Fishing Log

Champion Swimmer

2012-02-04T13:49:00.000+02:00

On Saturday 4th February 2012, Carl and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. There had been very few fish around, but we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and put to sea.

We headed for the pipeline and scratched for livies. Finally after about an hour, we found a few nice maasies. With bait in the livewell, we headed north to the kasteel. When we arrived, the current was screaming. Carl took the steering while I put out 5 bait rods, looking for marlin bait.

In 15 minutes, we had hardly made headway against the current so we pulled up the lines and headed about a kilometre north and reset the lines. I slowly crossed over the pinnacles on the ledge without any luck. I looked around and caught sight of two or three turns dipping along a current line about 200m shallower. I headed over to them and saw a few skipjack tuna smashing some bait. As we came close, they sounded but came up again in the same place after we had passed over them. I then set the centre line further back ... about 100m ... and made a turn. This time the skippies stayed on the surface as I passed them. Seconds later the closest line was taken and Carl took the strike. I cleared most of the lines and put on the livebait tube. Carl had the 3kg skippie next to the boat where I grabbed it by the tail, unhooked it and transferred it to the tube. Carl retrieved the remaining lines while I headed deeper at speed. In 70m I rigged the skippie on a 12/0 Mustad Sea Demon on 400lbs trace and let it out about 20m. I trolled to 550m and then shallower to 100m. The bait was exceptionally strong and swam like a champion.

I zigzagged deeper and shallower while the current pushed us back at 6km per hour! By 13:30 we were already south of the harbour and the wind had started picking up so we decided to call it a day. We retrieved the skippie and cut it loose to swim another day.

Starry Starry Night

2012-01-21T13:44:00.001+02:00

On the afternoon of Saturday 21st January 2012, Hansie, Divan, Chris and I launched “Mitsufishi” off Richards Bay to try broadbill fishing for the night. We left the harbour at 16:30 and headed north. There was a relatively big swell and a 10 know NE wind. The forecast was that the wind would drop and the sea would settle.

When we reached the 200m contour, Hansie slacked off the speed to assess the conditions. There was still a bit of daylight left so we put out 5 marlin lures and trolled north. While we trolled, I set about rigging the baits for the night. At 18:20 I was half way done with the first bait when Hansie shouted “Marlyn!”. This was followed by the crack of an elastic band and a short burst from the reel. The fish had missed the lure. Divan put another elastic on and as he was attaching it to the clip, the line was ripped from his hands. The reel ran for a bit but then stopped. By then we had all seen the fish and it looked to be a small striped marlin. We scanned the spread to see if the fish was still around. As luck would have it, the fish came up on the left long but picked up the leader on strike. After a few seconds, the lure slid off the bill and that was the end of it.

I continued rigging the baits and just before the light was gone, we cleared the lures and set the broadbill spread. I had a big squid on the downrigger about 100ft down and then another squid on the surface off the right rigger. On the left rigger was a small superchugger with a stripbait. Everything looked good as the darkness surrounded us. The wind settled to nothing and the sea flattened so much that every star reflected off the surface. Beautiful.

We slow trolled between 200m and 550m for the whole night without a single touch. The only thing that kept us busy were the flashing squid, phosphorescence and the odd shooting star.

Father and sons

2011-12-28T20:19:00.006+02:00

On 28^th December 2011, Frans and his two sons, Hein and Ettienne, joined Phillip and I on “Stephe”. Hein had never caught a marlin and we were hoping that today would be his lucky day. We put to sea at about 6am and headed south. In 50m we started putting out the spread when “Proximo” called us to say they just had a marlin strike in 100m, just ahead of us. Phillip headed in that direction while Frans and I set the lines. We had 3 lines out when Frans shouted that there was a fish in the spread. Seconds later the left long popped and the reel ran. The fish was on for a few seconds then pulled hook... We quickly reset the spread and made a turn. As we straightened out, the right long came down and we were hooked up! Hein took to the chair and we cleared lines in a hurry. I transferred the rod and clipped him into the harness. In the meantime, the fish was jumping a fair distance away. Once everything was settled, Hein worked the fish to the boat like a pro. I took the leader and then tagged a nice striped marlin. Way to go! Well done! After a few quick photos, it was turned loose... not bad for 6:45am!

Frans and I set the spread and Phillip worked the area. Not long after, we had another fish come up and swat the left long but did not connect. Slowly we worked south to Diepgat and at 8:45am, on our second turn, the left short popped and the reel took off. We cleared the lines and Ettienne took the strike. The fish had only jumped once so we did not get a good look at it. 15mins later I took hold of the leader on a +-80kg Blue Marlin. After a few photos, we tagged and released the healthy fish.

The lures were back in the water in a flash and as the last drag was set, I saw a fish on the right short. It missed the lure the first time then connected on the second attempt. It ripped off a lot of line and made a commotion on the surface in the distance. While we cleared the deck, Frans took to the chair. The fish went deep and gave Frans a good workout before I took the leader. The fish angled to the surface and when it came into view, we were surprised by the sight of a +- 100kg mako shark... Not what we were expecting. After a few tense moments on the leader, we managed to get the hooks out of the spinning fish and set it free without damage to fish or crew.

Again the lines went out and Phillip worked the area. At 11am, we were busy watching a boat in front of hookup to a marlin when our right long rigger popped and the reel smoked off! While clearing the lines, the fish greyhounded out the back in spectacular fashion. Once settled, Frans took the rod and slowly but surely brought the fish closer. I took the leader and brought the fish closer. It was a good Blue Marlin of around 130 to 150kg. The hooks were only just wrapped around the bill and came off very easily resulting in the fish swimming away strongly... unreal! Father and both sons had each released a marlin before midday!

Needless to say, the lined went back in quickly but the weather turned for the worse and so we headed back to the beach by 1:30pm. Thanks to Phillip, Frans and the boys for a great few days at Sodwana. It will be one to remember.

Black Magic

2011-12-26T19:16:00.005+02:00

On 26^th December 2011, Phillip, Corrie and Llewellyn (from Sea Queen fame) and I boarded Lappies Labuschagne’s “Black Magic” and put to sea off Sodwana. The water was an off blue and there was little current. The wind was a light NE.

We put out a spread of lures and Lappies trolled south towards Diep Gat. The morning was uneventful in fishing terms, but with Oom Llewellyn’s quirky sense of humour and classic jokes, we enjoyed every minute of the day. After several hours we only had a few half hearted chases from dorado. Several boats had reported hook-ups in the 600-700m depth and so we focussed our attention on this depth.

At about 1pm, the left long rigger came down and a very small fish thrashed on the surface. We could not decide what the fish was but treated it as s billfish. Corrie took the strike and very quickly had the fish near the boat. The identification varied from spearfish to stripey to baby blue marlin. Only when Phillip took the trace, did we positively id the fish as a very small blue marlin. Because it was still full of energy, it gave us a good run around at the boat and after several spectacular jumps, the fish was tagged and released ... all captured on my GoPro camera.

That was the last of the action we had for the day and headed back to the beach. Thanks to Lappies and crew for a great day.

Non-jumpers

2011-12-18T15:44:00.000+02:00

Early on Sunday 18th December, Hannes, Manie and I left Richards Bay and headed to Cape Vidal. We were going to fish for the day and then leave the boat there for a few days. We finally arrived on the beach at 6:30 where we met up with the rest of the crew, Wayne and Mark. After an uneventful launch, we quickly looked for some maasbanker on the point, but found only a few seapike. We then headed to Oscar pinnacle to look for live bait for marlin.

The sea was beautiful. The surface was like oil and the clarity was like gin... conditions that you you REALLY battle for bait. We put out several halcos and feathers and worked the area for a few hour. At about 10am, we finally managed to get a small kawa-kawa. We rigged it and put it out in 60m of water. The wind was slowly picking up but still very fishable.

In 120m, the rigger popped and I fed the fish. We hooked up and the fish stripped quite a lot of line before slowing down, allowing us to gain control. About 25 minutes later, a big hammerhead shark came into view. I traces it and just before I could cut the leader, the shark bit us off.

There were now a few white horses on the surface and things looked lively. We put bait rods out again to look for bait. It took about 20 minutes before we had a double strike on kawas. We managed to get one, but it was hooked in the gills and died after pulling it for a while. Back to the bait rods... this time, it took all of 3 minutes to get bait. Again, this one was in the gills so we did not even waste time rigging it.

We managed to get another kawa-kawa a few minutes later but it was also badly hooked. We decided to rig it and see how it swam. After pulling it for a few minutes it began flashing on the surface. We slowed down and that seemed to help the situation. Not long after, the rigger popped. We hooked up and settled into a strong fight. The line stayed deep for most of the fight, but finally angled up to the surface. We could just make out the shape of a big shark cruising on top. Wayne fought the fish to the boat where I leadered a +-250kg tiger shark. After a quick photo, we cut the trace and it swam off. After that we headed for the beach.

More dorado...

2011-12-17T15:19:00.004+02:00

On Friday 16^th December 2011, Michael, Hannes and I launched “Lihann” off Richards Bay. The sea was very unsettled but we managed to get out to 500m. We put out a basic spread of lures and worked an area that looked promising. About an hour later, we managed to hook a dorado of about 9kg which found its way into the hatch.

A few hours without a strike, we made a shallow turn and were rewarded with a nice wahoo of about 12kg. We persevered until 2pm without another touch before upping lines and heading home.

The next day, we launched again. The conditions were picture perfect. Flat seas, no wind, good current. Everything looked promising. We trolled between the many boats but failed to raise a fish. At about 11am, we caught a dorado followed shortly after by another. The day was rounded off with one more dorado before we upped lines.

With wings...

2011-12-11T15:00:00.001+02:00

On Sunday 11^th December 2011 at about 6:30am, my Dad, At and I launched “AVANTI” at Vidal. After earning our wings in the surf, we stopped on the backline to catch a few maasbanker, just in case. After getting a few, we put out the marlin lures and headed north.

There was no action and by noon, we decided to head back to the point. In 350m, At saw a single white bird dipping on the surface. He turned towards it and moments later a nice dorado came charging in and ate the left long lure. After a quick fight, with some good jumps next to the boat, I brought in a 14kg bull dorado which At gaffed. We trolled to the backline without any other action, but still a great day.

A bit big for bait...

2011-12-10T11:32:00.000+02:00

On Saturday 10^th December 2011, my Dad, At, Hubert, Mike and I launched “AVANTI” at Cape Vidal. We were going to try marlin fishing and hopefully get Mike his first fish... ever! After negotiating the surf, we stopped on the backline to look for some small livies, just in case we found a few dorado. 20 mins later we had about 15 livies and headed for Oscar where we trolled halcos around looking for a small tuna. About 30 minutes later, we caught a 2kg bonito and put it in the Luna tube. We continued trolling and had 3 missed strikes. On our last turn, the long rod went off and Hubert took the strike. The fish took a lot of line and then went deep. Hubert battled the fish for close on 20 minutes before I put the gaff in. It was a beautiful yellowfin tuna of 24,9kg! Not bad on a bait stick.

After that we put out 5 konas and worked the 200 – 500m contours. Apart from a dorado that chased the lure but did not eat, it was quiet. At about 2pm, in front of the point, I saw a good size marlin come up and grab the short corner lure. It took a bit of line then pulled hooks. A few seconds later, it exploded on the Japan. It took some line then stuck its head out the water shaking violently. It was on for a few seconds then unfortunately pulled off. At made a turn and the long rigger came down. It was a dorado but it too pulled hook after a few jumps. At made another turn and again the long rigger came down. It was another dorado. Mike took the rod and after some coaching, brought a nice 11kg dorado to the boat ... not bad for his first ever fish.

That was the last of the action we had for the day so we headed for the beach and a cold drink.

Big Blue on Baby Blue

2011-11-27T11:51:00.001+02:00

On Sunday 27th November 2011, Phillip Marx and I launched his 21ft Yeld “Stephe” off Sodwana. Phillip had a few friends from Russia visiting him for a few days and so decided to take them for a day’s marlin fishing. The weather could not be more perfect. There was not a swell in the bay and I am sure we could have reversed through! Just passed the backline, Phil and I put out 5 lines with a variety of lures. The flat sea gave them an amazing action and we were sure something was going to happen.

We trolled around for a while and came across a patch of flying fish and skipjack tuna. We worked the area for a bit but only had a big dorado charge the left short before fading away. After the bait went down, we headed deeper and at 600m, the left long lure was eaten. I just saw a splash and silver flank as the fish turned. The fish slowly took line and after the other lines were clear, Phil slowed down. Both of us assumed it was a dorado or wahoo but as it came closer, we saw it was a shortbill spearfish! Classic! I lifted it out of the water for a few quick photos then tagged and released the beautiful fish.

Trolling continued and at about 11am, the centre rigger with the Baby Blue lure popped. Immediately Phillip and I started clearing lines and as we looked back, a huge blue marlin stuck its head and shoulders out the water. The reel ran for a few seconds then stopped as the hooks pulled! Unlucky! It was the biggest marlin that Phillip or I had ever seen. One of those that will haunt you for a long long time. We worked the area for an hour or so but only produced a dorado of 10kg or so. The Russians were feeling a bit queasy and so we trolled to the point. In 50m, the centre rigger popped and the reel smoked off. A +-90kg marlin jumped out the back as we frantically cleared the lines. The angler was settled in the chair with the fish still slowly pulling line when for no reason, the hooks fell out! Guess it was just not our lucky day.

Thanks to Phillip for a great day. I will remember it for years to come.

Dorado Lockjaw

2011-11-26T11:50:00.001+02:00

On Saturday 26th November 2011, Brent and Richardo (7 years old) Goncalves and I launched Brents “Majazane” off Sodwana. We had been there for the week for the Billfish Nationals, but bad weather had blown us off the water for all but 1 day. We decided to stay for the weekend and make the most of it. This was the first day we had seen the sun in a week!

We headed north, pulling a few high speed lures. Apart from one wahoo that chased the lure, clearing the water a few times but missing the lure, there was no action. Bret suggested we move to Diepgat where they had previously fished successfully. After a quick run, the drift baits went out. About 10 minutes later, the redeye on the surface went away with a nice dorado. It gave Brent a good go on 6kg line before I gaffed the fish. Nice! A few minutes later, 2 other dorado cruised into range around the boat, but despite all out efforts, they would not eat. I assume it was the cold water (21 degrees). The baits went out again several minutes later the other surface bait was taken by another dorado. Again, Brent had fun on 6kg and tussled for about 20mins before I could gaff. We were at the end of the drift and upped lines. Richardo was not feeling well, so we decided to troll high speed lures to the point and drop him off. About half way back, the close lure was eaten and a nice dorado took to the air. While Brent fought the fish, I tried to get the 2 followers to eat. Brent put the rod with the hooked dorado in the holder and joined in to get a second. These other fish also had lockjaw and lost interest after a few minutes. Brent brought the hooked fish to the boat and before I could gaff it, it ducked under the boat and broke off... that’s what happens when you are greedy I guess.

After dropping Richardo off, we headed to a shallow reef off the point where we caught a small kaakap (green jobfish). That was the last action that we had for the day. Thanks to Brent and Richardo for a great day on the water.

Trio of Dorado

2011-11-12T11:57:00.003+02:00

On Saturday 12th November at 6am, my brother-in-law Carl and I launched “Selfish” out of Richards Bay. There was a moderate NE wind blowing but it was predicted to swing SW by 11am. The plan was to look for a bonito of tuna and pull it for marlin. The current would push us south and by then, the wind would be SW and we could come back with it ... sounded good.

We headed to the pipe line where we stopped to look for some livies. After battling for 20mins or so, I found a shoal of maasies and Carl caught a few strings for bait before we headed out to small high point. While we were running there, the water temp dropped to 22,4 degrees and the colour was green. We were about 1km from the pinnacle when the temp shot up to 23 and the water colour improved dramatically. It was still not blue, but it was a lot better that shallower.
There was already another boat there and they had not had a pull yet... not good news. We set 5 bait rods with small lures, one of which was an iland Saillure. I trolled around the pinnacle without a pull so decided to work south zigzagging the ledge as I went. I found a nice bump on the ledge so made a turn and as I straightened out, Carl saw a splash on the Ilander. The rod buckled and the reel took off. Carl took the rod, hoping it was a bait. A few seconds later, the water erupted and a nice dorado cleared the surface. I cleared the deck and Carl brought the fish within gaff range where I helped it into the hatch ... nice ... fresh fish for supper!

We reset the line and pulled for about an hour without a pull. I suggested we change to bigger lures and go deeper to find clean water. After a quick change, 5 lures were smoking behind us. At about 450m, the temperature was 24,2 degrees but still a clean green. I tacked shallower and in 90m found a nice current line and half a degree temperature change. I trolled along this line heading back north. About half an hour later, the port rigger popped and the 80lbs reel ran a bit. It was a nice bull dorado. Carl brought it closer where we saw that it had a follower with it. I quickly grabbed a spinning rod rigged with a treble and nylon trace. A live maasie was hooked through the nose and flicked overboard.... Coconut! The second dorado swallowed the bait and turned to join the first when I set the hook. It took off jumping. I put the rod in the holder and gaffed Carls fish before continuing the fight. Not long after, Carl gaffed a nice dorado for me.

That was all the action we had for the day and headed back as the SW started picking up. At the club, the fish weighed 9, 12 and 12,4kg. In all, it was a great day.

Bitter Sweet

2011-11-05T13:23:00.000+02:00

On 5th November at 6:30am, Ray, Andrew and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to find one of the elusive marlin that had been seen over the last few weeks. We stopped at the pipeline to look for bait but could only find one lost shad so I headed north to the ledge where we managed to find some mackerel and maasbankers. We then headed to the castle where we put out 3 bait rods and 2 big marlin lures. The water was a clean green and 23 degrees.
After trolling for about half an hour, we had a double strike on the bait lures. I cleared the other rods while Ray and Andrew fought the fish. Andrew had his fish next to the boat first. It was a 4kg yellowfin. Unfortunately it was hooked deep so we bled it for sushi. Ray brought his fish in and I grabbed it by the tail, lifting it into the boat.
I rigged the yellowfin on a 20/0 circle hook and 400Lbs trace before letting it out behind the boat. We headed deeper and the water colour and temp improved. There were a number of flying fish around and things looked good. In 200m, the water was blue and the temp over 24 degrees when Andrew shouted “There is something!”. I looked back to see the rigger clip pulling far back. There was a huge splash out the back of the boat as something tried to eat the yellowfin. Next thing there was just slack line, before the rigger could even open. I could not understand what was going on. There was another big splash out the back and from the foam, the yellowfin came torpedoing out the water, probably 3m in the air. As it landed, there was another ball of white water. This carried on for probably a minute with the yellowfin clearing the water about 10 times to get away from whatever was trying to eat it. The line would pull tight then go slack as the pursuit went on for what seemed like forever. We were not sure who to back in the chase, the petrified yellowfin fleeing for its life ... or the as yet unknown predator trying its damndest to catch something to eat. I was standing on the back hatch to try and get a glimpse of what it was when I saw an electric blue shape pass through the foam and spray, followed by a dorsal and tailfin of a big Make shark. We decided to let the mako catch the bait so that we could try catch it. Unfortunately, seconds later, in a final chase, the mako picked up the leader, biting us off before the line could take tension. A bitter sweet of note!
We looked for another bait for close on 2 hours without success so opted to fish for gamefish with the live mackerel. These were drifted in 150m on the colour change, hoping for a dorado. Unfortunately, this was not to be and the day ended without any more action.

The long wait is over...

2011-10-29T10:09:00.000+02:00

On 29^th October 2011, Riaan Charmers, Wayne Ritchie, Jacques, Divan and I launched Riaan’s 27ft Butt Cat “Predator” off Richards Bay. We had not been on the water in weeks and we were all looking forward to an eventful day. The weather looked promising with a light SW swinging to NE in the afternoon.

We headed up north to Groenkop where the guys had caught some snoek the previous few days. We trolled small lures for about half an hour before upping lines and running for the deep. We had the big guns with us and put out a spread of marlin lures looking for our first billfish of the season. The water was a cold 22.7 degrees, but at least the water was blue. We headed out to sea hoping to find warm water and something that would indicate where to concentrate our efforts. The temperature stayed about the same all the way to 1100m with it reaching a max of 22.9degrees... Not exactly ideal.

There was nothing that tweaked our interest so we headed shallower. In 450m, we found a slight current line with the odd bird nearby. I zigzagged the line a few times and started seeing flotsam. In this same area, we found a few flying fish. This was the most activity we found so far. About an hour later, we had a pair of dorado come into the spread and managed to hook one of them up. Riaan fought the fish to the boat where Divan gaffed our first Dorado of the season. A fish of around 11kg ... Finally some action. We worked the area for a while without any more action. At 2pm We turned for the harbour. In 100m, Jacques saw movement on the japan lure on the centre rigger. As I looked up, I saw a small billfish chasing it down. Moments later, there was a big splash and the rigger popped. The reel gave a short burst but then went silent. I tried teasing the fish, but to no avail. I assume the cold water resulted in the fish not being aggressive and so it just swatted at the lure before moving on. Oh well, at least we saw our first billfish for the season.

We headed back to the harbour where we had some electrical issues. After manhandling the boat onto the trailer, we found the problem to be a faulty battery. It was a really great day on the water and a good sign of things to come...

All quiet on the fishing front

2011-10-11T13:24:00.002+02:00

The past few weekends have been terrible in terms of weather and no fishing has taken place.

There have been a few daga salmon caught in the week by anglers fishing at night. The garrick have slowed and only the odd one is coming out.

So far, there have been 3 blue marlin and 1 shortbill spearfish caught by the guys fishing for billfish, the biggest being a 175kg blue caught on Friday. Several billfish have been lost. The conditions are very unpredicatble with blue water close in one day and cold green water as far as you can go the next. The only constant factor is the bait. There are alot of bonito around and have been for the past month or so.

Hopefully the conditions will improve and remain stable enough to get out there and fish.

I will keep you updated.

Patience Pays Off

2011-09-03T15:39:00.001+02:00

On Saturday 3^rd August 2011, Ray and I launched “Selfish” for a day’s Garrick fishing. There had been quite a few coming out and we wanted to get into some of the action. The weather forecast did not look too great for the morning, but the prediction was for a beautiful afternoon. We were on the water at 7:30am and went straight to one of the buoys in the harbour to look for bait. As we stopped, it started to rain ... NOT AYOBA! We battled for about an hour before we decided to go to the pipeline and look there for some.

After a bumpy and wet ride, we arrived and send down sabikis. Before Ray and I hit the bottom, we were on. We both lifted full strings of maasbankers into the boat. Maasbankers are not my favourite bait, but beggars can’t be choosers. Drift after drift we caught maasbankers. Every now and again, there was a shad in the mix. It was a bit of a mission but at least there were a few shad around. I moved a bit and found some nice pinky’s, but it was shad I was after so I returned to the maasbankers to persevere. On the second drift, there was a strange showing about 5-10m from the surface. Ray and I lifted the jigs into that depth and both went on instantly. We lifted 2 strings of beautiful size shad into the boat! We went down again and the same story ... patience finally paid off! Within 15 minutes, we had enough shad for the day and headed back to the south pier.

I rigged 4 baits, 3 on surface and 1 deep and slowly trolled near the pier. The water was an off green and the changing tide was making it worse... at least the rain had stopped. We had trolled for a few minutes when the far bait was taken. I fed the fish but nothing happened. After a while, the line picked up and ran off the reel. I gave it time and then set the hook. It turned out to be a small Garrick of just over 6kg. The lines went back in and I worked the same area. About half an hour later, the same rod had a pull. I fed the fish and hooked up. It took very little line and came to the boat quickly. I traced the fish and lifted it into the boat by the tail. If it was not a competition, I would have released it. At least we were on the board. The rest of the day produced no further strikes and at 4pm we upped lines and went home.

First Garrick of the 2011 season

2011-08-20T09:05:00.003+02:00

On Saturday 20^th August 2011, my Dad and I as well as Nico Swart launched our boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay to look for Garrick. This was the first time in several weeks that the weather and sea conditions had allowed us to launch. Finally we were could get rid of the withdrawal symptoms we were experiencing.

We headed to one of the nearby marker buoys in the harbour where we found a shoal of shad. We sent down sabiki rigs with pieces of sardine and quickly had a hatch of shad for bait. Our next stop was just over the channel to the south pier, where the fish had been coming out for the past few days.

As we arrived I rigged up 4 shad, 3 on surface and 1 deeper with a running sinker. We then slowly trolled along to the end of the pier. Nico had never fished for Garrick before, so I rigged 2 baits on spinning rods and 2 on conventional reels. The spinning rods are easier to use because you can leave the bail open and when the fish takes the bait, the line automatically freespools. I explained the drill to Nico and then we sat back and waited. At about 8:30am, half an hour after we put the lines in the water, I looked back and noticed the line was running off the one spinning rod. We were in a area where there was a big swell. I thought a swell had popped the trip and we were having a ‘false strike’. I picked up the rod and held the line. I felt the line take tension and then there was the heavy weight of a fish. I continued feeding the line and after a count of about 20, I tightened up and set the hook. When I was sure the fish was on properly, I handed the rod to Nico. The fish did not take any line and came to the boat very easily where I put the gaff into it. Great, our first garrick for the season, and Nico’s first.

The lines went out again and 20minutes later, the deep bait revved and the reel ran. I fed the fish but after a few seconds, the bait was dropped. I changed the terminal config to allow the sinker to run more freely and rigged the bait for another go. Things were very quiet and so we tried on the outside of the pier along the colour line that formed during the outgoing tide. As we crossed into the clean water, one of the surface baits was taken. I fed the fish for a while, then set the hook. The fish started taking line and as I passed the rod to Nico, the hook came out. Bad luck.

I rerigged and made another turn. This time, the deep bait went. I fed the fish and then set the hook. This time I made sure I gave it enough time to eat, resulting in a solid hookup. Nico took the rod and had a good tussle with a Garrick. After a few short runs, I gaffed the fish. Nice. I made a few more turns over the colour line and about half an hour later, the deep bait was taken. I fed the fish and tightened up. The fish took off and splashed on the surface. It was another Garrick. My Dad took the rod and had a great fight before I gaffed the fish.

Things went quiet from then on and after an hour of nothing, we upped lines and went home. The fish all weighed between 8 and 9kg.

Madeira

2011-07-20T11:27:00.011+02:00

On the 14^th July 2011, Riaan Pretorius and I left Durban Airport for a 10 day trip to Madeira, Portugal. Good friends Mike Warren and Allan Myburg invited us to spend a few days there to see if we could get a nice Blue Marlin... even though the season had been shocking so far.

Our flights took us from Durban to Joburg to Frankfurt to Porto and finally to Funchal... 25 hours later! Allan was there to meet us and after a 30 minute drive, we arrived in Calheta, our base for the next few days. Omega 1, a 48ft Buddy Davis is moored in Calheta Marina which is only 10 minutes from the house where we were staying. After settling, we went down to the mooring to meet up with the locals and hear what had been happening the past few days. The news was not good. There had been nothing in the past few days and there was a sombre mood amongst the crews based there for the season.

Being middle of summer, the weather was beautiful! 26 degrees, sunny skies and flat seas ... every day. The sun only set at 21:45pm with boats launching at 19:45 for an hour or so marlin fishing! This was difficult to get used to. Our daily movements were very laid back. Up at 6:30, a light breakfast, leave for the marina at 8:00, stopping at the bakery for freshly baked buns, a cup of coffee at the marina cafe and then onto the boat, leaving the harbour at around 9am each morning. The run to the fishing grounds was about one minute ... not even 500m! The water is purple in the marina and the deep water (over 100m) starts immediately. Our average day would end around 5pm. After returning to the marina, the boat was washed and prepared for the next day. At about 6pm all the crews met at the marina cafe for a few beers and some snacks before heading home. Riaan and I had our daily sundowners at 21:45 (after dinner!) before retiring for the night... what a life!

