On Saturday 3rd
August, Pierre Smit, My Dad and I launched “AVANTI” off Richards Bay. The
weather forecast looked good and we were hoping to get a few snoek. We left the
harbour in the dark and ran up north to 5 mile light house. It was just getting
light when I set the rods. I put out 2 fillets, 2 redeyes and a whole sardine.
I had just cleared the deck when
I heard a reel go. It was the whole sardine had been eaten. The reel gave two
or three short bursts as the fish shook its head and then it absolutely smoked
off! It was definitely a nice cuda that had just figured out that it was
hooked. I took the rod out the holder and eased off on the drag. I was about to
pass the rod to Pierre when the reel went silent and the rod flicked back. I
retrieved the line to see that the light #3 lead wire had broken... which was
expected. We were not targeting cuda and it is very seldom that you get them
out on the scaled down traces.
I was busy rerigging the trace
when another reel went away. This time it was on a redeye. I passed the rod to
my Dad who brought in a nice snoek. Great start. I rerigged the baits and
replaced the whole sardine with a small razorbelly. Pierre trolled shallower as
the sun was just clearing the horizon. In 12m of water, 2 reels went off. One
on a redeye and the other on the razorbelly. Pierre and I took the rods. The
fish swam everywhere and picked up a few lines in the process. After a bit of
bobbing and weaving, we managed to load 2 nice snoek. Again I rigged the baits
and Pierre tacked deeper. We were in 16m when a redeye went away. My Dad took
the rod and after a good fight, loaded another snoek. We had found the line
that the fish were on so we worked it for a while. I was throwing a spoon as we
trolled and I noticed a big swirl behind the lure. I increased the retrieve speed
and a snoek came flying up behind it. It bumped the lure then turned off. I
made a few more casts and had fish follow every time. I was expecting a reel to
go away, but nothing. We worked the area a bit more and I was busy retrieving
the sardine to check it when I saw a dark shape behind it. I wound faster and a
snoek raced in and gripped the bait. It took a few meters of line then pulled
the hook. It definitely seemed as if the fish wanted a bit more speed as every
time I increased the retrieve speed, it would induce a strike. Pierre increased
the speed of the boat and pulled through the area. The rod with a redeye bent
as we went on to something small. Pierre pulled in a nice big garfish that
managed to get snagged, and released it.
We rigged up 3 fillets and put
them out. I also put out 2 small rapalas. It did not take long for a strike.
This time it was on a fillet. Pierre took the strike and brought in a small
snoek. On the next turn, the same rod went away and the result was another
small snoek. After that, the fish switched off and no one had any more action.
We upped lines and went to the pipeline to look for Garrick bait. A few pinkies
and maasbanker later and we were off to the backline south of the harbour. We
trolled in 2.5m to 3m of water going south. I flicked the spoon as we trolled and
on the third cast, I had a bump. I continued the retrieve and saw a snoek of
around 4kg follow it. Unfortunately it faded off and never came back. After
trolling for about an hour without a pull, we upped lines and returned home. We
weighed the 2 biggest snoek and they came in at 7kg and 7,2kg.
