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.

Cape Vidal Jnr Comp

On the weekend of 25^th and 26^th May, Cape Vidal Ski-Boat club hosted their annual Cape Vidal Junior competition. The rules were simple… one fish per angler per day, biggest gamefish wins. Knowing there were some excellent skippers and anglers in the fleet, and it was their home water, we had to think outside the box if we wanted any chance at taking a prize. Because some of the juniors were still small, it was stated at the briefing that adults were allowed to assist them, especially when it came to their safety.

On Saturday 25^th May, Wayne, Lorenzo, Julio and I launched “Galavant”. The conditions were perfect… no swell, no wind, lots of bait. On the backline we caught a few livies. They were on the small side but would have to do. While we were drifting, I managed to catch 2 small bonnies which I kept alive for later use. Reports from the week before were that the fish were on the ledge but the current was flying at 4knots. This was going to be a problem similar to what I experienced the previous weekend.

18.6kg Amber

I suggested that we try to get a live bait down to the bottom as friends had been getting all their fish deep. With a big weight on the line, I let a bait down close to the bottom and quickly felt a strange bite. I waited for the rod to bend, but nothing. On closer inspection of the now dead bait, I saw that the bait had some rough sandpaper like marks on it… The next bait that went down had the exact same thing happen to it. This had to stop so I opted for one of the small live baits that we had, hoping that the fish would be able to get it into its mouth a bit easier. This worked like a treat and very quickly, we were hooked up to fish. It tussled a bit then started coming up easily we were pretty sure it was a bottomfish so we gave it to Lorenzo to bring in. With Wayne’s help, he brought the fish up and near the top, the line angled to the surface, just like a bottomfish. When it popped, something looked very strange… It was too long to be a bottomfish. When the leader was on the rod, we saw that it was a good size amberjack! We all scrambled for a gaff and managed to lift an 18kg fish into the boat!

36.7kg Amber

Our bait stocks were a bit low and the wind was picking up so we put on a few trolling lures and headed along the ledge and then shallower. It was very quiet but finally managed to get a strike that turned out to be a yellowfin of about 4kg. At 1pm it was lines up so we headed back to the beach for weigh-in. Out amber was the biggest fish for the day followed by two wahoo (12kg and 14kg).

Our plan seemed to have worked, so with the conditions for day 2 predicted to be a carbon copy of day 1, the game plan would stay unchanged… If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

On day 2 we were on the water bright and early, but the bait just refused to work with us. In an hour we only managed a handful of bait, but the fishing time was only until noon so that would have to do. Just to break the ice and get on the board, we trolled lures along the ledge until we found a bit of a showing that looked like gamefish. I changed up the spread and put out 2 lines.

Kaakap released

One on surface for a dorado and one down deep for hopefully another amberjack. The boat trolled slowly into the current but we were being swept backwards at 6km per hour! As soon as the showing started, the deep bait went away at an alarming speed. I had an idea that it was another AJ so I put the breaks on it in a big way. I was almost pulled overboard while Wayne sped forward to keep pace with it. Finally, it slowed down and started coming up. There were no more big runs, only a few head nods so Julio had a turn on the rod with Wayne’s assistance. In the next 20 minutes, Julio felt the burn and almost gave up, but stuck with it. When the leader came up, we were all dumbstruck at the size of the fish. I had never seen an amberjack that big before. Wayne gaffed it and needed some help lifting it overboard. It was a fish of a lifetime.

There was not much time to waste, so Wayne took us back to the top of the drift (which was a long was away) and I set up the baits again. This time we had a kaakap take the bait and after a quick fight Lorenze released his first kaakap. Wayne’s sister was on the boat for the day to take some pics and when we hooked another fish, we gave her the rod. About half way up, it was taxed by a shark and she brought the head of a potato bass to the boat. We could clearly see the zambie circling below waiting for the head.