This is a big Blue marlin fishery with little or no bycatch so there is no place for light tackle. Each day we would set the lines with 5 BIG lures on HEAVY tackle. All the boats in the area are running similar patterns, waiting for that one big fish to show up. The average size of the fish in Madeira are 600-700Lbs with 900Lbs and bigger making the occasional appearance.

After 3 days of trolling in perfect conditions without a strike, we decided to try some other types of fishing. I had taken the daytime swordfish gear with me and Allan was very keen to give it a go to see if this could be an option for when the fishing was slow. It would also be the first time deep dropping was done in Madeira. In total, we deep dropped for 4 days. On day 1 we never had a bite after 3 drops. On day 2 we tried another area and on the first drop, we had a bite. The rod bumped and the reel took off. Riaan took the strike and tried to gain line on the fish. It took about 20 minutes to get the 500m mark back on the reel and a further hour to get the fish to the surface where it turned out to be a bigeye thresher shark of about 100kg. This was the first Thresher shark caught by a sports fishing boat in Madeira. Not too bad. The rest of the day was dead. On Day 3, we had another bite from what I am positive was a broadbill. The weight tripped and the rod slowly pulled down. The fish let go then ate again after teasing it a bit. I took the strike and about half way up, the hook came out. The bait had a slash mark on it but other than that, it looked perfect... just bad luck I guess.

The next few days were the same, without a strike so we took a day off to see the island. It is beautiful! Some of the places are out of a dream. Absolute paradise.
Our trip came to an end very quickly, and even though we did not catch a big Madeira blue, it was still amazing. Riaan and I agree that we would go back any time again. If you get the chance to go, grab it with 2 hands. Both Riaan and I are very grateful to Mike and Allan for hosting us for the few days and showing us what the island has to offer.

Junior Nationals 2011 Richards Bay

2011-07-10T10:43:00.002+02:00

On Sunday 10^th July 2011, I launched “Lihann” in the 2011 Junior Nationals off Richards Bay. I had the Natal U/19 team on board as well as a selector, Phillip Marx.

We headed to the pipeline to look for livebait. We managed to get about 15 shad and a few pinkies before heading to Mapelane lighthouse. I had heard that there were a few nice fish caught there the previous day so I was pretty confident that something would happen. Just short of lighthouse bay, the team put out a few small lures for snoek and I trolled around hoping to find them. After about an hour, there was still nothing. By 10am, other boats were also struggling on the pinnacle so I suggested that we run further north to the ledge and focus on cuda.

The team rigged up 2 wala-wala, a live shad, a bonito and a mackerel. The third line was still being put out when the first bait (a wala) was taken and the fish smoked off. It was on Chris’ rod and he fought what seemed to be a nice fish. After about 15 minutes, the hooks suddenly pulled! The 7/0 single had opened! Bad Luck. The lines went out and I zig-zagged the ledge moving slowly south. At about 11am, the 2 deep baits went away on a double strike. One pulled hook but the other one found its way into the hatch ... a cuda of about 10kg. The spot was marked and I made a turn while the lined were set. As I passed over the mark, another deep bait was eaten. Chris managed to get a nice cuda after a good fight. By now there was a frenzy of bait rigging and setting of lines! I made a wide turn to give the team time to regroup. Finally we got a good spread out and I made another approach. Again, the deep bait went away, but the hooks missed. Our conversion stats were not too good! Almost every turn resulted in a strike so I suggested a few adjustments, the baits went down again. The next pass resulted in a solid hookset and another shoal cuda went into the hatch.

There other boats had seen very little action and moved off to other spots for the last hour of the competition. The fish seemed to go quiet after that, apart from a big shark that ate a bonito. I trolled a bit further south on the ledge and had a strange pull on the deep bait. It turned out to be a small cuda that never knew it was hooked and woke up next to the boat when I put the gaff into it.

We ended up with 4 cuda from about 10 strikes. Our biggest fish for the day was 18,8kg which helped the team into first place on the first day. Unfortunately, I could not participate in rest of the tournament due to work commitments but it was great to be part of it.

Pics from the past

2011-06-28T13:32:00.009+02:00

2011 Mapelane Junior Interclub

2011-06-25T12:29:00.006+02:00

On Saturday 25^th June 2011 at 7:30am, we launched “Worth While” off Mapelane. We were fishing in the annual Mapelane Junior interclub, representing the Richards Bay U/16 team. The skipper was Stuart Worthington and I was the manager. The team members were Sean and Dale Leenstra and Kelvin van Rooyen.

After an uneventful launch, we looked for some livies on the backline. There was nothing at all so we headed for Mapelane Lighthouse. About a kilometre from the spot, the water went brown and we abandoned the idea, changing our heading to the 50m ledge. The water was still an off green and not too promising. We rigged a few wala-wala, bonito and mackerel and put them out. Stuart slow trolled along the ledge working north hoping to find a cuda. After an hour and a half without a strike, we upped lines and headed for “Chisa”, a section of the 50m ledge straight off the launch.

There were already several boats there but nothing was happening. We set our lines and joined the fleet hoping for a fish. By noon, there was still not a single fish caught by the competition boats. We upped lines and moved to Dingo’s ... another spot on the 50m ledge. The water looked much better so we put out a few baits there. A few boats followed us and slow trolled around us. At about 12:30, the wind changed to a SW of about 5 knots. Within minutes of this change, two boats near us hooked fish. We had to get a fish here. Not long after, the deep wala-wala rod bent and the reel ran. Dale took the rod and we cleared the other lines. This fish was precious and we knew we could not make any mistakes. Dale brought the fish closer and I waited with the gaff. The cuda circled under the boat and when it came out, I stuck it with the gaff and brought it aboard. Finally ... some points on the board. Lines went back in and 20 minutes later, the deep bonito was eaten. Sean took the rod and this time the fish fought deep and never gave an inch. After going up on the drag, a few times, we were at stale mate. The fish headed out to sea and all we could do was follow. After an hour, we all agreed that it was a shark and pushed the drag to full. Another 10 minutes passed before the line parted. By then it was lines up and we headed for the beach. There were only 3 fish weighed. Ours happened to be the biggest at 14,6kg.

The next morning we launched at 7:30am again, this time on Herman Olivier’s “Mitsufishi”. We looked for livies and managed to get a single live shad. We headed to Dingo’s and put out similar baits as the previous day. Herman trolled over the ledge for a while without any luck. The current had pushed us back so we upped lines and went back to the start of the ledge and reset lines. There were a lot of birds following us and eating our surface baits. Unfortunately several were hooked and we brought them to the boat where they were unhooked and released. About halfway down the ledge, the rod with the surface bait bent and the reel ran slowly. We all assumed we had another bird. Next thin the reel dropped a gear and really took off ... it was a fish! Sean took the rod and we cleared the others. The fish fought deep and it finally came to the boat. It was a yellowfin tuna. As I tried to gaff the fish, it took off on another run. Sean brought it back in range and I gaffed it. It looked like a border line case as the minimum weight for tuna was 5kg. This was our last strike for the day and at 12 o clock it was lines up. We headed to the beach and weighed the fish. It was 5,4kg ... sjoe! Just made it.

The 2 fish we weighed in the competition helped us into 1^st place and Dale took top individual. This is a great competition and would recommend all juniors who like deep sea fishing to participate next year.

Saltwater Crocodiles

2011-06-16T12:12:00.003+02:00

On 16^th June 2011, Hannes Duvenage and I took Mark Beyl and 2 of his friends cuda fishing off Richards Bay. We launched “Lihann” at 7:30 and headed for the live bait reef. After catching a few maasbankers, we headed for small highpoint to look for some bonito. We trolled a few small lures around the pinnacle without any success so we changed course for Petingo Wreck, still trolling the lures. About half way to the wreck, we caught a single small bonito and put it into the luna tube. We then upped lines and raced to Petingo.

The water was a good cuda colour and there was little current. I rigged up the live bonnie, a dead one, a live maasbanker and 2 wala-wala. Hannes trolled around the wreck looking for that elusive ‘crocodile’. After a few hours of trolling without a pull, I checked the baits. The bonnie was not looking great so I converted it to a dead bait and put it out and went to the controls. I had just passed over the end of the wreck when I saw the rod with the newly rigged bonnie bump and then keel over. The reel smoked off and Hannes picked it up while the other guys pulled in the remaining lines. Hannes handed the rod over to Mark and I turned to chase it. We gained most of the line and had the fish 5 m from the boat. It was a good cuda, well over 20kg. The fish made a short run and shook its head violently. All of a sudden, the leading wire broke and the fish was gone! I could not believe it ... you could have knocked me over with a feather. How in the Hell could that happen? On closer inspection, we saw that the wire loop through the eye of the leading hook had broken! I have never seen that before ... not on #8 wire! Oh well, back to the drawing board.

The lines went back in and we trolled some more. About half an hour later, the deep bait with a wala smoked off. I took the rod out the holder and gave it to Wayne. We cleared the other lines and chased the fish. After 15mins, we had the fish 3m from the boat with the leader on the rod. I could just not reach it with the gaff. Suddenly the fish spooked and pulled off a few meters of line. As we looked at the fish, we saw 2 blackfin sharks rip into it, tearing it to pieces. One picked up the wire and bit it off. The sharks thrashed on the surface as they devoured the trophy cuda! Unbelievable. I conservatively estimated the fish at 25kg ... and we got a good look at it at the boat!

Back to trolling. I had just re rigged the baits when the same rod took off! This time the hooks pulled after a few seconds. That happens ... I suppose! By now we were a bit irritated and needed some good fortune. With 3 bad luck fish behind us, we looked forward to another shot. At 4:45, the surface bonnie was eaten and the reel smoked off. I took the rod and made sure the fish was under control before handing the rod to Paul. We chased the fish while the other lines were cleared. The fish made a few strong fast runs indicating it was a good fish. The fish settled under the boat with a good bend in the rod. Suddenly the tip shot up indicating something had gone wrong. I took the rod and looked at the reel. Paul had knocked the reel into freespool and there was an over wind!!! I quickly undid the mess and wound up the slack. Amazingly the fish was still there! Paul was finishe and said he could not handle the fight any more so we gave the rod to Mark. About 10 minutes later, the fish was within gaff range. I stuck the fish and lifted it over the gunwale. I was expecting a 20kg cuda, but when I lifted the fish over the side, I saw a head that looked like a dogtooth tuna! It was a proper Petingo ‘dile! I called it 30kg before it was on the deck ... the eternal optimist! We were over the moon and finally we had shrugged off the bad luck. We trolled until dark without another rev.

Back at the club, the fish pulled the scale to 32,0kg!!! A fish of a lifetime.

Not bad for a Sunday afternoon

2011-06-12T13:26:00.008+02:00

On Sunday 12^th June at 11:30am, Sakkie and Ettienne de Villiers and I launched “Deep Burn”, a 21ft Yeld off Richards Bay. There was a 15knot SW blowing for most of the morning and the sea was quite choppy. We headed for Petingo straight into the wind, resulting in a bumpy and wet ride. After an hour, we arrived at petingo. As expected, we were the only boat there.

The water was 19,8 degrees with a reverse current but clean water. Etts and I rigged 4 baits, 2 bonnies and 2 wala-wala, while Sakkie slowly headed for the wreck. As we neared the buoy, I picked up the spinning rod and cast a spoon at it. In the fourth turn, I went on with a small torpedo scad which was quickly released. On the next pass, I put the spoon right next to the buoy and before I could start retrieving it, I went on with a stronger fish which gave me a good tussle before I released a bigeye kingfish. It was a bit quite with the cuda, so I gave the spinning rod to Sakkie and took over as skipper to hopefully find a lost cuda. Sakkie changed the spoon for a popper and went straight on with a torpedo scad. I made a turn and lined up the marks. As we reached the end of the wreck, the bonito on surface was eaten and the reel screamed off. Etts took the rod while Sakkie and I cleared the other lines. The fish fought deep and made big circles under the boat. After 20 minutes, we saw the fish for the first time. It was a nice cude but it was foul hooked in the flank. For the next 10 minutes, we had it within 5m but could not get a gaff into it. In this time, the heavens opened and rain poured down on Sakkie and Etts. Finally the fish came within range and Sakkie lifted it into the boat. We all estimated it at 18kg ... not bad.

The lines went back in and I trolled back up the wreck. As we neared the buoy, Etts put the popper in and was rewarded with an awesome surface chase and solid take. He brought in another bigeye which he released. As the baits passed the buoy, the wala-wala was eaten and the reel smoked off. I picked up the rod to pass it to Etts or Sakkie, but they said I should take it. Oh alright! The fish made a few runs and within 10 minutes came to the boat where Etts gaffed it. We guessed it at 22kg or so. Again the lines went out and we trolled past the buoy. Every cast with the popper resulted in a chase/strike. It was awesome fun. The sea picked up a bit and we got a good wave over the nose, drenching us all. With the wind blowing on out wet clothes, we decided to call it a day and upped lines. We happened to be next to the buoy so I put in a cast and has about 10 kingies chase the popper to the boat before one took it. Magic! We caught a few more kings before heading home. We were back in the harbour at 4:30pm.

When we off loaded the fish, we noticed that the fish were exceptionally fat. Etts took out the hand scale and weighed the smaller fish. It was 22kg! We then weighed the bigger one which bottomed out the 25kg scale ... we were intrigued and wanted an accurate weight. After weighing them on the club scale, they were 22,1kg and 26,5kg!!! Two really good fish.

A day to remember

2011-06-04T13:16:00.001+02:00

On Saturday 4^th June 2011, Mike and Dale Leenstra and I launched Mike’s boat “Beluga” off Richards Bay. We were looking for the junior SA Record cuda on 8kg line, a 24kg fish. Richards Bay is blessed with large cuda and probably the best place to target a really big fish.

The SW was blowing at about 15knots when we left the harbour. We stopped off at the pipeline to look for bait but never found one livie. After trying a few other spots with the same result, we headed for Petingo. When we arrived, there were 2 other boats on the wreck. They had not had a pull since early that morning so we were not too confident in our chances. We rigged four 8kg rods, 2 with wala-wala and 2 with small bonnies. On our first approach to the wreck, while Dale and Mike putting out the third line, the first rod bent and the reel took off! Dale grabbed the rod while Mike retrieved the other line. Once the fish settled, I followed it with the boat to gain line. After about 20 minutes, Mike gaffed a nice cuda of around 20kg ... what a start!!!

The current had pushed us off the wreck so while I trolled back, Mike and Dale reset the lines. They were busy with the last line when the deep bait was eaten and the reel took off! Mike started clearing the other lines when the bait he was retrieving was eaten and the fish took off! A double ... Nice! I left the controls and cleared the last line while Mike and Dale fought their fish. Unfortunately Mike’s fish pulled hooks after a short run but Dale’s fish stayed on. We fought the fish for about 15 minutes before Mike gaffed another slightly smaller cuda. Again the lines wet out. And I continued working the wreck. About an hour later, the deep bait was eaten. Dale took the rod while Mike and I brought in the other lines. Again Mike’s rod took off in his hands and we were onto a double! I followed Dales fish while Mike kept his at a safe distance. After 20 minutes, Dale’s fish was acting differently and fighting deep and slow. Not like a cuda. I backed off the speed and let his fish take some line. Mike then managed to bring his fish closer where I gaffed it, another nice cuda. Dale in the meanwhile was constantly loosing line but the fish was now right on the surface. I road towards the fish to get an id. About 20m from the fish, a sharp white fin broke the surface. On closer inspection, we saw that it was a big manta ray. It must have swam into the line and hooked itself. Oh well, at least we got Mike’s fish!

I took us back to the wreck and the lines were reset. I worked the area for about an hour without before we had another smoking reel. We cleared lines while Dale fought the fish. Unfortunately, as the lines were cleared, the hooks pulled. We also notices that one of the other baits had been chopped by a cuda ... unlucky. Because there were so many fish around, we decided to put in the3kg line. It was in the water for about 20 minutes when it was eaten. The fish screamed off and as it settled, a garfish came up and bit the line where it enters the water resulting in a broken line!

It was now about 12:00 and the other boats were losing heart. Between them, they had caught 1 fish. We were just lucky and had the right bait in the right place ... with the wrong tackle! If we were using heavier line and more hooks, the score would have been different ... but that’s record hunting for you. I handed the controls over to Mike and took a breather. Mike made a few turns and was rewarded with a screaming reel. I cleared the lines and Mike chased after the fish. After about 25mins, it was near the boat. I gave Mike the gaff and went to the controls. Dale brought a really nice fish in and when the leader was on the rod, Mike went in for a gaff shot as fish spooked and took off. The one hook got caught up in the gaff and resulted in a lost fish. That happens I guess!

At about 2pm, we were getting ready to pack up when the deep line was taken. The fish headed straight for the buoy but luckily for us, it veered off to the side and didn’t cut us off. The fish did big circles under the boat until it came into gaff range and Mike redeemed himself by lifting a nice fish into the boat.

After that, our bait had run out and we headed back to the club. The fish weighed 16-22kg and were just short of the record. Oh well, next time ... I promiseJ

TataMaChance

2011-05-29T09:45:00.001+02:00

On Saturday 28^th May, Mike and Dale Leenstra and myself launched Mike’s 21ft Yeldcat “Beluga” at Cape Vidal. We were there for the weekend and wanted to look for daytime broadbill. Unfortunately the 40 knot SW wind which had been blowing for 2 days prior had picked up the sea and the surf/swell was BIG! We decided to give it a go regardless, but we would not focus on broadbill until the sea had settled. After negotiating a hairy surf, we stopped at the point and looked for livebait. We found a few very small maasbankers but discarded the 5cm minnows and put out a few small feathers and rapalas to look for bonnies. We had not gone 100m and we were on with the first jube-jube. This was followed at regular intervals by a few more of the perfect bait size bonnies.

We changed tactics at about 8:30 and rigged a few strip baits and trolled north to Oscar, hoping for a sailfish. It was very quiet on the pinnacle and at about 10:30 I suggested we go and look at what the 500m line looked like. In 250m, we had a triple strike on skipjacks and rigged 2 on the big rods. We continued deeper looking for clean water. At the 500m mark, the swell was big but very fishable. I suggested we release the livies and make a drop - TataMaChance. After rigging a squid and setting up the tackle, we dropped a bait into 500m and drifted slowly south. After an hour, the rod bumped and the reel ran a bit. I took the chair and brought in a large wreckfish of around 30kg.

It was getting late and if we did not beach at the right time, we were going to battle with the tide. We packed up and headed home.

On Sunday the 29^th May, we launched at 6:30am and headed for Leven Point canyon. We made a drop at just after 8am in 550m and after an hour and a half drift, we lifted the bait to start another drift. When the bait came out the water, we saw that it had been eaten by some or other small bottomfish and only a few tatters were left on the hooks.

The next drop was in about 500m and as we were drifting into the canyon, the rod bumped and the reel took off! This was no bottomfish. Mike told me to get into the chair. I obliged even though I was pretty sure I knew what fish it was. After about 45 minutes, the leader came up. Dale unclipped the lights and I pulled the fish closer. When the swivel came out the water, a long snake like tail broke the surface behind the boat. It was a thresher shark of about 70-80kg. A real pest when it comes to deep dropping! After Mike and Dale had a good look at the fish, we cut the trace and it swam away.

It was now about 11:00 so we opted to pull strips back home along the ledge. As we neared vegetation, we started getting a few bonnies. We then found a lost Dorado of about 5kg that ate a stripbait. After trolling over Oscar and getting more bonnies, we upped lines and beached.

Thanks to Mike and his family for a great weekend.

Umhlanga Prestige Interclub

2011-05-22T12:10:00.001+02:00

At 6am On Saturday the 21^st May, Michael Duvenage, my Dad, Shane Denis and I launched Shane’s friend’s boat “Mocha” out of Grannies pool at Umhlanga. We were fishing in the Umhlanga Prestige Interclub, representing Richard Bay.

We were the second boat to launch out of 22 and once on backline, we waited for the other boats to make their way through the surf. In this time we rigged up bait rods to catch live bait. By 7:30am all the boats were behind backline and we all set off for the wreck to catch bait.

On arriving at the wreck, we dropped strings of sabiki rigs down to the bottom into thick showings of bait. They were immediately eaten by hungry shad, mackerel, maasbanker, razor bellies and pinkies. There was an unbelievable amount of bait and at one stage we were pulling up full strings of shad and mackerel. It was a live bait angler’s paradise! It took a whole 15 minutes to fill the bait tank and then we headed north to Umdloti.

Michael and I rigged 5 rods with livebait traces and started setting the lines. With 3 surface lines out, we rigged two baits to send deep, one maasbanker and one shad. Mike let his bait out a bit when he said something ate his bait. While he was feeding the fish, I put the shad in the water. Almost immediately, Shame and I saw a dark shape come into view and chase the shad. As the shad came to the surface to escape, the “shape” grew a bill and sail and grabbed the shad about 2 meters from the boat! I fed the fish and watched it fade away with the shad in its mouth. Michael and I both gave the fish line before Shane opened up the one motor. We both tightened up at the same time and line ran off the reels. We all stood looking back as the lines came to the surface as the sailfish cleared the water shaking its head. As the sail fall back to the water, the shad went flying and my line went slack as the hooks came out. Michael on the other hand was still attached to the fish which took off away from the boat. We cleared the lines and backed up after the fish. Michael retrieved most of the line before the fish went deep. We moved away from the fish and the line came to the surface. I chased after the fish as Michael put line back on the reel in a hurry before the fish sounded again. After sulking in the deep water for a bit, it came to the surface where we caught a glimpse of the fish as it flashed on the surface. The dirt green water made the silver flank look brown and we all for a moment thought it had converted to a shark. Luckily this thought was dispelled as the fish lifted its sail and we saw the electric blue colours. After 15 minutes the fish started tiring and neared the boat. It made several great jumps and then tailwalked towards the boat. It came so close that Shane took cover as the fish barely missed the transom. Michael was quick to take up the slack and managed to get the leader on the rod. I backed up after the fish and a few seconds later it was next to the boat where Shane (who was now out from hiding) grabbed the bill. We took a few photos and then cut the trace before releasing a healthy 25-30kg sailfish. Not bad for the first 5 minutes of the competition!

Unfortunately that was the only action that we had for the rest of the competition other that a small bonito and another one that was eaten by the sharks. We also had a dolphin eat one of our live baits which was very uncommon!

That afternoon I received word that a good friend, Warren Smart, of mine had been bitten by a shark while spearfishing off Cape Vidal and had passed away due to his injuries. Warren played a big part in Zululand Spearfishing and leaves behind a legend that will not easily be forgotten.

Petingo Cuda

2011-05-16T15:13:00.003+02:00

On Sunday 15^th May, Edmund Johnstone, Riaan Pretorius, my Dad and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay to fish for cuda. There had been a few fish around and we were hopeful that we would get a fish or two. We left the harbour at about 6:30am and headed to the pipeline to look for bait. The water was not a nice colour and we failed at catching a single livie. After more than half an hour, we headed for petingo.

We arrived at about 7:45am, I rigged 3 bonito and 2 wala-wala and staggered them in depth and distance from the boat. The water was a nice "cuda green" with a slight current. There were alot of jellyfish around even though the water was 23 degrees. My Dad began slow trolling around the wreck. Everywhere there were bonito crashing bait on the surface and good showings on the echo sounder. Things looked good.

At just after 9am, the deep bonito was eaten and the reel took off as the fish took about 50m of line. Edmund and I retrieved the other lines as my Dad chased the fish. Riaan was on the rod and had quite a tussle with the fish before I managed to get the gaff into it. It was a really nice cuda, well over 20kg. After cheers and congratulations, we reset the spread and continued trolling.

It was just before 10am when the surface bonito was eaten. The reel smoked off as the fish headed about 100m in the opposite direction. Riaan and I cleared the lines as my Dad chased the fish. Edmund gained line quickly and had it at the boat in a relatively short time. As the leader came out the water, the fish took off again. It started fighting differently ... very erratic. Only then did we see that a shark was after it. The cuda tried every trick in the book and finally managed to get away from the shark. As it swam past the boat, I put the gaff into another good fish.

The lines went out again and we continued trolling. The wind turned to an easterly direction and all the activity vanished. The rest of the day was dead and at 2pm we upped lines and headed home. The two cuda weighed in at 25,2kg and 18kg respectively.

Pipped at the scale

2011-05-07T13:22:00.001+02:00

On Saturday the 7^th May, At van Tilburg, Marius de Wet and I launched At’s 21’ Yeld “AVANTI” at the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. We were competing in the Umlalazi Couta Classic as we do each year. The previous year, we managed to win the competition and were defending our title this year.

The weather was terrible with strong SW winds and frequent rain squalls. The sea was very uncomfortable and we were unsure as to how we should approach the day. After heading out the harbour mouth, we ran to the pipeline to look for livebait. After an hour of battling, we decided to move to small highpoint where we would target the unspecified prize.

After a bumpy 45minute ride, we finally arrived at small high. The water was an off green and not too promising. We put out a few rapalas and surface lures to look for bonito. At trolled around the pinnacle a few times before 2 reels went off. Marius and I pulled in 2 bonito of about 4kg each. We continued trolling while I started sorting out the cuda traces and baits. I had just about finished the prep for slow trolling when 1,2, 3 reels took off. We all grabbed a rod and started pulling in the fish. The boat was still in gear to keep our direction when a 4^th rod went off. We each pulled in a bonito then Marius took the last rod. The fish came in relatively easily, but did not fight like a bonito. I was expecting to see a short fat shine under the boat when suddenly a nice cuda popped its head out from under the hull. It was the fastest I have ever looked for a gaff in my life! After a frenzied search for a gaff, I leaned over and gaffed a 12kg cuda. Now if that was not luck, then I don’t know!

We headed back to the pinnacle after drifting off and put out some cuda baits. I had a bonito and mackerel on surface and a wala-wala and silkie (wolf herring) down deep. One on a sinker and the other on the down rigger. Slowly we approached the pinnacle and as the sounder started picking up, the downrigger rod flicked and the reel ran a bit. I wound in the down rigger then took the rod. Marius and At pulled in the other lines as I slowly gained line o the fish. It felt very strange, as if it were fowl hooked. There were no headshakes or runs. I assumed it was a small cuda that had eaten the silkie and the row of trebles had caught it in the side resulting in the fish being pulled sideways. About 15mins later, the double line and leader came out the water. I looked down to see what it was when I saw a huge silver shine! The water was quite dirty so I could not get a good look. At then shouted that it was a big kingfish and grabbed a gaff. The fish circled twice before the gaff went in and it was hauled onboard. It was a beast! Nothing near what I was expecting. This was surely the best unspecified fish for the comp! We took a few photos and continued trolling.

The wind dropped throughout the day and the sea got better and better. At about 1pm, we had had no further action and pulled in the lines. I put on a few feathers and rapalas and At trolled around the pinnacle. The sounder constantly indicated big showings. As we trolled over the showing, every rod went away with small bonito ... perfect cuda baits. We continued trolling and stocked up on the baits before heading back to the weighin at Zini SBC.

Our cuda weighed 12,6kg and the kingfish pulled the scale to 31,9kg!!! Unfortunately this was not big enough to take top unspecified as there was a sailfish of 38kg weighed just before we arrived.

It was a great comp and congrats go to all those who organised it. The biggest cuda was 26kg followed by a 24kg fish. Well done to the winners!

uMhlathuze Fishing Festival 2011

2011-04-25T14:45:00.000+02:00

Over the Easter weekend, the RBSBC held its annual Fishing Festival. It was fished over 3 days (Friday to Sunday) and had about 125 boats participating. I had entered my Dad’s boat into the competition with my Dad, myself and two good friends from Middleburg as competitors. I was the convenor of the competition and was very nervous to fish as there were so many things to sort out during the day.

