Barracuda in the mist

On Sunday 13^th June, Willem van den Berg, Theuns Potgieter and I launched Willem’s boat “2 Ling” off Richards Bay for day of snoek fishing. There were quite a few around the day before and we were looking forward to a good day.

When we launched, the mist was lying over the bay and continued out to sea. There was not a breath of wind. We headed north to 5 mile and joined about 15 other boats who were waiting for the fish to come up. There had been no sign of the fish so far so we decided to pull some lures around to locate the shoal. I put out four cd7 rapalas and a small green mean machine and started zig sagging between 12 and 20m. The other boats headed north while we stayed in the area where the boats had found them the day before. The sun had just started to break the horizon when the surface lure was eaten and the reel absolutely smoked off! I turned around and picked up the rod and quickly slacked the drag a bit. Willem and Theuns cleared the other four rods as I lost line at a frightening speed. By the time the last line was in, I had already turned the boat toward the fish and increased the speed just to keep from being spooled! Finally I could leave the controls and get to the task at hand. Slowly but surely I regained line and things calmed down. The fish stayed on the surface and Willem maneuvered the boat next to it. The water was very clean and we saw the number plate clearly when the fish turned. It was a nice size cuda. I managed to lift the fish’s head and Willem put the gaff into it then hauled it over the gunwale. It looked over 20kg! Not bad for #3 wire and a 3/0 hook.

The lines went back in and the trolling resumed. The offshore breeze had pushed the mist over the sea and for almost an hour we could not see more than 100m in front of us. We all strained our eyes looking into the mist to avoid collision with other boats. At 9am, we had not had any more action so we decided to rig a few baits and slow troll the area. I rigged up 2 sardines, 2 redeyes and a fillet and worked the same area that we had been trolling. At just after 10am, the sardine on the surface was eaten. Theuns took the rod as the fish went on its first run. We cleared the lines and Theuns worked the fish closer. It was a nice snoek of 7,5kg and after a few short runs around the boat, Willem stuck it with the gaff and boated it.

The baits went back into the water and we continued working the area. About 15 minutes later, the deep bait was taken and Willem took the rod. After a relatively short fight, I gaffed the 6kg snoek and it was 3 for 3. It was apparent that the snoek were not going to come up as they did the day before so at 11:30 we upped lines and headed home. We weighted the cuda at the ski-boat club and it pulled the scale to 22kg. What a great day.

In broad daylight

For the last few years, a small group of anglers have made several attempts off Richards Bay to catch broadbill, but have not been able to land one, despite having several hook-ups. In March this year, we came very close to achieving our goal when we fought a fish for 45 minutes and had it within 20 meters of the boat when the 300Lbs trace parted. This just made us more determined than ever. Hours and hours were spent researching the different techniques of catching swordfish and after many discussions and debates, we decided to try and catch a broadbill in the day.

This was no easy task and required very specialised tackle and a lot of preparation before we could even put to sea to attempt this. First, we needed to obtain the correct line for the job which was 3200m of 80Lbs hi visibility braid. This bulk spool was divided into equally to fill 3 reels. The reels we used were 12/0 Everols with a 2 speed gearbox. Because the braid is so thin, the reels needed backing to allow for the greatest spool diameter to aid in retrieving line at a higher speed. The reel was fitted to an 80Lbs bent butt marlin rod.

With the rod, reel and line out of the way, we needed to look at the terminal tackle. Again, after much debate we settled on a short double line attached to a long 300Lbs wind-on leader. This was then attached to a 4m section of 400Lbs trace via a ball bearing swivel. Two 9/0 longliner hooks ended the trace. A 4 LED multicoloured deepdrop flashing light was attached near the splice and a lightstick was attached near the swivel as well as half way up the leader. A heavy weight was attached to the trace in such a way that it would break free on the strike.

The key with these sacrificial weights was keeping them cheap! We settled on pvc piping filled with cement and tipped with a welding rod for an eye to attach the sinker line. The average mass of these weights was 6kg (the stronger the current/wind, the larger the weight). These worked like a bomb!

Right, with all the ground work done, we needed the right weather to put everything into practice. In June, the winter morning dawned with not a breath of wind and the mist was lying across the bay at Sodwana. This promised to be an exceptional day for deep dropping.

With all the gear packed, my Dad, Denis, Hannes and Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee and I launched Hannes boat “Lihann” and headed north to “Big W”. This is an area well known for the billfish that congregate there. Big W is the area where the contours converge creating canyons which result in upwellings that hold bait and we decided that it was the best place to make a drop.

