2012 Umhlanga Prestige Interclub

On Saturday 26^th May, Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee, myself and Shane Dennis (our skipper) launched out of Granny’s Pool at Umhlanga. We were fishing in the Umhlanga Prestige Interclub, representing Richards Bay SBC. In the past, we have placed second and third in this competition and we had our hearts set on taking the top spot so the pressure was on.

The surf was very unsettled and after a few close calls, all the boats were safely behind backline and headed off to the “Fonteo” to catch live bait. As we arrived, Michael, Divs and I went down with sabiki rigs. Before the weights hit the ground, we were full strings. The bait was a mix of maasbankers, mackerel and shad. I had a heavy duty sabiki rig on, targeting shad while the rest were using the lighter version. At one stage, I felt that I had a single bait on one of the hooks so I left it down for a bit hoping to get more. All of a sudden, the rod tip pulled down and the reel smoked off! I held on hoping for the best, but alas, it only lasted a few seconds before the hook was bitten off. Divan had a similar experience but no result. Shortly after, the SW wind, which was predicted for 11am, came through at around 15 knots making things interesting on the small boat we were on. With the live well full, Shane was pretty insistent that we move north to Umhloti to look for a cuda, so after a 20 minute run, we stopped and set out 5 rods.

The wind was pushing us quite fast, so we opted to drift so that the lines would get down deeper to where we saw a the odd showing on the echo. After about 2 hour, we were close to Seabell when the deep line with a live mackerel took off! Divs, Mike and Shane cleared the other lines while I kept the reel under control. Shane chased the fish down while gained line as fast as I could. Within about 10 minutes the double line came up. As the fish came out from under the boat, Divs put the gaff in and hauled a beautiful 20,4kg cuda aboard... NICE! With a fish on the board, the pressure was off and we could relax a bit. By 11am, nothing else had happened so we headed back to the “Fonteo” to look for a yellowfin. The ride back, against the SW was wet and uncomfortable, but we finally made it and went about rigging 2 tuna baits and 2 cuda baits. Shane did a short drift to get the right angle and went back up where we set the lines. With the drift almost at an end, the deep cuda bait smoked off. Divan took the strike while the lines were cleared. There is an exceptionally bad shark problem off Umhlanga and so Divs pulled the fish exceptionally hard to prevent being taxed. Within a few minutes, the fish was at boatside where I gaffed a nice 12,5kg cuda... more points! We road back up and made another drift. Again, at the end of the drift, the surface tuna bait was taken. Divs fed the fish then tightened up and went on to a small tuna. While pulling it, the fish exploded out of the water... there was obviously something after it... Divs freespooled the reel to let the yellowfin get away. At the same time, Michael went on with the live mackerel on the surface. This turned out to be the shark which was hassling the tuna. With that, Divan put the drag to sunset and pulled like hell resulting in a 6kg in the hatch. Michael broke off the shark and we called it a day. That evening, we were lying 3^rd. The difference between us and the 2^nd team was a 5kg bonito. For us to beat the leaders (who weighed one 27kg yellowfin), we needed a 6kg bonito (which was minimum weight) and 2 yellowfin of around 11kg... the comp was on!!!

On Sunday the 27^th, The day dawned with a light SW wind and little surf to speak of. With all the boats in the water, we headed off to “Fonteo” to get bait. This time, only Michael and Divs went down with sabikis. I held back and waited for the first maasbanker which I rigged and flipped overboard, sending it down near the bait showings. Within a minute, the line was ripped off the reel. I fed the fish for a few seconds, then hooked up. The fish took off between the other 25 boats with us in hot pursuit. We were lucky that there was a clear path for us to run and managed to get off the wreck quickly. I pulled as hard as I could and finally had the fish close enough for Divs to gaff a nice yellowfin which we conservatively guessed at 10kg... what a start... only 2 more pieces of the puzzle left to go and it was 7:30am!