On Friday the 22^nd, I was at the club at just before 4am. The weather had turned and a strong SW was whipping up the sea. The weather committee called the comp off for the day and the festivities began!

On Saturday morning, the wind had died and the sea had flattened. All boats put to sea before we launched our boat. The idea was to look for marlin with live bait so we headed to small high point and pulled some small lures around. The water was very cold and the colour was relatively green with a strong reverse current. The first pass over the pinnacle however resulted in 2 running reels. Wessel and Marinda both took up the rods and pulled in a 4kg kwaw-kawa and a 4kg yellowfin respectively. The yellowfin went into the tube and we continued trolling. Soon we had a few small bonnies in the icebox and headed out deeper. I rigged the yellowfin on a 50Lbs outfit and let it out 20m behind the boat before clipping the line into the rigger clip.

We trolled out to 600m but the conditions just got worse. The water colour changed to pea soup and the temperature dropped. At 11am we turned shallower to return to the slightly better water and in 400m, the bait revved but the rigger did not pop. I pulled the bait closer and saw the brown shape of a hammerhead shark behind it. I pulled the bait in but it was too late. The shark had bitten off the tail. We were now in the desert in terrible water without bait. The wind was now also blowing at about 15 knots NE and churning up the sea. We opted to abandon the day and head home before the rush. That marked the end of our day. There were 3 marlin released and a few nice tuna weighed. Other than that, results were poor.

On Sunday morning, the NE was still blowing at 10-15knots and only a few boats went to sea. Many returned before long complaining that the chop was quite bad. We had decided to give it a skip as well and spent the day enjoying the activities at the Club.

Overall the competition was a success and a good time was had by all. We will try again next year.

Third time Unlucky?!

2011-04-09T16:31:00.000+02:00

At 7:30am on 9 April 2011, Trevor Hansen and I launched Dawie van der Westhuizen’s 1250 Rodman “Reel Magic”. The plan was to head north to fish for billfish. Trevor was keen to try for a blue marlin on 10kg line which had eluded him for months.

We arrived at the 400m mark and set two 10kg rigs on the long riggers. We also set 2 80Lbs rigs with larger lures on the short riggers. These would act as teasers and if a fish happened to eat one, I would be on the stick. The conditions were perfect and the lures were tracking beautifully with the help of a very calm sea. Trevor worked the 400m to 600m area and soon we started seeing signs of life. There were flying fish, birds, the odd dolphin and some good showings on the echo. Something had to happen.

At about 11am, Trevor saw a shortbill spearfish behind the short rigger lure. The fish hit the lure but the rigger clip would not open. The line slipped through the clip as the fish took line at a slow pace. Finally the clip released and the fish could run line directly off the reel. We cleared the other lines and as I was about to take the rod, the hook pulled. I assume the extra tension from the clip caused the hooks to rip out. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk. The lines went back in and trolling commenced. About half an hour later, the other short rigger popped and the 80Lbs rig took off at speed! Trevor and I cleared the lines then I moved to the chair and strapped in. By then, the surface erupted and a feisty blue marlin came flying out of the water. It greyhounded in all directions for about 30 seconds before going deep and settling down. I managed to get the backing onto the reel relatively quickly and once the topshot was on the reel, I upped the drag to strike position. The marlin had tired itself out with all the jumping and was at boat side within 20mins from hookup. It was about 60kg and after removing the hooks, it swam away strongly. GREAT! It was still early and the bite was on so we wasted no time putting the lures back into the water.

At about 13:30, I was looking at the lure on the short rigger when a big bill and dorsal fin appeared behind the lure. As I shouted, the lure disappeared in a big splash and all that remained was a hole in the water where the lure had been. The rigger popped and the reel took off. Line melted off the reel as Trevor and I frantically cleared the other lines. The big blue erupted behind the boat and tailwalked for about 100m before changing direction and going the other way. It jumped twice as long as the previous one and while this was going on, I took up the rod and climbed into the chair. Trevor and I both estimated the fish at 450 plus Lbs and we knew this would be a longer fight. Trevor backed up hard as I did my best to put backing onto the reel. The fish was still running and I had to work for every meter I put on the reel. After 25 minutes the topshot came out the water and onto the reel. The fish was now about 200m away. About 10 minutes later, I had most of the line back. By now we were pulling the fish with the current and things looked good. Everything was going as it should when suddenly the hook pulled! No ways! Unreal. Oh well, I guess that is marlin fishing for you.

We continued trolling until 16:30 without another strike then packed up and headed for home. Thanks to Trevor for a great day and hopefully we can get that fish on 10kg soon.

Shoaly Shutdown

2011-03-20T18:10:00.002+02:00

On 20 March 2011 at 6:45am, we launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. My sister, Julie, and brother in law, Carl, had come down for the long weekend, from Jo’burg, to do some fishing. There had been a few shoal cuda at “Petingo” so we decided to fish for them.

Our first stop was on the pipeline to look for some live bait. We sounded around the area and dropped sabiki rigs into each showing we found, but had no success. After about an hour, we decided to try another spot between the ships. We had the same result as the pipe and were now getting desperate for bait. Our last option was to stop at a reef in 42m of water a few kilometres north of “Petingo”. When we got there, we found a nice showing and sent the jigs down. Carl went tight with a string of bait that gave him the run around before he lifted 4 tiny bonnies into the boat! We scrambled to put the luna tube on, but as luck would have it, the pump did not work! We later found it was a loose connection. We had no option but to put them in the coolerbox to use as dead bait. We scratched around for more bait, but failed. At 9:30 we upped lines and headed for the wreck.

When we arrived, there were 3 other boats. They each had a fish or two so we felt positive. The water was crystal clean, 27 degrees and the current was screaming! The NW wind was blowing at about 8-10 knots. I am not a fan of these conditions when fishing for big cuda, but they are good for the shoal size fish. I rigged 2 wala-wala and 2 of the tiny bonnies and set them at different depths and distances from the boat. We resumed slow trolling into the current and about half way up the wreck we found a good showing halfway off the bottom. Almost immediately the bonnie on the 6oz sinker was eaten. Carl took the rod and pulled a 5kg cuda to the boat where it was gaffed. Fresh fish tonight! I had just rerigged the bait and was about to put it out when the reel with the deep wala-wala went away. Julie took the rod and fought a frisky fish to the boat. While this was going on, the surface wala-wala was eaten and the fish took a few meters of line before slowing down. Carl had by then gaffed Julie’s cuda so I passed the rod to her so that she could catch another fish. The small cuda came to the boat quickly and just as it was about to come into gaffing range, it threw the hook. Unlucky! Oh well, that’s fishing. We regrouped and set the lines with new baits. By now we were on the northern side of the wreck and started turning, the deep bonnie was eaten. I was standing next to the rod, so I took the strike. This was another small fish which came to the boat easily before Carl gaffed it.

3 from 4 on the first pass over the wreck ... not bad! What would the next pass bring? The wind had changed from NW to NE and picked up to about 12 knots. We made another approach from the south and tacked over the wreck, following our previous track. The sounder showed a lot of activity, but nothing happened. It was quite all the way up to the northern point. The other boats had also noticed that the fish had switched off. I can only guess that it was the wind direction change. We trolled the wreck for the next 3 hours without a strike before upping lines and returning to port. It was nice to be back home and washing the boat while the sun was still up!

Columbia SADSAA Billfish Classic

2011-03-03T14:58:00.001+02:00

On 3^rd March at 5am, Wayne Ritchie, Riaan Pretorius, Rian Charmers and myself launched Wayne’s 900 Cobra Cat “Big W” in the 2011 Columbia SADSAA Billfish Classic. This was the second day of the competition and we were in need of a billfish.

We headed north to the 50m ledge and put out a spread of 6 lures. On the right flat line was a pulsator “Boaster”, the left short, behind the teaser, I had a Moldcraft Bobby Brown, right short was a Black Bart, left long was a Moldcraft Wide Range, right long was a halfbeak and the japan was a small super chugger. The sea was perfect and the lures operated beautifully on the front of the waves. Something had to happen. From 7am, the radio was busy with boats hooking up and released fish and lost fish being reported. On “Big W” it ws quieter than ever. The sound of the motors droning in the background and the slight rocking of the boat put the once alert crew into a trance and other than the skipper, there was very little activity on the deck.

At around 2pm, Riaan and I decided to relieve Wayne of his duty so that he could take a break. At that stage, we were just south of the harbour and heading shallower. There were 3 boats in the vicinity and all were hoping for that one special fish. Riaan and I were looking back and discussing the teaser when suddenly a big blue marlin exploded out of the water next to the Bobby Brown and engulfed it. Riaan and I both flew down the steps and cleared lines as the fish took. We knew the size of the fish and realised it was important to move fast before the fish woke up and took off. As the last line came out the water, the fish took to the sky and greyhounded for about 100m. The line was melting off the reel as we clipped Riaan into the black magic harness. Wayne was now backing down hard and line started coming back onto the reel. The fish was still jumping and all the other boats saw the magnificent display.

This was the first time Rian had ever fought standup but he got into the groove quickly and once the fish was within 100m, we upped the drag to 12kg and put the wood to it! After 45 minutes, the leader came out the water and I grabbed the swivel. Wayne kept the boat in line with the fish while I pulled it closer.

Other Riaan snapped off a few photos for the competition and we then revived the fish for several minutes before turning a healthy fish loose. GREAT!! What a feeling! This was Rian Charmers biggest marlin (About 200kg) and his first on standup. And best of all, it is still swimming free.

That was the first and last fish we saw in the tournament. Congrats to the team of “Tycoon” for releasing 5 marlin in the 4 days.

Wind in the Sails

2011-02-12T09:07:00.006+02:00

Hendrik McCarthy had arranged a fishing trip for Saturday the 12^th February with his good friend Zach on Zach’s Yacht “Vagabund”. Zach was super keen to fish for marlin and he had bought a few nice lures and good tackle for the job. The yacht was not rigged for fishing so on the Friday, we made a few make shift plans and discussed the drill for the next day. I has never fished for marlin on a yacht before so I knew we were in for some interesting times if we hooked up.

At 4:30am on Saturday morning, Ettiene de Villiers and I arrived at the mooring of the Zululand Yacht Club. We met up with Hendrik and his wife Cornelia and Zach and his wife Magda. After a quick safety brief, we cast off and slowly headed out the harbour. The plan was to head north in the shallows and then head offshore into the current and work our way back.

The trip north was like no other I have had before. The yacht had two 30HP motors in it so our top speed was only about 6 to 7 knots. I am used to running up north at speed and setting lines within half an hour of leaving the harbour. Not on this trip! We had no option but to relax and enjoy the trip. This did however have its perks. The warm oats breakfast and cup of coffee en route to the fishing grounds was a nice bonus while we watched several ski-boats shoot past us with the crew holding on for dear life and ducking for the spray coming over the nose.

At 8:30am, we were in 60m of water near Dawsons. The water was a strange colour with a tint of green. We set the four lines, two 50Lbs rigs with small lures and two 80Lbs rigs with larger lures. I also put out a string of teasers. There were no outriggers so the lines were run directly from the rod tips. With the sail down, I trolled deeper trying to find the blue water. Our speed was around 5 knots so we put up the small sail to increase the speed to about 6.5knots. The lures were tracking beautifully. There was hardly any white water behind the yacht and the teaser looked stunning. I tacked shallower at 600m then deeper again after crossing the 250m contour. We decided to test the sounder to see what depth we could read and were pleasantly surprised when it lost bottom at 1200m!!! The water was still a strange colour so I suggested we head shallower to where we had seen a few birds and flying fish. By now it was almost 1pm, we were in 800m and we were getting despondent. We were all dosing off when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a flash behind the teaser. I looked again and saw a shortbill spearfish behind the big lure next to the teaser. I shouted to Ettiene as the fish took the lure. The reel ran for a second or so before it stopped. I ran to the 50Lbs rod with the small lure on it and pulled it into the area where the fish was. Almost immediately the lure was smashed... hookup! The other lines were cleared in no time and we strapped Magda into the harness.

We knew it was a small fish so I just put the motors into neutral. The sail kept us going at a perfect pace. Magda brought the fish to the boat relatively quickly and Ettienne took the trace. The fish was hooked in the eye and bled alot. It was still very feisty and Etts had to let go of the trace to prevent the hook from pulling. We decided to load the fish due to it’s injuries and when Etts took the trace again, he lifted the spearfish into the boat. Only then did we see that it was a really big shortbill ... and Magda’s first billfish! Awesome.

Etts and I set the lines again and sat back to relax. It was going to take a while to get home so we decided to head in the harbour’s direction. We were in 160m when Etts shouted “Daar gaan hy!” I looked back to see a big splash on the same lure that the shortbill ate. The 50Lbs reel took off smoking! We pulled the motors to neutral and cleared the deck. Moments later, the fish erupted out the water tearing up the surface. After about 10 jumps it ran shallower at speed. Hendrik was on the rod and kept the fish under control while I floored it at 6 knots, helping him gain line. I found it extremely difficult to manoeuvre the large yacht with the small motors, but luckily the fish settled down and stayed away from the rudders.

With most of the line back on the reel, I could back up on the fish to stop it from taking too much line. Hendrik used the swell and we gained line slowly but constantly. After 45mins, we had the windon splice out of the water. Before we could grab it, the fish sounded again. After another 15 minutes, the leader came up again. This time Ettienne managed to get hold of the leader and lifted the fish to the surface where he grabbed the bill.

It was Hendrik’s first marlin and he asked to load it. Etts and I obliged and put on the bill rope to pull it on board. We managed to get the head out the water before we ran out of steam. Zach took the end of the rope and attached it to one of the sail winches. One flick of a switch and the fish sailed onto the deck ... no mess no fuss! With the fish lying on the huge deck, it looked about 130kg, but it was in excellent condition.

We had drifted a few kilometres and were straight off the harbour mouth. It took us 2 hours to get back to harbour before we could weigh the fish. We eventually had it on the gantry at 7:30pm. The shortbill weighed 21kg and the blue pulled the scale to 170,6kg! Not bad on 24kg line ... 7:1.

All in all it was a great day and I thank all who made it possible. We had to change our style of fishing from the normal rushed pace to a laid back, ‘come what may‘ attitude ... I must say, I could get used to it!

Early Season Cuda Session

2011-02-02T16:07:00.000+02:00

On Sunday 31^st January, My Dad and I launched our boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. There had been quite a few marlin around and every boat was out in the deep looking for them. We on the other hand were tired of doing the same thing every day so decided to look for some gamefish.

We headed for the pipeline and caught two full strings of maasbanker. It was still early so I suggested we head for small high to catch a few bonnies before looking for cuda. Arriving at small high, I put out 4 rods with daisy chains and My Dad trolled over the pinnacle. Two rods went on with beautiful bonnies. One went into the tuba and the other into the coolerbox and ice. We made a few turns and caught bait on every pass. By 8:30 we had about 15 baits and headed to Petingo.

The water was 25.6 degrees with a slight reverse current. There were a lot of reeds in the off green water which meant I would be clearing lines often. I put out 2 wala wala, 2 bonito (one live) and a live maasbanker. We trolled up and down the wreck and on the second pass, the live maasbanker was eaten by a small fish which just flicked the rod tip before getting off. I rerigged as my Dad turned and crossed the wreck again. On the Northern point, the same rod bent and the reel ran a bit before the hook pulled. It went quiet for a while until the water temperature climbed a bit to 26.2 degrees and cleaned up to a green colour. On top of the wreck, both bonito were eaten. We both grabbed rods and tussled really strong fish. Each of us brought a 70 odd kg blacktip shark to the boat where we broke the leaders. After sorting out the chaos, I reset the lines. As we moved off the southern tip, the livie was eaten again. This time the fish picked up the nylon leader before the trace, biting it off! This was not acceptable so I climbed into the tackle box and built another trace with a slightly different hook rig. The next pass on the wreck resulted in the rod bending with a small fish. My Dad pulled in a small cuda of around 3kg (perfect for a weber!) Finally we had something. In high spirits, I put out the lines again and while I was letting the last line out, the reel took off in my hand. I put up the drag and the fish took off running. After a quick fight, my Dad gaffed a 10kg cuda ... NICE! Things were happening. Again the new baits went out and we trolled over the wreck. As luck would have it, the livie was eaten yet again. This time by a smoker! I passed the rod to my Dad who had a good fight before I gaffed a cuda of about 15kg. At this stage I had 2 livies in the water, hoping to double our chances. A short while later, we had a pull on the closer livie but the hooks missed. The water temp was now over 27 degrees and the water was quite clean. We had no further action for an hour. At just after 1pm I started pulling lines. I had one livie to go when the rod bent a bit and the reel gave a short burst. I grabbed the rod and winched the fish in. It was another weber size cuda which went into the coolbox for supper that night. That was a wrap and we headed for the harbour with the first cuda trip for the year under the belt. Now the fish just need to get bigger!

Third Time Lucky!

2011-02-02T13:40:00.005+02:00

On 22 January 2011, Divan and I launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. The plan was to go and catch bait for the upcoming cuda season. I had packed the boat with 5 bait rods rigged with daisy chains and just in case, I put the 130Lbs on as well. We headed off to Small highpoint and by 6:30 we were trolling for small bonito. I had just set the lines when Divan trolled over the pinnacle. Almost immediately three reels took off. A few seconds later, the other two also went vas. Both Divs and I grabbed rods and started pulling in the fish. I managed to bring in 3 small yellowfin of about 3kg. One went into the lunatube while the others were released. Meanwhile Divan tussled with his fish and after 15mins had it near the boat. It was a nice yellowfin of about 12kg. It was bled and spined before going into the hatch. Nice! We regrouped and set the lines again. We had just turned when 4 rods went away, this time with small bonitos... perfect bait.

By 8am we had a about 15 baits. There was a great showing on the sounder and bait crashing on the surface. The area was alive! I made a wide turn and started approaching the pinnacle. Two rods went away and I winched in a small skipjack while Divan fought his. His fish was almost at the boat when the rod gave a few heavy jerks. A few seconds later, a maimed skippie came to the surface, with a marlin following it! Panic stations!! Divan held the skippie in the water to keep the marlin around the boat. I flew into the hatch and pulled out a livebait trace. My hands were shaking as I tried to untangle the trace and clip it onto the 130Lbs rod. The fish kept coming up to the skippie which would be pulled away just in time. I was frantically looking for a bait needle but had to settle for a piece of copper wire. The yellowfin in the tube was rigged in record time and popped over the side. Instantly the marlin switched on his lights and high-tailed it after the bait. I fed the fish while Divs cleared the deck and went to the controls. I increased the drag and Divs upped the revs but nothing! I could only feel the bait. I pulled it in slowly in disbelief ... how could we miss that! The yellowfin was still swimming even though it had been beaten up pretty badly. We looked to the back and saw the marlin still following the bait. We tried everything we could think of to get it to take the bait again, but the fish lost interest and faded off. Bummer!

We put the bait rods in again and continued catching bait. At about 9am we caught another small yellowfin and put in the tube. By 10am we were itching to rig it and so, without much convincing, we left the bait expedition and changed to marlin fishing. We headed out to the 350m mark and then headed back to the shallows. The wind was picking up so I suggested we pull the bait over the pinnacle where we caught it ... maybe we can at least catch a shark. We watched the sounder as we trolled over the pinnacle. At 36m, the bait revved. I grabbed the line out the clip and waited for the bite. I felt a heavy jerk then the line pulled tight. I fed the fish but nothing happened. We retrieved the line to find the bait had been hit off the bridle by a marlin ... Unlucky! Divs and I turned to each other and both said “Bait sticks” at the same time. The third rod went out when two took off. I popped one bonnie in the tube and rigged the other. We both agreed to stay on the pinnacle and hope that the fish was still hungry. On our third or fourth turn, the bait revved and the rigger popped. I fed the fish and Divs went to the wheel. We tightened up and this time the rod bent and the reel started running. The line came to the top and a black marlin broke the surface. I climbed into the chair and strapped in while Divs got out the gloves and tag pole.

After a few jumps and short runs, it was at the boat. I leaned out the chair and tagged it (Yes ... our tag pole is long) while Divs wrestled it on the trace. After removing the circle hook, we released a healthy +-100kg marlin. Great! Third time lucky ... probably on the same fish!

Our day had come to an end and we headed back. What a great end to a great day.

Starting the new year with stripes

2011-01-09T14:17:00.001+02:00

On 8^th January, Joe Martins, his wife Kim and I launched their 20ft Glacier Bay “Aqua Joe”. Joe had been slowly getting his marlin tackle ready and desperately wanted to catch a marlin. He had asked me for advise with regards to rods, reels, lures etc. After a few weeks, he finally had everything he needed and we were ready to try it out. We left the mooring at 6:30am and headed north off Richards Bay. The sea was a bit rough due to a storm that had passed the previous day. After dodging logs and masses of reeds, we found clean water in 100m and could start fishing.

I set the spread with a Moldcraft Widerange and Bobby Brown on the long riggers and a Pulsator Bonito Smoker and Stripey tickler on the short riggers. With the lures swimming beautifully, I trolled deeper towards the 500m line. We were in about 350m when the port short rigger popped and a nice Dorado jumped out the water. Joe had the rod in seconds but due to a bout of seasickness, he handed the rod to Kim who brought it in without too much fuss. The lines went out again and trolling commenced.

The sea slowly got better and better and at about 8:30 it was quite pleasant. We came into an area where there was a lot of bait. The small skipjacks and yellowfin were jumping everywhere. This was definitely the place to stick around. Kim had bought a Moldtech lure the previous day and asked me if I could rig it up for her. It was a similar shape to the Bobby Brown, so I swapped the lures. Now Kim was also confident in the spread. At about 9am I was looking back at the lures when I noticed a strange swirl behind Kim’s lure. Moments later, a bill and dorsal came out the water and crashed the lure. I shouted as the rigger popped. The reel took off and a +-100kg Blue marlin launched itself out the water. It gave two or three jumps and then the reel stopped running ... it had thrown the hook! Unlucky! At least we had seen a marlin for the day. I checked and reset the lures and continued trolling. I heard over the radio that a few boats had strikes in 250m so I worked shallower. The sea went dead from 10am until 12pm but then the birds started dipping and the bait came up again. At around 1pm, I saw a fish come up behind the starboard long rigger and engulf the lure. The rigger popped and the reel took off. Joe and I cleared the other lines before Joe donned the harness and took up the rod.

The fish jumped probably ten times before it settled. I slowly backed up on the fish while Joe gained line. The fight lasted about 30 minutes and Joe had it next to the boat. When it came to the boat the colours had faded due to the hooks forcing its mouth closed. After explaining the drill, I took the trace and brought the striped marlin closer. Joe asked to load the fish because it was his first marlin and a dream come true. The fish did kick at all so I pulled the fish over the gunwale and into the boat where Kim snapped off a few pics. Joe was over the moon! Mission accomplished.

We reset the lures and trolled for about an hour longer. It was getting late and there was still a lot of work to be done so we upped lines and headed home. The fish weighed in just under 60kg.

Wrapping up the year

2010-12-31T10:35:00.002+02:00

On the last day of 2010 at Cape Vidal, I awoke to the sound of relatively heavy rain. We had planned to fish for marlin with Mike Buyskes on “Thresher One”, a 21ft Tomcat. After checking out the sea and weather, we decided to give it a skip. Back at camp, we made breakfast and lounged around. By 10am we could not take it anymore and decided to launch ... come hell or high water!

At 10:30 Mike and Mearl Buyskes, Bryant Beukes and I were through the surf. There was a light SE blowing but the sea was great. Mike had found a likely looking are on the GPS along the 500m contour that he wanted to work so we headed straight there. Twenty minutes later, we were at the spot and we went about setting 4 lures on 50Lbs and 80Lbs rigs. Mike then worked the contour from 450m to 600m. There was a great upwelling and temperature break along the edge of the contour and after trolling for about an hour, we started seeing flying fish, skipjack and spinner dolphin.

We had just turned at the 450m mark and were right on the edge of the rip when I saw a fish coming into the spread on the starboard side. The short rigger popped but nothing. Mike kept his course for a while when the short port rigger popped and the reel ran for a bit before stopping. By that stage I had the pitch bait amongst the lures but the fish was not having it. It wanted the big lures. I told Mearl to wind the lure to its original position and after retrieving 5m of line, the bill and dorsal of the fish broke the surface behind the lure and smashed down. This time we were hooked up! After a scramble to clear the other rods, the deck was cleared. Mearl took the chair and strapped in. The marlin stuck its head out the water showing it to be a small stripey ... Mearl’s first. The fish was a bit out gunned with the 80Lbs rig, and was at the boat in 8 minutes. It was cleanly hooked so we got the hooks out and turned it loose. Great!

The lures went out again and Mike continued to work the area. At about 2pm, another small stripey came up on the short starboard lure. I pitched a halfbeak to is but the fish was just window shopping and after a half hearted look, it faded off. Despite working the area for another half hour, we could not raise the fish again. At 2:30pm we upped lines and headed for the beach. What a great way to spend the last day of the year!

Twas the day after Christmas

2010-12-26T13:20:00.001+02:00

On 26^th December, Alan and Bryant Buekes and myself launched Allan’s 19ft Yeldcat “Baccus” at Cape Vidal. By 5:30 we were through the surf and headed for Oscar. When we arrived at the southern pinnacle, Bryant and I rigged a few small halcos and daisy chains and started putting out the lines. Before I could place my line, Bryant’s rod went away. After a quick fight, he brought a beautiful little yellowfin of about 2kg ... a perfect bait! I rigged it on a 20/0 circle hook and bombed it back into the water, keeping it close to the boat and away from the sharks. Allan took a course deeper and we waited until we were in 60m before I let the bait out.

The sea was very uncomfortable with the SE wind of around 15 knots and we bumped our way out to 500m before turning. In 400m, I saw a small swirl between the boat and the bait. I went to the back to see what it was. There were two Dorado cruising with us. I quickly grabbed a bait rod with a daisy chain on it and cast it out. The Dorado came over to look but lost interest very quickly and swam off. I took out a mackerel and hooked it onto the back of the daisy chain and left it to wallow in the wake. We continued shallower and at 300m, the bait rod with the mackerel took off. I fed the fish and tightened up. A small Dorado climbed out the water a few times before coming to the boat where we loaded it. At least we had something to eat. After turning in 60m, I headed out towards the ‘hole’ off Vegetation. The sounder showed the bottom falling away and minutes later, the rigger popped. I fed the fish and tightened up. We were on for a few seconds then nothing. I fed the bait back with no result. After retrieving the line, we saw that it was a small shark and only the head of the bait was left. It was back to Oscar to look for bait.

Bryant and I set the bait sticks and Allan trolled over the pinnacle. Allan had just passed over the deeper pinnacle and was moving shallower when one, two , three, four ... five rods went away ... a full house! I grabbed the closest, shortest rod and quickly pulled in a small frigate tuna. It was badly hooked so I put it into the hatch. By then, Bryant had a small yellowfin next to the boat which I grabbed, unhooked and bombed into the luna tube. Bryant grabbed another bait rod while I readied the two marlin rods. Alan brought in another small yellowfin that I quickly rigged and bombed into the water, keeping it within a few meters of the boat. Alan headed deeper off the reef and away from the sharks while Bryant pulled in another beautiful yellowfin which I rigged on the 50Lbs rod. The last rod also had a yellowfin on it and this one we released ... our good deed for the day. With 3 beautiful baits, we were pretty confident.

We had just settled when I saw another 2 dorado cruising in our wake. I grabbed a baitstick, hooked a mackerel on and flung it in their direction. Immediately the smaller one grabbed the bait. I fed it for a bit then hooked up. It came to the boat very quickly and it had a follower ... a nice bull Dorado. Bryant flicked a frozen mackerel at it and hooked up. The bull went mad, jumping over my line and burning me off. Unlucky! Bryant managed to get his 12kg fish to the boat where I gaffed it for him.