The water was warm and a deep blue colour. The current was not very strong and the swell was almost non-existent. I threaded a fresh squid on the trace and flipped it over the side and fed the rest of the trace out, checked the bait was not spinning and attached the lights and then the 6kg weight. I lowered the weight into the water until the rod took the load. With the rod in the fighting chair, I slowly let the rig down into the depths. It took about 15 minutes to get to the 600m marker. My dad pulled the motor into neutral and the angle of the line changed from a few meters out behind the boat to almost straight up and down providing a good bend in the rod. I dropped the rig a bit further and the sinker hit the ground. I took about 10 turns on the reel to lift the weight to avoid hooking the bottom.

From what we had read, we should expect the rod tip to jiggle a bit and then it would either pull down as the fish moved away or it would come up as the fish swam up to the surface. We drifted for probably 1km and as we neared the 580m depth on the sounder, the rod tip bumped slightly then bent a bit before returning to the original position. We all assumed it was just a swell and continued watching the tip for a bite. Every now and again, the tip would indicate that the weight had touched the bottom and I would take about ten turns on the reel to lift the sinker off the ground. After about 10 minutes of this, the 500m marker came out the water. The rod still indicted that the weight was bouncing on the bottom. We checked the sounder and it read 580m. There was obviously something not right. I told Michael to get into the chair and start winding the rig back to the surface to see what was wrong, but the rig felt strange. I thought it was just the resistance of the 500 meters of line in the water.

After half an hour of winding, with 80m of line left in the water, the line started to angle to the surface. I was expecting a bottomfish to pop up on the surface at any minute. A few seconds later the sinker broke free and there was still some pressure on the other end. The line kept coming up and just when we expected to see the belly of a popped bottom, a long slender bill, followed by the bronze body of a broadbill broke the surface and launched itself into the air! Broadbill! Broadbill! To say there was chaos on the boat was an extreme understatement! There were shouts of joy all round but we still had a long way to go before we could celebrate. There was a mad dash for gloves and gaffs as the fish jumped a few more times. It fought on the surface for a while until the gill hookup started taking its toll.

Michael slowly worked the fish to the surface and finally the start of the trace and deepdrop light broke the surface. I unclipped the light and Michael continued retrieving the leader. When the swivel reached the tip, I took the trace and very gently brought the fish closer. Divan and Hannes both stood poised with the gaffs ready for action. Slowly but surely the fish came closer and eventually it came circling out from under the boat. Hannes and Divan let fly with the two gaffs in the head and the shoulder. With one movement, the three of us pulled the fish into the boat. There was a moment of complete silence as we all stood there looking at the fish in disbelief. Then the silence as shattered by shouts of triumph. Could this really be happening? As we came to terms with reality, we realised we had done it! Our first broadbill ... and in broad daylight! What a feeling!

Words can’t describe how we felt at that moment. All the hours, days and weeks that we spent planning and preparing for this day had paid off. This was an important fish for South African anglers and it has opened the door to daytime deep dropping for broadbill swordfish. This is truly a fish that will never be forgotten.

What Lies Beneath

Daytime swordfishing is the latest craze in the States. More and more crews are taking up the challenge of deep dropping to catch the greatest Gamefish in the sea. I am sure South Africa will follow suite and already the signs of an emerging fishing technique are showing.

After reading up on this technique, I played around with some ideas and on Saturday the 22^nd May, we made the first attempt to deep drop. My Dad and I launched our boat “Selfish” and we headed north to the ledge. I put out some small lures and quickly caught 2 bonito and a small yellowfin tuna. These were to be used as bait. We then headed out to the 500m contour in an area that we thought looked like right for this type of fishing.

I rigged up the belly shine of the yellowfin with two 9/0 long liner hooks on 300Lbs trace. This was attached onto a windon leader. My Dad put the boat into gear and travelled into the current while I let the bait out. I attached 2 light sticks onto the leader and then the 7kg breakaway weight. I lowered the weight into the water and allowed the line to come tight. I then let the line out at a controlled speed until the weight hit the bottom, I then gave a few turns on the reel and the motor went into gear. This lifted the weight off the ground. We continued into the current every now and then letting line out to touch bottom.

After about a 4km drift, the rod bumped a few times and then the reel took off! A few seconds later the reel stopped and the line went slack. There was over 600m of line out which now needed to be brought in. What a job! Finally, the leader came out the water and we saw that the trace had been chafed and bitten off. Obviously a shark. The reel had begun to make some strange noises and I was not comfortable making another drop with it. We decided to troll for some cuda then head home and prepare for the next day.

After a late night servicing the reel, spooling another reel with 1000m of braid and making up some spare traces, we were ready for anything the deep would throw at us.