After filling the livewell, we headed south to the barges where we rigged up the same gear as the day before. The first drift resulted in a missed strike from what we suspect was a queenfish. I changed to a double hook nylon trace for the next drift and resulted in a quick strike followed by a bite off from a cuda... Unlucky! The next drift produced a strike on the surface tuna bait which Michael hooked up. Shane chased the fish down and with some major pressure from Michael, the fish came within range where I gaffed another yellowfin, slightly bigger than the first one... 2 down, 1 to go!!! The following 6 drifts produced only sharks so we headed back to the “Fonteo”. The first 2 drifts resulted in sharks so we decided to run to Umhloti to look for the last fish we needed. Before we ran, Shane said we should try to get a few shad and mackerel as they were the preferred bait for that area. He sounded around until he found a midwater showing. I went down with the sabiki and went on with a few mackerel. While this was going on, Divs flicked a live maasbanker overboard, just in case... I continued with the bait and managed a few more shad and mackerel. As I was packing the baitrod away, Divan announced that something had grabbed his bait. After a short feed, he hooked up and the fish raced away! Immediately Shane chased it down. At one stage it seemed as if there was a shark after the fish so Divan freespooled the reel but the line never ran off. There and then, the drag went to sunset and it was make or break. The fish came spiralling up and when the leader broke the surface, I took a wild gaff shot at a vague shape in the water. To everyone’s surprise, especially mine, the gaff found its mark and I hauled a big bonnie of around 6kg! The tension was palpable and we knew we were within one of two points of the leaders (who had not yet caught a fish). We did another 2 drifts which resulted in two more sharks so the call was made to run to Umhloti and try our luck for an hour.

After a quick run, 5 livies went out. Most of the fleet was there so we could keep an eye on what was happening. Apart from 2 small seapike of about 2kg which were released, there was no action. We beached at 1pm and made our way to the Umhlanga Ski Boat Club to weigh the fish. The four of us could hardly speak we were so nervous. It was unfathomable that a bonito could be so important. The bonnie was passed from the hatch to the weigh master with the same care as would a newborn child. It pulled the scale to 6,6kg!!! We were over the moon. With the most important fish weighed, the yellowfins were next. They pulled the scale to ... drum roll ... 13.4 and 13.8kg!!! We had pulled it off!!! Classic! Thanks to Shane, Mike and Divs for a great weekend! Same time same place next year...

Quick Morning Session

On Saturday 12^th May, At van Tilburg, Konstant Viljoen (Snr and Jnr) and I launched “AVANTI” off Cape Vidal. We were looking to pass the time before attending a good friend of ours wedding that afternoon. With no real game plan, we stopped off the point and At sounded around for bait showings. While we felt the area, we noticed a few small bonnies popping up every so often. I put out a small minieye and let it out about 20m ... just in case. At found a few showings and both Konstant and I went down with sabiki jigs and caught a few maasbankers.

With a good supply of livies, At suggested we go north to the greens where a few cuda came out the day before. As I was retrieving the minieye, a small bonnie grabbed it. It was unceremoniously dumped in the lunatube. We decided we would make another turn to see if we could get another one. I put out 2 minieyes, a daisy chain and 2 big rapalas. At trolled in a big circle and after about 5 minutes, we went on with 3 rods. Suddenly the game plan was to catch bonnies for bait to take back to Richards Bay! This went on for a while then the bonnies went off the bite. Slowly we trolled towards Oscar pinnacle. We found a few more bonnies and 3 yellowfins. These kept little Konstant busy on the coffee grinder and 16lbs braid! The next pass saw 2 rods on with yellowfins. As the fish got to the boat, there was a big splash in front of the boat... it was a big dolphin... It came flying in and snatched the yellowfin. Konstant senior took over the rod and tried to get the yellowfin out the dolphins  mouth. After about 10 minutes of tug o war, we got just the head back. The lines went out again but the dolphin followed in the distance. As luck would have it, another yellowfin grabbed the japan lure and ran off. The dolphin accelerated towards the tuna and the tug o war started again. This time, we were not keen to sit tied to a mammal for a long time, so we parted the line off.

We decided that the point was the better bet and ran back to where we had started the morning. There were no cuda traces so while I made up a few, we trolled the feathers around and yip, you guessed it ... more bonnies. By not I had the traces made and put out 2 live maasbankers and 2 live bonnies. At trolled south towards the lighthouse but things were quiet. After about an hour, the deep bonnie died so I rigged it as a dead bait and put it down. At about 11:30, At said we should pull up lines as we did not want to be late for the wedding. I was busy retrieving the surface livie when I noticed the tip of the rod with the dead bonnie bump a few times. I gave two turns on the reel and the rod keeled over and the reel took off! Konstant took the rod while we cleared the other lines. The fish came in quickly and showed itself to be a shoal cuda of about 6 or 7kg. After I gaffed the fish, we headed back to the beach. All in all, it was a great relaxed morning.

