couldn’t believe what it was. It was the smallest wahoo any of us had ever
seen… a real weehoo. We took turns casting at the net and managed to release 3 weehoo and lost about 5. While this was going on, the far line went away. I fed it and hooked up then passed the rod to Rian. The fish made a hell of a run on the surface and we could just make out the dark shape before it sounded. It showed no sign of stopping and after about 150m straight down, it settled into that slow rod thumping fight. About 20 minutes into the fight on a heavy drag, with the fish about 50m down, there were a few head nods followed by another hectic run. Unfortunately, Rian was too slow to ease the drag and the line parted near the fish. It was a bit disappointing, but that’s how it goes. We spent a bit more time around the net but didn’t have any more success so headed back to the beach.

In all it was a great day with a lot of laughs.

Always have a contingency plan

 At 6am on Saturday 30^th January 2021, Pierre and I launched “Avanti” off Cape Vidal. The aim of the day was to fish for the black marlin record on 15kg line. I had been targeting it for some time now but the fish we had caught thus far were all too small, so the search continued.

The forecast for the day was a very light SW turning East by 11am, basically a glass-off. We both knew how difficult it was to catch live bait in these conditions, so I had packed in my heavy spinning rod, just in case.

After an easier than normal launch, Pierre topped on the bait spot behind the backline. In no time, he had about 15 maasies in the livewell. Our contingency plan was now ready so we moved north to Oscar to look for a tuna. We trolled small lures around and around, but there was nothing happening. Pierre made a shallower turn and in 30m we went on with 2 frigate tuna… not the strongest baits, but better than nothing. We headed for deeper water where I rigged the one friggie on the 30lbs outfit. The water was 27 degrees and midnight blue. There was also no current which made our job of keeping a weak bait alive even more difficult. Trolling deeper over the 100m mark, we noticed that there were a few interesting showings near the bottom… definitely something to investigate later if things went quiet. 

After about an hour, the friggie succumbed to the warm water and we were back on the troll looking for another bait. As we passed over the 50m ledge, the far line went off with a bait. I cleared the lines while Pierre brought it in. Just when I was getting ready to grab it, there was a big commotion on the surface as a marlin came in and grabbed the skippy. Pierre fed it a bit then tightened up. The fish took a bit of line so I followed it with the boat. Moments later, it rocketed out the water about two meters into the air then went greyhounding away. I managed to keep up with it until it sounded, so it was not too far away. When it came up again, it was out of breath, so Pierre got the leader on the rod. Pierre passed mem the rod so that he could put gloves on. Just then it sounded again and I was left with a stubborn fish that had gone deep. After 20 minutes of back breaking vertical tug o war, Pierre grabbed the leader, removed the hook, revived it and released it. What a bonus! At least we caught our target species on the line class we wanted … albeit not according to our plan.

After a quick and well deserved cooldrink, we set the bait lures again but after 2 hours we had no pulls. I suggested we put plan b into action and drop a few livies on the deep marks, hoping to get either a sarda sarda which we could swim for bait or something more substantial. I rigged up the spinning rod with a live bait trace and put on a 10m sinker line with a 20oz weight. The biggest maasie was pinned and Pierre was ready to go. I stopped on top of a decent showing and Pierre let the bait go. It was on the bottom for only a few moments when it was eaten. Unfortunately, the fish pulled hook after a short run so Pierre had a long retrieve with an empty hook. It was my turn to make a down and decided to go big or go home. I rigged up one of the frigates that were in the hatch and when Pierre gave me the thumbs up, I sent it down. To make the bait look a bit more enticing, I wound it up a few meters then dropped it to the bottom, basically jigging the bait up and down. Less than a minute went by when there was a hard thump on the rod and a heavy pull. I fed some line then tightened up. There was something on, but it seemed to be swimming up as there was some slack line. I thought it was either a shark or possibly a marlin but after gaining about 10m of braid, the fish turned and the pressure came on in a huge way. I was pinned to the gunwale and held the spool to try and stop whatever it was from getting any line. My palm was on fire, but eventually it stopped and I could lift the rod. I gained a good few meters before there were big head nods and the second run began. It was back to the fetal position on the gunwale holding on for dear life, expecting to feel that pop at any moment. 