On Sunday morning, my Dad, Divan and I launched “Selfish” and headed straight for the same area as the day before. I rigged up a big squid and sent it down on a 7kg weight. The current was flying at about 4knots, but there was not a breath of wind which was in our favour. The bait went down without a problem and we drifted comfortably into the area where we had the strike the day before. The rod gave a big bump and the reel took off. I jumped into the chair and held on. The fish now had about 650m of line in the water which I had to retrieve. It took me over an hour to lift the fish. We were all hoping for it to be a sword, and when the leader came up and Divan said it looked like the right fish, we were all very excited. But, as the fish came closer, the shape started changing into something other than a broadbill. The fish came up inch by inch until we could see the fish properly ... it was a thresher shark that had been hooked in the tail. The long top lobe of the tail actually did look like a bill in the water. The fish was dead by then so we put it onboard. This was the first thresher I had caught, so I was happy with it. But time and tide wait for no man, so we went back up north and prepared another squid to drop again.

The line went out without a problem and we drifted on about the same line as the previous drift. We were about 100m away from the spot where we had the thresher when the rod bumped a few times and the reel ran. This time the fish only took about 50m then shook it head a few times and started coming up. I got into the chair and started pulling up the mystery fish. After about 45 mins, with the 100m marker on the reel, the line started angling toward the surface. We looked back and saw a large bottomfish pop onto the surface. The boat went into neutral and I pulled the fish to the boat. It was a wreckfish of about 20kg. Also my first.

The bait was still intact so we decided to use it again. All the strikes were in a small area so we only ran a short distance north and then dropped the bait. My Dad said that this would be our last drop because he didn’t want to be home too late. We were all happy with this and waited for the drift to end. At 11:55 we had 600m of line in the water when the rod bumped and the reel took off. I jumped into the chair and strapped into the harness. The fish took at a frightening pace and stripped 200m in a flash. Now there was about 800m of line out! Once the fish slowed down, I went to work pulling the fish to the surface, but the fish was not having it! It took me 30mins to get the 600m mark back onto the reel and then the fight started in earnest. The line was now straight up and down and I could feel some big head nods down there. The 2.5m swell was not helping me much either, pulling a few meters of line off the reel every time they came through. At one stage, I was sure the fish was dead as there was no movement from the fish for over an hour. All I could feel was a heavy weight moving through the water column. Finally the 100m mark came out the water. What a relief. I knew the end was near. As the double line came closer, I felt a few heavy head nods, but the fish kept coming up. After 2 hours, the windon leader splice cleared the surface and Divan unclipped the strobe light. We could not make out what the fish was and before we could get hold of the leader, there were a few big head nods and the fish started sounding. Line left the reel at an astounding speed and my heart sank as the 100m mark left the reel, followed shortly by the 200m, 300m, 400m and 500m mark! Impossible! I am sure the only reason why the fish stopped was that it hit the bottom. Everyone on the boat was speechless. Could a fish be so strong? I had no option but to start from the beginning and bully the fish up inch by inch ... again! I upped the drag to probably 12kg and used the swell to my advantage, holding the rod steady when the swell lifted the boat and gaining line when the boat went down the swell. I had been on the fish for 3hours before the 100m mark finally came back onto the reel. By now, we were convinced that this was a broadbill. No other fish could possibly fight like this... surely. Another 15 mins of torture and the double line cleared the surface. I retrieved the leader and the fish came to the surface, about 10m from the boat. Finally it showed itself... It was a thresher shark of probably 250 plus kg and almost 7m long! Divs pulled the fish closer before cutting the trace. What a relief I felt when the pressure came off me. I struggled to get out the chair and my legs were very unsteady. We had drifted almost 15km south and were now directly over the harbour. My Dad took us back and we entered the harbour at 16:00... so much for our early day.

We came away from this trip learning a lot.

Some points to consider:

- Take lights needed for night rating as a fight may extend into the dark.

- Mark your line at every 100m for at least the first 700m.

- Also mark the line every 50m for the first 200m. This marker is to keep the angler positive during a long fight as they can see line coming in and they are making progress.

- Have several baits pre-rigged. This will save you hours on the boat.

- Make sure the harness is set properly for the angler as this could tire the angler more than the fish does.

This is still a new technique in South Africa and I am sure it will take off as more and more anglers pluck up the courage to attach a huge weight to a line and send it into the depths with the intention of retrieving it again.

Junior training session

With the Junior Nationals being hosted at Shelly Beach this year, Michael Duvenage and I offered to take the Zululand U/16 team fishing to show them the style of fishing used on the Protea Banks. On the 16^th of May we launched Hannes Duvenage’s boat “Lihann”. Dale, Christo and Stephan were very keen to learn how to catch tuna “Shelly Beach Style”.

Michael first took us to the bait spot between the ships where we tried for some livies. The water was a dirty green and the bait was nowhere to be found. We did manage to get 4 tiny bonito on the jigs – perfect cuda bait! But we were focussing on tuna for the day so cuda were not on the menu for the day. After spending about half an hour looking for bait, we headed to small high point.

