Wind over current

On Sunday 30^th March at 6:30, the Smit family and I launched “Seaduction” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to look for some gamefish, but the weather forecast predicted a strong SW to come through at around 11am. We stopped on the pipeline and caught some livebait. We could see the front lying to the south but decided to take a chance and run north to the ledge.

The water was not a great colour and the current was flying. We put out a few trolling lures and zigzagged the ledge to see where the showings were. The SW started to pick up so I rigged up 5 cuda baits and slow trolled along the ledge. We were just coming to the southern point when there was a big swirl between the lines. I first thought it was a dolphin that was surfing down the swells, but then the reel with the close surface livie gave a few short bursts. I saw the line going deep and towards the front of the boat. I ran back and moved the rod to the starboard side to prevent the line tangling with another. As I put some pressure on the fish, the line cut through the water to the surface and a nice black marlin of around 120kg stuck its head out! It looked very lethargic of the first few jumps so we did not panic too much while the lines were cleared. The fish had taken some line, so I passed the rod to Dewalt and went to the controls where I chased after the fish. In a few minutes, we had it within 15m of the boat but then it made a series of frantic jumps away from us and managed to get the leader around its tail and part the wire off. The fish jumped a few more times after it broke off just to tease us. At lease the guys on the boat had a bit of a show for the day.

Sushi?!

The current had pushed us far south, so I headed north to where we started previously. The long surface bait was still fine so I let it out before rerigging fresh baits on the other rods. Before I could get the second bait rigged, the surface bait was eaten. The fish took a bit of line before going deep. The rod tip had those characteristic tail beats of a tuna and so it was no surprise when Dewalt gaffed a small shoal yellowfin which was bled and put on ice. Again the current had pushed us south so while we had no other lines in the water, I ran up again and reset the lines. The SW had picked up to about 20kts and the sea was getting uncomfortable. I suggested that we make this our last pass along the ledge which was met by approval from everyone on board. We passed over a good showing that was 10m thick. It was hardly surprising when the deep livie went away. This fish hardly fought and came to the boat easily. When the sinker came up, I could see a short silver shape of a bonito. It was surprising that it fought so little considering it was as big as the yellowfin we had caught earlier. By now the sea was pretty bad due to the strong wind over a strong current, so we upped lines and had long ride back to the harbour.

Consolation prize

On Saturday 22^nd March, we launched Jannie’s “Ohana” off Richards Bay. The NE was already blowing 15 knots and the sea was unsettled. Our first stop was at the pipe where we caught some maasbanker. During this time we tried to decide where we were going to fish for cuda but the options were few and far between. The water at the normal spots was dirty and the hotspots were just too far to run with the 20kt winds. We decided to fish the ledge south of the harbour.

The run there was with the wind so it was pretty comfortable, but as we travelled further from shore, the sea and wind picked up. Jannie held the boat into the wind while I struggled to get the 4 lines out. After about 20minutes we had lines out and were fishing. I took over the controls and tried my best to zigzag over the reef and showing. It was impossible to leave the steering to have a drink, something to eat or put sunscreen on. The second that you left the wheel, the wind and swell would turn the nose and push the boat over the lines. It was terrible! To make it worse, some of the crew was sick and I ended up getting helping of someone’s breakfast on my foot… not very pleasant.

Just when I was losing hope, I saw Jannie run to the back, only then did I see that the surface rod was bending. I increased the speed to get the line tight and let the drag run. There was a splash out the back as a dorado took to the air. Jannie fought the fish to the boat where we saw a second fish with it. I could not assist at all and hung onto the controls, trying not to ride over the fish. Jannie passed the rod to his brother and grabbed another rod with a daisy chain on it. He hooked a live maasie through the nose and flicked it out. Within seconds, the follower ate the bait and was hooked. Jannie’s son TJ took the rod and tried his best not to fall overboard. By this time, the first fish was next to the boat where Jannie gaffed it and put it directly into the hatch. TJ brought his fish in and it joined the first one in the hatch. Feeling much better about the day, we fished for another hour until the sea was covered with white caps. When the second wave broke over the nose, I suggested we call it a day… everyone agreed so we upped lines and headed home.

We ended up taking the 3^rd biggest unspecified gamefish prize in the Umlalazi Cuda Classic… a bit of a consolation prize I guess.