At about 2pm, I saw the spare bait rev. Seconds later a shark appeared behind it in hot pursuit. I grabbed the line and pulled the bait away. Bryant did the same with the main bait while Alan opened the motor and sped away. Both baits were fine so after about 200m, we slowed down and put them out again. We had just settled when the main bait was eaten. After feeding the fish for a while, we tightened up but there was nothing. Just the head came back. We transferred the spare bait to the main position and continued trolling. Our bait in the tube had died due to being badly hooked so this was our last chance. In 120m the rigger popped. I fed the fish but when we tightened up, there was nothing. Again just the head came back. That brought our day to a close. It was obviously not our day ... maybe next time.

Raising the Dead

2010-12-24T14:24:00.004+02:00

On 24^th December, I joined Frans van Rensburg, his son Jako and two of his friends on “Trinity” for a day on the water. We left the dock at 4:30am and headed straight out until the water was a deep blue colour. The lures went out and Jako trolled the area for a while. It was very quiet and so we headed north. The sun had broken through the clouds and the lures were looking great. Something had to happen! About an hour later, at 9am, the flatline was eaten by a hungry Dorado. This was brought to the boat and unceremoniously gaffed. Jako worked the area and soon after, we had a small marlin chasing the long port lure. It swatted the lure a few times, but never hooked up.

Jako found a current line and trolled north along the deep edge. At 11:45, there was a huge splash on the long starboard lure and the rigger popped. The 80Lbs rig took off and a big Blue marlin took to the air. We all grabbed rods and cleared the deck as the fish absolutely smoked off. Jako backed up hard trying to keep up with the fish, but it was too fast. Moments later, a movement to the starboard side caught my eye. It was our marlin, greyhounding parallel to us ... in the opposite direction! There was about 500m of line out when the fish slowed down and we could regain line.

Hennie regained most of the line, but the marlin had other ideas and sounded. We could do nothing but watch as the fish took more than half the spool of line. After two hours, the fish stopped and we could only assume it was dead. We were in 500m of water with a dead fish lying on the bottom... not a good situation to be in! We tried every manoeuvre in the book, but the fish would not budge.

Out of pure desperation, I put on a pair of gloves and grabbed the line. There was some tension, but I could pull it up. Slowly ... very slowly, the dead fish started to lift off the bottom. I continued hand-lining the fish while Hennie took up the slack. After 100m, Jako took over from me. So we took turns raising the fish until the elastic from the rigger came out the water. There was a huge amount of tension on the line now and almost zero stretch. I handed over to Jako, warning him not to put too much pressure on the line. Everything was going well and the fish was about 15m under the boat when a swell unexpectedly caused the boat and the fish to suddenly pull apart. All I can recall is Jako’s hand shooting towards him as the line popped. The big fish slowly sank back to the depths. By now it was after 3pm and the battle had taken its toll on the entire crew, physically and mentally.

We decided to up lines and head for home. This day showed us how important a good team is. Even though we did not manage to get the fish, we felt we had done our best.

Hard luck prize

2010-12-19T14:12:00.004+02:00

On 19^th December, Wayne Ritchie and his two sons, Divan Coetzee, Jacques Spence and I launched “Big W” off Richards Bay. There had been a lot of billfish around and we were keen to catch one. We set off at 5am and were soon in good water. The lures went out and we trolled towards the drop off.

In about 300m, Wayne’s sons started feeling seasick and Wayne suggested we head back and drop him and his sons off. We trolled shallower and in 96m, I saw a fin slicing through the spread toward the teaser. I shouted to Wayne who was closest and before he could react, the short starboard rigger popped. The fish took some line then took to the air showing itself to be a good striped marlin of around 70kg. We cleared the lines and slowed the boat down. Wayne was busy clipping himself into the harness when the marlin jumped again and shook the hooks out. Unlucky! We were still in good water so put the lines out again. In 70m, the long port rigger popped and a Dorado splashed around. I happened to be near the rod, so I winched it to the boat where it unfortunately pulled hook. By now, we were in green water and we upped lines and dropped Wayne off. Wayne suggested that Divan, Jacques and I should launch again, so without much ado, we headed back offshore.

The same spread went out as we passed over the colour line and almost immediately, we hooked a Dorado. Jacques made short work of it before I gaffed it. There were a few hook-ups on the 500m contour so Divan headed out to sea. It was very quiet, but at about 14:00, the short starboard rigger popped, the reel gave a short burst but then nothing. We continued on our course and were rewarded with the long starboard rigger popping. This was a strip bait so I gave a few moments before setting the hook. The line ran off the reel at a constant speed but after I felt a few good head nods, it took off. We all looked back and saw a nice blue marlin clear the water. Beautiful! I gave the rod to Jacques and Divs and I cleared the lines. I went to the helm and as I was about to start backing up, the line went limp. On closer inspection, we saw that the trace had broken ... who knows why!

At 3:30pm we trolled towards home and in 80m, we had a Dorado take a lure. Divan pulled it in and it had two followers. I ran down stairs and flicked out a piece of belly shine on a spare rod. Almost immediately I went on. Jacques took the rod and I gaffed Div’s fish.

We rigged another rod with a belly shine and slipped it into the wake. It didn’t take long to hookup and we managed to get all three fish. They were not billfish, but they were a hell of a lot of fun and a great way to end the day!

By hook or By Crook!

2010-12-18T14:29:00.007+02:00

On Friday 17^th December, I took out Mike Leenstra’s 21ft Yeld Cat “Beluga”. Fishing with me was Mike’s 13 year old son Dale. Dale has recently started targeting SA Records and has accumulated a few impressive fish on light tackle. Today we were looking for a Blue or Striped Marlin record.

We launched “Beluga” at 5:30am and headed North to the Kasteel (50m Ledge). The blue water started on the edge of the reef so I slacked the speed and let out a small kona on a baitstick while Dale let out a halco. I stopped the spool with my thumb to see where the lure was when suddenly the rod buckled and the reel took off! I put up the drag and gave the rod to Dale. He brought in a skipjack of about 2kg (a perfect bait). It went straight into the live bait tube and we headed deeper.

In about 200m, I rigged the skippie on a 20/0 circle hook and an 80Lbs rig. There was a big swell so I let the bait out about 30m and attached the line to the outrigger with a rubber band. Slowly we headed deeper and over the radio, several boats were hooked up in 400-500m. We turned at 600m and headed shallower. At 500m a pod of spinner dolphin cruised with the boat for a while before heading to parts unknown. We also started seeing flying fish and even an ocean sunfish. This was definitely the area to be. Probably 5 mins later, the bait revved and the elastic popped. I fed the fish a few meters when the water behind the boat erupted and a nice blue marlin of about 150kg started jumping. I upped the drag and wound like hell. Dale increased the speed but alas, the reel stopped running and the marlin was gone. On closer inspection, I saw that the fish had become tangled in the line and trace and the bait did not even have a mark on it! Unlucky! The bait unfortunately died and so Dale and I put out 5 marlin lures and headed back to the ledge to look for another livebait.

In 100m of water, I looked back to see the port long rigger bending for the water! Next thin the rigger released and the 130Lbs Tiagra took off. Seconds later, a black marlin of about 100kg exploded out of the water putting up a beautiful display! We cleared the lines and Dale jumped into the chair. He fought the fish very well and had it next to the boat in 15mins where I leadered the fish, removed the hooks and released it. Great!

We were practically on the reef so out came the big rods and in went the bait rods. We trolled around for about an hour and managed to get a nice Dorado and lost a wahoo. At 1pm I suggested we put the big lures out and head for the deep to look for a blue or stripey. We had just started trolling when we caught a 16kg wahoo on a marlin lure in 100m of water.

A short while later, in 500m, a blue marlin came charging in to the port long rigger but turned off at the last second! I worked the area for about half an hour without any action. It was getting late so I told Dale that it was time to head home. We decided to troll shallower until the water turned green before packing up. In 74m, I noticed a splash on the centre rigger, followed by a snap as the rubber bang popped. The 50Lbs Tiagra took off and another black marlin launched itself out the water.

Again we cleared the lines before Dale climbed into the chair. The fish settled and I slowly closed the gap between the boat and fish. The marlin was about 20m away when it shook its head violently and then took to the air then stripped quite a bit of line before settling again. Dale worked it closer and the leader came out the water. I took the trace and waited for the fish to give the right approach. It kept ducking under the boat resulting in a few tense moments. With just two people on board, one in the chair, meant I had to turn the chair, skip the boat and trace the fish ... stressful to say the least! Finally, after letting go 4 or 5 times, it surfaced next to the boat and I could safely pull it closer. I grabbed the bill of a healthy 90kg black and removed the hooks before turning it loose! Unreal, 2 blacks in a day with 2 people on board ... and one on 50Lbs ... NICE! After that, we packed up and headed home.

Fish's day off

2010-12-05T16:13:00.000+02:00

On Sunday 5^th December we launched “AVANTI” at Cape Vidal and headed for the bait spot off the point. We scratched around for a while until we found a good showing and went down with bait jigs. As they hit the ground, we went on with mackerel and maasbankers. After the livewell was stocked, we headed for Oscar to pull for marlin bait.

Divan and I set the lines and At trolled over the pinnacles. It didn’t take long to get a pull. Three rods went away with yellowfin tuna and Johan, Pierre and Divan took the strikes. Moments after we hooked up, a pod of dolphin started jumping towards us. Knowing what was about to happen, all 3 anglers put the drags up to maximum and pulled like mad. The inevitable happened and 2 of the 3 tuna were eaten by the dolphins. The one we managed to get went into the livebait tube and we continued trolling. About 20mins later we hooked another yellowfin which found its way into the tube.

The baits were a bit big for our liking so we continued trolling to try catch a smaller bait. A short while later we pulled hooks on a nice size bonito but managed to catch another of about 2kg just after that. One of the yellowfins went into the hatch to make space for the bonito. The current had come in and so we headed about a kilometer north to gain ground and depth. En route we had a sailfish take one of the bait lures we were pulling but unfortunately it didn’t stick. In 60m I rigged the bonito and put it about 20m behind the boat.

Pierre rigged a live mackerel and put it on the other rigger, hoping for a Dorado or smaller billfish. At trolled the bait deeper and turned at 160m before working in shallower. We were hopeful of getting a marlin because the conditions were perfect. But, by 1:30 pm we had nothing so decided to call it a day. I pulled in the bait, cut it free and watched it swim away strongly. It was its lucky day.

Holiday Fishing

2010-12-04T14:57:00.000+02:00

After returning from Kenya, I was keen to get on the water and try some of the new tricks I learnt. Close friend At van Tilburg was at Cape Vidal and he invited me to fish for the weekend. Divan Coetzee and I left Richards Bay at 03:45 on Saturday 4^th December and arrived at Vidal round 5:30. The SW wind was still blowing but the forecast indicated that conditions would improve as the day progressed. We decided to fish for halfbeaks on the low tide and launch at midday for an afternoon session.

At, Pierre, Divs and I fished for about two hours and managed to get 27 halfbeaks. After vacuum packing them, we hitched the boat, launched and set off for the live bait spot. The bait was relatively scarce but after 45mins we managed to get about 20 baits. The sea was choppy with a 15knot SW blowing. We wanted to fish south of the launch so we opted to pull lures instead of pounding our way into the wind. About 10mins later, we had a strike and Divan caught our first Vidal Dorado for December. After arriving at the lighthouse, we rigged a few livies and slow trolled north with the wind, tacking deeper and shallower as we went. In 27m Pierre caught a nice Dorado on the surface. A short while later, we had a double strike and Divs and I fought the fish. Mine came to the boat first and turned out to be a hammerhead shark of about 20kg ... not what I was hoping for! Divan brought in a Dorado of around 6kg.

The current had pushed us south while we were fighting the fish and we upped lines and moved further north before resetting the lines. Things were a bit quiet for a while until we moved into the area where the water temp increased. Almost immediately, the deeper bait was eaten and the fish smoked off. I took the strike and while Divs was clearing some lines I saw a Dorado swimming behind us. Divs fed it a livie and it was game on. Another double. I managed to get a cuda of +- 8kg while Divs got another Dorado. We were busy resetting the lines when the far surface bait was eaten. I picked up the rod and took up the slack. After a short run, I felt something break. On closer inspection, I saw that the 100Lbs fluorocarbon leader had been bitten through. It was probably another fish that ate the lure which had slid up the line. About 10mins later, Divan did his magic with a sailfish. Nice Divs!!!

At 15:30 we beached and after prepping for the next day, we enjoyed a fresh fish and chips meal. NICE!

We've been Having it!

2010-11-14T09:10:00.001+02:00

On 13^th November 2010, Marius Botha, Riaan Pretorius, Divan and I launched Marius’ boat “Sea Hunter”. This was the first launch with his boat and we were unsure as to what the game plan should be. We loaded the boat with two 80Lbs marlin rods and a few game sticks and headed out to sea.

There was a light SE wind blowing and the sea was relatively calm. There had been a few Dorado north on the 50m ledge so we headed in that direction. After stopping off at a bait spot and catching some maasbankers, we put out some high speed lures and headed north along the ledge towards the castle. We had just arrived in the area when a reel took off. Moments later a Dorado of about 9kg took to the air. Marius fought the fish to the boat and Riaan unceremoniously gaffed it and popped it into the hatch. With something to eat, we were all satisfied that the day was not a complete waste.

We needed to make a decision as to what we were going to fish for... do we pull livebait around for gamefish of do we put out lures and look for marlin bait? Opting for the latter, we put out 2 small rapalas, a Dorado lure and 2 marlin lures (just in case). After about 15 minutes, the one baitstick went away with a small yellowfin tuna of about 2kg... a perfect bait. I pulled it in and put it into the livebait tube. Divan changed course for deeper water while Riaan, Marius and I cleared the other lines and prepared the traces. We did not have a bait needle, so I had to make a plan with a piece of #9 piano wire.

At 70m, Divan slowed the boat to live bait speed and I rigged the yellowfin on a 20/0 circle hook. The bait was let out 20m and the line attached to the outrigger. Slowly we made our way out to sea, turning at 300m. There was no current and we could maintain position without any problems. In 155m, the bait started revving. I ran back and pulled the line out the rigger. After a few seconds, there was a heavy weight on the line indicating the bait had been taken. I released the line and put the reel into free spool, pulling off line as the fish swam away with the bait. The fish’s speed increased and I told Divan to accelerate a bit. I increased the drag and the rod bent followed by a screaming reel... HOOKUP! Marius donned the harness and I passed him the rod. Once settled, we watched the line as it angled towards the surface. About 60m behind the boat, something broke the surface and thrashed around. None of us could get a good look, but we were relatively sure it was a marlin. The fish stayed on surface but would not come closer to the boat. If I backed up, the fish would sound but when I rode forward, it would come up again. The fish followed us where ever we went and after 45mins, Divan managed to get hold of the trace. The sun was at the wrong angle so we could not ID it. The trace was pulled out of Divan’s hands as the fish sounded a few meters. In the next 20mins, the trace came out the water 3 times. Finally we could see the fish. It was a good size black marlin. This was a very stubborn fish and even with 10kg drag, we made little impression. At one point, the marlin swam up to the side of the boat for a quick look at what was happening. Divan traced it within about 2m of the surface and it had all its fighting colours lit up ... beautiful!

It then sounded again. After 2 hours of heavy pressure, the fish started tiring. At this stage we were in 50m of water and had taken the trace about 7 times. We decided to load the fish if we could as it was Marius’ biggest fish. There was a problem however because there was no heavy gaff or sheleilie on the boat. We would need to grab the bill and manhandle it next to the boat ... this was going to be good! The leader came up and Divan gave a few wraps pulling the fish closer to the boat. I slowly circled keeping the fish out from under the boat and away from the motors.

Slowly but surely it came closer and when it was less than 2m away, it came to the surface and shook its head, dislodging the hook! It hung there for a few moments before veering off into the depths. This was an extremely strong fish and earned its freedom. There was no use crying over spilt milk, so we regrouped and put out the bait lures and headed to the ledge again.

After about an hour, we hooked another yellowfin tuna. I rigged it and let it out as we did the previous bait. The wind had picked up and most boats headed back. We stuck it out and continued to 220m before turning shallower. At around 2pm, the bait revved I ran to the back and released the line from the clip. After feeling the weight of a bigger fish, I fed slack into the water then let the line to run off the reel. Divan increased the speed and I increased the drag ... HOOKUP! Divan climbed into the harness and commenced battle. The fish stayed on surface, but came to the boat very easily. I had to ride away to keep tension. After convincing ourselves that it was a hammerhead, we were pleasantly surprised when the “shark” grew a bill and came flying out the water.

It gave a great display near the boat and after about 15 mins, Divan had it next to the boat. I leadered the +-80kg black marlin and Marius took the bill. After a few good shakes, I got the hook out and we released a healthy marlin.

Thanks to the crew for a great day, and remember ... Surf’s up Dude!!! Hehe!

MBA ... Master Builder Association

2010-11-07T13:21:00.000+02:00

After a spell of terrible weather, which kept most of us off the sea, we had our break and planned to make full use of it.

On Sunday the 7^th November, Wayne Ritchie, Divan Coetzee, Ettienne de Villiers, Riaan Pretorius and I launched Wayne’s 900 Cobra cat “Big W”. We had entered the Master Builders Association Gamefish Competition held at the Meerensee Boat Club. The first day had been bad weather and we opted not to fish. Other boats launched and there were a few Dorado, tuna and sailfish around.

We headed for the castle with a SE wind of about 12-15knots. The forecast indicated the wind would settle and it was going to be a great day. The water was clean at 40m so I decided to put out a small high speed lure while we ran out, hoping to get a wahoo. In 55m we slowed to put out the lures and Riaan started retrieving the high speed lure. Halfway to the boat, he shouted that he was on! Classic. The fish gave a bit of a tussle before Divan gaffed a 5kg yellowfin. Wayne increased the speed to about 8 knots and Divan and I put out some lures. Div was busy placing a lure in the spread when the rod buckled in his hands. He was also into a yellowfin of about 8kg. We reset the lures and continued trolling.

At 350m we turned shallower as there had been more surface activity near the 100m mark. Moments later, the close lure was taken and a Dorado launched into the air. Seconds later the long rigger came down and a second Dorado, bigger than the first, took to the air. Riaan and Ettienne took the rods. We were busy retrieving the other lines when there was a loud crack. The next thing, the centre rigger fell from the sky and landed on the deck! Moments later the 130Lbs reel started running. We were on with 3! Chaos reigned for a few minutes as 3 guys tried to control 3 dorado. When the dust had settles, one Dorado made it to the fish hatch with the others pulling hooks. After clearing the deck and assessing the situation, we realised that the centre rigger had broken on a previously welded section which had become weak. When the Dorado took the lure, the rigger could not handle the strain and broke. Not to worry, we made a make shift plan and were trolling a full spread in no time.

We heard over the radio that one of the boats had a strike a bit shallower so we headed to the area where we had seen some skipjack feeding. At about 8:45 in 133m, the short port rigger lure was eaten. The fish took off to the starboard side at speed, so I picked up the rod and weaved my way through the other lines which were being retrieved by everyone else. The fish changed direction and shot past the starboard rigger causing the line to cut through the water. I tried to retrieve the slack but the fish was too fast. Wayne opened the throttle and after what seemed like ages, the line took tension. I handed the rod to Riaan who was by now in the standup harness. We clipped him in and left him to fight the fish which was still unidentified.

The fish fought on the surface for most of the fight and after about 30mins we caught a glimpse of it. It was a blue marlin of about 100kg. About 15 mins, I took the trace and Divan tagged the fish. After a few photos, we released a healthy fish which swam away strongly. This was Rianns first marlin and he had fought it well.

With a spring in our steps, we set the lines and Wayne continued working the area. About half n hour later, I saw a sharp dorsal fin followed by a sickle tail slicing through the water towards the short port lure (again). I shouted to the guys and everyone saw the bill and dorsal come up behind the lure as the marlin tried to eat it. The fish missed the lure about 4 times before it found the hooks and we were hooked up. The large dorsal indicated that this was a striped marlin and because Wayne had not caught one yet, we gave him the strike. I ran upstairs and took over the controls while the other lines were cleared. When Wayne was clipped in, he pulled the fish to the boat relatively easily.

About 30m from the boat, the marlin stuck its head out the water and then instantly turned away from us and greyhounded away almost pulling Wayne over the transom. At this stage, I put both 300HP Suzzies into reverse and charged the fish down. It looked like a scene from ESPN with white water coming over the transom. Absolutely spectacular! The fish stopped jumping and the fight slowed down. When we neared the fish, we could see that it had become tail wrapped. Luckily, as Divan took the leader, the line unwrapped and Divan could grab the bill. Ettienne tagged the fish and after a few quick photo and a reviving session, the striped marlin was released. Great! 2 marlin in as many hours!

The competition’s lines up was at 11:30 and apart from a quick strike with a skipjack tuna, the day ended. We were fortunate to do well in the comp and ended up taking the top billfish boat and the second biggest Dorado with a fish of 12,4kg. Congrats to Wayne, Riaan and the crew on a great achievement!

Back to basics - KP reels rule!

2010-09-06T15:56:00.005+02:00

On Sunday the 5^th September, Hannes and Michael Duvenage and I launched “Lihann” to fish for Garrick. There had been very few around but they are the only decent gamefish around so we decided to try for them. We launched at around 6am and headed to the shallow bait reef. On the first down with livebait jigs, we lost 4 hooks. We assumed they were shad and persevered a while longer. We then caught about 7 small milk sharks in a row. Realizing we would not come right with bait if they were around, we moved a bit north and deeper. Michael and Hannes caught a few nice pinkies before heading north to hlobane mouth.

The water was beautiful. Clean, small swells and quite a lot of baitfish around. We rigged 4 baits and Hannes trolled along the backline. In front of the mouth, we noticed movement on the surface. There were sharp fins sticking out of the water and large swirls in a small area. Michael and I threw spoons and plugs at the swirls without a chase. Finally, when they were close to us we identified them as milkfish (chanos Chanos). No wonder we didn’t get any chases. There was no action on the first drift and so we made a second drift over the same area. At about 10am we were just south of the mouth when the bait on the Scarborough was taken. I fed the fish which ran very quickly and didn’t stop. I struck into what seemed like a brick wall and then the fish took off even faster. It went out to sea and stayed deep. I told Michael that I was positive that it was a kingfish and so Hannes got the boat on top of it to prevent it from cutting me off. The fish fought with heavy head nods and strong short runs. Finally, after about 20 minutes, the fish came up circling beneath the boat. Michael reached out and gaffed a good GT of 15kg. Not bad on a KP! Again we travelled north before resetting the rods but after about an hour or more, there was no action. The weather was beautiful so we decided to up lines and run to the 50m ledge to pull a few small konas and halcos.

We arrived at the ledge about 20 mins later and rigged 3 konas and two halcos (both on scarboroughs) and zigzagged the reef towards the harbour. After trolling for about 20 mins, the one halco and one kona was eaten. Unfortunately the hook pulled on the halco but we still had one on. Michael pulled a +-4kg yellowfin tuna to the boat where it was released. The lines went in again and almost immediately we caught a small bonito. We continued south and hooked another 2 yellowfins. I released one on the KP and Michael released the other.

About 15 mins later Michael released another yellowfin and caught 2 more bonito. At 2:30 we upped lines and headed back to the club.

Slim pickings

2010-09-06T15:52:00.002+02:00

On Saturday 4^th September at 5:45am, Michael, Divan and I launched “Lihann” off Richards Bay to fish for Garrick. The weather predictions were for strong NE winds from midday but there was a quiet period in the morning. We wanted to fish on the low tide was at 6:45am so we didn’t have much time to catch bait and get to the fishing spot.

Our first stop was at the shallow bait reef off the caravan park. We were lucky and managed to find some nice pinkies and a few small shad in a short space of time before heading north. The water was filthy near groenkop, so we headed towards Hlohbane river mouth. When we arrived, there were patches of off coloured water, but otherwise it looked good. Divan and I rigged a few pinkies and a shad while Michael worked south along the surfzone.

We made two drifts over the area without a single rev so we headed even further north to Dawsons bay. Again we rigged some livies and worked the area but without success so we continued south back to the river mouth. About half way between Hlobane and Dawsons, Divan saw a big swirl on the sea side of us and then a Garrick broke surface and chased a few baitfish. I grabbed a rod with a popper on it and let fly. The moment was obviously too big for me and I ended up with an overwind ... Epic Fail! I knew I needed to act quickly, so I wound over the knot and got the popper on the surface. Immediately the Garrick turned and chased the popper but did not want to eat it and turned away a few meters from the boat. The baits pulled through the area without a rev and we continued on our drift. At 11:30, we had had enough and decided to pull in the lines and head back along the backline and stop if we saw a good looking area. About a kilometre south, near kwambo ramp, we saw a patch of clean water with a bit of a rip. Divan and I put 3 baits in and michael worked the area.

As we came into the dirty water of the rip, the deep bait started revving wildly. Divan and I ran back and I got to the rod first and freespooled the bait. A few seconds later, the bait was eaten and I fed the fish for a while before hooking up. The fish came to the boat relatively quickly and after a few short runs next to the boat, Divan gaffed a 6kg Garrick. It had a lot of energy left and jumped around the deck while Divan tried to control it. The fish got a few good shots in before Divan could put it into the hatch.

The weather was deteriorating fast and Divan had to be back early for a wedding so we called it a day.

Unfavourable Conditions

2010-08-23T09:42:00.009+02:00

On the morning of Saturday the 21^st August, Michael, Divan and I Launched “Lihann” to fish for Garrick. The SW had blown for most of the week and there was a lot of rain. This resulted in very dirty water in the backline and unfavourable conditions. Knowing it would be a difficult days fishing, we decided to give it a try regardless. The NE was predicted to blow 16-19 knots.

We headed for the south pier to look for some shad, but they were not interested and we were forced to try another spot. Other boats were on the pipeline but were battling for bait so we stayed shallow and managed to get a few shad and pinkies before heading north to fish the rips in the backline. After pulling baits around for about an hour in dirty water without a strike, we made a call to move about 10km north to Hlobane mouth. The closer we got to the mouth, the better the water conditions became. When we arrived, there were a few good rips and working water with a few birds dipping over the area. Divan and I rigged baits and had just put out the second rod when the first bait was eaten. I fed the fish for a few seconds and then set the hook. The fish splashed around on the surface for a while then came within gaffing range where Divan lifted the +- 7,5kg garrick into the boat.

We went back to the start of the drift and set the lines. On the edge of the rip, we saw a Garrick clear the water while chasing baitfish. A few minutes later, a Garrick ripped into a shoal of bait under one of the dipping birds... something had to happen. Near the end of the drift, as we were coming out of the rip, the deep bait revved and I freespooled the reel. Something ate the livie and I fed it for quite a while before setting the hook. As the line came tight, the Garrick came to the surface splashing trying to throw the hook. I handed the rod to Divan as the fish thrashed on the surface throwing a lot of blood because the fish was in the gills which made it an easy fight. As the fish came close, Michael gaffed the 6kg garrick and lifted it aboard. Again we headed to the start of the drift and set lines. After about 30mins, the pinky on the Scarborough started revving and was eaten. Divan fed the fish for a while but the bait was dropped before he could set the hook. There were no more strikes on the rest of the drift so we headed back up and rerigged. As we entered the area that we had dropped the previous fish, the Scarborough bait was eaten. Divan fed the fish for a few seconds then set the hooks. The fish took off at speed while I cleared the other lines. The fish fought hard and deep with big head nods and when it came to the boat, we saw that it was a nice kingfish of about 11kg. I quickly put the gaff into the fish’s head and lifted it into the boat. This was Divan’s biggest kingfish.

The wind was now blowing about 20 knots and we decided to make one last drift. We had no further strikes and at 2pm we upped lines and headed back to the harbour. There were no other fish caught at the club and we felt satisfied with a good catch in unfavourable conditions.