When we arrived, I suggested we pull some halcos and a surface lure just to find the shoal and then we would drift and chunk for them. We put out 4 halco’s and a small daisy chain and as Michael crossed over the pinnacle, all 5 rods went away - Chaos! One of the fish pulled hook and so Michael picked up the rod to retrieve the line. He gave a few turns on the reel when the rod was almost pulled out of his hands. A wahoo had taken the halco and smoked off with it. In the process, another line was burnt off and then the wahoo bit through the fluorocarbon that was tied directly to the lure. In the mean time, Christo and Stephan had their fish near the boat. Dale took the remaining rod which had the surface lure on it and pulled on that fish. We managed to boat two yellowfins of about 4kg. Dale’s fish then took off and continued running. We put the drag to strike but it made no difference – it had obviously been converted to a shark. About 10mins later, the nylon trace was bitten off. With 2 lures left intact, we pulled over the same spot again and went on with another yellowfin which pulled hook at the boat.

With the shoal located, we converted to bait. I cut up a few sardines and rigged the tail section on the 6/0 hook tied to 60Lbs fluorocarbon. I then mixed anchovy oil, glitter, sand and the remaining sardine pieces in a bucket and began to throw small amounts of the chum overboard. The hooked chunk then joined the free drifting pieces as line was fed out to let the hooked bait drift with the chum slick. Michael said that we were almost on the spot and a few seconds later, the line was ripped out of my hands as something took the chunk. I picked up the rod and counted to 5 then put the drag to strike. The rod buckled and the fish took off. I handed the rod to Christo how fought a 3kg bonito to the boat. Now that they knew what to do, We rode up for a second drift. The chum line was started and 3 chunks went overboard. Stephan was the next person to get a fish to eat the bait and after hooking up, he managed a 6kg bonito. On the next drift, I threaded a sosati stick into a whole sardine and pinned it with a single 8/0 hook between the head and dorsal. This was flicked out to drift on the surface while the chunk baits were fed down the chum line. As we drifted over the spot, the whole sardine was taken and the fish was promptly hooked. Christo also went tight on a chunk bait. The two fish had the guys dancing around the boat trying to keep the lines separated. Christo landed a 5kg bonito and unfortunately Dale dropped his fish next to the boat.

After 6 or 7 drifts, the team had caught about 14 bonito using chunks and whole sardines. We needed to have Stephan back early to catch a bus to Vryheid so we decided to up lines and pull lures over the pinnacle for 15 mins then head for home. On the second turn, 2 rods went off and two more bonito were boated after which we upped lines and headed for home.

From what I saw on the boat, the Zululand U/16 team will be able to hold their own in the competition and I’m sure they will manage to get a few good size fish. Let’s hope the sharks leave them alone!

My thanks go to Hannes and Michael Duvenage for offering their boat to take the juniors out. It is much appreciated.

Umhlanga Prestige Interclub

On Friday the 7th of May, Michael Duvenage, My Dad Denis and I arrived at the Umhlanga Ski Boat Club for the Prestige Interclub. We were representing the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. At registration, Rob King introduced us to Jurgen, our skipper for the weekend. He owned a 21ft Butt cat named “Mdagwane”. After the briefing, Jurgen took us to see the boat so that we knew what to expect in the morning. We then returned to the club for supper. The festivities continued into the early hours of the morning and when the alarm went off at 4am, we were not feeling too good!

We finally got our things together and headed for the club with the mother of all hangovers! We packed the boat and had breakfast before going down to the beach. At 5:30 the 15 boats were launched one by one through Granny’s Pool and we all assembled on the backline. Once the last boat was through the surf, it was a race to the barge to get livebait. After filling the livewells, the boats ran to their fishing destinations. Most of the boats headed far North to Zinkwazi, where some good fish had come out the day before. We opted to stay closer to the launch and headed for Pete’s Cottage. The water was a beautiful colour.

Michael and I rigged 5 rods with a variety of live baits which we staggered behind the boat in depth and distance. Jurgen slow trolled over a few marks that he had on his GPS. After about 30 minutes, the long surface bait was taken and Michael fought the fish. After a few good runs, the fish came to the boat where I gaffed a good sized cuda. The lines went back into the water and Jurgen continued the troll. About an hour later another surface bat was taken. Before anyone could get to the rod, the hooks came out. Not 5minutes later, one of the deeper lines took off. As I got to the rod, the hooks pulled. Could we be so unlucky?! But a few seconds later, the surface rod went away and the hooks found their mark. Michael fought the fish for a while before my Dad gaffed the smallish fish. It had foul hooked in the side of the body which made the fight harder that it would normally.