30.3kg Amberjack

After that we managed a few bonito on the surface line before the deep line went away again. It was a similar fight to the first amberjack and when the fish settled, Lorenzo and Wayne managed to lift the fish to the surface. It was another huge amberjack, just a bit smaller than the first on. The fish was boated just in time for lines up so we could get to the beach just in time for weigh-in. The fish were a jaw dropping 36,7kg and 30,3kg respectively. Absolutely phenomenal fish.

Well done to Wayne and his boys on some amazing fish.

Kingfish and Potatoes

On Saturday 18^th May 2019 at 6am, Jurgen and I launched “ABF” out of Richards Bay. I had commitments for the afternoon so we could only fish for a few hours, but when the weather is good, you need to get on the water.

Jurgen with a 20kg Potatobass

We stopped at the wave rider buoy and quickly filled the livewell with maasbanker before heading out to the ledge. The current was flying at over 4 knots and the upwelling that it caused made it very uncomfortable. I put out a few lures and quickly caught a few bonnies for cuda bait. While trolling, I looked for a decent showing, but there was nothing to write home about so we decided to put some baits out regardless. The current was challenging to say the least and we ended up killing most of the baits due to the speed at which we pulled them. To overcome this, we rigged dead baits and tried to maintain position. Just as the baits were swept past the marks, one was eaten and Jurgen had a hard fight from what turned out to be a potato bass which was tagged and released. On the next drift, we hooked a shark that chafed us off. 

We decided to make one last drift and try a live bait. I stopped the boat a long way up current and Jurgen managed to get the bait in the right spot. He got a solid bite and hooked a fish that gave big head nods. We thought it was another potato bass but when it finally showed itself, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a nice GT of 103cm which we tagged and released.

After catching a great fish in the short morning session, we decided to head back to port.

Solo GT

On Sunday 5^th May, I launched ABF off Richards Bay. It was a solo mission as my normal fishing partners were either in the dogbox or away for the weekend, but the weather window was too good to pass up. There had been a cold front that passed through the previous night and the sea was unsettled and dirty but the forecast showed a lull at midday. I scrounged around on the pipeline and only caught 3 yellowtail scads. Speaking to the other boats, the water was dirty in the shallows so I decided to head out to the ledge.

On arrival, the water was 24 degrees and a clean green colour. There was a strong reverse current, but the sea was a lot more settled than closer in. I put out a daisy chain and a feather and trolled over the pinnacle. There were a few bonnies splashing on the surface and it was no surprise when I went on with a jube-jube which went into the tubes. On the second pass, I caught a second one and was ready to rig up. There was very little showing on the reef and the other boats there had only caught big bonnies. I stopped above the pinnacle and sent down a live bait. Just as I was coming off the pinnacle, I had a bite, but missed it. The bait came back with teeth scratch marks of what I assume was a kingfish. I ran back up to the start of the drift and sent another bait down without any action. On the next drift I also came up blank and the bait had expired. I pinned one of the scads and sent that down. It was on the ground for a short while when I had a bite. The circle hook found its mark and I was tight with a really strong fish that was determined to get back down to the rocks. After a short dogged fight, I had the fish on the leader. It was a healthy GT of over 20kg. I lifted it into the boat and readied my tag kit. Just when I was about to insert a tag, I noticed that there was already a tag in the fish. It was covered with growth so I cleaned it, took the number down, measured and released it. It was great to see it swim away strongly, hopefully for another person to enjoy the fight someday. Unfortunately there was nobody to take a photo.

The next few drops produced no action so I caught a few bonnies on the light flick stick. The wind had settled completely and before the NE wind picked up, I made the long run home.

The tag data indicated that a friend of mine had tagged the fish last year in April at the same spot that I had caught it. Its growth was negligible.

Rainbow without rain

On Saturday 20^th April 2019, the bonanza had been called off due to strong NE winds in the morning but there was a SW predicted for later in the day. We decided to take the opportunity and fish socially during the lull.

At 11am Hansie, Ruben, Terry and I launched headed to the pipeline and managed to get some nice livies. We then headed to the ledge to look for bonnies. The sea was surprisingly flat and we were a bit disappointed that we had not launched earlier. Be that as it may, we set about looking for bait and within a short time, we had some bonnies in the tubes and some spare in the bait box. The SW was already on the horizon so we didn’t have too much time and high-tailed it to Petingo.

