Daytime Daga

On Saturday 13^th July at 7:30am, Wayne, Lorenzo, Julio and I launched “Galavant” out of Richards Bay. We were hoping to catch some bait for the upcoming sailfish trip.

Lorenzo's 1st daga (18.1kg)

Our first stop was on the pipeline. I sounded around and found a few nice showings but unfortunately, they were mostly small maasbanker and pinkies. We kept looking and eventually found some really nice marks. Wayne and the two boys sent jigs down and came up with a mix of shad and big maasbanker. I was not too interested in the shad, but the maasies looked great. We made a few drifts through the shoal when something big ate one of the baits off the hooks. This peaked my interest so while the bait brigade was filling the live well, I rigged up a trapstick with a bottom trace and pinned one of the maasise that was in the live well. Unfortunately, there was no action but the showing had also moved a bit. We sounded around a bit more and found another great showing. There were a lot of shad following the jigs to the surface so I changed up the bait and rigged a live shad. On the next drift, I had a pull on the shad and hooked up to a fish that took quite a bit of line. Lorenzo took the rod and about 10 minutes into the fight, he was wishing that he hadn’t. The fish gave him a good go but eventually, it tired and Lorenzo could get it up to the surface. We were all guessing what it could be, but finally the big silver shine gave it away and a lovely 18kg daga popped up. It was Lorenzo’s first daga and he was over the moon.

After a few photos, we continued catching bait. When we had enough, we headed back to the club for a beer. Not bad for a morning’s bait fishing.

Mid-week daga

A nice daga on light tackle

On Wednesday 3^rd July at 18:30, Hansie, Terence, Ruben and I launched off Richards Bay. We were hoping to get Ruben his first daga salmon. It was still very early in the season, so we did not have our hopes too high. We stopped on one of our old faithful numbers and put the anchor down.

We waited about half an hour before we started getting shad but soon, we all had a livie in the water. Now the fish just needed to find us. There seemed to be very little action and by 9:30 none of the boats had bites. It seemed as if it was going to be a bust, but we thought we would give it another hour or so and then pack up.

I had put my light spinning rod in the holder for a while so I was keeping an eye on the tip. At one point, I thought I saw it bump differently to the normal swell action. I picked up the rod and felt the lightest of taps, almost like the shad was revving. I waited a second of two then wound up. To my surprise, the rod bent over and I was tight onto a fish. It want on a short run, shaking its head on a regular basis. I could not put too much pressure on it with the light line, but after a 15minute fight, I finally had a nice 18kg daga in the boat.

I was out for the rest of the night as I had my one fish limit, but the guys could still fish on. Despite fishing for another hour, there were no more bites so we packed up and headed home.

Father's Day fishing trip

At 7am on Sunday 16^th June, Father’s day, my Dad and I launched “ABF”. The weather forecast was for very little wind and a small swell, so we were keen to fish on the ledge and hopefully get a dorado or sailfish.

We stopped at our bait spot and sounded around. There was absolutely nothing on the sounder! We tried all out spots but got naught. There were a few birds dipping nearby so out of desperation, I put out a few small feathers and trolled around them. It didn’t take long to get a pull and soon had a few small frigate tuna in the bait box. Unfortunately, they are not a great live bait and die very quickly but a fresh dead one is a top-notch bait.

Fathers day Daga

We headed out to the ledge and put out a few dead baits. The deep one was not out long when we had a pull. My Dad took the rod and had a bit of a tussle, but nothing to write home about. After a few head nods, the fish came up and eventually popped up next to the boat. It was a big yellowbelly rockcod of around 15kg. It had a bit of barotrauma, so I made a small hole in the swim bladder with a bait needle and waited until the air had escaped before releasing a healthy fish.

The current was really strong so we ran north a fair distance before setting the lines. Despite going over some beautiful showings, we never had a pull. This quiet spell went on for a while until I sent a bait right to the bottom. As the showing came through, the deep line went on with a nice fish that bumped a lot, but didn’t take much line. My Dad pulled the fish in pretty quickly and to our surprize, a lovely daga salmon came up. We took a quick pic and put it back in the water. I was busy preparing a tag when the fish kicked hard and managed to get free from my Dad’s grip. To our surprise, it headed straight down without any assistance. Was good to see a healthy fish swim away.