Jurgen made a few more turns in the area, but we had no further strikes. We upped lines and ran further north toward Umdloti. After trolling for 45mins or so, we had a strike on a surface bait. The fish took a few meters of line before the hooks pulled! By now, we were starting to get irritated, but carried on trying. The NE wind had picked up to about 18knots and we were running out of time. Jurgen suggested we go further north and drift back over the marks that we had worked during the day. After setting the lines, we settled down and waited for a rev. It took a whole 5 mins. The deep bait took off and I grabbed the rod. The fish took quite a bit of line. The lines were being cleared and Jurgen was turning to case the fish when the hooks pulled ... again. Epic FAIL! The lines went out again and we continued drifting. The wind was now blowing more than 20 knots and the sea was upside down. After about an hour, the surface bait was eaten but the end result was the same ... pulled hooks. That was the last rev we had for the day and we upped lines and headed for the beach.

At the weigh in, our 2 fish weighed 15,6kg and 5,3kg respectively. The water at Zinkwazi was dirty and only one small cuda was caught between all the boats that travelled to there. The other boat that weighed in fish did not have anything spectacular and we ended up leading on the first day.

We had a quick team talk and we all agreed to change the hooks we were using to try to increase the hookup ratio. After the tackle was changed, we had supper and then watched the Sharks vs WP game before going to sleep.

On Day 2, the wind had died down and a beautiful sea awaited us. We went through the same drill as the day before and once all the boats were behind backline, we headed for the barge to get livies. 20mins later, we headed for Pete’s cottage. The lines were in the water for half an hour when the surface rod went off. My Dad took the strike and boated an 8kg cuda. Not to be outdone, I boated an 8kg cuda 15mins later. Jurgen made a turn over the area and again the surface bait was taken. I took the rod as the fish smoked off. Jurgen chased the fish while the other lines were cleared. After a hard fight, I managed to gain most of the line. The fish felt very strange but had alot of weight to it. I said that I thought the fish had tail wrapped and after 10mins we got a look at the fish, which came up tail first. It was a good size yellowfin tuna. Things went a bit quiet and we moved a bit north. The baits went out and 15mins later Michael was into a fish. After some fancy footwork, I gaffed another cuda. The rest of the day produced only 3 hammerhead sharks. At the weighin, our cuda weighed 8.5kg, 8.7kg and 10.5kg. The tuna pulled the scale to 17.6kg. The other teams also weighed in some nice fish (22kg kingfish, 21kg cuda) and we all knew it was going to be a close call.

At the prize giving, we found out that the top two teams were separated by 13 points! We had done the calcs and had calculated that we were second. Our calculations were correct and so we managed to take 2^nd place by a narrow margin. On behalf of the team, I would like to thank everyone involved in the organising of the competition. It is without a doubt the best interclub that I have attended. Thanks to Jurgen for giving up his time to drive us around the sea watching us catch fish. Thanks also to my team. I really enjoyed sharing the battlefield with you. We will be back next year.

Umlalazi Cuda Classic

On Friday 30^th April, Marius de Wet and I packed At van Tilburg’s boat “AVANTI” for the weekend’s fishing. It was the Annual Umlalazi Cuda Classic hosted in Mtunzini. The rules allowed for boats to launch at Richards Bay, Zini, Amatikulu and Zinkwazi but the fish had to be weighed at the Umlalazi ski boat club. Only cuda would count and the each angler could only win one prize.

Marius and I drove to Zini to enter and to attend the briefing. There were 120 anglers on 45 boats participating. After the rules were explained, we had a drink or two then returned to Richards Bay and finalised arrangements for the following morning. At 05:00 I met Marius, hitched the boat and headed for the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. There were a few other crews there preparing their boats. We launched the boat and waited in the harbour for first light. While we waited, I rigged up 2 rods with sabiki rigs and took out 2 bonito and 2 wala-wala out of the bait box to defrost. After asking for clearance, we headed for the bait spot with a light NW wind blowing. We battled for bait, but finally managed to get a few mackerel and headed for Petingo.

When we arrived there, I rigged a live mackerel and put it out on the surface. I then rigged the 2 wala-wala and put one on top and the other down deep. The same was done with the two bonito. I started slow trolling around the wreck looking for a cuda. By 8am there were 23 boats around the wreck making it almost impossible to troll near the structure. I decided to work the outskirts of the wreck where there was less traffic and I could let my deep baits down deeper without running the risk of snagging the bottom. Every so often, I would check the baits to see if they were swimming properly. The water was exceptionally clean which meant the baits had to look very natural otherwise nothing would eat them.

At 9am the reel with the live mackerel took off. I picked up the rod as the fish shook its head and stripped about 60m of line. I passed the rod to Marius and then cleared the other lines. The fish came in very easily and both Marius and I thought it was a small cuda, not more than 10kg. The fish circled under the boat and when it came out from underneath, I put the gaff in. Still thinking it was a small fish, I tried to lift it into the boat, but was met with some resistance. I then took a closer look at the fish and realised that this was actually a good fish. I heaved the fish into the boat and then saw that it was over 20kg. Marius and I were over the moon! We put the fish into the hatch with some water and got some order in the boat. I reset the lines and continued trolling.