Petingo Cuda

At 6am on Sunday 6^th May, my Dad, Divan, David and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. After a quick stop at the pipe, we had a few livies and headed out to the ships. On arrival, we found large showings of bait and were rewarded with several strings of nice mackerel and redeyes. After filling the bait well, it was off to small highpoint. The SE wind made the trip a bit uncomfortable as our heading was straight into the teeth but eventually we arrived. There were no other boats so I slowly idled onto the pinnacle and found a big showing. At the same time, small yellowfins and big kawa-kawa started jumping around the boat. Divan freelined a livebait while my Dad threw a spoon into the shoal. Both were rewarded with fish on in short succession. Unfortunately both fish parted ways with us. While this was going on, David rigged up his fly rod and made a few casts. I wanted to have some fun and tied on a small spoon and removed the hook. On the first throw, I had several small tuna clearing the water behind the lure trying to grab it. This went on for a while with a few fish holding so tight that they started taking line ... what a sight! The boat had drifted off the pinnacle, so I slowly headed back. As we stopped on top of the pinnacle, David managed to get a frigate tuna which went into the bait box.

 This was followed by a kawa-kawa of about 3kg which gave him a bit of a workout. After about half an hour, the surface action slowed so we put on a few rapalas and pulled through the showing above pinnacle. As we passed through the showing, all the reels took off. This time they were yellowfins and 2 were bled and put on ice while the others were released. We could have caught tuna all morning, but dragged ourselves away to target a big cuda, so off to Petingo wreck we went.

The conditions were perfect again. Beautiful water, good temperature and little traffic, but with all this, we battled to get a strike. Finally after about 3 hours, there was a big splash behind the boat and the surface rod smoked off. Divan took the rod as the rest of us cleared the deck. I followed the fish off the wreck to what we hoped was shark free zone. After a few anxious minutes, Divs presented the fish and my Dad gaffed a 20kg cuda... Great stuff! The lines went out again but other than a half hearted strike on a livebait, the day ended without another fish.

They always take the big ones...

On Saturday 5^th May, David, Divan and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. We were looking for cuda which were making the odd appearance. Our first stop was at the pipeline where we caught several maasbankers. Next we headed to a reef between the ships and caught a bunch of redeye sardines. With the bait stocks replenished, it was off to the 50m ledge to have some fun with the bonnies and small yellowfin. On the first pass, 4 rods went away with kawa-kawas. Unfortunately the hooks pulled on 2 and we released the other 2. On the next pass, all 5 rods went on with small yellowfin. We kept 2 for sushi and released the rest. After a few more turns, and releasing several yellowfin and kawas, we headed for Petingo.

The water was perfect. A clean green, 23.5 degrees, slight current and a slight chop. The baits went out and I trolled around the wreck. T just after 11, the big bonnie on the surface was eaten by a fish which took very slowly. We assumed it was a shark, but it turned out to be a 12kg cuda that had been foul hooked. Oh well, you sometimes you get lucky...

Trolling resumed and about 20mins later the deeper bonnie was eaten, this time by a smaller cuda of about 8kg. Divan rerigged and I made another turn over the wreck. As we came over the northern tip, Divs and I saw the surface livebait rev followed by a bending rod and screaming reel. Dave made short work of a 7kg shoaly. Things went a bit quiet and apart from one missed strike on a livebait, nothing much was happening. At about 1pm, I trolled over a really thick showing of bait and just as I was about to say we should get a strike here, the wala on the surface was eater and the reel smoked off ... a real screamer. I immediately turned towards the fish so Dave could gain line and Divs cleared the other rods. I got right on top of the fish and next thing there was very little resistance and then the head section of the cuda popped up. It had been taxed within about 2 minutes of hooking it! Not great. The fish would easily have gone 18kg but we will never know for sure.

We fished for another 2 hours without a pull then upped lines and returned to port.

Gone with the wind

At 6am on Tuesday 1 May, Carl and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. There was a 20 knot SW wind predicted to come through at 11am so we wanted to get a shot in before the wind came up. The first stop was on the pipeline where we made 2 drops and had 2 full strings of maasbankers. Livebait was sorted in 5 mins! Next stop small highpoint...

We arrived on the pinnacle and set a spread of small bait lures. The first pass over the pinnacle almost always indicates if there is anything in the area and when we had nothing on the first turn, we knew we were going to battle. After half an hour, I found a showing near the surface and 2 rods went on. Carl released a big kawa-kawa and I caught a small frigate tuna. A while later we had a triple on frigates but only got 2 of the 3. I made 1 last turn and was rewarded with a small yellowfin which was bled and put on ice for later. We upped lines and ran to Petingo to fish for cuda before the wind came up.