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

On Friday 21^st March at 3:30am, Jannie Jacobs and I launched “Ohana” out of Richards Bay. It was a miserable morning with a SW wind blowing and a light drizzle. The forecast was that the wind would drop and become NE in the afternoon, so there would be a good lull. At one stage, we thought that we were absolutely mad to be on the water at this hour, but we had a plan… Our first stop was at the pipeline to look for some shad. Unfortunately the water was dirty, so we ended up with not a single livebait. At 4:30am, we headed for Zini Hi Point, hoping that we would be the first boat there and have the place to ourselves for a while.

We arrived at the pinnacle at just before 6am and I put out 3 daisy chains hoping for some jube jubes. On the first pass, we caught a big kawakawa that we released and on the second, we had 2 small skippies which were rigged up. Jannie just turned to the reef when the surface bait was eaten. The reel ran a bit then stopped.I felt that the bait was still there so freespooled a bit. Something ate it so I tightened up. It ended up being a hammerhead of about 40kg. I went about rigging some dead baits and while this was going on, the other skippie was eaten. It was another hammerhead of a similar size… frustrating to say the least.

We abandoned the live bait option and put out a few wala, mackerel and bonnies. I was just rigging the 4^th bait when I saw the deep rod bend. The reel smoked off as the fish went on its run. I looked back to the other lines and saw the medium depth rod keel over and smoke off… we were doubled. Jannie took that rod while I had the first. When my fish was close to the boat, I turned around to get the gaff. That’s when I saw the surface rod bend over and go on. We had a triple… nice! By now my fish was at the boat where I gaffed it and hauled a good cuda aboard before taking the next rod. Jannie’s fish was close too and just when we were ready to gaff, the hooks came out! Unlucky. I picked up the last rod and brought an 8kg shoal cuda to the gaff.

I rerigged and set the full spread of 5 lines. I could see the other boats on the horizon so we did not have much time. Jannie trolled over the northern tip of the reef and was rewarded with the surface bait being eaten. I was the closest, so took the rod and brought in another shoal cuda. In the next hour, 11 boats arrived and the cuda went quiet. We decided to move a few hundred meters south away from the traffic and see if the fish would eat there. We trolled over a good mid-water bait showing and the deep wala went away. Jannie took the strike and had a hard time with a fish that was fighting strangely. After 15minutes, a shoal size cuda came up tail first.

Early morning cuda

Again the lines went in and we trolled past the showing. Jannie had just said that we should get a pull when I saw the downrigger rod pull down followed by a smoking reel. I took the strike while Jannie cleared the other deep line. The fish took a lot of line to the front of the boat and I had quite a job moving around the T-top to follow the fish. At one stage, I was fighting directly over the steering wheel to the front of the boat… gotta love it. Finally I had the fish next to the boat where Jannie gaffed another nice cuda. The fish were obviously not keen on the traffic but luckily we had found a few ready to feed. After setting the lines again, Jannie trolled over the same area but the showing had gone. We tacked the area and finally found it again. It was no surprise when the deep line went away. Jannie took the rod and had an unusually easy fight with another good fish which I gaffed and brought aboard. In the next half hour, the sea changed. A strong reverse current came through bringing with it a lot of slime. The lines were covered in the stuff and made the tackle very visible to the fish. We trolled the area for another 2 hour, but apart from another 40kg hammerhead, we had no action so headed back to port where the 3 biggest fish weighed 20kg, 19,6kg and 17,5kg. Sometimes the early bird does catch the worm.

2014 Amatikulu Cuda Classic

On Sunday 16^th March at 5:30 we launched Andrew Saville’s 19ft Tom Cat “Mye Babo” out of Richards Bay. We were fishing in the Amatikulu Cuda Classic, but due to the mouth being closed, we could not launch out of the mouth so alternative launch sites were allowed. Fishing in the team was Gert Nel, Peppie van Rooyen, Andrew and I.

We headed out for the pipeline and caught a few livebaits before heading south to Petingo. The reverse current had come in overnight and the water was not a good colour. We had no other options as the water was bad past 200m so we decided to persevere on the wreck. I put out a few dead baits and 2 livies then trolled over the wreck. There were a few boats there, but they soon left as it was stone dead. With the wreck to ourselves, I could work every inch of it to see if we could scratch out a fish. After 4 hours of trolling, we finally had a strike on a livie. Gert fought the fish which came in relatively. The water was a bit murky, so only when it was really close, could we make out what the fish was. It turned out to be a nice size queenfish of 9kg. At least we were not “mombakkies”.