There were a few fish being caught on the outskirts so I decided to stick to this area. At jut before 12am, the rod with the deep rigged bonito screamed off. Marius and I ran to the back to clear lines and then I took the rod. The fish felt heavy and fought deep and hard for about 15mins before we saw it for the first time. It was a nice cuda. As I was looking down at the fish, I saw a second cuda swimming with this fish. I told Marius to put the live bait in the water to see if we could get that one as well, but no luck. My fish in the mean time took another run and had me battling to lift it. When it came close again, I saw that it was hooked in the side of the head making it difficult to pull in. After 20mins, we finally managed to get a gaff into the fish and Marius pulled it aboard. It was also a good fish of about 20kg. Wasting no time, I put a fresh live bait in the water and Marius opened the throttle a bit to let the far line out. While I was letting the line out, I felt the bait panic and then the reel took off! I fed it some line and then put up the drag. The rod keeled over and line smoked off the reel. We slowed the boat down and the fish continued running. It had about taken about 50 meters of line when suddenly the hook pulled. Unlucky!

Again, the lines were reset and the trolling continued. The competition rules stated that the scale would close at 5pm. This meant that we needed to get back to Richards Bay, take the boat home, load the fish and then drive through to Zini before 5pm. After doing our calculations, we figured that we needed to leave petingo at latest 2pm to make it.

After an hour without another strike, I lifted the deep lines and headed over the wreck. This was going to be our last circle before we packed up to head home. We were on top of the wreck when I saw the surface rod flick. I told Marius that there was something not right and went to the back to check. I picked up the rod and at the same time, there was a splash on the surface near the bait. Next thing the rod pulled down and the reel took off! Marius cleared the other lines and I pulled the fish in. It didn’t put up much of a fight and after a few minutes Marius gaffed a small cuda of about 5kg. I suggested that while the lines were up, we should call it day make sure we made the scales.

The sea was beautiful so we made good time to the harbour. After the boat was at the house, we put the fish into a “Body Bag” filled with ice and headed to Zini. We arrived with 30mins to spare...not bad timing. We put the smaller fish on the scale and it pulled the needle down to 20,5kg. The bigger fish was then weighed and ended up being 22,9kg and was the biggest fish for the day and the other was the 4^th biggest. It goes without saying that we had a drink or two on the fish.

The next day started out the same as the previous, but we could not get any live bait. We had to resort to dead bait after pulling around the wreck for a few hours without a strike we were nervous that we might not maintain our position. The scale closed at 2pm so we would need to leave by 11:30 latest. At 11:30 we had not had a strike and only a few small fish were caught by the other boats, so we packed up and headed back. We had no Idea what had been weighed and assumed we would be bumped into 2^nd or 3^rd.

The prize giving started at 4pm. There were only 23 fish weighed and there were 30 prizes. The prizes were handed out in ascending order and after not being called up before 6^th place, Marius and I started doing the calculations. If I was 4^th on day 1 and Marius was 1^st, then if I was 4^th overall, we would have won. The 6^th prize was called and it was not me... then the 5^th prize was called and again it was not me. I had won the 4^th prize. This meant that there had not been any bigger fish weighed and the first day’s positions remained the unchanged! Marius was called up for the first prize of R30 000 for the biggest cuda. Great!

All in all it was a great competition. It was well organised and I am pleased that the event was well supported. We will definitely be there again next year.

Richards Bay Easter Bonanza 2010

On the 1^st of April the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club had the opening function for the annual Easter Bonanza. We had been busy organising the competition for about 7 months and the day of the briefing had finally arrived. The competition was to be fished over 3 days (Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday) with a benchmark scoring system.

How the system works is there are several nominated species with accompanying benchmark weights (ie Yellowfin Tuna – 110kg, Sailfish – 60kg, catface rockcod – 8kg etc). Anglers who weigh these species will then score a percentage of the benchmark weight. The angler who scores the highest percentage wins the competition. For example, a yellowfin tuna of 55kg is weighed and the benchmark is 110kg – this result in a 50% score. A rockcod of 7kg is weighed and the benchmark is 8kg – the score is 87.5%. The rockcod thus wins.

Friends of mine from Middleburg, Wessel Visagie and friends, would be fishing with me on my Dad’s boat “Selfish”. This was the 5^th year that Wessel would be fishing with me in this competition. Our game plan was to fish for ‘cuda (king mackerel). There had been a few around, but the big fish seemed to be few and far between. The benchmark for the ‘cuda was 40kg which meant a 20kg ‘cuda would score 50% and a 30kg fish would score 75%. The worst case scenario we would get some good eating fish for Wessel to take back with him.