On arrival, the conditions were perfect. North to south current, clean green water and no other boats in sight! What more could you ask for?! BUT, what was in sight was strange mist on the southern horizon. It looked ominous... the SW was obviously early and we were running out of time. I quickly rigged the baits and set the spread. The last line was being set and Carl was busy turning back to the wreck when the surface live bait was eaten. Due to the turn, there was a lot of slack in the line and not enough tension to set the hooks. The reel ran for a second when the hooks pulled... damn! I replaced the bait and commenced the trolling pattern. The sea was like glass but in the distance, the cigar shaped cloud was fast approaching and a fine ripple was heading our way. As the “nervous” water reached us, the SW started to blow ... within minutes, the sky went from sunny to overcast and misty. The wind strength intensified and was soon blowing 18-20 knots. We made a few more turns but when the spray from the white horses looked like spindrift, we packed up and headed home. I am positive that if the wind had come through a bit later, as predicted, there would have been a few fish. Oh well, that’s fishing for you... at least we had some sushi J

2012 Umlalazi Couta Classic

On Saturday 28^th April, Pierre Smit, Carl Oellermann and I launched “AVANTI” out of Richards Bay. We were competing in the Umlalazi Couta Classic hosted by Umlalazi Ski Boat Club in Mtunzini. At first light, we headed out to the pipeline to look for live bait. We struggled a bit, but finally found a good shoal of maasbankers and before long, we had a hatch full of bait.

Our next stop was at Petingo wreck. The conditions looked average, but there were almost 20 boats there! I was not keen to compete with so many boats for 1 fish, so we headed deeper to the 32m mark where the water was better and there were fewer boats. I rigged a few baits including wala-wala, bonnies, live bait and a redeye and set the spread while Pierre slow trolled over the scattered reef looking for signs of life. At about 9am, the deep wala-wala was eaten and the reel took off. Carl took the strike while I cleared the deck. The cuda gave a good fight and finally came within range for me to gaff it. We were happy that we had a fish in the boat and the pressure was off. Again, the lines went out and trolling resumed. The rest of the day went by without a touch and at 14:30 we upped lines and went to weight the fish which was 16,2kg.

The next morning, we stopped at the pipeline and immediately caught several shad and maasbankers. Then it was off to Petingo where we spent a few hours trolling without any joy. At 10am we left for the 32m mark and worked the area with the same result. At noon, we had had enough of the silence so we changed tactics to pull lures on the 50m ledge. The first pass over small highpoint resulted in a big kawa-kawa which was released. The next pass gave us 3 small jube jubes which went into the bait box, followed by a yellowfin. There was a showing at 20m so we put the downrigger out with a big halco. Almost immediately the reel took off with a big kawa-kawa. This carried on for several passes until the showing disappeared. We upped lines and headed back at 13:30 feeling better about ourselves after hearing a few reels. Our cuda earned us 15^th position and a few really nice prizes. The Umlalazi Couta Classic is definitely a good comp to be part of next year.

2012 Richards Bay Bonanza

On Friday 6^th April 2012, Michael Duvenage, Wessel and Marinda Visagie and I launched the boat “LIHANN” out of Richards Bay. We had entered into the Richards Bay Bonanza held over the Easter weekend.

Our first stop was at the pipeline to look for live bait. Unfortunately there were none to be found so we headed further north and deeper. We came upon a large shoal of maasbanker and redeyes which went into the live well before we headed south to highpoint. Enroot we passed small highpoint and I suggested we quickly make a turn over the pinnacle, just to see what was happening. Michael altered course while I set 5 bait lures. As we crossed the pinnacle, 4 rods went away! Amidst the chaos, one fish burnt off but we managed to get a yellowfin and 2 big kawakawa. The lines went out again and before we could cross the reef, 2 rods went off. This time with 2 small jube jubes. Again lines went in and as we passed over the pinnacle, 4 rods went away with yellowfins. This time the fish on the rod we left in the holder pulled hook, but the rest we landed and released. We had to drag ourselves away from the tuna and continued to highpoint.