The rest of the day went by without a pull, other than a few more small bonito so at 1pm we upped lines and headed back home.

Club Record Salmon

On Monday 20 August at about 6pm, Andre, Hansie, Terence and I launched “Good Time” out of Richards Bay. There had been a few salmon coming out, so we were hoping to get a few.

We stopped at the pipeline and there were about 10 other boats there already. Sounding around, we found a spot and put out the anchor. We went about catching some live bait and soon had some baits on the bottom. I was secretly hoping to get a big fish as I was using 8kg line, hoping for another record like the week before. At around 7pm, Hansie had a bite. He tightened up to a good strong fish that gave him a great fight on the light gear he was using. After about 15minutes, he had his first daga for the season. A good 24kg fish.

A few beautiful salmon

The rest of us continued fishing while Hansie played around with the maasbanker that were attracted to the boat lights. At around 7:30, Andre hooked up and managed to catch his personal best salmon of 26kg. I don’t think I have seen anyone prouder of a fish before. In the meantime, Terence and I were holding pole, watching everyone else catching fish. Hansie then caught a really big shad and Terence rigged it up. At about 8:30, Terence had a big bite and went tight on a fish that fought in another league. The spinning reel that he was using stood up well to the strong 25minute fight and after a few trips around the boat, the fish popped up next to the boat spent. We could see that this was a record size fish so we kept it.

New Club Record

I was now the only one still trying for a fish, but luckily this meant that there were no other lines in the water to cut me off. In the next 2 hours, I had three fish that mouthed the bait without me even feeling the bump. Eventually, after rigging up a really lively shad, I had a solid take. I tightened up pretty quickly and went on with another strong fish. The light tackle took strain with the strong runs of the fish and my heart sat in my throat with every head nod. After a long dogged fight, the fish was visible in the lights. The size looked close to the size that I needed for the record, so Andre gaffed it and brought it onboard. It had been a long night and having all caught a fish, we could not have asked for more.

We stopped at the club and weighted my fish first. It pulled the needle to 26.8kg, narrow missing the record. I’ll just have to try again… and I will. When we put Terence’s fish on the scale, even though it was late in the evening, a small crowd gathered to see this weight. We were all astounded to see the weight of 49.1kg! A fish of a lifetime. I congratulate Terence on a fantastic fish. You are the envy of many an angler.

Just in the nick of time

On Tuesday evening at 17:45, Andre, Hansie, Tjaart, Terence and I launched “Good Time” out of Richards Bay. There had been the odd daga salmon around and the weather had given a gap to try for them.

We headed out to the pipeline, sounded around until we found a bit of structure and put out the anchor. We went about catching a few shad and maasbanker for live bait. It didn’t take long for us all to have a live bait in the water and the waiting began. The sand anchor was slipping a bit but we decided to leave it so that we could cover a bit of ground. There were about 15 boats in the area, and none had any luck, so we thought this might work in our favour. After a few hours, Hansie had a bump, but the fish only nipped his livie, killing and discarding it. At about 9pm, we decided to up lines and position ourselves again. When Andre and Tjaart retrieved their lines, their livies were also dead with the small pin hole teeth marks on them.

36.7kg Daga Salmon

We rigged up a sand anchor and rock anchor and set it over a likely looking spot. It was absolutely dead and at around 11pm I suggested that we start packing up. Slowly we upped lines and I noticed that Andre, Tjaart and Terence were tangled. While they were sorting things out, I pinned a fresh livie and sent it down. With the tangle sorted, we were about to pull anchor when I felt a solid bump on my rod. I dropped the tip and let the line come tight before setting the hook. The rod keeled over with the weight of a good fish. It went on a short but strong run with big head nods. I could not do much with the 10kg tackle, so I let the drag on the spinning reel do its thing and slowly tire the fish out. After about 15 minutes the fish was on surface in the lights where Andre could get the gaff in the mouth. He struggled to pull it aboard and only when it was lying on the deck could we see the size of the fish. It was a really good size fish, well over 30kg. With a fish on the deck, we were happy to call it a night and headed home. We weighed the fish at the club and it registered 36.7kg. A possible record on 10kg line.

Thanks to Andre and my mates for a magic evening. If you are looking to book a fishing charter, give Andre a call (072 639 9366).