The weather forecast looked great for the first 2 days with a strong SW on the last day. All preparations were made in advance and everything was ready to go. On the first morning I was up at 4am, hitched the boat and headed to the club. There were a few boats busy launching and by 4:45 I was in the water and went to fetch Wessel and the rest of my crew from the jetty in front of the TuziGazi Waterfront. After getting clearance from the competition control to leave the port, I opened the throttle and headed for the bait reef between the ships to look for livebait. We made a few drifts and managed to catch a few maasbankers and red eyes before we headed to Petingo.

We arrived at Petingo at about 7:30am and I put out an array of baits including bonito, wala-wala and live maasbankers. I then proceeded to slow troll around the wreck looking for a ‘cuda. There were already 11 boats there and several more were on their way there. It was extremely slow going and we had only caught 3 hammerhead sharks by 11am. We also had a visit from the resident great white that came to investigate what was happening in our prop wash (a real treat for the up country guys). There had been no cuda caught on any of the boats on or around the wreck and I was getting a bit despondent. All the baits were swimming perfectly - something had to happen... and finally, at 12:30, when most of the other boats had left, we had our first pull on a live maasbanker on the surface. The fish was small and came to the boat very quickly where I gaffed the cuda of about 8kg. At that stage we were all over the moon that we finally had something to show for our efforts.

I reset the lines and continued trolling. About an hour later, the deep line with a small wala-wala on it took off. The other lines were cleared with great haste and the fight continued. After about 10 minutes, a nice size cuda came to the surface where it was gaffed. It later weighed in at 15kg (the second biggest cuda of the day for the competition). Again the lines were reset and trolling continued. At 14:30, we had about 30 minutes of fishing left when the rod, with a +-2kg skipjack tuna as bait, buckled and the reel screamed. I thought that this was the fish we were looking for because it was a big bait, but the fish didn’t take much line. Infact, it came to the boat very quickly where it turned out to be a cuda of only 8,4kg! Oh well, at least it was a fish and not a shark!

We headed back to port and started preparing for the next day.

On day 2 we headed to the same bait reef as the day before and managed to get several maasbakers and then we drifted into a shoal of mackerel where we put about 20 into the live well. We headed to Petingo and arrived at about 7am and set the lines. I trolled the same pattern as the day before and about 20 mnutes after starting, the surface livebait was eaten. Wessel quickly pulled a small 6kg cuda to the boat where it was unceremoniously gaffed. It was good to have a fish in the hatch nice and early. The next pass resulted in another strike from a small cuda that unfortunately pulled hook at the boat. The next strike came about an hour later and we boated 9kg cuda. There seemed to be alot of small fish around and we had several baits chopped without hooking up. The only indicator that we had had a strike was the slight flick in the rod tip. At about 14:45 I was frustrated with the small cuda and moved off the wreck. I was about 200m south of it when the surface bait was eaten and the reel smoked off. It did not sound like a small fish! Wessel took the rod and we pulled the fish to the boat where it made a few short runs. I managed to get the gaff into it and I pulled a 15,4kg cuda into the boat.

There was little time to waste as we needed to get back to the port before the 16:00 cutoff. So we pulled up lines and headed back.

The weather forecast for the Sunday looked bad and at 4am the predictions came true when a 20-25knot SW wind came through. The competition was called off for the day and we all caught up on some much needed rest.

All in all, the competition was a great success even though we didn’t win any prizes. We will definitely fish it again next year.

Anticlimax in the dark

On the afternoon of Tuesday 23 March, Frans van Rensburg, Leon Maree, Michael Duvenage, Divan Coetzee and I jumped aboard Fran’s 40ft Powercat “Trinity” for an evenings broadbilling. The plan was to run up north to the 50m ledge and load up on mackerel and then troll konas to the area we intended to start drifting for swordfish.

We arrived at the mackerel spot and went down with 3 sets of sabikis. As they hit the bottom, all three of us were full lines. We pulled in several impressive strings of 30cm long mackerel and put them in the live well. There was still alot of time before it was dark, so we travelled until we found blue water (+-120m of water) and put out 5 konas and trolled north into the current. There was a strong SW wind blowing and the sea was very unsettled. To make matters worse, there were several squalls that came through with pelting rain. Things were not looking god for the rest of the evening.

At about 17:30, we were in 500m off three trees area when there was a loud crack. Leon and I looked back in time to see a marlin tail walking away from the boat. We looked at the centre rigger line which was now hanging limp. We then realised that the marlin had picked up the line in its mouth before it took the lure and the line snapped, without even breaking the elastic in the rigger clip. What bad luck.

By now it was almost time to put out the broadbill rigs, so we pulled in the konas and began to drift. We were fishing 3 80Lbs outfits, all rigged with live mackerel on 14/0 circle hooks and 300Lbs trace. We used +-1.5kg break-away weights and staggered the baits at 20m, 40m and 60m. The 20m and 40m baits were sent away from the boat with balloons attached to the line with elastics.