Picture Perfect Conditions

2010-08-16T11:21:00.012+02:00

On Saturday the 14^th of August, my Dad and I planned to go Garrick fishing with Wayne Ritchie and Hendrik McCarthy. The forecast looked promising and at 6:30am we launched “Selfish” and headed off to the pipeline to get bait. We stopped at the coordinate and Wayne and I sent the jigs down into a good looking showing. Before we hit the ground, the rods doubled over as the baitfish climbed on. We brought up two full strings of mackerel. My Dad repositioned us and again we brought up strings of mackerel. I cut one up for bait and put a few pieces on the jigs, hoping for a shad. On the next drop, Wayne brought up a few maasbankers and I managed to get two shad and a few mackerel. We moved a short distance away and found a few red eye sardines which we kept for snoek bait. After filling up on bait, we went shallower and caught a few pinkies before heading to groenkop.

We wanted to fish the low tide for Garrick, but this was only at 11am so we had some time to kill. I rigged up a few redeyes and a live mackerel and we slow trolled a ledge at 12m. Apart from a half hearted strike, it was quiet. At 9:30 we headed for the backline.

There was almost no swell and the water was crystal clean.

I rigged two mackerel, a shad and a pinkie. My Dad slowly trolled into the shallows and headed for one of the rips that was forming with the outgoing tide. We had gone about 100m when the shad was eaten. I fed the fish for a long time then struck the fish. It took about 30m of line before the hook pulled. Unlucky! I rigged the last shad and as we went into the rip, it was eaten. I fed the fish for a while and set the hook. This time the fish was on properly. Hendrik took the rod and fought the fish to the boat where it gave a good account of itself before I put the gaff into a 7,6kg Garrick. We went back to the north side of the rip and set the lines again. I had no more shad so I put another pinkie out. Again, as we went into the rip, the pinkie was taken. I hooked up and gave Hendrik the rod. The fish came to the boat quickly and turned out to be a nice rockcod. We carried on south to the next rip and as the baits came out of the turbulence, the pinkie was eaten. I fed the fish but before I could strike, the fish dropped the bait. We did not have any more action for half an hour so we upped lines and went back to where we had started the day. We had the baits in the perfect spot when the pinkie was eaten again. I fed the fish and hooked up before giving the rod to Wayne. This Garrick took a lot of line and gave Wayne a good go. Wayne decided to tag the fish so I traced it and lifted it into the boat where it was measured, tagged and released. Great!

We rerigged and trolled to the next rip. Wayne had also put on a pinkie because this seemed to be the bait of the day. A short while later, this bait was eaten. Wayne fed the fish and then tightened up. The fish was on for a few minutes but then threw the hook. We were now out of pinkies and so we had to use mackerel and maasbankers. Again we rode to the north of the rip and rerigged. I put out new baits on all the rods and as the last bait was in the water, the mackerel was taken. Wayne fed the fish for quite a while and then tightened up. Hookup! The fish was on a spinning rig and Wayne wanted Hendrik to feel what it was like to fight on a coffee grinder, so he handed over the rod. Hendrik fought the fish to the boat and after a good tussle, I gaffed a 7,4kg Garrick.

With a renewed faith in the other baits, we reset the lines. We decided to up lines at 2pm and at 1:55pm, the deep bait with the maasbanker was taken. I fed the fish but unfortunately the line tangled with another and the fish spat the bait before I could strike. We were happy with our day and headed back for a cold beer.

Don't believe the forecast!

2010-08-10T13:10:00.001+02:00

On Saturday the 7^th August, we had planned a fishing trip with my sister, Julie, brother in law, Carl and my Dad. We wanted to target the ladies 3kg line class record for Garrick. The weather forecast did not look good. There was supposed to be a small window of good weather in the morning before the NE wind would get up and blow us off the water. We decided to launch as early as possible to get in what little fishing we could.

At 6am we headed for the ski-boat club and were in the water by 6:30. We then headed out to the pipeline to catch livebait. The sea was beautiful with no wind and almost no swell. Carl and I dropped the jigs down on a good showing and immediately went on. We brought up strings of maasbanker, shad and pinkies. By 7:30 the live well was full, we headed off to the backline to look for Garrick. We had decided on an area between 5 mile and groenkop where the low tide created a few strong rips. I rigged up 2 shad and a pinkie on the 3kg spinning rigs and my Dad worked from south to north through the rips. After about an hour, we had just turned to work back south when one of the shad was eaten. Julie rushed to the rod and fed the fish while Carl and I cleared the other lines. After we were happy that the fish had swallowed the bait, my Dad increased the speed and Julie started winding. The line took tension and ran off the reel. Hookup! The fish ran straight fot the backline which indicated that it was indeed a Garrick. The current record is vacant so we knew that this was the fish we were looking for. My Dad moved the boat into deeper water out of the surf zone so that we could fight the fish in open water. Julie brought the fish to the boat and had the leader on the rod after 15 mins. But this is where our progress came to a grinding halt. The fish turned broadside and stayed just out of reach. Every now and again, it would make a run along the surface breaking surface, trying to throw the hook. After the leader had been through the tip guide about twenty times, I managed to get the gaff into the fish and haul it aboard. Mission accomplished! It was a nice size fish and it had given Julie a good rev.

It was still early so we decided to try for another fish. I put the 3kg away and put the three 6kg spinning rigs out. The Garrick record on 6kg is just under 10kg, so we needed a relatively big fish. Again I put out 2 shad on the surface and a pinkie on the bottom. We worked the same rip for a while without a strike so moved further south to try another rip. As we moved into the turbulent water, the far shad was eaten. Again Julie fed the fish and after a while, my Dad opened the motor and the line came tight. The fish came to the boat quickly and as it made a pass at the boat, I put the gaff in.

It was not big enough for the record so we continued trolling along the rip. The lines had been in the water for a short while when the deep pinkie bait started revving. The rod bent and the reel freespooled. Julie took the rod and fed the fish for a bit before tightening up. Hookup! The fish fought in the surf and gave a good show on the surface. After a few minutes, the fish was at the boat. We decided to tag the fish as it was once again not big enough for a record. Carl put a wet towel on the deck and got the tag ready. I traced the fish and took hold of the tail. The fish was still very strong and I battled to keep hold of it. Eventually, I took hold of the tail with two hands and lifted it into the boat. I inserted the tag, measured it and then cut the leader. We took a few photos and then sent the fish on its way.

The tide was now starting to turn and the rip was dissipating so we quickly put the lines in the water to work it before it was gone. A few minutes after entering the rip, Carl shouted that there was a commotion on the surface just behind the boat. I saw the rigged shad jumping out the water trying to get away from something. Then a Garrick came up behind the shad, turning the water into a ball of foam and spray. When the shad landed, it disappeared in a big swirl. We all expected the reel to start running, but nothing. Julie retrieved the line to find the shad had been hit off the bridle and we were left with a bare hook. Moments later, the other surface shad was eaten. The reel free spooled and Julie took the rod. After a short while, we struck the fish and again the hook found it’s mark. This fish came to the boat very quickly and we saw that it was also quite small so again we decided to release it. We had the fish on the leader and Julie put some pressure on it so that I could get my hands on it. It was on the surface, next to the boat when it gave a last kick and the hook came out. Oh well, it was probably better that way in any case.

By 12:00 the rips had frizzled out and we were left to work the backline blindly. The sea was still beautiful and the strong wind that was predicted had not arrived. About an hour passed without any luck so we trolled south towards the harbour. Just in front of 5 Mile lighthouse, the deep bait revved and the reel freespooled. Again Julie fed the fish and then tightened up. The rod dipped for a bit, then came back as the hook pulled free. Oh well, 4 out of 5 is not bad. We decided to call it a day and packed up and headed home. We weighed the two Garrick and the smaller one was 7,2kg. The fish on 3kg line was 9,2kg, a new Ladies SA record.

A slow start but strong finish

2010-07-26T10:12:00.002+02:00

On Saturday the 24^th July, Michael ,Divan, Heindrich and I launched “Lihann” off Richards Bay to target Garrick. There had been a number of fish caught during the week and we were looking forward to an action packed day.

Our first stop was at the end of the pipeline where we normally catch bait. Divan and I went down with sabiki jigs hoping for shad, but instead came up with full strings of maasbanker. I am not personally a big fan of a maasbanker as a Garrick bait so we continued looking for better bait. After moving around a bit, we happened upon a shoal of mackerel. I handed the bait rod to Heindrich so that he could fish for a bit. While they were loading the mackerel, I rigged up a game rod with a bottom trace, pinned a live mackerel and sent it down. At the end of the first drift, I retrieved the bait to find it had been chopped. I rigged another bait and sent it down on the next drift. After a few minutes, the rod bumped and I fed the fish for a short while then struck. The fish ripped off line at a fast speed before I turned it. We all thought it was a shark, but the deep hard fight with constant tail beats suggested otherwise. I got the fish to the boat where Michael lifted it into the boat. It was a yellowfin tuna of about 5kg which we released. After catching quite a number of mackerel, we decided to head shallower to look for bait at a different spot. In 12m off the caravan park, I sent down the sabiki. It had just hit the bottom when I hooked something that felt like a shad. I quickly lifted it into the boat and saw that it was a tiny cuda of around 35cm, probably the smallest I have ever caught. I kept this as a pitchbait for the coming marlin season. We managed to catch several large pinky’s and then headed for the south pier to look for Garrick.

We rigged 2 mackerel, 1 maasbanker and a pinky and slow trolled along the backline toward new mouth and then turned back towards the pier. By 12:30 we had only had 1 half hearted strike on a mackerel so the decision was made to up lines and run north between 5 mile lighthouse and groenkop hoping that there would be a few fish holding in the rips. The baits went out and the trolling continued without a touch. After checking the baits, Divan opted to change his bait to a sand mackerel hoping that this would trigger a strike. About 15mins later, I saw a big swirl between the lines. Divan’s scarborough reel started spinning as something ate the sand mackerel. Divan fed the fish for a while before setting the hook. The fish headed straight for the backline which was a sure indication that it was a Garrick. The fish came to the boat where I gaffed Divan’s first Garrick of about 5kg.

The lines went out again and we trolled slowly north. At 16:15 the deep line with the pinky had a strike. I fed the fish but the line didn’t pickup. After a few moments, I put up the drag and wound the reel to check what had happened. The line started cutting through the water to the front of the boat and I realised the fish had taken the bait and swam toward me. I set the hook and passed the rod to Heindrich. The fish gave us a hard time around the boat, but eventually we managed to load the 7kg Garrick.

The lines went out quickly again to use what light was left and not 10mins later, the deep line with a pinky was taken. Divan fed the fish and hooked up. Michael took the rod and fought a 6kg Garrick to the boat where Divan gaffed it.

We were hopeful to get a fourth fish so that we all could have caught one, but it was not to be. At 17:00 we upped lines and headed for the harbour. After a slow start to the day, it ended off with a bang. We are all looking forward to the next day’s Garrick fishing.

Garrick Galore

2010-07-19T15:34:00.008+02:00

At 7:30am on Sunday the 18^th July, Jacques Spence (Tjokkie) and I launched “KC”, a 14ft ski-vee to fish for Garrick. We headed for the end of the pipeline to catch live bait. This is always the hardest part of Garrick fishing because without livebait you are dead in the water. I sounded around the marks for a few minutes to locate the bait shoals. After about 4 drifts, I found a spot where the showings looked good. Tjoks and I caught a few pinky’s, razorbellies and maasbankers but not the shad that we were looking for. I filleted a few of the razorbellies and both Tjoks and I baited up with this. We both dropped on the showing and immediately went on. Tjoks lifted 6 shad into the boat while I had 3 shad and 7 missing hooks... Game on! Tjoks had a heavy duty sabiki rig on so I held the boat on the spot while he caught bait. With the live well full, Tjoks and I headed for the south pier to look for garrick.

We arrived at 9:30 and I rigged up 3 shad, two on spinning rods and one on conventional tackle. There were a lot of people fishing off the pier and I could not get close enough to be productive. I opted to make my was along the pier working south towards the New Mouth area, along the backline. At just after 10am, I saw two Garrick chasing baitfish near the surf. This was exactly what I was hoping for. I headed for the area and a few minutes later, I saw a fish surface near the baits. I picked up the rod and held it in free spool anticipating the strike. I felt the bait rev and then there was a heavy pull on the line. After feeding the fish, I set the hook and passed the rod to Tjoks. The fish surfaced in the surf shaking its head violently. On the second breach, the hook and fish parted company and we were left with a mauled shad and 0-1 score to the Garrick, but we knew they were there. I rerigged the bait and continued along the backline and as we approached a good rip, the far bait was eaten. Again I fed the fish and hooked up before passing the rod to Tjoks. The other lines were cleared and the fish was brought to the boat. There was a second fish with it, but it refused to eat the bait that we offered it. I gaffed the fish and rigged up again.

Tjoks and I both agreed that the area we had just been through had a number of fish in it, so I turned around and headed north. We had not gone 100m when the bait on the spinning rod was eaten. I fed it and tightened up as the fish surfaced some distance away. Again Tjoks took the rod and fought a nice fish to the boat. He wanted to release it and so I traced the fish and when it was close, I cut the leader and it kicked away strongly. 2-1 to team “KC”... much better!

By now I was itching to get my first Garrick of the season and I didn’t have to wait long for a chance. We were nearing the pier when the close bait revved and then disappeared in a big swirl. I fed the fish and hooked up. At this stage, there were two other boats next to us and I am sure they were a bit envious that we were hooking up at such regular intervals (I know I would be!). As the fish neared the boat, I noticed that it had a tag in it so we put the fish on the deck, measured it, cleaned the tag and released it. 3-1 team “KC”. Great stuff.

By now, we were seeing a pattern and most of the fish were being caught on a colour line formed by the outgoing tide. I rode back to the beginning of the rip and put the baits out. We had just settled when a fish swirled between the lines. One of the shad jumped out of the water and when it landed, a Garrick engulfed it. This fish was on a light spinning rod and after I fed the fish, I set the hook. The fish ran for a short distance and then spat the bait. 3-2 ... we were slipping! Again I went back to the start of the rip and put out the baits. After about ten minutes, the far bait on the spinning rod was eaten and after feeding it, I hooked up. The fish fought strongly and after a good tussle, Tjoks gaffed a nice Garrick for me.

The other boats had moved away by now and we had the area to ourselves. Again the baits went in and 20 minutes later, when baits were in the same area as the previous strike, the close bait was eaten. I handed the rod to Tjoks to feed the fish himself. He did a great job and set the hooks like a pro! I had left the other lines in while I headed out of the danger zone and next thing the far bait was eaten again. I hooked up and we were on a double! Both fish fought away from each other any making it easy to handle. Tjoks brought his fish in first and after it was gaffed, he returned the favour and gaffed my fish. 6-2 team “KC” ... Awesome!

We had a shad and a pinky left so we rigged them both and made one last turn. Like clockwork, the shad was eaten and Tjoks fed the fish. I was clearing the other line and when the pinky was about 5m away, a Garrick came flying up behind the bait. I stopped winding and opened the bail of the reel to feed to feed the fish, but it just circled the bait and in a flash disappeared. Tjoks tightened up on his fish and I helped with the motors. The fish took about 30m of line before it spat the bait! Unlucky. 6-3 Team “KC”. It was 14:30 and we were now out of bait and the see was picking up due to a 15 knot NE wind, so we decided to call it a day. The fish were weighed and they ranged from 8-10kg. The information on the tagged fish was astounding. It was tagged 323 days prior off Richards Bay and had grown 20mm. What made it unbelievable was that it was tagged by me! What are the chances - Classic! What's more is that this was the fish that I won the Captain Morgan Challenge with! Needless to say, Ihave entered it again and who knows, maybe my ticket #13 comes up again!

Mapelane Junior Interclub

2010-07-05T16:24:00.000+02:00

On Friday 2^nd July, Willem van den Berg and his wife, Divan Coetzee and I headed for Mapelane for the annual Junior Interclub. Willem and I had fished in the tournament for many years when we were juniors and now we attend each year to assist with the logistics such as the weighin, catering and bar duties. Willem’s boat “2Ling” went with us this year we were going to try and squeeze in some fishing while the teams were on the water and we were off duty.

The briefing was held on Friday evening and all the teams were keen to get on the water. Most of them turned in early while we tried our best to support the bar and prevent it from going bankrupt.

At 5:30am the wakeup hooter sounded and everyone made their way to the beach. After all the competition boats launched, Willem, Divan and I put to sea. We stopped on the backline and Divan dropped the livebait jigs into a good showing in 9m of water. As he hit the bottom, he went on with a full string of big maasbankers. These went into the livewell and we headed for the 50m ledge. When we arrived, we were the only boat there. Divan and I put out a few rapalas and halcos and I trolled north into a screaming current, crisscrossing the ledge as we went. After about 10mins, two reels took off. One was a small bonito and the other was a small yellowfin tuna of about 4kg. The tuna was hooked in the gills so we bled it and continued trolling. There was alot of activity on the surface with small bonito jumping and birds working the area. I made a turn through some dipping birds and 4 rods took off! We each grabbed a rod and tried to prevent burnoffs. I took the closest rod and managed to get a small yellowfin to the boat where I released it. I had just picked up the next rod when Divan pulled hook on his fish. I pulled in another yellowfin which I released, followed by Willem who tagged a yellowfin. The lines went out and I worked back north as the current had pushed us far south after hooking the fish. I managed to get about 100m north of when again, 4 rods went on! We all grabbed rods and enjoyed the short but strong tussles. I managed a yellowfin and a bonito on the same daisy chain and Willem tagged a yellowfin. Divan had again take the rod with a poor hookup and lost his fish after a few minutes. We decided to up lines and head a few kilometres north and put out some cuda baits. We put out 2 livies, one deep and one on surface, a bonito on surface and a wala-wala deep. The current was pushing us south very quickly so I opted to slow troll into the current to slow us down and to work the ledge a bit more. About 20 minutes later, the deep livebait was eaten and the reel smoked off. Willem took the strike and managed to get a 12,6kg cuda to the boat where Divan gaffed it. By now we were far south so we ran up north and reset the lines. I had just put the surface livebait out when I saw the tip bump a few times and the rod bend a bit. I opened the one motor to tighten the line and the reel ran for a few meters. Divan took the rod and after a few minutes the hooks pulled (unbelievably bad luck). There was obviously some action in this area so we ran up north again and put the lines out. As the boat passed over the mark, the surface livie was eaten and Willem took the strike. The fish fought deep for a few minutes before Willem brought it to the boat. It was another yellowfin which Willem tagged. By now it was 11:30 and we needed to be back on the beach to arrange lunch for the teams so we upped lines and headed for the beach.

At 14:00 the teams weighed in their catches and a few good fish were taken. The fish worth mentioning were a 23kg GT, 19kg cuda and a 14kg cuda.

We did not launch the next day but there was a 22kg cuda and a 7kg kaakap weighed.

The Winds of Change

2010-06-28T09:34:00.002+02:00

On Saturday the 26^th, Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee and I hitched Michael’s Dads boat “Lihann” and headed off to the club to launch. The forecast for the day was for a NE of 10 knots swinging to a light SW at midday increasing to around 18knots in the afternoon. We were planning to head south to go deep dropping for swordfish in the morning and then when the wind turned, we would fish for cuda and come back with the wind.

We headed out to 550m about 30km from the harbour mouth. The NE wind was causing some good white horses which was going to make the drift difficult. We attached a 7kg weight and sent a squid down to the bottom. We drifted for about an hour before we saw the rod bump a few times then it lay still. Michael and I retrieved the bait and found it to be mauled, probably some kind of small bottomfish. I rigged another bait and Michael repositioned us for another drop. The wind was tapping off so the drift was a lot better. I put on a 5kg weight and sent the bait down. Near the end of the drift, there was another bump on the rod. We left it for a while before deciding to check the bait. Again the bait had been chewed up by something with teeth as the 300Lbs trace had some good nicks in it.

It was 11:30 and the wind had dropped to almost nothing. We decided to abandon the swordfish hunt and headed for High Point. When we arrived, the SW started blowing lightly. There were three other boats there and they had a cuda or two. Divan and I put out some small halcos and feathers to catch bait and on the first turn over the reef, we managed a small bonito which we put in the tubes. As we pulled away, another rod went off and Divan released a yellowfin tuna of about 4kg. We put out the lines again and trolled south along the reef to see if there were any other bumps worth working. Michael saw a showing on the echo sounder in mid-water and said we should get a strike here. His words were not cold when 3 reels took off. We each grabbed a rod and started pulling. My fish pulled hook and as I was retrieving the lure, another fish grabbed it and smoked off. In the mean time, Divan loaded a 2kg bonito and Michael pulled hook on a similar size bonito next to the boat. When my fish finally stopped, I turned its head and pulled it to the boat. It turned out to be a yellowfin of around 4kg which was released. Michael worked the rest of the reef without a strike so he headed back north to where the other boats were. Again, as we went over the main pinnacle, two rods went away. Divan and I each pulled in another yellowfin which were both released.

By now the wind was doing about 12 knots and the see was getting a bit bumpy. Two boats had left and the other boat had not had a strike since we had arrived. We decided to head toward the harbour. We still had the live bait in the tube so we decided to pull it over a reef called Danies, which was about 7km from high point, on the way home. Michael slowed us to a trolling speed and Divan rigged the bonnie while I rigged some wala-wala and a dead bonnie. On our second pass, the live bait was eaten. I was told to take the rod and after a 15 min fight, I had a 14kg cuda next to the boat which Divan gaffed. It was 14:00 and we upped lines headed for the harbour. Our baits were still rigged and when we came near to the Petingo, Michael slowed down to give the wreck a try for a short while. Divan and I rigged some baits and we trolled around the wreck in a figure of eight. On out third turn, the bonito on the surface was taken but after a short run, the hooks pulled. The bait was rerigged and we continued trolling. At 17:00 we started pulling in the lines to go home. Divan retrieved the deep bait and was busy removing the sinker when the line was ripped out of his hand! We were on. The fish took quite a lot of line and once Michael and I had cleared the remaining lines, we chased after it. The light was bad so I had to direct Michael up the line while he battled the wind which was close to 20 knots by now. Divan pulled hard and after 15 mins, I managed to get the gaff into the 17kg cuda. After that, we headed for home and cleaned fish and boat in the dark. It was a really enjoyable day on the water. Thanks to all.

Mapelane Cuda Derby

2010-06-21T14:01:00.005+02:00

Wayne Ritchie, Divan Coetzee and I planned to fish the annual Mapelane Cuda Derby on the third weekend in June. Wayne had just put two 40hp Yamahas on his 15ft Mallards and was keen to try it through the surf. On the Friday afternoon, Wayne and I packed all the essentials, hitched the boat and left for Mapelane. We arrived at around 17:45 and unpacked. Divan arrived about half an hour later and after a quick team talk we headed for the clubhouse for the briefing where a good time was had by all.

The alarms went off at 5am and we reluctantly left the warmth of the tents. We packed our tackle, hitched the boat, warmed the motors and headed for the beach. The surf was relatively small, but there was a strong side wash and nasty shore dump. One by one the boats were launched with the help of the club’s boat pushers. After a slightly wet launch, we stopped on the backline. Our first stop was at the livebait spot where we caught a few maasbankers. With the livebait tank full, we put out some halcos and feathers to look for small bonito. About 45mins later, we had 2 small jub-jubs. We had decided to fish the home reef area which is straight off the launch at mapelane in 17-21m. There had been a few fish there the last while so we were confident that we would get some fish.

Divan and I put out 2 live maasbankers, a small bonito, a wala-wala and a shad while Wayne crisscrossed the length of the reef. I had just put the last bait in the water when the surface livebait was eaten. The reel smoked off as Wayne and I retrieved the other rods. Divan fought the fish hard but the big circles it was making concerned us. We all agreed that the fish was foul-hooked and after a 20min fight, I gaffed a 7,5kg cuda (hooked in the side). The lines went out again and Wayne resumed his trolling pattern. At about 10am, the small bonito was eaten and seconds later, a large blackfin shark came spinning out the water, wrapping the trace and parting the leader, luckily! Again we put out the lines. At about 12pm, the rod with the wala-wala bent and the reel screamed. This fish fought very strangely and after a minute or so, the line went slack. Divan wound as fast as possible and next thing the rod was almost pulled out his hands as the fish changed direction and the line took tension! The fish gave up quickly and Wayne put the gaff into the cuda. It was 5,5kg and was hooked in the tail! By now the NE wind was blowing and the sea was getting rough. We were the last boat on the reef and so we decided to make one last turn before we called it a day. As we came off the reef, the surface livebait was eaten but after a short but fast run, the hooks pulled. After that, we upped lines and headed for the beach where the fish were weighed and stories of the day’s fishing were swapped. There were only 8 fish weighed between 18 boats and we had 2 of them, so we didn’t do too badly.

The next day dawned with beautiful weather and calm seas. There was a lot of livebait around and the bonito were jumping everywhere. We put out the same spread as the day before and after about 2 hours, the surface livebait was eaten. The fish fought deep and when it was close to the boat, the fish went wild running left then right and taking line at speed. Next thing the leader parted. We all knew what had happened ... a shark had eaten the fish we had on and bitten through the fluorocarbon leader. The rest of the day produced no more strikes and we returned to the beach with a few small bonito. There were only 5 cuda for the day. The biggest fish was 16,5kg. The prize giving followed shortly after the weigh in and after the proceedings were over, we made our way home. Thanks to everyone for a great weekend.

Barracuda in the mist

2010-06-14T11:00:00.005+02:00

On Sunday 13^th June, Willem van den Berg, Theuns Potgieter and I launched Willem’s boat “2 Ling” off Richards Bay for day of snoek fishing. There were quite a few around the day before and we were looking forward to a good day.

When we launched, the mist was lying over the bay and continued out to sea. There was not a breath of wind. We headed north to 5 mile and joined about 15 other boats who were waiting for the fish to come up. There had been no sign of the fish so far so we decided to pull some lures around to locate the shoal. I put out four cd7 rapalas and a small green mean machine and started zig sagging between 12 and 20m. The other boats headed north while we stayed in the area where the boats had found them the day before. The sun had just started to break the horizon when the surface lure was eaten and the reel absolutely smoked off! I turned around and picked up the rod and quickly slacked the drag a bit. Willem and Theuns cleared the other four rods as I lost line at a frightening speed. By the time the last line was in, I had already turned the boat toward the fish and increased the speed just to keep from being spooled! Finally I could leave the controls and get to the task at hand. Slowly but surely I regained line and things calmed down. The fish stayed on the surface and Willem maneuvered the boat next to it. The water was very clean and we saw the number plate clearly when the fish turned. It was a nice size cuda. I managed to lift the fish’s head and Willem put the gaff into it then hauled it over the gunwale. It looked over 20kg! Not bad for #3 wire and a 3/0 hook.

The lines went back in and the trolling resumed. The offshore breeze had pushed the mist over the sea and for almost an hour we could not see more than 100m in front of us. We all strained our eyes looking into the mist to avoid collision with other boats. At 9am, we had not had any more action so we decided to rig a few baits and slow troll the area. I rigged up 2 sardines, 2 redeyes and a fillet and worked the same area that we had been trolling. At just after 10am, the sardine on the surface was eaten. Theuns took the rod as the fish went on its first run. We cleared the lines and Theuns worked the fish closer. It was a nice snoek of 7,5kg and after a few short runs around the boat, Willem stuck it with the gaff and boated it.

The baits went back into the water and we continued working the area. About 15 minutes later, the deep bait was taken and Willem took the rod. After a relatively short fight, I gaffed the 6kg snoek and it was 3 for 3. It was apparent that the snoek were not going to come up as they did the day before so at 11:30 we upped lines and headed home. We weighted the cuda at the ski-boat club and it pulled the scale to 22kg. What a great day.