I rerigged and continued trolling. An hour later, the deep livie went away with a nice fish. It took quite a bit of line before doubling back and heading straight for the wreck. I stayed on top of the fish while Peppie tried to keep it off the bottom. Unfortunately the fish managed to cut the leader off in the rigging leading us to believe it was a kingfish. I rerigged the rod and kept at it.

It felt like the day was dragging, but finally, at 2pm, one of the surface wala was eaten and the reel took off. We cleared the lines and Gert took the rod. The fish came in relatively easily and swam parallel to the boat where we could just make it out. In the dirty water, it looked quite small but it was giving Gert quite a good fight. I turned the boat toward the fish to close the gap and when the fish was in range on the surface, I put the gaff in. When I lifted the fish over the gunwale, I was pleasantly surprised at the size. Back at the club, it weighed in at 17,8kg. Not bad considering the poor conditions we had to fish in.

Take a kid fishing...

On Saturday 8^th March, Wayne Ritchie, his 2 sons Julio and Lorenzo, and I launched Wayne’s new boat “Da Boyz” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to catch a few fish for the laaities so they could get used to the deepsea fishing scene.

Feeling the burn

At 6am we left the harbour and headed to the pipeline. After scratching around a bit, I found a spot where the bait was hanging out. Almost every drop, Wayne and Julio got full strings of maasies with a few shad in between. With the livewell full, we headed out to the ledge to look for some bonnies. I put out 4 rods and as Wayne turned onto the pinnacle, 2 rods went on with jube jubes. Julio and I quickly pulled them in before continuing the search. Wayne made another turn and this time, all 4 rods went away. These were not jube jubes, but bigger kawa-kawas. There was a bit of chaos out the back, but when the dust settled, we had managed to get all 4 fish out, releasing 2 of them. We made several more turns but only caught 1 lonely skipjack that also went back. Things had gone dead so we upped lines and headed for Petingo.

Chasing the bite

The water was a nice colour, but the reverse current was screaming. It was so bad that I could hardly make headway. Never the less, I rigged 2 bonnies, a wala and a live maasbanker then trolled up the wreck. One of the other boats had loaded half a fish earlier the morning, but other than that, it was quiet. But 10:45 we had not had a pull and most of the other boats had left for greener pastures. I trolled over a good midwater showing of bait and when the lines went over it, the reel with the wala went away. I cleared the lines while Wayne fought the fish. Knowing that there were sharks around, we put big pressure on the fish to get it in quickly. It was fighting very strangely and it soon became apparent that the fish was foul hooked. Wayne brought up a shoal size cuda that was hooked in the midsection and stone dead when I gaffed it. At lease we had something to show for our efforts.

Despite trolling around until after 1pm, we never had another pull so we upped lines and headed home.

No use flogging a dead horse...

On Saturday 1^st March, my Dad and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. We stopped the pipeline and filled the livewell with nice size maasbankers before heading to the ledge.

 

I put out 2 deep lines and 2 surface lines then tacked over the reef. There were no showings for quite some time, but as I worked north, there was a bit of a mark on the bottom. I was about to say that we should get a pull here when the deep bait went away. My Dad took the rod and after a nice tussle, had a 10kg cuda in the hatch. Not a bad start. I rerigged and made a turn over the same area. The showing had gone so I trolled further north. The water conditions were good, but there was very little life. No birds, no bonnies, no flying fish, no showings, nothing… Despite checking the baits and changing up a few things, we were not getting pulls and from what the other guys were saying, they were also battling.

 

The SW wind had picked up and we were in for a bumpy ride home. We decided to turn around and troll back over the ledge on the way home. As we finished the turn, the deep bait went away again. I was standing at the rod, so I took the strike and quickly had a 7kg cuda on ice. We trolled for another half hour and decided that it was no use flogging a dead horse, so we upped lines and ran back. Hopefully next weekend will see a nice big cuda in the hatch...

A battle of inches.