As we arrived, I put out 5 baits, including the jube jubes we caught. On the first turn, the one was eaten and the reel smoked off. Wessel tussled a 16kg cuda to the boat where I gaffed it. What a way to start the day. I reset the lines and the livebait on surface went away. This time it was a big kawakawa which was foul hooked. As Wessel brought it to the surface, a blackfin shark followed it to the surface. Luckily we were fast enough to pull it away before it was taxed. A short while later, the wala wala on the surface was taken and Michael brought in a smallish cuda. Things went quiet so we moved a bit south. After about an hour, the rod with the live bait on the surface slowly bent.I picked it up and tightened up. The reel absolutely smoked off. As the other lines were cleared, the fish bit through the #7 wire! Unlucky...

The wind had picked up and most of the boats left. I returned to the main pinnacle and was rewarded with a smoking reel on the downrigged livie. While Wessel was fighting another nice cuda, Michael went on with another kawakawa. Just after I gaffed the 15kg cuda, Michael’s fish was eaten by the sharks. We were running out of time and made 1 last turn with only 1 rod. Again, the reel screamed off and Wessel caught another cuda around 10kg.

We packed up and made the 40km run against a 20knot NE. Needless to say we were a few inches shorter when we arrived in the harbour.

The next day was a blowout but day 3 was fishable. We were allowed to launch after 8am when the weather settled. Again we stopped on the pipe and managed to fill the livewell in a short period. We headed for small highpoint and put out 5 bait rods. Our first pass resulted in a full house strike of 4kg yellowfins. We kept 2 and released the rest. The next turn again resulted in a full house strike resulting in 3 skipjack and 2 yellowfins. We kept the 2 small skippies for bait and released the rest. We knew that if we stayed there, we would catch tuna all day so we headed to petingo to fish for cuda. We had beautiful baits swimming the whole day, but the 19 degree water and reverse current switched the fish off and not one fish came out for the day.

All in all, it was a great comp with great friends.

2012 Marlin Interprovincial, Richards Bay

On Saturday 18^th February, the Zululand Red Team consisting of Daniel Fourie, Dale Leenstra and Myself put to sea aboard “Beluga”, skippered by Mike Leenstra. We were competing in the Richards Bay Marlin Interprovincial. There was a moderate SW wind blowing but the sea was relatively calm.

We headed up north for about 20km and at the 100m mark, we set out the spread of lures. Mike trolled deeper while the lures were fine tuned. Once everything was running well, we settled down to wait. The horizon was dotted with heavy rain showers and we knew we were in for a wet day.

As Mike trolled onto the 500m contour, the heavens opened. The visibility deteriorated to about 50m and the entire deck was under water. At one stage the rain was horizontal forcing Mike to tack into the wind/rain to keep us relatively dry. A few minutes later the downpour subsided enough for us to continue on our course. As the lures straightened out, I saw a marlin appear behind the right long lure. As I shouted, the rigger popped and the reel took off. All four of us raced out from under the safety of the canopy and retrieved the other lures. At this stage, the marlin was jumping all over the place. It was a blue of around 100kg... perfect for the first fish of the comp... Alas, as we cleared the last line, the fish threw the hooks and we were left standing on the deck looking similar to drowned rats... oh well, back to the drawing board...

The lures went back out and trolling continued. At 9am, we saw a very small billfish come up on the right long but after 4 or 5 attempts at the lure, it faded off. At least we knew there were a few fish in

the area. At 10am, another marlin came up on the right long. It chased the lure several times but missed. I increased the speed on one motor and the marlin came flying in and smashed the lure. The rigger popped and the reel ran for about 20m before the hooks came out... not what we needed. About 20 minutes later we had another fish come up and chase the lure without connecting. Surely we had to be close to getting a fish! Finally, at 1pm the centre rigger popped. We all looked back but nothing happened. I slowly brought the lure closer to see if the fish would come back and sure enough, a big bill came out from behind the lure and crashed it. I free spooled for a few seconds then locked up ... VAS! The reel took off and we cleared the other lines. I took the strike and was treated to a spectacular aerial display from a good sized blue marlin. The fish settles and I managed to regain most of the line with Mike backing up on the fish. It went down for about 15 minutes then back to the surface where Daniel took the leader. When it was in range, Dale tagged the fish and Mike took the required photos. We estimated the fish at around 400Lbs... my personal best. After reviving the fish for a few minutes, we set it free.

There was just enough time to return to port and make the close of weighin. At the end of the first day we were in 2^nd position on time. With 2 days left, the comp was still wide open.

On the second day, fishing was called off due to bad weather. In the few hours we lost a small marlin after a brief run. Day three was called off at 8:30 due to bad weather. We managed to maintain our second position and took home the silver medals.

Thanks to my team and Mike for making this competition so much fun.



Champion Swimmer

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

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.