In broad daylight

2010-06-10T09:25:00.010+02:00

For the last few years, a small group of anglers have made several attempts off Richards Bay to catch broadbill, but have not been able to land one, despite having several hook-ups. In March this year, we came very close to achieving our goal when we fought a fish for 45 minutes and had it within 20 meters of the boat when the 300Lbs trace parted. This just made us more determined than ever. Hours and hours were spent researching the different techniques of catching swordfish and after many discussions and debates, we decided to try and catch a broadbill in the day.

This was no easy task and required very specialised tackle and a lot of preparation before we could even put to sea to attempt this. First, we needed to obtain the correct line for the job which was 3200m of 80Lbs hi visibility braid. This bulk spool was divided into equally to fill 3 reels. The reels we used were 12/0 Everols with a 2 speed gearbox. Because the braid is so thin, the reels needed backing to allow for the greatest spool diameter to aid in retrieving line at a higher speed. The reel was fitted to an 80Lbs bent butt marlin rod.

With the rod, reel and line out of the way, we needed to look at the terminal tackle. Again, after much debate we settled on a short double line attached to a long 300Lbs wind-on leader. This was then attached to a 4m section of 400Lbs trace via a ball bearing swivel. Two 9/0 longliner hooks ended the trace. A 4 LED multicoloured deepdrop flashing light was attached near the splice and a lightstick was attached near the swivel as well as half way up the leader. A heavy weight was attached to the trace in such a way that it would break free on the strike.

The key with these sacrificial weights was keeping them cheap! We settled on pvc piping filled with cement and tipped with a welding rod for an eye to attach the sinker line. The average mass of these weights was 6kg (the stronger the current/wind, the larger the weight). These worked like a bomb!

Right, with all the ground work done, we needed the right weather to put everything into practice. In June, the winter morning dawned with not a breath of wind and the mist was lying across the bay at Sodwana. This promised to be an exceptional day for deep dropping.

With all the gear packed, my Dad, Denis, Hannes and Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee and I launched Hannes boat “Lihann” and headed north to “Big W”. This is an area well known for the billfish that congregate there. Big W is the area where the contours converge creating canyons which result in upwellings that hold bait and we decided that it was the best place to make a drop.

The water was warm and a deep blue colour. The current was not very strong and the swell was almost non-existent. I threaded a fresh squid on the trace and flipped it over the side and fed the rest of the trace out, checked the bait was not spinning and attached the lights and then the 6kg weight. I lowered the weight into the water until the rod took the load. With the rod in the fighting chair, I slowly let the rig down into the depths. It took about 15 minutes to get to the 600m marker. My dad pulled the motor into neutral and the angle of the line changed from a few meters out behind the boat to almost straight up and down providing a good bend in the rod. I dropped the rig a bit further and the sinker hit the ground. I took about 10 turns on the reel to lift the weight to avoid hooking the bottom.

From what we had read, we should expect the rod tip to jiggle a bit and then it would either pull down as the fish moved away or it would come up as the fish swam up to the surface. We drifted for probably 1km and as we neared the 580m depth on the sounder, the rod tip bumped slightly then bent a bit before returning to the original position. We all assumed it was just a swell and continued watching the tip for a bite. Every now and again, the tip would indicate that the weight had touched the bottom and I would take about ten turns on the reel to lift the sinker off the ground. After about 10 minutes of this, the 500m marker came out the water. The rod still indicted that the weight was bouncing on the bottom. We checked the sounder and it read 580m. There was obviously something not right. I told Michael to get into the chair and start winding the rig back to the surface to see what was wrong, but the rig felt strange. I thought it was just the resistance of the 500 meters of line in the water.

After half an hour of winding, with 80m of line left in the water, the line started to angle to the surface. I was expecting a bottomfish to pop up on the surface at any minute. A few seconds later the sinker broke free and there was still some pressure on the other end. The line kept coming up and just when we expected to see the belly of a popped bottom, a long slender bill, followed by the bronze body of a broadbill broke the surface and launched itself into the air! Broadbill! Broadbill! To say there was chaos on the boat was an extreme understatement! There were shouts of joy all round but we still had a long way to go before we could celebrate. There was a mad dash for gloves and gaffs as the fish jumped a few more times. It fought on the surface for a while until the gill hookup started taking its toll.

Michael slowly worked the fish to the surface and finally the start of the trace and deepdrop light broke the surface. I unclipped the light and Michael continued retrieving the leader. When the swivel reached the tip, I took the trace and very gently brought the fish closer. Divan and Hannes both stood poised with the gaffs ready for action. Slowly but surely the fish came closer and eventually it came circling out from under the boat. Hannes and Divan let fly with the two gaffs in the head and the shoulder. With one movement, the three of us pulled the fish into the boat. There was a moment of complete silence as we all stood there looking at the fish in disbelief. Then the silence as shattered by shouts of triumph. Could this really be happening? As we came to terms with reality, we realised we had done it! Our first broadbill ... and in broad daylight! What a feeling!

Words can’t describe how we felt at that moment. All the hours, days and weeks that we spent planning and preparing for this day had paid off. This was an important fish for South African anglers and it has opened the door to daytime deep dropping for broadbill swordfish. This is truly a fish that will never be forgotten.

What Lies Beneath

2010-05-24T08:53:00.009+02:00

Daytime swordfishing is the latest craze in the States. More and more crews are taking up the challenge of deep dropping to catch the greatest Gamefish in the sea. I am sure South Africa will follow suite and already the signs of an emerging fishing technique are showing.

After reading up on this technique, I played around with some ideas and on Saturday the 22^nd May, we made the first attempt to deep drop. My Dad and I launched our boat “Selfish” and we headed north to the ledge. I put out some small lures and quickly caught 2 bonito and a small yellowfin tuna. These were to be used as bait. We then headed out to the 500m contour in an area that we thought looked like right for this type of fishing.

I rigged up the belly shine of the yellowfin with two 9/0 long liner hooks on 300Lbs trace. This was attached onto a windon leader. My Dad put the boat into gear and travelled into the current while I let the bait out. I attached 2 light sticks onto the leader and then the 7kg breakaway weight. I lowered the weight into the water and allowed the line to come tight. I then let the line out at a controlled speed until the weight hit the bottom, I then gave a few turns on the reel and the motor went into gear. This lifted the weight off the ground. We continued into the current every now and then letting line out to touch bottom.

After about a 4km drift, the rod bumped a few times and then the reel took off! A few seconds later the reel stopped and the line went slack. There was over 600m of line out which now needed to be brought in. What a job! Finally, the leader came out the water and we saw that the trace had been chafed and bitten off. Obviously a shark. The reel had begun to make some strange noises and I was not comfortable making another drop with it. We decided to troll for some cuda then head home and prepare for the next day.

After a late night servicing the reel, spooling another reel with 1000m of braid and making up some spare traces, we were ready for anything the deep would throw at us.

On Sunday morning, my Dad, Divan and I launched “Selfish” and headed straight for the same area as the day before. I rigged up a big squid and sent it down on a 7kg weight. The current was flying at about 4knots, but there was not a breath of wind which was in our favour. The bait went down without a problem and we drifted comfortably into the area where we had the strike the day before. The rod gave a big bump and the reel took off. I jumped into the chair and held on. The fish now had about 650m of line in the water which I had to retrieve. It took me over an hour to lift the fish. We were all hoping for it to be a sword, and when the leader came up and Divan said it looked like the right fish, we were all very excited. But, as the fish came closer, the shape started changing into something other than a broadbill. The fish came up inch by inch until we could see the fish properly ... it was a thresher shark that had been hooked in the tail. The long top lobe of the tail actually did look like a bill in the water. The fish was dead by then so we put it onboard. This was the first thresher I had caught, so I was happy with it. But time and tide wait for no man, so we went back up north and prepared another squid to drop again.

The line went out without a problem and we drifted on about the same line as the previous drift. We were about 100m away from the spot where we had the thresher when the rod bumped a few times and the reel ran. This time the fish only took about 50m then shook it head a few times and started coming up. I got into the chair and started pulling up the mystery fish. After about 45 mins, with the 100m marker on the reel, the line started angling toward the surface. We looked back and saw a large bottomfish pop onto the surface. The boat went into neutral and I pulled the fish to the boat. It was a wreckfish of about 20kg. Also my first.

The bait was still intact so we decided to use it again. All the strikes were in a small area so we only ran a short distance north and then dropped the bait. My Dad said that this would be our last drop because he didn’t want to be home too late. We were all happy with this and waited for the drift to end. At 11:55 we had 600m of line in the water when the rod bumped and the reel took off. I jumped into the chair and strapped into the harness. The fish took at a frightening pace and stripped 200m in a flash. Now there was about 800m of line out! Once the fish slowed down, I went to work pulling the fish to the surface, but the fish was not having it! It took me 30mins to get the 600m mark back onto the reel and then the fight started in earnest. The line was now straight up and down and I could feel some big head nods down there. The 2.5m swell was not helping me much either, pulling a few meters of line off the reel every time they came through. At one stage, I was sure the fish was dead as there was no movement from the fish for over an hour. All I could feel was a heavy weight moving through the water column. Finally the 100m mark came out the water. What a relief. I knew the end was near. As the double line came closer, I felt a few heavy head nods, but the fish kept coming up. After 2 hours, the windon leader splice cleared the surface and Divan unclipped the strobe light. We could not make out what the fish was and before we could get hold of the leader, there were a few big head nods and the fish started sounding. Line left the reel at an astounding speed and my heart sank as the 100m mark left the reel, followed shortly by the 200m, 300m, 400m and 500m mark! Impossible! I am sure the only reason why the fish stopped was that it hit the bottom. Everyone on the boat was speechless. Could a fish be so strong? I had no option but to start from the beginning and bully the fish up inch by inch ... again! I upped the drag to probably 12kg and used the swell to my advantage, holding the rod steady when the swell lifted the boat and gaining line when the boat went down the swell. I had been on the fish for 3hours before the 100m mark finally came back onto the reel. By now, we were convinced that this was a broadbill. No other fish could possibly fight like this... surely. Another 15 mins of torture and the double line cleared the surface. I retrieved the leader and the fish came to the surface, about 10m from the boat. Finally it showed itself... It was a thresher shark of probably 250 plus kg and almost 7m long! Divs pulled the fish closer before cutting the trace. What a relief I felt when the pressure came off me. I struggled to get out the chair and my legs were very unsteady. We had drifted almost 15km south and were now directly over the harbour. My Dad took us back and we entered the harbour at 16:00... so much for our early day.

We came away from this trip learning a lot.

Some points to consider:

- Take lights needed for night rating as a fight may extend into the dark.

- Mark your line at every 100m for at least the first 700m.

- Also mark the line every 50m for the first 200m. This marker is to keep the angler positive during a long fight as they can see line coming in and they are making progress.

- Have several baits pre-rigged. This will save you hours on the boat.

- Make sure the harness is set properly for the angler as this could tire the angler more than the fish does.

This is still a new technique in South Africa and I am sure it will take off as more and more anglers pluck up the courage to attach a huge weight to a line and send it into the depths with the intention of retrieving it again.

Junior training session

2010-05-17T09:54:00.002+02:00

With the Junior Nationals being hosted at Shelly Beach this year, Michael Duvenage and I offered to take the Zululand U/16 team fishing to show them the style of fishing used on the Protea Banks. On the 16^th of May we launched Hannes Duvenage’s boat “Lihann”. Dale, Christo and Stephan were very keen to learn how to catch tuna “Shelly Beach Style”.

Michael first took us to the bait spot between the ships where we tried for some livies. The water was a dirty green and the bait was nowhere to be found. We did manage to get 4 tiny bonito on the jigs – perfect cuda bait! But we were focussing on tuna for the day so cuda were not on the menu for the day. After spending about half an hour looking for bait, we headed to small high point.

When we arrived, I suggested we pull some halcos and a surface lure just to find the shoal and then we would drift and chunk for them. We put out 4 halco’s and a small daisy chain and as Michael crossed over the pinnacle, all 5 rods went away - Chaos! One of the fish pulled hook and so Michael picked up the rod to retrieve the line. He gave a few turns on the reel when the rod was almost pulled out of his hands. A wahoo had taken the halco and smoked off with it. In the process, another line was burnt off and then the wahoo bit through the fluorocarbon that was tied directly to the lure. In the mean time, Christo and Stephan had their fish near the boat. Dale took the remaining rod which had the surface lure on it and pulled on that fish. We managed to boat two yellowfins of about 4kg. Dale’s fish then took off and continued running. We put the drag to strike but it made no difference – it had obviously been converted to a shark. About 10mins later, the nylon trace was bitten off. With 2 lures left intact, we pulled over the same spot again and went on with another yellowfin which pulled hook at the boat.

With the shoal located, we converted to bait. I cut up a few sardines and rigged the tail section on the 6/0 hook tied to 60Lbs fluorocarbon. I then mixed anchovy oil, glitter, sand and the remaining sardine pieces in a bucket and began to throw small amounts of the chum overboard. The hooked chunk then joined the free drifting pieces as line was fed out to let the hooked bait drift with the chum slick. Michael said that we were almost on the spot and a few seconds later, the line was ripped out of my hands as something took the chunk. I picked up the rod and counted to 5 then put the drag to strike. The rod buckled and the fish took off. I handed the rod to Christo how fought a 3kg bonito to the boat. Now that they knew what to do, We rode up for a second drift. The chum line was started and 3 chunks went overboard. Stephan was the next person to get a fish to eat the bait and after hooking up, he managed a 6kg bonito. On the next drift, I threaded a sosati stick into a whole sardine and pinned it with a single 8/0 hook between the head and dorsal. This was flicked out to drift on the surface while the chunk baits were fed down the chum line. As we drifted over the spot, the whole sardine was taken and the fish was promptly hooked. Christo also went tight on a chunk bait. The two fish had the guys dancing around the boat trying to keep the lines separated. Christo landed a 5kg bonito and unfortunately Dale dropped his fish next to the boat.

After 6 or 7 drifts, the team had caught about 14 bonito using chunks and whole sardines. We needed to have Stephan back early to catch a bus to Vryheid so we decided to up lines and pull lures over the pinnacle for 15 mins then head for home. On the second turn, 2 rods went off and two more bonito were boated after which we upped lines and headed for home.

From what I saw on the boat, the Zululand U/16 team will be able to hold their own in the competition and I’m sure they will manage to get a few good size fish. Let’s hope the sharks leave them alone!

My thanks go to Hannes and Michael Duvenage for offering their boat to take the juniors out. It is much appreciated.

Umhlanga Prestige Interclub

2010-05-10T14:58:00.002+02:00

On Friday the 7th of May, Michael Duvenage, My Dad Denis and I arrived at the Umhlanga Ski Boat Club for the Prestige Interclub. We were representing the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. At registration, Rob King introduced us to Jurgen, our skipper for the weekend. He owned a 21ft Butt cat named “Mdagwane”. After the briefing, Jurgen took us to see the boat so that we knew what to expect in the morning. We then returned to the club for supper. The festivities continued into the early hours of the morning and when the alarm went off at 4am, we were not feeling too good!

We finally got our things together and headed for the club with the mother of all hangovers! We packed the boat and had breakfast before going down to the beach. At 5:30 the 15 boats were launched one by one through Granny’s Pool and we all assembled on the backline. Once the last boat was through the surf, it was a race to the barge to get livebait. After filling the livewells, the boats ran to their fishing destinations. Most of the boats headed far North to Zinkwazi, where some good fish had come out the day before. We opted to stay closer to the launch and headed for Pete’s Cottage. The water was a beautiful colour.

Michael and I rigged 5 rods with a variety of live baits which we staggered behind the boat in depth and distance. Jurgen slow trolled over a few marks that he had on his GPS. After about 30 minutes, the long surface bait was taken and Michael fought the fish. After a few good runs, the fish came to the boat where I gaffed a good sized cuda. The lines went back into the water and Jurgen continued the troll. About an hour later another surface bat was taken. Before anyone could get to the rod, the hooks came out. Not 5minutes later, one of the deeper lines took off. As I got to the rod, the hooks pulled. Could we be so unlucky?! But a few seconds later, the surface rod went away and the hooks found their mark. Michael fought the fish for a while before my Dad gaffed the smallish fish. It had foul hooked in the side of the body which made the fight harder that it would normally.

Jurgen made a few more turns in the area, but we had no further strikes. We upped lines and ran further north toward Umdloti. After trolling for 45mins or so, we had a strike on a surface bait. The fish took a few meters of line before the hooks pulled! By now, we were starting to get irritated, but carried on trying. The NE wind had picked up to about 18knots and we were running out of time. Jurgen suggested we go further north and drift back over the marks that we had worked during the day. After setting the lines, we settled down and waited for a rev. It took a whole 5 mins. The deep bait took off and I grabbed the rod. The fish took quite a bit of line. The lines were being cleared and Jurgen was turning to case the fish when the hooks pulled ... again. Epic FAIL! The lines went out again and we continued drifting. The wind was now blowing more than 20 knots and the sea was upside down. After about an hour, the surface bait was eaten but the end result was the same ... pulled hooks. That was the last rev we had for the day and we upped lines and headed for the beach.

At the weigh in, our 2 fish weighed 15,6kg and 5,3kg respectively. The water at Zinkwazi was dirty and only one small cuda was caught between all the boats that travelled to there. The other boat that weighed in fish did not have anything spectacular and we ended up leading on the first day.

We had a quick team talk and we all agreed to change the hooks we were using to try to increase the hookup ratio. After the tackle was changed, we had supper and then watched the Sharks vs WP game before going to sleep.

On Day 2, the wind had died down and a beautiful sea awaited us. We went through the same drill as the day before and once all the boats were behind backline, we headed for the barge to get livies. 20mins later, we headed for Pete’s cottage. The lines were in the water for half an hour when the surface rod went off. My Dad took the strike and boated an 8kg cuda. Not to be outdone, I boated an 8kg cuda 15mins later. Jurgen made a turn over the area and again the surface bait was taken. I took the rod as the fish smoked off. Jurgen chased the fish while the other lines were cleared. After a hard fight, I managed to gain most of the line. The fish felt very strange but had alot of weight to it. I said that I thought the fish had tail wrapped and after 10mins we got a look at the fish, which came up tail first. It was a good size yellowfin tuna. Things went a bit quiet and we moved a bit north. The baits went out and 15mins later Michael was into a fish. After some fancy footwork, I gaffed another cuda. The rest of the day produced only 3 hammerhead sharks. At the weighin, our cuda weighed 8.5kg, 8.7kg and 10.5kg. The tuna pulled the scale to 17.6kg. The other teams also weighed in some nice fish (22kg kingfish, 21kg cuda) and we all knew it was going to be a close call.

At the prize giving, we found out that the top two teams were separated by 13 points! We had done the calcs and had calculated that we were second. Our calculations were correct and so we managed to take 2^nd place by a narrow margin. On behalf of the team, I would like to thank everyone involved in the organising of the competition. It is without a doubt the best interclub that I have attended. Thanks to Jurgen for giving up his time to drive us around the sea watching us catch fish. Thanks also to my team. I really enjoyed sharing the battlefield with you. We will be back next year.

Umlalazi Cuda Classic

2010-05-03T16:09:00.005+02:00

On Friday 30^th April, Marius de Wet and I packed At van Tilburg’s boat “AVANTI” for the weekend’s fishing. It was the Annual Umlalazi Cuda Classic hosted in Mtunzini. The rules allowed for boats to launch at Richards Bay, Zini, Amatikulu and Zinkwazi but the fish had to be weighed at the Umlalazi ski boat club. Only cuda would count and the each angler could only win one prize.

Marius and I drove to Zini to enter and to attend the briefing. There were 120 anglers on 45 boats participating. After the rules were explained, we had a drink or two then returned to Richards Bay and finalised arrangements for the following morning. At 05:00 I met Marius, hitched the boat and headed for the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. There were a few other crews there preparing their boats. We launched the boat and waited in the harbour for first light. While we waited, I rigged up 2 rods with sabiki rigs and took out 2 bonito and 2 wala-wala out of the bait box to defrost. After asking for clearance, we headed for the bait spot with a light NW wind blowing. We battled for bait, but finally managed to get a few mackerel and headed for Petingo.

When we arrived there, I rigged a live mackerel and put it out on the surface. I then rigged the 2 wala-wala and put one on top and the other down deep. The same was done with the two bonito. I started slow trolling around the wreck looking for a cuda. By 8am there were 23 boats around the wreck making it almost impossible to troll near the structure. I decided to work the outskirts of the wreck where there was less traffic and I could let my deep baits down deeper without running the risk of snagging the bottom. Every so often, I would check the baits to see if they were swimming properly. The water was exceptionally clean which meant the baits had to look very natural otherwise nothing would eat them.

At 9am the reel with the live mackerel took off. I picked up the rod as the fish shook its head and stripped about 60m of line. I passed the rod to Marius and then cleared the other lines. The fish came in very easily and both Marius and I thought it was a small cuda, not more than 10kg. The fish circled under the boat and when it came out from underneath, I put the gaff in. Still thinking it was a small fish, I tried to lift it into the boat, but was met with some resistance. I then took a closer look at the fish and realised that this was actually a good fish. I heaved the fish into the boat and then saw that it was over 20kg. Marius and I were over the moon! We put the fish into the hatch with some water and got some order in the boat. I reset the lines and continued trolling.

There were a few fish being caught on the outskirts so I decided to stick to this area. At jut before 12am, the rod with the deep rigged bonito screamed off. Marius and I ran to the back to clear lines and then I took the rod. The fish felt heavy and fought deep and hard for about 15mins before we saw it for the first time. It was a nice cuda. As I was looking down at the fish, I saw a second cuda swimming with this fish. I told Marius to put the live bait in the water to see if we could get that one as well, but no luck. My fish in the mean time took another run and had me battling to lift it. When it came close again, I saw that it was hooked in the side of the head making it difficult to pull in. After 20mins, we finally managed to get a gaff into the fish and Marius pulled it aboard. It was also a good fish of about 20kg. Wasting no time, I put a fresh live bait in the water and Marius opened the throttle a bit to let the far line out. While I was letting the line out, I felt the bait panic and then the reel took off! I fed it some line and then put up the drag. The rod keeled over and line smoked off the reel. We slowed the boat down and the fish continued running. It had about taken about 50 meters of line when suddenly the hook pulled. Unlucky!

Again, the lines were reset and the trolling continued. The competition rules stated that the scale would close at 5pm. This meant that we needed to get back to Richards Bay, take the boat home, load the fish and then drive through to Zini before 5pm. After doing our calculations, we figured that we needed to leave petingo at latest 2pm to make it.

After an hour without another strike, I lifted the deep lines and headed over the wreck. This was going to be our last circle before we packed up to head home. We were on top of the wreck when I saw the surface rod flick. I told Marius that there was something not right and went to the back to check. I picked up the rod and at the same time, there was a splash on the surface near the bait. Next thing the rod pulled down and the reel took off! Marius cleared the other lines and I pulled the fish in. It didn’t put up much of a fight and after a few minutes Marius gaffed a small cuda of about 5kg. I suggested that while the lines were up, we should call it day make sure we made the scales.

The sea was beautiful so we made good time to the harbour. After the boat was at the house, we put the fish into a “Body Bag” filled with ice and headed to Zini. We arrived with 30mins to spare...not bad timing. We put the smaller fish on the scale and it pulled the needle down to 20,5kg. The bigger fish was then weighed and ended up being 22,9kg and was the biggest fish for the day and the other was the 4^th biggest. It goes without saying that we had a drink or two on the fish.

The next day started out the same as the previous, but we could not get any live bait. We had to resort to dead bait after pulling around the wreck for a few hours without a strike we were nervous that we might not maintain our position. The scale closed at 2pm so we would need to leave by 11:30 latest. At 11:30 we had not had a strike and only a few small fish were caught by the other boats, so we packed up and headed back. We had no Idea what had been weighed and assumed we would be bumped into 2^nd or 3^rd.

The prize giving started at 4pm. There were only 23 fish weighed and there were 30 prizes. The prizes were handed out in ascending order and after not being called up before 6^th place, Marius and I started doing the calculations. If I was 4^th on day 1 and Marius was 1^st, then if I was 4^th overall, we would have won. The 6^th prize was called and it was not me... then the 5^th prize was called and again it was not me. I had won the 4^th prize. This meant that there had not been any bigger fish weighed and the first day’s positions remained the unchanged! Marius was called up for the first prize of R30 000 for the biggest cuda. Great!

All in all it was a great competition. It was well organised and I am pleased that the event was well supported. We will definitely be there again next year.

Richards Bay Easter Bonanza 2010

2010-04-06T13:29:00.002+02:00

On the 1^st of April the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club had the opening function for the annual Easter Bonanza. We had been busy organising the competition for about 7 months and the day of the briefing had finally arrived. The competition was to be fished over 3 days (Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday) with a benchmark scoring system.

How the system works is there are several nominated species with accompanying benchmark weights (ie Yellowfin Tuna – 110kg, Sailfish – 60kg, catface rockcod – 8kg etc). Anglers who weigh these species will then score a percentage of the benchmark weight. The angler who scores the highest percentage wins the competition. For example, a yellowfin tuna of 55kg is weighed and the benchmark is 110kg – this result in a 50% score. A rockcod of 7kg is weighed and the benchmark is 8kg – the score is 87.5%. The rockcod thus wins.

Friends of mine from Middleburg, Wessel Visagie and friends, would be fishing with me on my Dad’s boat “Selfish”. This was the 5^th year that Wessel would be fishing with me in this competition. Our game plan was to fish for ‘cuda (king mackerel). There had been a few around, but the big fish seemed to be few and far between. The benchmark for the ‘cuda was 40kg which meant a 20kg ‘cuda would score 50% and a 30kg fish would score 75%. The worst case scenario we would get some good eating fish for Wessel to take back with him.

The weather forecast looked great for the first 2 days with a strong SW on the last day. All preparations were made in advance and everything was ready to go. On the first morning I was up at 4am, hitched the boat and headed to the club. There were a few boats busy launching and by 4:45 I was in the water and went to fetch Wessel and the rest of my crew from the jetty in front of the TuziGazi Waterfront. After getting clearance from the competition control to leave the port, I opened the throttle and headed for the bait reef between the ships to look for livebait. We made a few drifts and managed to catch a few maasbankers and red eyes before we headed to Petingo.

We arrived at Petingo at about 7:30am and I put out an array of baits including bonito, wala-wala and live maasbankers. I then proceeded to slow troll around the wreck looking for a ‘cuda. There were already 11 boats there and several more were on their way there. It was extremely slow going and we had only caught 3 hammerhead sharks by 11am. We also had a visit from the resident great white that came to investigate what was happening in our prop wash (a real treat for the up country guys). There had been no cuda caught on any of the boats on or around the wreck and I was getting a bit despondent. All the baits were swimming perfectly - something had to happen... and finally, at 12:30, when most of the other boats had left, we had our first pull on a live maasbanker on the surface. The fish was small and came to the boat very quickly where I gaffed the cuda of about 8kg. At that stage we were all over the moon that we finally had something to show for our efforts.

I reset the lines and continued trolling. About an hour later, the deep line with a small wala-wala on it took off. The other lines were cleared with great haste and the fight continued. After about 10 minutes, a nice size cuda came to the surface where it was gaffed. It later weighed in at 15kg (the second biggest cuda of the day for the competition). Again the lines were reset and trolling continued. At 14:30, we had about 30 minutes of fishing left when the rod, with a +-2kg skipjack tuna as bait, buckled and the reel screamed. I thought that this was the fish we were looking for because it was a big bait, but the fish didn’t take much line. Infact, it came to the boat very quickly where it turned out to be a cuda of only 8,4kg! Oh well, at least it was a fish and not a shark!

We headed back to port and started preparing for the next day.