A once in a lifetime AJ

The run stopped and immediately I was on the attack and pulled as hard as I can ever remember (which is probably not that impressive anymore considering my back condition and the fact that there was no bucket on board). The runs were now only a few meters at a time and I had it probably 30m off the bottom. I could feel it was getting weaker, but just then my adrenalin wore off and I was feeling the pain. I tagged out with Pierre, hoping he could do the hard grunt and wind the fish to the surface. I put on my back brace and took a few minutes to recoop. Just then, Pierre said that he was tagging me back in as he was also hurting. I took the rod again and went back to putting max pressure on. Every turn of the reel, the fish came easier and easier. I could feel it coming to the top as almost a dead weight. Looking over the side, there was a huge light blue shape rising fast. Only then did we notice it was air bubbles that came from the fish at it was popping. The line angled to the surface as the fish came closer. Just then we got a visual of it. The size of it suggested it was a big potatoe bass or something to that effect, but then we saw that massive head break the surface and we were both blown away at the size! It was an enormous Amberjack. I brought it alongside where Pierre gaffed it. It took both of us to lift it over the gunwale and only then did we see how big it really was. I put a tape measure on it and it was 1510mm long but had a massive girth (probably due to the air). The estimate was at around 40kg but we would have to wait to find out.

When the dust had settled, we went back to the spot and put the second frigate down. Unfortunately, we had no further takers and decided to troll lures back to the launch. As we went over the pinnacle at Oscar, 3 reels went off with skipjacks. One pulled hooks, but we managed to rig up the other two. Just like that we were live baiting for marlin on 30lbs again. We headed out deeper and at 95m the rigger revves and popped. Just then a big hammerhead surfaced behind us. Pierre gunned the motor while I wound like hell hoping to miss the shark but alas, the hook found a mark and I was tight on a big shark on light line. I knew it could take us a long time to get it close, so I put the drag to 8kg and pulled like there was no tomorrow. After about 25 minutes, the leader came out the water where Pierre cut the leader. The other skippy was still swimming, so we transferred it to the 30lb rod and continued trolling. Unfortunately, the warm water and lack of current took its toll and the bait died an hour later. With that we headed back to the beach. Luckily, I had my calibrated scale with me (anticipating the marlin capture) so we could get an accurate weight on the amber. It eventually weighed in at 44.8kg. An absolute beast.

Thanks a million to Pierre for a really memorable day on the water. I will never forget it and I’m sure we will still tell the story over a few times.

Stop! Hammer time.

On 9^th January 2021, George and Geraldine Breedt and myself launched “Cyclone” off St Lucia. We were targeting a ladies SA record Black Marlin on 30lbs tackle. There had been the odd fish around so hopefully we would get lucky.

29.1 degree water

We started off running far north near Big Hill area where we put out a few small bait lures. George trolled around the pinnacles but even though there were great showings, nothing was biting. The water was a beautiful dark blue colour, current was ripping at over 3 knots but the water temp was an unreal 29 degrees! This normally makes the fish lethargic so we had our doubts.

Friends of ours caught a small tuna a bit south of us so we headed in that direction. It wasn’t 15 minutes and we went on with a frigate tuna and a small skippy. I rigged the skippy immediately and by the time I got to rigging the frigate, it was dead. At least we had one good bait swimming.

The tide change was at 12:00 so we had a long wait before then so we nursed the skippy for 3 hours in the bath water temp water. We had just gone into the “prime time” when the bait started swimming strangely. It went deep for the first time and the rigger showed very erratic movements. This passed after a few minutes and all returned to normal. Just then, George looked back and saw a marlin swimming just behind the boat. It was just a black colour with no lights on. No matter how much we tried to tease the fish into feeding, it just faded off never to be seen again.

After an hour, the skippy succumbed to the warm water. We spent some time looking for bait, but with no success so we headed home to regroup.

Looking for a bait

On Sunday 10^th January, we were back on the water. It was a similar plan of action but only at 8:45 did we manage to find bait. It was again a skippy, but this time it was a plus size bait of about 6kg. It swam beautifully as we headed out to sea. The water temp was only 27.5 degrees this day and there were heavy dead plankton lines from the previous days hot water. The current had also dropped to almost nothing.

Our bait swam for about 2 hours when it revved and the rigger popped. While feeding some drop back, the reel never took off, do we suspected a false strike. I started retrieving the line by hand while Geraldine manned the reel. The bait was about half way back to the boat when the line was ripped out of my hands and the reel smoked off in free spool. Geraldine fed the fish for a bit then tightened up. The line went straight down and stayed there. The rod was transferred into the standup harness and the fight began. The fish came in pretty easily and soon the leader was out the water. I wrapped it a few times and pulled a decent size hammerhead shark alongside where the leader was cut.