On Sunday 23^rd February at 5:30, my Dad and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay. We were keen to try for some wahoo that had been on the 50m ledge the past few days. Our first stop was on the pipeline to get some bait, but they were few and far between. We tried several different spots and finally managed to get a few nice maasies and shad. Due to the extended bait catching session, it was quiet late when we arrived on the ledge. I wasted no time in putting out 4 hi speed trolling lures and worked north along the dropoff. Within a minute, the far surface lure went away. After a good tussle, I released a big skipjack tuna. Trolling commenced and 10 minutes later, 2 reels went away with small yellowfins. I pulled hook on one at the boat and bled the other and put it on ice.

At the northern end of the reef, I rigged up 4 baits and started slow trolling the drop. As I was nearing the edge, I looked back and saw the surface rod keel over and the reel absolutely smoked off. It was one of the fastest sustained runs I have seen in a while. I eased the drag a bit and as I started to turn, the rod shot back as something parted! The fish had picked up the wire between the swivel and the front of the bait ad kinked it off. Talk about bad luck. I rerigged the bait and continued trolling. As I trolled over the edge, the close surface bait smoked off. I looked back to see a nice wahoo break surface then take off. A few seconds later, the fish was off! The exact same thing had happened as the first. This was not good. While I was rerigging the trace, the deep rod went away. The line raced to the surface and a nice dorado jumped around on top. The fish was foul hooked so gave my Dad a hard time, but finally we had a fish in the boat. After setting the lines again, I made another turn over the same spot. Again the deep line rent away. I fought the fish to the boat where my Dad gaffed a 10kg cuda. There were obviously a few fish around, so I made another turn. It was like dejavu when the deep line went away again. This time my Dad got a 10kg cuda. With all the lines in, I rigged up a few fresh baits and set the lines. We tacked over the reef a few times when the surface rod bent over and the reel ran. I passed the rod to my Dad and was about to clear another line when the deep line also went away with a second fish. I fought this for a while but the surface fish was still taking line so I put my rod in the holder, cleared the remaining 2 rods and turned after my Dads fish. When I finally took up the rod again, the fish was off… Now we could focus on getting some line back. By now, there was 200m of line off the reel so I followed the fish to gain line. The line was straight up and down and on a long cuda rod, the strain took its toll on my Dad so he passed the rod over to me.

40kg YFT on 10kg line

When I took the rod, I could feel a heavy weight, but no head nods or tail beats… I was convinced it was a shark. The drag went up and up until the stood still and the fight became a battle of inches. 20 minutes later, there was a bump on the rod and the line angled to the surface. The fish came right to the top ad made a wake on the surface. It was black on top but flashed silver a few times. It was obviously not a shark. We raced towards it and halved the distance between us before it went down again. All that I could think it might be was a foul hooked manta ray as there had been one around the boat earlier. Slowly but surely I inched the fish up and eventually had it 10m away. My Dad had the camera to get some pics of the ray as it was not an everyday occurrence. As the fish came closer, I expected to see wings or some identifying features, but instead, I thought I saw a tail fin. When the leader came up, I saw that it was not a manta but  big yellowfin tuna. I shouted for the gaff which caught my Dad off guard. As he grabbed the gaff in the gunwale, The leader unwrapped from the tail and the fish turned side on for an easy gaff shot.

Mixed bag of gamefish

We were dumbstruck. It took both of us to lift the fish over the side after it was bled. It lay the deck full, so our fishing for the day was over. We snapped off a few pics and headed back to the harbour. The tuna pulled the scale to 39,8kg (after being bled)! What a surprise fish it was. 

Wahoo are in town...

On Monday 17^th February, Mike, Dale and myself launched “Beluga” out of Richards Bay. It was the last day of the Billfish Interprovincial. The previous 2 days were exceptionally quiet with only 2 marlin released… both on the same boat. The weather was almost too good with hardly a breath of wind most of the day. The water was purple and the temp up to 29 degrees at times. There was unfortunately zero current.