On day 2 we headed to the same bait reef as the day before and managed to get several maasbakers and then we drifted into a shoal of mackerel where we put about 20 into the live well. We headed to Petingo and arrived at about 7am and set the lines. I trolled the same pattern as the day before and about 20 mnutes after starting, the surface livebait was eaten. Wessel quickly pulled a small 6kg cuda to the boat where it was unceremoniously gaffed. It was good to have a fish in the hatch nice and early. The next pass resulted in another strike from a small cuda that unfortunately pulled hook at the boat. The next strike came about an hour later and we boated 9kg cuda. There seemed to be alot of small fish around and we had several baits chopped without hooking up. The only indicator that we had had a strike was the slight flick in the rod tip. At about 14:45 I was frustrated with the small cuda and moved off the wreck. I was about 200m south of it when the surface bait was eaten and the reel smoked off. It did not sound like a small fish! Wessel took the rod and we pulled the fish to the boat where it made a few short runs. I managed to get the gaff into it and I pulled a 15,4kg cuda into the boat.

There was little time to waste as we needed to get back to the port before the 16:00 cutoff. So we pulled up lines and headed back.

The weather forecast for the Sunday looked bad and at 4am the predictions came true when a 20-25knot SW wind came through. The competition was called off for the day and we all caught up on some much needed rest.

All in all, the competition was a great success even though we didn’t win any prizes. We will definitely fish it again next year.

Anticlimax in the dark

2010-03-24T16:29:00.000+02:00

On the afternoon of Tuesday 23 March, Frans van Rensburg, Leon Maree, Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee and I jumped aboard Fran’s 40ft Powercat “Trinity” for an evenings broadbilling. The plan was to run up north to the 50m ledge and load up on mackerel and then troll konas to the area we intended to start drifting for swordfish.

We arrived at the mackerel spot and went down with 3 sets of sabikis. As they hit the bottom, all three of us were full lines. We pulled in several impressive strings of 30cm long mackerel and put them in the live well. There was still alot of time before it was dark, so we travelled until we found blue water (+-120m of water) and put out 5 konas and trolled north into the current. There was a strong SW wind blowing and the sea was very unsettled. To make matters worse, there were several squalls that came through with pelting rain. Things were not looking god for the rest of the evening.

At about 17:30, we were in 500m off three trees area when there was a loud crack. Leon and I looked back in time to see a marlin tail walking away from the boat. We looked at the centre rigger line which was now hanging limp. We then realised that the marlin had picked up the line in its mouth before it took the lure and the line snapped, without even breaking the elastic in the rigger clip. What bad luck.

By now it was almost time to put out the broadbill rigs, so we pulled in the konas and began to drift. We were fishing 3 80Lbs outfits, all rigged with live mackerel on 14/0 circle hooks and 300Lbs trace. We used +-1.5kg break-away weights and staggered the baits at 20m, 40m and 60m. The 20m and 40m baits were sent away from the boat with balloons attached to the line with elastics.

By 6pm we were set up and the wait began. We were drifting from deep to shallow and our line indicated that we would cross through the area known as the ‘Drukgang’. At 8pm, Michael and I had lit the fire in the braai and were braaiing boerewors for supper when the 20m line was hit. The reel gave a short burst and then the fish pulled line off at a slow, constant speed. Leon fed the fish and then eased up the drag. The rod keeled over and the reel took off. The fish ran like a freight train straight down taking about 200m in a flash. Frans climbed into the standup harness and we passed him the rod. The fish was incredibly strong and it took Frans quite a while to get it close to the boat. When the light stick came to the surface, it would go left then right and then swim under the boat causing a few anxious moments for the crew. Leon took the boat ahead of the fish and manoeuvred so as to keep the fish behind us. The fish had been within 30m for about 20 minutes but we could not get it closer. All the time, the fish was shaking its head violently and we could clearly see the lightstick being pulled through the water from side to side with each head nod. The elastic from the balloon finally came out the water indicating that the fish was 20m away when it made another dive straight down taking about 150m before slowing down. Frans did a great job on the rod using the swell to lift the fish and get it swimming on the surface about 30m of the stern with the lightstick about 5m underwater . Everyone on board was at the ready for when the fish came within range. It seemed victory was only moments away when without warning the 300Lbs leader parted near the hook! Words cannot describe how we felt. There was an eerie silence that came over the crew and we all knew that that was the fish we were after all the hours we spent on the sea at night ... the Holy Grail of angling ... Xiphias Gladius, the mighty broadbill swordfish.

Leon took us back to the starting position of our previous drift and we reset the lines. Once everything was settled, we all went into the cabin for supper. At about 21:45, the 20m bait was taken. Leon fed the fish and then hooked up. It came to the boat quickly showing itself to be a small hammerhead shark of about 10kg, which was unceremoniously released.

The lines were again reset and the drift continued. About half an hour later, the 40m bait was taken. This time Divan was first to the rod and he hooked up. The fish took about 50m of line straight down then came to the boat where Michael traced it. Again it was a hammerhead shark of about 35kg.

We set about rerigging and after the 20m line was set, I started with the 40m line. The bait was down about 20m when I felt the bait rev wildly. I held onto the line to feel what was happening down there. Every now and again, there would be a tug on the line, but it was very subtle. I pulled the line in to check the bait and found that it was dead and was covered in what looked like small pin holes. Leon said that it could be sarda Orientalis or striped bonito which have teeth that make similar marks. I rigged a new bait and sent it down. We had just settled when one of the balloons with the lightstick inside passed behind the boat, not attached to anything. Something had broken the elastic. We checked the lines and found that the 20m line had broken free of the balloon. Leon retrieved the line to see what had happened. I took the trace and pulled up the weight/lightstick/bait. As I was about to lift the bait out the water, I felt the line pulling back. I held on tussled with this creature for a moment and then lifted it into the boat. Leon had been right on the money. It was a striped bonito and it had the circle hook firmly in the corner of the mouth.

The drift continued and every hour or so we checked baits. We had no more action and by 5am we were about 20km south of the harbour mouth in 740m of water. We upped lines and headed for home with all of our minds racing with new ideas that we would try on the next trip out searching for a broadbill.

New SA Record ... well, almost!

2010-03-24T12:19:00.004+02:00

On Friday 20^th March, my sister (Julie) and brother in law (Carl Oellermann) flew down to Richards Bay for the long weekend to do some cuda fishing. The season had just started and already there were a few nice fish coming out. We were going to look for the ladies SA record king mackerel on 24kg line which is vacant at the moment. This means that the fish needs to be 24kg or bigger to qualify for a record.

On Saturday morning we launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” and headed straight out the harbour mouth to a bait reef in 42m of water. We dropped sabiki rigs and managed a few maasbankers and mackerel. We then headed out to the 50m ledge to some pinnacles called small high point. I put out 5 rods with rapalas and daisy chains and trolled around the bumps for a while looking for small bonito to use as bait. We managed to catch 3 bonito on our first pass and another 2 on the next pass. These bonito were relatively big (+-2kg) and were borderline bit size. After about an hour, we upped lines and headed to the Petingo wreck.

At 10:30 we arrived at petingo, the water was a off green colour with a slight reverse current. There were two other boats there but they had not had a touch the whole morning. We decided to give it a go and I rigged up the rods. The tackle we were using were 4 Shimano TLD25’s with 24kg Berkley Trilene and attached 80Lbs fluorocarbon leaders to the main line. I rigged a live mackerel on the surface and a live maasbanker on a 16oz sinker. I also rigged a wala-wala on the surface and one of the 2kg bonito on a 12oz sinker. All the baits were rigged with 7/0 single hooks.

I slow trolled around the wreck for quite a while when I noticed a dark patch of water next to the wreck. When we got close to it, I could see that it was a shoal of torpedo scads and small yellowfin kingfish. This was the first sign of life that we had seen and so we decided to concentrate our efforts on this area.

At 13:15, as I was approaching the shoal of baitfish, the reel with the live maasbanker smoked off. I spun round to see which rod it was, only to see the second rod with the big bonito keel over and that reel also took off. Oh no, a tangle I thought! Carl grabbed the second rod while my sister took the first. Both lines ran in the same direction at a blistering speed. A few seconds later, the reel that Julie was holding stopped and the line hung limp. A burn off obviously. The other rod was still smoking and I spun the boat around and started chasing the fish. The other lines were cleared and the fight continued. After a run of close to 200m, the fish slowed and Carl could gain some line. The fish made a few circles under the boat and then came within reach of the gaff. My Dad stuck the fish and pulled it over the gunwale. It hit the deck with a thud. It was a good fish and only just fitted in the hatch.

After the chaos was sorted out, I set about rerigging and noticed that the line that Julie had had her fish on was not burnt off. The #7 wire had been bitten off in front of the bait. It had been a second fish and not a tangle after all. Probably a similar size to the fish we caught.

We had no further strikes and upped lines at about 14:30 and headed for home. When we weighed the fish, it pulled the scale down to 24,7kg. It would have been an SA record for ladies if my sister had taken the rod! Unlucky!!! Oh well, it’s not the first time and definitely not the last time...

The crocodiles have arrived ... finally!

2010-03-08T09:29:00.003+02:00

On Saturday the 6^th of March, Ettienne de Villiers, Jacques Spence, Wayne Ritchie and I arranged to go fishing off Richards Bay the next day on Ettienne’s 21ft Yeld Cat “Deep Burn”. The weather forecast looked excellent with 3-4 knot offshore winds turning to 9 knot Easterly in the afternoon. Our plan was to go and look for ‘cuda at the legendary hotspot “Petingo”. This would be our first attempt to fish for the big ‘cuda as the season was just starting.

At 5am on Sunday I fetched Wayne and went down to the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. There was a hive of activity with a number of boats launching to take advantage of the great weather. Etts and Jacques arrived a short while later and we launched the boat and headed out the harbour mouth. We headed to the pipeline to look for some livebait and managed to get a few maasbankers. We then headed south toward another bait reef just to see if we could get a different baits. On the first drop, Wayne and I came up with full strings of mackerel! Great stuff! After getting enough bait, we headed for the wreck which is 18km south of the harbour.

When we arrived at “Petingo”, there were 2 other boats sitting on the wreck. The water was an off green colour and there was no current. We rigged up with 2 live mackerel (one on surface and another on a 10oz sinker), 2 wala-wala (one on top and one on a 6oz sinker) and a bonnie (on a 16oz sinker). We started slow trolling around the wreck but could not work it properly due to the other boats sitting directly on top of the wreck fishing with dropshot ... frustrating to say the least. One of the boats moved off the spot while casting to a shoal of torpedo scads on the surface and after catching one, they rigged it and returned to the wreck. As they stopped to dropshot, they got a good rev and managed to load a 24kg cuda! Just shows you the fish were n the area.

We continued trolling and at about 10am, the bonito was eaten. I took the rod and fought the fish for about 20 minutes before I handed the rod to Wayne (My back problems started to get the better of me). Wayne pulled the fish hard for a few minutes before we saw the big brown shape of a blackfin shark at the end of the line. We brought the shark to the boat and petted it a bit then cut the trace and released it. What an anticlimax!

We set the lines again and continued trolling. There was a lot of life around the wreck. Next to the buoy were shoals of garfish and a bit deeper were a few rainbow runner. On the wreck were big shoals of yellowfin kingfish just cruising on the surface. Around the edge of the kingfish shoal were big bonito and torpedo scads. These shoals would erupt on the surface chasing baitfish, turning the water into foam. This would be seen from a long way away as there were hundreds of birds working the surface. It was an awesome sight. With all this activity, there had to be more cuda around.

By 11am the other boats had left and we were alone on the wreck. We trolled over every inch of it looking for that one big fish. This might sound boring, but it definitely was not. Every time we trolled over the wreck, we would cast small spoons into the kingfish, scad, bonito, garfish and rainbow runner. We were having a ball. At 2pm the reel with the bonito on it took off. I passed the rod to Jacques who fought the fish for a few minutes. The fish made a few good runs at the boat and finally came within range of the gaff. I hauled the +-17kg cuda over the gunwale much to the delight of the crew. This was our first cuda of the season but hopefully not our last.

We rerigged and trolled around for a bit longer. At 3pm we had another rev on the bonito but it turned out to be another blackfin shark that jumped twice before it broke the 80Lbs fluorocarbon leader off. After that, we were all tired and called it a day. The next few trips will definitely be in search of the crocodiles of Petingo!

Species Galore!

2010-03-01T10:37:00.003+02:00

On the weekend of 27^th/28^th February, a good mate of mine – Pierre Smit - was having his bachelors party at Cape Vidal. All the usual suspects, including Piet Joubert, were there and it promised to be a good weekend. At van Tilburg had arrived at Vidal on the Thursday afternoon with his boat “Avanti” and if the weather allowed, we would fish on Saturday. I arrived at Vidal on Friday at about 5pm and joined in with the festivities that were already taking place at the beach. The party then moved up to the Barracuda fisherman shack where we were staying. Most of the guys sat around the fire until about midnight and then called it a night.

At 4:45 At and Piet woke a few of us and we headed to the beach. The SW wind was blowing about 10knots and it was predicted to pick up to about 20 knots by the afternoon. At, Piet, Divan, Peetertjie (Pierre’s younger brother) and myself hopped aboard and At took us safely through the surf. The first stop was at the livebait marks directly off the launch. There were shoals and shoals of baitfish on the surface and every cast into the shoal resulted in an almost full string of livies.

The current was from South to North (reverse current) and combined with the SW wind, we were pushed north at quite a speed. At suggested we slow-troll south to get back to the area where the baitfish were so I rigged 5 rods with livies and staggered them in distance from the boat and in depth. We slowly made our way south and were almost in the bait area when I noticed the rod with the furthest line (AKA Japan) bent slightly. I told Divan that there was something not right with the bait and he pulled the line in to check it. About 20m from the boat, the reel took off in his hands – “ON”! He gave the rod to Peetertjie who pulled a skipjack tuna of about 4kg to the boat. After the quick fight, the skippie was released and the lines reset. In about 24m off the point, the rod on the downrigger went off. I took the rod out the holder and passed it to Divan while I retrieved the downrigger. I heard the reel running relatively slowly and told the guys that I thought it was a prodigal son. Divan knew I had never caught one before and offered the rod to me. I thought of taking it for a moment then said he should keep the rod – I could be wrong about the species. The fish came up about 20m from the boat and cleared the water. I only got a glimpse of the fish when it re-entered the water and noticed that it was a very dark fish. A few minutes later, we had the fish next to the boat and confirmed that it was in fact a prodigal son of about 9kg. My heart sank but I knew I would get my chance some time or other. Piet gaffed the fish in the head and lifted it halfway into the boat. As he did this, the fish started twisting on the gaff – as prodigal tend to do. The hooks caught on one of the safety lanyards and pulled out of the fish’s mouth. With all the twisting and shaking, the fish managed to climb off the gaff and took off like a rocket! So near yet so far. Suddenly I was glad that I had not taken the rod because I would have been upset to say the least!

After regrouping, At suggested that we run South to the lighthouse and drift to the point. Al of us agreed and made it happen. At stopped the boat in 30m next to a strong current line and we set the lines. The wind had picked up a bit which allowed us to point the nose of the boat north and have the lines out the back. At tacked between 30m and 22m all the way to the point. On the first drift, we managed to get a Dorado of about 6kg which Peetertjie fought. As we were retrieving the lines to run back to the lighthouse, Divan shouted that he was on. He was busy removing the sinker from the deeper line when the fish took the bait that was now not more than 10m behind the transom. I looked back to see a sailfish clear the water! Absolutely spectacular! The rest of us quickly retrieved the remaining lines and then stood watching the aerobatics of the sailfish. It continued jumping toward the boat and on several occasions it almost landed in the boat! Divan could not retrieve any line because the elastic was still attached to the sinker, now hanging off the rod tip. He had to put the rod down and then remove the sinker before he could get a tight line on the fish. After this circus was over, Divan handed the rod to Peetertjie. The fish jumped a few more times and then settled. After about 10 minutes, the fish was next to the boat and Piet grabbed the bill and lifted the +-20kg sailfish into the boat for a few quick photos. The fish was then pulled next to the boat for a few minutes before it was released. Great!

After running South again, we set the lines and started drifting. In 33m off the lighthouse, the japan rod took off. I handed Divan the rod and he pulled in a cuda of about 10kg. About 15 minutes later, the bait with a 6oz sinker was eaten and the reel ticked off about 3m of line. I took the and quickly pulled the fish to the boat. I was expecting a small milk shark of a remora, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw a long sliver shine. Piet was quick on the gaff and brought a +-5kg cuda into the boat. Things were looking good! Off the beacons, another rod took off. Piet grabbed the rod and had a good tussle before he brought a +-7kg cuda within range for Divan to gaff.

We again headed South for the lighthouse where we started another drift. The wind was now blowing about 20knots and the sea was getting rough – but the fish were eating so we stuck it out for a bit longer. We had just started our drift when I saw two Dorado behind the boat. They both ate surface baits at the same time and gave a great display. Piet and I pulled the two fish to the boat and Divan gaffed them and put them into the hatch. About 10 minutes later, Divan saw 2 more Dorado behind the boat. I pulled in the closest surface bait and both the Dorado tackled it. I hooked up on one of the fish but the second one grabbed the skirt on the trace and ripped the hook out of the first fish’s mouth. Both fish then disappeared at speed. Not long after, the medium depth bait was eater. Peetertjie fought the fish to the boat where we saw that it was a foul hooked cuda of about 5kg. The fish took a final run near the boat and the hook pulled – unlucky. With the drift almost over, the deep rod went off. Again, it ran relatively slowly. I again nominated it to be a prodigal son but nobody thought I was being serious ... until the fish popped up next to the boat and I turned out to be right! Piet redeemed himself and gaffed the +-5kg fish and put it into the hatch. That brought our species tally to 5 for the day. Not too shabby!

With the sea getting really rough, we decided on one last drift. About 5 minutes after setting the lines, the japan line smoked off. I picked up the rod as the fish stripped line at a fast pace. Before the other lines could be retrieved, the hooks pulled. I rerigged the bait and the wait continued. Off the point, just before we called it a day, the deep line took off. Piet told me to take the rod as it might be the fish I was looking for as it started off relatively slowly. The other lines were cleared and I started fighting in earnest while At followed it. After about 15 minutes, the fish had taken us to 40m and we all realised that we were connected to a shark. The fish came to the surface in front of the boat and then ducked under the boat. I slacked off the drag and cleared the motors before increasing the drag again. As the pressure came back, the line parted where it had rubbed on the sharks skin. After that fight, we called it a day and headed back to join the rest of the party on the beach.

Thanks to everyone for a great day on the ocean.

SADSAA Billfish Classic 2010

2010-02-14T12:09:00.002+02:00

The briefing for the SADSAA Billfish Classic 2010 was held on 9th February at the Richards Bay Skiboat Club. All the who’s who of South African angling were there to support the event. In total, there were 82 boats that were participating and this event promised to be the best billfishing event held in the country.

I have fished this event since 2005 when it was still called the “Black Watch” – we were lucky enough to win the tournament in 2005 with 3 marlin releases. The concept is simple ... release as many billfish as you can in four days. The winner walks away with R100 000 cash, runner up R50 000 and third R30 000. Marlin count 100 points, sailfish count 30 points and spearfish count 15 points. In the event of a tie, the team to catch their last fish first is the winner.

This year, I was fishing aboard Wayne Ritchie’s 900 Cobra, “Big W”. Joining us were Eugene Terblanche, Riaan Charmers and Darren Gray. Tackle preparation had taken place the week before the competition so we were hoping for the best.

Day one of the competition kicked off at 04:15am on Wednesday morning. All boats gathered together in the harbour mouth for the mass start. The camera crew were aboard the Bell chopper as well as aboard several participating boats. At 05:00 we were given the go ahead to head to sea. The sight of 80 odd boats all pulling away at top speed was nothing short of spectacular. You name it, from 18ft skiboats to 47ft sportfishers they were there.

Our plan for the day was to head north about 35km and work the 300-700m depth. When we arrived at the spot at 06:30, we were greeted by warm, blue water with an extremely strong north to south current. Perfect conditions. The wind was blowing a bit, probably 15knots NE but the conditions were very fishable. The spread we decided on was: Centre rigger 9inch pink and white Moldcraft Bobby Brown; Port rigger Black and Blue Iland saillure with a halfbeak; Starboard rigger Blue and pink Moldcraft tiny superchugger with a halfbeak; Port short rigger Blue and white Moldcraft tiny superchugger with a halfbeak; Starboard short rigger black and purple Pulsator Stripey Tickler; Starboard flatline big blue and white Moldcraft Superchugger behind a 18inch Williamson exciter and Port flatline blue and white Pulsator bonito smoker.

The idea behind this spread was to have very big lures close to the boat to act as teasers and then to have some bait a bit further back to snatch fish that came up close to the boat interested in the teasers. There were a few lures in the back spread just incase a fish was missed on the bait.

With the lures swimming beautifully, Wayne headed the boat in an easterly direction trying to gain some depth. There were a few hook-ups reported already and we were anticipating something to happen. At 07:35, Riaan saw a splash on the centre rigger, but nothing happened. A few seconds later, with everyone now focused to the back lure, there was another splash and the rigger popped and the reel screamed. The fish stuck its head out the water and shook violently. The rod jerked back and forth for a few seconds then pulled up and stood still. The fish was gone. After closer inspection it could be seen that the marlin had managed to get the hook over the bill and not into its mouth. When the bill pointed in the boat’s direction, the hook simply slid off. There was nothing we could do about that. It has happened many times with many different hookrigs. We reset the lines and continued trolling. At 9am, without any warning, the starboard short rigger popped and the reel took off. A small blue marlin came flying out the water about 20m from the stern and greyhounded across all the lines. We managed to clear the lines without burning off. It was Wayne’s turn in the chair so he came down to the deck and I went up to the bridge. The fish settled and we started gaining line. After 25mins, the fish was about 10 meters from the boat. Eugene was leaning out to take the leader when the hook pulled! Unbelievable! What bad luck. So near yet so far. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

We reset again and continued trolling. During the course of the morning, we had a few niggles with the spread. Firstly, the large exciter we had on the flatline would turn upside down and catch the swell, pulling it underwater. The resistance was so much that the line would run off the reel at a medium pace and we would need to slow the boat to retrieve the lure. The second problem we had was with the portside halfbeak. It was rigged with a superchugger which had quite a resistance in the water. This caused the light rubber band to break periodically. I didn’t want to put a stronger one on as the fish would probably feel the resistance and leave the bait or the body would part from the head and we would miss the fish.

At about 10am, the port rigger popped. Riaan shouted from the bridge that it was a false alarm. I assumed the same thing as this had happened about 4 times already. I stood next to the rod with the reel on freespool just in case. A few seconds later, the starboard flatline ran off a bit of line at a medium pace. All of us assumed that the bird was pulling line as it did earlier that morning. I watched the angle of the line and saw it heading straight for the port rigger bait. I was just thinking of pulling in the bait to prevent a tangle when I felt the line in my hand go tight and run off the reel at the same pace as the flat line. Damn, a tangle. I put the reel into strike and held on. Now both reels were running at the same pace in the same direction. I asked Wayne to slow down so that we could sort out the tangle. As he slacked off, I looked back to see two shortbill spearfish jumping next to each other! There was no tangle, there were two fish on! Chaos! Riaan took charge of the flatline while I held onto the standup rod. After a few seconds, my fish jumped off the hook but the other one was still on. We cleared the lines and Riaan pulled in the spearfish. I took the trace and the required photos were taken. Riaan wanted a photo so I grabbed the bill and lifted it into the boat. There was not much place to grab as the bill was so short, so I ended up grabbing the bill and the hooks at the same time and yip, you guessed it, I got a hook in my hand (not too serious though). After a few quick pics, we released the shortbill. They are one of the most beautiful billfish.

We were all stoked to be on the scoreboard and reset the lines with a spring in out step. Wayne circled the area that had produced the last few strikes and as luck would have it, the starboard short rigger popped again. A nice blue marlin rocketed out f the water behind the boat and smoked line off the reel. We all cleared the lines and Wayne chased the fish down. There was probably 450m of line off the reel when the fish slowed it’s run, but with so many boats in the area, we had to shout and direct traffic to prevent our line from being ridden off. The fish sounded and Eugene went to work putting line back on the reel. After a fight lasting about an hour, I got my hands on the leader and pulled the +-150kg blue against the boat. I removed the hooks and revived the fish for a few minutes before releasing it. What a great feeling.
After releasing the blue, we had no more action and returned to port in 4th position. There were 21 releases for the day.

On day 2 we worked the same area as the previous day, without a touch. The fish had moved south with the current and boats operating in the area released several fish. The days tally came to 18 billfish releases.

Day 3 was blown out by 9am. We had some bad luck when a small marlin had a go at the centre rigger but missed the hooks. We made a turn in the same area and the same fish ate the port long rigger. Unfortunately the hook pulled after a few seconds. There was only 1 release for the day.

Day 4 was a perfect day. Light winds, blue water and good current. Unfortunately the action was not in the area that we were fishing and we again had a blank. There were 11 fish released for the day. This brought the total release tally to 51 billfish (9 spearfish, 4 sailfish and 38 marlin).
All in all, it was a great competition and I look forward to participating next year.

Trinity of Blues

2010-02-08T20:10:00.002+02:00

On Friday 5th February, Wayne Ritchie, Michael Duvenage and I attended the briefing of the Richards Bay Skiboat Club Marlin Interclub/Interprovincial. This competition was scheduled for the following three days. There were several interclub and interprovincial teams taking part and it promised to be a great tournament. Wayne, Michael and I were representing the Richards Bay Skiboat Club with Divan Coetzee as our deckhand.

On Saturday the 6th the weather committee called off the competition due to 20 plus knot winds. The forecast for Sunday also looked bleak so it was no surprise when the second day was also blown out. By now everyone was tired of sitting on the side but the forecast for the next day looked fishable. Wayne phoned me on the Sunday to let me know that he had to work on the Monday which meant Michael, Divan and I would need to take out Wayne’s boat without him. I was not comfortable with this and made arrangements to fish on another boat. We approached Frans van Rensburg and he offered to assist us on the last day of the tournament. Frans owns the 40ft Power cat “Trinity”.

On Monday morning, the competition organizers gave us the go ahead to fish, eventhough the wind was blowing around 18 knots. We left the harbour at 05:15 and headed in an easterly direction. The sea was relatively calm but there were a lot of white horses around. The green water was out to about the 200m mark so it took us about 45 minutes to get out there. We put out the lures and headed deeper. The radio was very quiet and only one dropped fish had been reported. At about 8am we were in 700m of water when the center rigger with the blue and white Moldcraft super chugger popped, then nothing. I ran to the rod and gave the reel a few turns. The rod bent and the reel took off in the opposite direction. Michael and Divan cleared the deck while I tried to keep the line under control and then called in the hookup. The fish jumped about 150m away showing it to be a blue marlin. Once the lines were cleared, Divan and Michael helped me get into the standup harness and the fight commenced.

The fish went deep after its display on the surface. Frans backed up on it and I managed to get most of the line back. After 30mins, the double line came out the water followed by the tail. When the marlin had sounded, the leader wrapped around its tail and I was pulling in reverse. Luckily the leader unwrapped and the fish could be traced and tagged. Divan held the fish by the bill while Michael jumped overboard with the video camera. After a few shots, Divan released the fish and we were on the score board with the first release.

The current was screaming at about 6 knots so we had lost a lot of ground during the fight. We opted to run a bit north to get back to our fishing grounds before resetting the lines. At 9:40 another boat hooked up to a good marlin on 50Lbs tackle. We were all a bit nervous knowing that a big fish could put us into second place. We were still chatting about the possible scenarios when the port rigger with the purple and black Moldcraft widerange popped and the reel took off. Michael grabbed the rod while Divan and I cleared the deck. I called in the hookup at 10:05 while Michael settled into the fight.