On arrival the water looked great, there were no boats and the garfish were everywhere on the surface… things had to happen. I quickly rigged up 2 bonnies, a wala and a live maasbanker while Hansie trolled over the wreck. We were expecting a pull at any moment… but nothing. After several passes over the wreck the SW wind came through. It was about 15 knots so we continued fishing.

We had just gone over a good showing when the deep live bait went away. Ruben fought a small blacktip kingfish to the boat where it was released. The bait was quickly reset and on the next turn, it went away again. The fish gave Ruben a better pull and soon he had his first rainbow runner on the boat.

The bonnies were very quiet and just as we were ready to pack up, one was eaten by a hammerhead shark. At 4pm we upped lines and headed home.

Bonanza

On Good Friday 19^th, over the Easter weekend, Hansie, Ruben, Terry and I launched Mitsu-Fishi off Richards Bay. We were competing in the Richards Bay Ski-Boat Club Bonanza. The weather looked good for only one of the days so we needed to have a game plan. We opted to head north to look for some snoek as there had been a few nice ones the previous week.

On the bait marks, we managed to get about 10 redeyes and a bunch of maasbanker. With bait in the well, we headed north and put out a spread of snoek lures. Hansie trolled over all our favourite numbers without even a hint of a fish. By 9am, we made the call to switch over to bait so I put out fillets, redeyes and two cuda baits, just in case. While working the area, there were a few birds fluttering about. We slowly followed them around hoping they would lead us to some fish. Eventually one of the birds started working and as we came within range, Terry and Ruben fired out 2 spoons. Both were chased by snoek, but none hooked up. Shortly after, the surface redeye went away. Ruben fought the fish to the boat where we saw it to be a small cuda. Just as we were about to gaff it, the hooks pulled. No worries, we had snoek to chase.

We upped lines and closed the gap between us and the birds which were now all diving. There were fish on the surface and were feeding on small sprats. Both Terry and I cast into the shoal and both hooked up. Almost immediately, two big sharks chased after my fish and managed to eat it despite freespooling for a while. Terry managed his fish. The chase continued and luckily we were by ourselves so we could get a few fish before the rush. Eventually, we were spotted and about 10 boats surrounded us. The fish became very skittish and eventually sounded.

We headed home with 8 snoek and 2 kingfish for the scales. The rest of the comp was blown out and Ruben managed to end up with the 3^rd biggest snoek prize.

Practice makes perfect

Bait showings

On Saturday 30 March, Oom George, Hannah, Rorke, Jan and I launched “Cyclone” off St Lucia. The youngsters had come to St Lucia to pick up a few tips for the upcoming Gamefish Nationals. Our first stop was on the bait shoals just past the backline. There were huge bait shoals everywhere and it didn’t take long to fill the live well.

We headed out to the northern ledges, but the water conditions were terrible… off green, reverse current, cold and full of slime. Things did not look good. We trolled lures around for quite some time and eventually found a current line where the warm water came in. I was over pulling lures around so suggested we rig up a few livies and see if we could tempt a fish. The current line was beautiful… tons of bait, foam, upwells, you name it. The baits had been in the water a short while when the close surface one went away. Hanna was on the rod and soon had a really nice dorado in the boat. 

Not a bad start. I continued working the line while George assisted on the deck. After about an hour, the close livie went away, followed in short succession by the next surface bait and the medium line. With 3 dorado in the air, it was fun and games and unfortunately two of the lines burnt off and the last one pulled hooks! We thought it was all over when the rod in the T-top went away with a 4

I made a few turns in the area but didn’t get another pull so I moved on along the line. George took over skipper duty while I helped check the baits and reset the lines. We had just settled when I saw a splash out the back. There had to be a fish there but nothing… moments later, the rod in the T-top went away again and Jan managed his second fish for the day.

Unfortunately, despite trying a few more things, we didn’t get another pull and at about 2pm we headed home.