Dale with a Shoalie Wahoo

After 2 days of pulling lures with only one marlin strike, we opted to pull livebait on the last day. At 5:30 we put out 4 bait lures and trolled over the ledge. It was not 5 minutes and all 4 rods went away. Unfortunately 2 pulled hooks, one small yellowfin was bitten in half by a shark but we managed to get a 2kg skipjack into the tube. While this was going on, there was also a dorado around the boat. The activity was amazing. The lures went back in and Mike made a turn over the same area. The far feather smoked off as a fish smashed it on the surface, unfortunately the wire kinked off. While I was retrieving the line, one of the halcos went away. Dale took the rod and brought in a 9kg wahoo. We put out only 3 bait rods and made another turn. As the showing started, all 3 rods went away. Dale had a fish smoking off on surface but was bitten off, I pulled hooks, but while retrieving the lure, I went on again with another fish. Mike in the meanwhile had the same happen to him, but as the second fish smoked off, another one picked up the swivel and bit him off. When the dust settled, I was still on with what turned out to be a 3kg yellowfin. What a bait! We wasted no time in rigging the 2 baits and by 6am we were heading out to the drop off.

By-catch

The day passed without a rev, so we decided to try a bit shallower for the last hour of the competition. There was a lot of bait around at the 60m mark so Mike made a few turns there. It was not long before the rigger on the spare bait, the skipjack, gave a sharp flick. I expected the rigger to pull flat any second, but when I looked back, I saw the bait flashing and knew what had happened… Dale pulled the bait in and it had been sliced cleanly by a wahoo. Well, at least we still had another bait… as Mike turned to head deeper, the yellowfin gave a short rev then went quiet. We all knew what had happened. Another wahoo had trimmed our bait down to size.

With no more bait, we put on the lures and trolled down the ledge. Mike saw a piece of rope floating on the surface and as we passed it, the flatline gave a short burst but missed. Moments later both long riggers came down but we only hooked up on one. I winched in another 8kg wahoo before resetting the spread. On the next turn, the right long went away and we managed another shoalie wahoo. The time had run out so we upped lines and headed back to port.

 

Bait stocks running on empty

At 5:15am on Sunday 9^th February, Wayne and I launched “ABF” off Cape Vidal. After stopping for livebait, we headed north to Oscar with a handful of maasbanker in the well. I rigged up the same spread as the day before and trolled over the pinnacle on the first pass, the deep line went away but almost immediately got converted to a shark which we broke off. I rerigged and started the approach. Before the reef even picked up, the deep line smoked off. Wayne took the strike while I cleared the other deep line. Wayne had his fish near the boat when I saw a greenish brown shape materialize from the depths. The fish made a quick dash then got converted. The drag was pushed to sunset and about 10 minutes later, a hook straightened and the head of the once 10kg cuda came into the boat. On the next turn, the surface bait on the flouro went away. I took the rod and went up on the drag right away. It was not long before I had a 5kg bonnie in the boat which we released.

Not wanting to waste any more bait on tuna / bonito, I stuck to 3 rods with wire traces. In the next 3 passes, we had a few chops on the deep lines and so we checked the lines quite regularly. Wayne was busy checking the one livie and had it swimming about 2m behind the motor when a 12kg cuda came flying in and snatched the maasie. The line was pulled out of his hands as the cuda took off! The fish then doubles back creating slack line, but the sinker which was still attached to the line reached the rod tip and no more line could be retrieved. With this slack, the hooks pulled… it was not our day, but at least we were having a few pulls.

I made a wide turn and approached from the deep side of the ledge and as the showing started, the deep line went away. I pushed the drag to the button then gave Wayne the rod. He put serious pressure on the fish and managed to get his personal best kaakap of around 7kg. Some good eating fish.

It was now 8am and the bait stocks were running on empty. I only had 3 livies left. So they had to count. There were several boats around us, but everyone was complaining about the sharks. We were the only boat to have a whole fish on board but that was also just lucky. I decided to move off the reef a bit to see if the gamefish had not moved away from the sharks. Wayne had also seen a cuda jump out the water a few minutes earlier. We had just gone off the deep end of the reef, in 50m of water when the surface rod’s tip bent a but then came back Wayne said that he thought there might be something there, so we kept an eye on it. While we were watching, the rod bumped as something chased the livie. I was sure it was a sailfish, so ran back to feed it. Before I could get there, the rod had loaded up and the reel gave a few short bursts… typical of a billfish. I tightened up and the fish took about 100m of line right on the surface at a constant speed. I gave Wayne the rod and turned in the fishes direction. It gave a few head nods, then the hooks just pulled. There were no marks on the leader and the wire was dead straight. I can only assume it was a sailfish that had been foul hooked, but who knows. By 9am, we had not had another pull. We needed to be out of the cabin by 10am, so we packed up and headed back to the beach.