The fish gave an awesome show on the surface then settled. We could see that it was a good fish. After a few good runs, Michael managed to get the fish to the boat. Divan traced the fish and I tagged it. Michael jumped overboard again and filmed the fish as it swam away. The +-160kg blue marlin took 50 minutes from hookup to release.

The lines went back in and we continued trolling. The boat that had hooked up earlier released their fish about 10 minutes after we released ours. The radio was quiet for the next while with the exception of a few dorado being caught.

At about noon, we were enjoying the boat lunches that the RBSBC had supplied when we heard a loud crack followed by a screaming reel. The starboard flat line elastic had popped as a marlin latched onto the pink and white Pulsator Marlin Magnet. I grabbed the rod while the other lines were cleared. Frans called in the hookup much to the disbelief of the other boats.

Frans backed up and I retrieved as fast as I could. About 10 minutes later, the leader came up and Divan grabbed it. Michael tagged the fish and removed the hooks before turning it loose. It was a blue marlin of about 60kg. Everyone on the boat was ecstatic! It is not every day that you catch 3 marlin in one day in South Africa.

We reset the lures and again continued trolling. A short while later the port rigger popped. There was a bit of a splash but nothing spectacular. Michael brought the fish in and we saw that it was a small dorado. It came to the boat, Divan gaffed it and brought it aboard. After removing the hooks, Divan lost his grip on the fish and it flopped around the deck. Divs nonchalantly sat on the fish which actually calmed it down! It was then quickly slid into the hatch.

At about 2pm, I was sitting looking at the teaser swimming behind the boat when I saw a marlin come flying into the spread to investigate. The black body and electric blue tail was clearly visible as it darted between the lures. All of us were watching the spectacle and willing the fish to eat a lure. But it was not to be as the fish lost interest and faded off into the depths.

The day ended with no more fish caught and we managed to take top honors in the competition at the prize giving that evening. On behalf of the RBSBC team, I would like to thank Frans van Rensburg for an incredible day on the water and look forward to fishing with him in the near future.

(Pics to follow)

Getting hammered

2010-01-19T13:15:00.000+02:00

The weather forecast for Sunday the 17th looked perfect. A light SW swinging to an Easterly by midday with a few clouds around was predicted. My Dad, Denis, At van Tilburg and I made arrangements to go fishing off Richards Bay. Our plan was to look for some bait for the upcoming cuda season. There had been quite a few mackerel around and the guys also caught a couple of bonnies.

At 4am on Sunday morning I phoned At to check if we were still on for the day. There was still a light SW breeze with a bit of drizzle. At was keen to go so my Dad and I packed our things and headed for At’s house where we hitched the boat and headed for the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. There were about 15 boats out already, most planning to look for marlin. We joined the queue and after launching we headed to sea. We arrived at our bait spot at around 6am and rigged up the bait rods. My favorite bait jigs are the white sabiki rigs with 10 hooks on them. I use a 12oz to 16oz sinker to get the jigs down quickly and it also helps prevent tangles when the baits try to swim up as the main line is kept straight. I use a 9ft rod with a 6:1 ratio multiplier reel.

At sounded the area for a while and once we had located a bit of a showing, he pulled neutral to check the drift. The wind was a bit stronger than the current so we drifted from south to north. With the drift line established, At positioned the boat upwind of the showing and we all three sent the jigs down. We drifted over the spot and the showing came through again. Moments later all three of us felt the lines become heavy as the small fish climbed on. We brought the jigs up slowly so that the hooks did not pull and when we got the bait to the boat we would lift them over the gunwale and hold them over the livewell. Each fish was removed and then the jigs were returned overboard and sent back down to the shoal of fish. Once the production line had been established, everything works well and a lot of bait can be caught in a short time. We were getting mackerel and maasbankers, with the off karapow in between. All the baits were relatively big… perfect cuda baits. I decided to speed things up a bit and so I tied a second set of jigs onto the one I was currently using. With 20 hooks, I was ready to let the games begin. At put us on the spot and down went the jigs. As we hit the bottom, and gave one jig of the rod, there was instant weight to the line. I left the jigs down for about 15 seconds and then retrieved them. When the top hook got to the tip guide of my rod, I lifted the shoal of mackerel/maasbankers halfway into the boat and At grabbed the second half of the trace and pulled it into the boat. There were baits everywhere! At about 8am the bait disappeared. We then packed up our bait rods and headed north to the 50m ledge. The other boats were complaining that there were no fish around and that they were thinking of working their way back to the harbor.

When we arrived at the “Castle”, I set up the outriggers and clipped two traces onto the 50Lbs and 30Lbs marlin rods. The traces consisted of about 3 meters of 200Lbs nylon trace with a 14/0 circle hook snelled onto it. This was clipped onto a wind-on leader. I bridled a live mackerel using a #32 elastic as a catalina and set the lines at 20m and 30m behind the boat. I then attached the line to the rigger using a #64 elastic. The reel was set just above freespool with the ratchet on so that the fish could swallow the bait after the rigger popped. I then rigged a third bait, a big karapow, on a cuda trace with a single in the nose and two trebles. I put this bait down with the down rigger set at 90ft… about 30 meters. We slow trolled these baits across the ledge, working the high spots that come up to 40 meters. At about 9:30am, the port rigger popped. I ran to the rod and fed it a bit. While I was doing this, the starboard rigger also popped and my Dad ran over to feed that fish. I pushed the drag to strike and a dorado came flying out the water but threw the bait. My Dad put up the drag and went tight with another dorado. I fed the mackerel back and was rewarded with a pickup. I fed for a bit them put the drag up and went tight. Both fish were in the air and gave us a good show before they came to the boat where they were gaffed and put into the hatch. I took the hooks out of the two female dorado and checked the trace for any major damage. I walked back to the live well to rig another bait when I noticed the rod connected to the downrigger flick up. I knew that there was no way that the bait could break the elastic so I ran to the rod and wound up the slack. The line came tight at the same time as what a nice bull dorado came flying out the water not 5 meters from the back of the boat. I handed the rod to my Dad who brought the fish to the boat where it was gaffed and put into the hatch. Not too shabby considering there were no fish on the castle … according to the other boats.

I rerigged the three lines and we continued trolling along the ledge. About an hour later, the port rigger popped and the 30Lbs rod took off. I fed for a bit then put up the drag. The rod buckled and the reel took off. The line went straight down and stayed there… not a good sign. My Dad cleared the other two lines and I just started gaining line when the fish bit through the trace. It was obviously a shark and from the marks on the trace, it was about 2,5m long. I am glad it bit through when it did!

Anyhow, I set the lines and continued trolling. At about 1pm At said that he thought he saw a fin about 100m deeper than what we were but could not see what it was. I turned to intercept and about 5 minutes later I saw a big hammer head chasing the port bait. My Dad and I ran back and pulled the lines in while the shark gave chase. It was a good one of about 120kg. luckily it did not eat the baits. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I put the lines back in and while I was setting the last line I saw the shark again. We cleared the lines and watched the hammer come closer. We decided to hook it so that it would stop following us and we could get on with fishing. I fed out a mackerel and watched the shark grab it. I put up the drag but the hook missed the shark. It turned away, happy with it’s easy meal. But as At said, those hammers can count and it knew there were two baits. I had just put the baits out again when the starboard rigger popped. I fed the fish and put up the drag. The rod keeled over and the 50Lbs international took off. The line went straight down again indicating to us that we had hooked the hammer that had been hassling us for the past half an hour. I put on the standup harness and pulled for all that I was worth. The shark came to the boat very quickly and my Dad took the trace. At bumped the shark on the head before the trace broke. We set the lines again and trolled south back toward the harbor. On the south end of the ledge I saw a big swirl about 10 meters out the back. The port rigger popped and the reel took off. I fed the fish and put the drag up. The rod bent and the reel took off but again the line went straight down. I put on the harness and started pulling the fish to the top. The pressure was quite heavy and when the fish sounded again I pulled back with the harness to lift the fish’s head. Suddenly the reel felt very strange. I looked at it to see what the problem was but then saw that the reel seat (the plate that is secured to the rod) had bent. The rod had pulled down and the harness had pulled the reel back causing the reel to bend towards the rod but and now the spool was toughing on the rod butt. I unclipped the harness and tried to bent the seat straight but only moved it a tiny bit. This was enough to get the reel working and I pulled the +-70kg hammer to the boat where my Dad traced it before it bit through the leader. After that last shark I was buggered and we decided to call it a day. We were more than happy with the 3 dorado that we caught, not to mention the 50 odd mackerel that we had for the coming cuda season.

It always happens in threes

2010-01-09T16:52:00.010+02:00

On Friday the 8th January it was Johan and Willem van den Berg’s birthday. These two are identical twins and have been friends of mine for about 20 years. They invited all of the usual friends around, some of which we had not seen in ages. The party got a bit out of hand as we all thought we were never going to see each other again. At around 3am the party calmed down as the guys left. The plan was to go marlin fishing on the Saturday with Oom Hannes and Michael Duvenage and Divan Coetzee on Hannes’ boat “Lihann”.

At 4am Oom Hannes woke Michael and Divs and hitched the boat. There was a bit of a ‘go-slow’ that morning due to the bottles of brandy and whiskey that had held us hostage until the early hours of the morning. Divan had crashed at the Duvenage residence but needed to race home that morning to feed the pets before he could go out to sea. In the mean time I was fast asleep at home, oblivious to the hustle and bustle of my crew mates. By 5am “Lihann” was at the club and Michael phoned me to hear where I was. When the phone rang, I reached over to answer, but didn’t realize I was on the edge of the bed and literally fell out of bed to answer the phone. I realized I had overslept and flew out of bed, brushed teeth and did some low flying to get to the club. I felt like death warmed up! When I arrived at the club “Lihann” was on the water waiting for me so I boarded and away we were. Before we were out the harbour mouth, I had found myself a dry spot on the deck on which to lie while we ran to the fishing grounds about 30km north.

The sea was like a dam and at 40m the water was already 27 degrees and purple! At 70m Michael slowed to trolling speed and we got to work dropping the riggers and setting lines and teasers. On the Japan we swam a medium sized blue and white moldcraft super chugger with a bird. On the Port long rigger was a pink and white Pulsator Marlin Magnet. The Port short rigger had a blue and white Pulsator Marlin Magnet. The starboard long rigger had a halfbeak with an Islander Saillure while the Short had a blue and white Williamson bonito smoker. Two teasers were pulled off the roll bars, one a chain of moldcraft squids followed by a super chugger and the other a swimming, mirror lined Saturday night special that’s name escapes me. Next to these we swam two small halcos that were intended for skipjack or yellowfins.

At 6:30 in 260m of water, we had just settled down to wait (some were sleeping already) when Hannes – the only one on the boat that could see past the transom – shouted ‘Daars hy! Dis ‘n marlyn!’ and with that the port long rigger popped and the reel took off. Michael sustained 3rd degree carpet burns when he jumped up and grabbed the harness. Divan, myself and Hannes pulled in the other lines while Michael got into the chair. The fish jumped a few times and took about 100m of line before the hook pulled. Unlucky! Michael said it was a blue of about 80kg. None of us got a good look at it because we were frantically retrieving lines. All we caught a glimpse of was the white water when the fish jumped. We reset the lines and returned to our positions prior to the strike. Hannes worked the area for about an hour and a bit when Leon Maree on “Big Sea Hunter” called us and said they had a fish in the spread that didn’t want to eat. We could see them about a kilometer ahead of us working the area in which they raised the fish. Not a minute later Leon called in a hookup. We turned away from them to give them some space to fight the fish. We were still watching them fighting their fish when I saw the port long rigger bend and the rubber band stretch. “There it is!” I shouted as the band popped. The 80Lbs International took off with the fish running and jumping away from us. Michael jumped into the chair while we were clearing the lines. Hannes was busy releasing the elastic of the starboard short when it popped in his hands and the 130Lbs international screamed. He looked back slightly confused and then saw a second marlin stick its head out the water just behind the boat! “Hier is nog een!” he shouted. None of us could believe what was happening, but there we were hooked up to two blue marlin at the same time with a hangover of note! You can’t make up stories like this even if you tried!

After the lines were cleared, I took control of the rod with the second fish. Both the fish took off in a similar direction with Michael’s fish heading for Australia. My fish stayed relatively calm and I tried my best to pull it ‘stand-up’ style without a bucket or harness on a 130Lbs bent butt rod designed for the chair … Not very comfortable! After about 20 minutes my fish was at the boat. Divan took the leader and pulled it closer. The hooks were in the top and bottom jaw which prevented the fish from getting enough oxygen and that is why it did not fight. Divs removed the hooks and turned the +-60kg blue marlin loose.

We could now focus on Michael’s fish which was now close to the boat. This fish had taken a lot of line and was still really feisty when it got to the boat. I took the leader and the fish jumped a bit giving a good show for the camera. Divan took the bill and removed the hooks before releasing the fish which was about the same size as the first fish. I think the people on the other boats 5km away could hear the shouts from “Lihann”. This was the first time Michael, Divan or I had been with a double header where both fish were released. We were over the moon! But this put us in the unique position of having 2 marlin releases by 9:30am and a lot of daylight left to try for a third marlin, something that does not happen often … It had only been done 6 times before in SA.

With a new lease on life, we reset the lines and continued the search for another fish. By 11:30 the hot day was taking its toll on the three of us. The cooldrinks were almost finished and we were starting to battle. We had to ration the liquids on the boat if we were to stay on the water longer so every hour we would share a cooldrink amongst the four of us. This was not enough so we cut the lid off a coke tin and put the blocks of ice in to melt. Now we had a few sips of water and cooldrink every hour which helped the situation a bit. At 12:00 in 650m of water the boat “Dirkie” hooked up next to us. They were fighting their fish when our starboard short rigger popped. A feisty baby blue rocketed out the water right behind the boat then took off for the nether regions of the ocean, at speed! Divan launched himself into the chair while the rest of us cleared the deck in great haste … we didn’t want to bugger this one up! The deck was cleared in a flash and Divs settled down to his task of pulling the fish. After the long fast run, the fish was spent and came to the boat easily. I took the trace and Michael took the bill. The fish was about 50kg and had an extremely small bill, so small in fact that Michael had a hard time taking hold of it. This fish thought it was a grander and gave us carrots next to the boat but we finally managed to get the hooks out and turn the fish loose. Oh my word! There is no way that I can explain how glad we were to get that fish. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. That last fish might have been small, but it put us into the record books as being the 7th crew in South Africa to have accomplished this feat, and only the second ski-boat. Wow! What an honor to be on the boat. We decided to have a celebratory cooldrink on our achievement, bugger the one cooldrink an hour rule!

Now the pressure was off and we could enjoy the rest of the day and head back to the club … but the thought of a forth fish was in the back of everyone’s minds even though no one dared to say anything incase we jinxed it. We had a knockdown from a dorado at about 2pm but it missed the hooks. It is amazing how at that stage even the strike from a lesser gamefish can make you turn into a screaming banshee, willing the fish to grow a bill and start jumping. By then the ice had melted and the last of the juices had been drank. Hannes suggested we head for home, working the 50m ledge in the process. The water was blue and there had been the odd fish caught there. At 3:15 we were on our last. We had had enough of the thirst and decided to pack up and have a drink at the club. Michael and I pulled in the teasers and the halcos and were busy clearing the short rigger lines when the center rigger popped. The reel screamed for few seconds then stood still. The bird came to the surface and the lure continued smoking behind it. We all agreed that it was probably a dorado and left the rod where it was. As we cleared the short lines, the same reel took off again, this time with vengeance. We all looked at each other not knowing what to do. We all just stared back waiting, anticipating, hoping the fish would jump. The boat went over a swell which now blocked our view. We were all on our tip toes trying to see if it would jump … and then it happened! A small black marlin came flying out the water behind the boat with the small super chugger in its mouth. We were almost hysterical! But alas, before we could get Oom Hannes into the chair, the reel stopped screaming and the show was over. The bird came to the surface indicating the hook had pulled. Talk about an anticlimax! That could have been our 4th fish – a first in South Africa! But it was not meant to be. We hoisted our three release flags and had one last high-five before we headed for home.

We arrived at the club to see the boat “Dirkie” waiting for the trailer. As we drove past, we could see a massive tail sticking out the back. The fish that they hooked up next to us was the big female and the few small fish we caught were the males patrolling in the area that she was in. After quite a bit of battling, the fish was hoisted on the gantry and pulled the scale down to 316,4kg (696Lbs) a beautiful fish! Well done to the guys on “Dirkie” on an exceptional fish.

We on the other hand were at the bar drinking the best tasting water ever! After the thirst was quenched Hannes ordered “The Long Glass” for the team of “Lihann”. A drink had never gone down with more lumps and bumps than that one, especially after the previous nights celebrations. But it was still a great ending to a great day!

I would personally like to thank Hannes for inviting me to fish on this day. I think I speak for everyone on the boat when I say it was a spectacular day and will remain in our minds for many years to come!

Moose

2010-01-03T14:06:00.006+02:00

On Saturday the 2nd Divan and I went to visit At van Tilburg at his camp at Vidal. We needed a place to crash for the evening because our previous night’s accommodation was being used by friends who had packed up camp and were leaving early the next morning. At said that we were more than welcome to stay and that we should fish with him the next day. We were grateful for the hospitality and moved all our gear to At’s camp. That night after supper, a few of us stayed up playing the drinking game “Moose”. It took a toll on all of us and at about 3am we managed to get to sleep.

The next morning at 4:30am At woke us. To say I felt terrible was putting it mildly! Desiree du Toit, Schalk Exley, Divan, At and I hitched the boat and headed for the beach. We had an easy launch and ambled through the surf. We were marlin fishing today so we headed to Oscar to look for bait. There were already 4 boats there when we arrived, all trolling lures for bait. We managed a quick skipjack as we arrived and put it in the tube and continued trolling. After 15 minutes the bait died and we were back at square one. The skipjack were boiling everywhere at that stage, but none of the usual tricks were working. I had one bump on a small spoon that I cast into the shoal but unfortunately it pulled hook after a short run. About an hour later, At’s nephew who was fishing on another boat called us to give us a +-4kg bonito that they had caught but didn’t want to use for bait. We accepted with open arms and put it into the tube. At immediately headed north for deeper water. We were traveling at a good trolling pace so I put out 3 halco’s and a bucktail jig – just for incase. Not ten minutes later one of the halcos was eaten. Schalk brought the fish to the boat where we saw that it was not a bait but a wahoo of about 8kg … something for the pot. In 70m At slowed down and I rigged the bonito on a 20/0 circle hook and put it out about 20 meters behind the boat. After I had put the line in the rigger and set the dropback, we all settled down to wait.

There was a beautiful current line at about 160 meters with a few birds and a pod of dolphins feeding on some baitfish. This looked like the depth to work. When we reached 200m At turned shallower. At 158m the bait started revving wildly. The rigger popped and I fed the fish. The line didn’t pick up while I was feeding the fish so I held onto the line to feel what was happening. All I could feel was the weight of the bait. I pulled the line in for a bit then decided to feed it out again. While I was doing this, the line picked up and started pulling off the reel. I fed the fish for a while then At increased the speed and I increased the drag. The rod bent and the reel ran as the line took tension … Hookup! Des was nominated to take the first strike – because she looked the least hung-over out of the rest of us - so she jumped into the chair and put on the harness. Schalk and I transferred the rod and clipped Des in. The fish had taken a lot of line but had not jumped, but the way that it had taken the bait had us convinced that it was a marlin. After coaching Des on how to use the harness and chair properly, she pulled the fish to the boat fairly quickly. I took the trace and brought the fish closer. The sun was at a bad angle so we battled to get a look at the fish. Finally we got a look at it and saw that it was a nice marlin. The fish was still very green and I didn’t want to hurt myself or the fish by having it thrash next to the boat so I let go of the leader and slacked the drag for Des. At increased the speed and we put some line in the water. The fish now decided that it wanted to fight and took to the air. We got some good photos of the fish in the air while it was performing. It was only then that we could see that it was a blue marlin. The hook was solid in the jaw so we knew the hook would not pull if we had slack line.

Schalk decided that he wanted some underwater shots of the fish on the trace so we tied a rope to the boat and once I had a good grip of the trace and the fish was under control we sent Schalk overboard. After the photo’s were taken and Schalk was safely in the boat, we brought the fish closer. Schalk asked to load the fish as he needed the meat so At gave him the billrope and I pulled the fish within reach. Schalk grabbed the bill and put the rope on. The fish was tired by now and didn’t give us much hassle. Divan, Schalk and I pulled the fish over the gunwale and the hugs and handshakes … and a kiss or two … were handed out.

Now we were out of bait and Oscar was buzzing with boats. We decided that there was no chance of getting bait there so we decided to go and vertical jigg on the 100m mark of vegetation. Schalk and Des are machines when it comes to jigging. Their tackle is perfect and they both have the stamina to work 500gram jigs in 100 meters for hours on end. On the first drift Schalk caught a Sarda orientalis (striped bonito). We put it into the tube and continued jigging. The current was just too strong and after an hour of battling we decided to swim the sarda. I rigged it on a 20/0 circle hook and set it behind the boat. At trolled deeper and a about 130m the bait started revving. Just as the rubber band was about to pop, we saw a big hammerhead grab the bait. I pulled the bait away but it was too late and only got the head back. Again we were left with no bait. The sea was getting a bit rough and by now most of the boats were back on the beach. We made our way to Oscar to find it all to ourselves. We pulled for about 10 minutes when two rods went off. We managed two nice bonito which were immediately rigged. There baits were exceptionally strong and at about 3pm, after pulling them for a few hours without a rev, we cut them loose and hit the beach.

We took Des’ marlin to the gantry where it weighed in at 127kg. Not bad for your first blue marlin.

The Best of Both Worlds

2010-01-02T12:04:00.001+02:00

A good friend of mine, Johan van den Berg, phoned me on Friday the 1st January and invited Divan Coetzee and I to go through to Cape Vidal and fish with them on Saturday to see if we could catch a marlin for the New Year. Johan and his Dad, Oom Johan, were camping at Vidal for a few days over December and had some space on the boat. It didn’t take much convincing to get me to pack my things and hit the road. I picked Divan up at about 5pm and headed for the Vidal gate. The traffic was horrendous due to all the people going to and from the beaches at Richards Bay, St Lucia and Vidal but we managed to make the gate before it closed at 7pm. We arrived at Johan’s camp and settled in. Johan braaied for a couple of steaks and a good time was had by all! After the boat pack was made, everyone went to bed.

At about 6am Johan woke me. I was looking forward to a days marlin fishing when Johan mentioned that we were going to fish for gamefish. First I thought he was joking but when I saw the fighting chair being removed, I knew he was serious. We didn’t complain because just to be on the water is great so we hitched the boat “INYATI” – a Cobra cat powered by two 75 Mercury’s - and headed to the beach. After a tricky launch, thanks to the spring high tide and a good shore dump, we headed for the bait spots. There was one rod rigged with sabikis and Divan manned that. Johan told me that there were very few cuda traces so we needed to make up a few. I got to work making a few live bait rigs but I needed wire. After looking through all the boxes and trays, we found a roll of #3 piano wire (the kind you use for queen mackerel). I was nervous of using such thin wire as most of the time a ‘cuda would bite through this. But beggars can’t be choosers so I made five traces, a few with glow beads and others with different colour cuda dusters. In the mean time, Divan had caught some nice big maasbankers and mackerel.

We headed up to Oscar and put out some rapalas and small konas to try for a yellowfin or a wahoo. After trolling around for about an hour with only one half hearted strike on a rapala, we headed north to vegetation. When we arrived, we rigged the livies on the suspect traces and staggered the bait in distance and depth. I took over the controls and started zig zagging the area between 18m and 30m into the current. In 20m the reel with the deep bait gave a few ticks. I asked Johan to check the bait and he brought it in. There was a small milk shark hanging on the trace. It was quickly released and the bait reset. I made another turn and the same bait was eaten by another small shark. I trolled a bit deeper and at 28m Johan and I saw a swirl on the surface between the lines. We both ran back to the rod that the fish was nearest to. Johan was trying to get the rod out the holder while I had the reel on freespool, thinking the fish was a dorado. The fish took the bait and I fed it for a bit. As I pushed the drag up and the fish took line, the rod next to me – with a 12oz sinker and live bait - also slowly bent and ran a bit. I picked up the deep bait and passed it to Oom Johan so that I could clear the other lines. Both lines were going into the water at the same spot and taking line at a slow yet constant pace. Divan and I cleared the other lines and I went back to the controls. We all thought the lined were tangled and tried to unwind them by doing some fancy weaving but nothing helped. We noticed the line coming to the surface and thought the fish had been hooked on the one rod and tangled in the other line. This was not the case! All of us were looking back when a small black marlin stuck its head out the water in slow motion and jumped showing that both traces were in its mouth. Oh my soul! The first thing that went through my mind was the #3 wire. Surely there was no chance that we would get the fish. I was more that happy to just stand there watching the show … while it lasted. The marlin looked very lethargic when it jumped and slowly swam toward the boat. I thought we would get a quick tag into it but I needed to move fast. I grabbed the tag stick and tried to fit the tag – this was not easy since I was now shaking like a leaf! Before I had the tag ready, the fish was on the leader, 3 meters away. I finally managed to fit the tag and passed the pole to Divan. Before he could get the tag in the fish went ballistic! There was just white water everywhere. Johan tried to control the fish but on 10kg line there is not much you can do. He unfortunately parted off his line leaving Oom Johan to fight the fish by himself on 15kg tackle. The fish took about 60m of line and then sounded. I got the boat on top of the fish and tried to move it shallower. It was not having any of it and stayed down deep. After 20 minutes the fish came up and we could get the leader on the rod. The fish was just out of reach of the tag pole when it took off again, jumping in a big arc to the right. I opened the two 75’s and sat right next to the fish with if jumping at about shoulder height not 4 meters from me. While this was going on Johan was now trying to tag the fish in mid air! The fish went deep and the fight became a tug of war as we tried to gain any line that we could. After about 15 minutes of stalemate I suggested we put some line in the water to get an angle on the fish so I put the boat in reverse and backed away from it. After about 40m of line left the reel, the line shot to the surface and the fish jumped. I took the boat toward the fish and Oom Johan managed to get the leader on the reel. The fish spun around and swam to the back of the boat, right on the surface. I put both motors into reverse and managed to keep pace with the fish … by now it looked like a clip from ESPN with water coming 6 inches over the transom! The marlin was about 3 meters away so I closed the gap by turning towards the fish. Johan leaned over the gunwale, and with Divan holding his shirt, he planted a perfect tag shot in the fish’s shoulder - Brilliant! The fish objected to its newly acquired piercing and greyhounded away from us. I spun the boat around and chased it in forward. With the leader on the reel again, Oom Johan put some pressure on the fish and parted the trace for a release. If I could draw an air-punch and insert it here, I would but you will just need to believe me that we were stoked! Releasing a +-75kg marlin on a cuda stick with #3 wire was not bad going!

After the traditional handshakes we decided to go to Oscar and look for a kaakap or cuda because the gamefish were not exactly thick at vegetation. We arrive at Oscar and put out the lines. I trolled over the deeper pinnacle while Johan put a vertical jig down. I notices that the downrigger had released and asked Divan to check it. Just then Johan had a hit on the jig but lost it. While everyone was busy checking the downrigger and dropping the jig, the rod next to me with a big livie on the surface smoked off. I happened to be closest to it and was not busy with anything so I took the rod. The fish took a lot of line and so, after the other lines were cleared, we chased the fish. After about 15 minutes we managed to boat a good cuda of about 13kg – we were very lucky because the hook in the mouth had been bitten off and the other hook had snagged it in the head. We trolled for about half an hour more before the SW wind picked up and forced us to beach. All in all, it was a great day. Johan and his dad were happy that we had caught a gamefish and Divan and I were stoked to have released a marlin. I guess you can have the best of both worlds after all!