It was the first time that Geraldine had fought a fish on standup gear and she caught her biggest fish. The next time will be a lot easier.

The SW wind started blowing after that, so we headed back to St Lucia.

Too close to call!

On Sunday the 3^rd January 2021, At and I launched “Avanti” for our first trip of the year. The forecast was for a light SW wind dropping to nothing. We had an idea that the gamefish would switch off so decided to target that illusive 30Lbs black marlin record.

We headed off to Oscar pinnacle to look for a live bait, but after an hour without any luck, we headed north along the 50m ledge. We were just being lulled into that lazy state, listening to the drone of the motors when two reels went away with skipjack tuna. One pulled hook but the other managed to find its way into the tuna tube.

We were in a good area, so I rigged it up on a 12/0 j-hook and let it out about 20m. It was a relatively big bait for 15kg line, and a single #32 runner band was almost too light to hold it. The problem was that If I put on 2 bands, there was a chance of popping the main line if they didn’t release. I made a plan with 2 rigger clips and ran two single bands to each clip so that one would take the load and pop easily but the backup one would hold the bait long enough to prevent a premature release of the line.

At angled the boat out to sea at an angle that kept the bait happy and soon there was a rev on the rigger. The release clips worked brilliantly and I could feed the line back after the strike. As this was going on, we saw the dorsal fin of a hammerhead behind the boat. Immediately I tightened up and luckily managed to rip the head of the bait away from it without hooking it. With a messed-up bait, we put out the bait rods and headed back to the ledge.

Wahoo breakfast

We were extremely lucky as no sooner had we crossed over the reef, two rods went on with skippys. One was in the gills and was DOA while the other I quickly rigged up and put the line in the rigger while At took us deeper out to sea. The wind had now dropped to nothing but there was a swell from the east that would make out shallow tack a bit of a problem. We turned at 250m and had some issues with the bait wanting to die, but after nursing it a bit, it came right and swam well again. In about 200m, there was a shoal of frigate tuna on the surface. Hoping to intercept, I let a small feather out about 100m and when they were in range, I retrieved it. I went on almost straight away. After bobbing and weaving through live bait and drop back, I managed to get the bait in the tube while I quickly rigged up a rod with a leader. A quick rig and we had 2 baits swimming behind us.

The surge caused by the swell took a toll on the friggie and soon it was shuddering on the surface. I tried to revive it a bit and just when I thought it was coming right, there was a long flash behind it and a cloud of blood… one wahoo attack! I immediately freespooled what was left of the bait and had another bump but it was all she wrote and I retrieved the head and shaved leader. Back to
one bait.

1 hour into the fight

There was absolutely no current, so due to the very small inward angle we were heading, we made a lot of ground going north so we were now off halfway in 130m of water… the same depth that the hammer had eaten us earlier. When the rigger revved, I ran to the back and pulled the line out the clip, holding it to feel what was happening. 

Black Marlin on 30lbs

The bait kicked wildly then there was a hell of a weight and I let go fearing the line would break. I fed the fish quite a bit as it was a big bait and when the reel was really going, At gunned the motor and I tightened up the drag and wound like hell. Everything came tight and line flew off the reel so At slowed down to reduce the amount of line in the water. The line was going down deep, so we were already thinking that it was a shark. I donned the harness and noticed the line angle coming up. In the distance there was a big splash as a marlin showed itself. It was far away, but looked marginal to beat the current record… but it was a long way from being caught. At backed down on the fish and I picked up most of the line before it sounded. Luckily for us it decided to swim shallower and all we could do was follow. An hour in, surfaced and greyhounded for about 100m with us in chase. On the last jump, the bait went flying but the hook had luckily set. The fish had now changed direction and headed deeper. It had no real pattern, probably due to the lack of current. I went up to 6kg on the drag and this made the world of difference. The fish shook its head more and surfaced a few times to where the double was out the water. All the time we tried to judge the size, but it was too close to call so we decided to take a chance and gaff it. 

After 2 hours and 15 minutes, the leader came up and onto the reel. I locked up the drag and muscled the fish closer. With the boat on autopilot, At took the leader and wrapped it a bit. I slacked the drag, grabbed the gaff that was lying ready and stuck the fish. There was some white water, but the fish was pretty tired. We loaded it and started the run back home where we made a make shift gantry in a tree. It was with great disappointment what the scale confirmed our suspicions … the fish was 113.2kg… only 5kg shy of the current record.

It was still a fantastic 7:1 fish on the light tackle and what a great experience. I will remember that fish for a long time.