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.