The curse is lifted

At 5:45 on Saturday 8^th February, Tjokkie and I launched “ABF” at Cape Vidal. We were there for the weekend and were hoping to just have a bit of fun with the gamefish on lighter tackle than we use at Richards Bay. The reports from the previous week were not good and all the boats were struggling for fish. There was however a lot of livebait around…

Our first stop was just off the launch to look for bait. I was expecting full strings on the first drop, but there was nothing! There were 7 of 8 boats around but everyone was struggling. After an hour of struggling, I went over a current line with nervous ripples on the surface. There was a showing halfway down and as the jigs went through them, we were on. There were a few decent size baits, but most a bit small… but beggars can’t be choosers. With a few baits in the well, I headed off to Oscar.

There was no current, 27.3 degree water and purple water. I was keen to get a feel of the area so that I knew where to focus my efforts so I bombed out a few halcos/rapalas and a surface lure and started trolling over the marks. I had also promised the ground crew sushi that afternoon, so I was hoping to get a yellowfin. There was not a lot of activity on the shallow marks, but when I went over the deep mark, the sounder went crazy with good showings. They started 10m off the ground and went up for 10-15m. this was obviously the place! As we passed over the showing, one of the halcos smoked off. I cleared the other lines while Tjoks fought the fish. It seemed just too easy, but then the fish sounded and the fight changed… The drag went up and up but we could not budge it. I looked on the gps and we were going circles over the same spot. Tjoks, suffering from a bout of nausea, passed me the rod to see what I could do. Immediately I could feel the line in the rocks and realised that it was probably a potatoe bass that ate the tuna when it sounded. Not wanting to waste any more time, I parted off. Knowing where to fish, I rigged up 4 bait sticks. Still hoping for a yft, I hooked a livie onto a single hook directly to flouro carbon leader and let it out. I was busy freespooling when the reel took off in my hand. I gave it 5 seconds then tightened up… vas. The fish did not seem too heavy so I put some pressure on it to get it in and start fishing, but as the fish sounded, there was a big nod and the fight changed to a slow give and take. I upped the drag to full and held on, slowly gaining line. I peered over the side and in the depths saw a big grey shape of a potatoe bass. I gained about 10m  more, then the fish headed back down. I put the brakes on and finally it chafed through the flouro.

Finally I managed to put out 4 baits and get a trolling pattern going. I was just approaching the showing when both deep baits went away. Both of us pulled as hard as we could, but Tjoks lost the battle when his fish turned into a frayed leader after another potatoe bass ate his fish. I managed to get a 5kg cuda to the surface and into the hatch. Finally something to eat. The baits went out and I made a turn. As I straightened out, the surface livie on flouro went away. I hooked up and passed Tjoks the rod. This time he pulled the crap out of it and we could gaff a small yellowfin which was bled for sushi. On my next turn, I saw the deep rod bump and when I checked the bait, it had been chopped. I checked the other deep bait and the same thing had happened to it as well. There were obviously a few cuda around, but they were chowing skelm. On the next turn, I was trolling with the wind, so I pulled neutral to get the lines down. It was not long when the surface rod just bent then flicked back with slack line. The cuda had picked up the leader in its teeth in front of the wire and bitten off… it seemed that I just had no luck today.

At long last!

Tjoks was feeling really bad, so I decided on one last turn, then I would take him back. I checked the deep bait before the last approach and it was fine so I let it down again. I turned to go to the controls when that rod bent over. The fish took some line but not like a cuda. Thinking it might be a kaakap or some or other bottom fish, I pushed the drag past the button and pulled the $#!% out of it. The line angled to the surface the sinker came up. I broke off the elastic and kept pulling, expecting to see a bottomfish pop. When the fish surfaced 20m from us, I saw a brown shape. First I thought it was an amber that had come up, but I looked closer and saw big pec fins and the white lines on the side… it was a prodigal son! I was so nervous that I could hardly think. This fish had eluded for so many years, and here I was with one on the line. I pampered it closer but something caught my eye to the right. It was a massive tiger shark! At that point, all subtleties went out the window and I pushed the drag right up. The fish came straight to the boat where Tjoks gaffed the 12kg fish. As it started twisting, we ripped it onto the boat. FINALLY!!! The curse was lifted. At that point, I was over the moon, so I we headed back to the beach.