Be Prepared

While visiting my folks over the past long weekend, we spent some time at the mouth of the Goukamma river. I had great grunter fishing there on previous occasions. While on a bit of a recce on Friday afternoon, we saw tailing fish everywhere. We decided to give it a go the next day and hopefully catch one or two. On Saturday 23^rd March, my Dad and I headed to the Knysna lagoon where we pumped a few cracker prawns. From previous experiences, the fish in the river pulled their noses up to any other bait, so it was definitely worth the effort.

It was a spring low tide, so while I had some time to kill, I went for a quick but successful sinker dive. The river mouth was very close to where I had been diving so my Dad and I quickly stopped there to see what we were dealing with. On arrival, we saw a few fish tailing in the channel and when we got closer, we were shocked to see how many fish were in the water. Our original plan was to only fish from 4pm, but here the fish were… at midday! This opportunity was just too good to pass up so we hightailed it to the house and collected the gear. I had rigged up two light spinning rods the night before, so we were ready in a flash.

Armed with a few live prawns, we waded into the channel and flicked them out. On my first cast, I went on with a lovely grunter that gave a great fight on the light tackle. I had just landed the fish when my Dad went on with a really good fish that gave him a run around before getting it to the bank. With two fish for the pot, we decided to release any other that we caught. The fish were still feeding well, despite the disturbance we had caused, so we waded out to the same spot and like dejavu, we both hooked up. The tussle that these fish give is really great, especially on light gear. With 2 released fish, we were pretty happy with the results. It did seem that after the fish were released, the others in the area became a bit more skittish. They were swimming all around us, but spooked quickly. About every 4^th or 5^th cast would result in a bite instead of shot for shot. We were not to perturbed by this as any more fish was a bonus.

At about 4pm, we decided to call it an afternoon and head home for a well-deserved whiskey. We had managed to catch 9 grunter (average 2-3kg) between us, missing 2 more right at the bank. What this day taught me was to always be prepared as you never know when an opportunity might present itself.

Making something out of nothing

On Saturday 9^th March, At and I launched “Avanti” off Richards Bay. The reports we had heard painted a grim picture of the conditions. Strong, cold reverse currents in shallow and unfishable N-S current on the ledge. I packed the cuda tackle and a few baits, but didn’t really have a game plan.

We decided to stick to our morning ritual of catching live bait and make a call from there. There was a raging reverse current and we battled to maintain position. We battled to find decent bait and moved to a few different spots. I suggested we try one of the spots that I had not fished at in ages. As we stopped there, there was a big showing. We both went down with jigs and got full strings of nice maasbanker. On my second drop, something grabbed a livie and broke off the jig. With the structure on the bottom, I assumed it was a rockcod. At had brought a bottom rod with, so I pinned a live bait and sent it down. It was not on the bottom for very long when it was eaten. I hooked a nice fish that gave me a bit of a pull before getting it to the surface. To my surprise, it was a salmon of about 3kg… great eating size. At put the boat back on the reef and I sent another bait down. Again, I caught a similar size salmon. My next drop I rigged 2 livies and went down. As soon as the sinker hit the bottom I when on. This time I had a bit of a run for my money and boated a salmon and a big orange spotted rockcod at the same time.

By now, all thoughts of cuda had gone out the window. We took a few minutes down time while At rigged up a second rod. I moved the boat into position and both of us sent baits down. At hooked a fish followed shortly by myself. We each boated a nice rockcod. I will be the first person to say that bottom fishing is not my favourite facet of fishing, but I was having a ball! We caught a lot of rockies, but many were just undersize so we released them. The bait showing had moved a bit so At sounded around a bit to relocate them. When we finally did, I quickly sent a bait down. Moments later I hooked a better fish that had me backwinding a few times. I took my time with it and was rewarded with a really good rockcod. By now I had 5 fish in the hatch which was more than enough for me so I took over a designated skipper. I held the boat over the showing and structure while At caught another 3 fish.

It was now only 10am so we decided to quit while we were ahead. We headed back to the club and had brunch then filleted the catch. I weighed the biggest fish that we caught and it was 5,7kg. It was a really great day all things considered.