By 6pm we were set up and the wait began. We were drifting from deep to shallow and our line indicated that we would cross through the area known as the ‘Drukgang’. At 8pm, Michael and I had lit the fire in the braai and were braaiing boerewors for supper when the 20m line was hit. The reel gave a short burst and then the fish pulled line off at a slow, constant speed. Leon fed the fish and then eased up the drag. The rod keeled over and the reel took off. The fish ran like a freight train straight down taking about 200m in a flash. Frans climbed into the standup harness and we passed him the rod. The fish was incredibly strong and it took Frans quite a while to get it close to the boat. When the light stick came to the surface, it would go left then right and then swim under the boat causing a few anxious moments for the crew. Leon took the boat ahead of the fish and manoeuvred so as to keep the fish behind us. The fish had been within 30m for about 20 minutes but we could not get it closer. All the time, the fish was shaking its head violently and we could clearly see the lightstick being pulled through the water from side to side with each head nod. The elastic from the balloon finally came out the water indicating that the fish was 20m away when it made another dive straight down taking about 150m before slowing down. Frans did a great job on the rod using the swell to lift the fish and get it swimming on the surface about 30m of the stern with the lightstick about 5m underwater . Everyone on board was at the ready for when the fish came within range. It seemed victory was only moments away when without warning the 300Lbs leader parted near the hook! Words cannot describe how we felt. There was an eerie silence that came over the crew and we all knew that that was the fish we were after all the hours we spent on the sea at night ... the Holy Grail of angling ... Xiphias Gladius, the mighty broadbill swordfish.

Leon took us back to the starting position of our previous drift and we reset the lines. Once everything was settled, we all went into the cabin for supper. At about 21:45, the 20m bait was taken. Leon fed the fish and then hooked up. It came to the boat quickly showing itself to be a small hammerhead shark of about 10kg, which was unceremoniously released.

The lines were again reset and the drift continued. About half an hour later, the 40m bait was taken. This time Divan was first to the rod and he hooked up. The fish took about 50m of line straight down then came to the boat where Michael traced it. Again it was a hammerhead shark of about 35kg.

We set about rerigging and after the 20m line was set, I started with the 40m line. The bait was down about 20m when I felt the bait rev wildly. I held onto the line to feel what was happening down there. Every now and again, there would be a tug on the line, but it was very subtle. I pulled the line in to check the bait and found that it was dead and was covered in what looked like small pin holes. Leon said that it could be sarda Orientalis or striped bonito which have teeth that make similar marks. I rigged a new bait and sent it down. We had just settled when one of the balloons with the lightstick inside passed behind the boat, not attached to anything. Something had broken the elastic. We checked the lines and found that the 20m line had broken free of the balloon. Leon retrieved the line to see what had happened. I took the trace and pulled up the weight/lightstick/bait. As I was about to lift the bait out the water, I felt the line pulling back. I held on tussled with this creature for a moment and then lifted it into the boat. Leon had been right on the money. It was a striped bonito and it had the circle hook firmly in the corner of the mouth.

The drift continued and every hour or so we checked baits. We had no more action and by 5am we were about 20km south of the harbour mouth in 740m of water. We upped lines and headed for home with all of our minds racing with new ideas that we would try on the next trip out searching for a broadbill.

New SA Record ... well, almost!

On Friday 20^th March, my sister (Julie) and brother in law (Carl Oellermann) flew down to Richards Bay for the long weekend to do some cuda fishing. The season had just started and already there were a few nice fish coming out. We were going to look for the ladies SA record king mackerel on 24kg line which is vacant at the moment. This means that the fish needs to be 24kg or bigger to qualify for a record.

On Saturday morning we launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” and headed straight out the harbour mouth to a bait reef in 42m of water. We dropped sabiki rigs and managed a few maasbankers and mackerel. We then headed out to the 50m ledge to some pinnacles called small high point. I put out 5 rods with rapalas and daisy chains and trolled around the bumps for a while looking for small bonito to use as bait. We managed to catch 3 bonito on our first pass and another 2 on the next pass. These bonito were relatively big (+-2kg) and were borderline bit size. After about an hour, we upped lines and headed to the Petingo wreck.

At 10:30 we arrived at petingo, the water was a off green colour with a slight reverse current. There were two other boats there but they had not had a touch the whole morning. We decided to give it a go and I rigged up the rods. The tackle we were using were 4 Shimano TLD25’s with 24kg Berkley Trilene and attached 80Lbs fluorocarbon leaders to the main line. I rigged a live mackerel on the surface and a live maasbanker on a 16oz sinker. I also rigged a wala-wala on the surface and one of the 2kg bonito on a 12oz sinker. All the baits were rigged with 7/0 single hooks.

I slow trolled around the wreck for quite a while when I noticed a dark patch of water next to the wreck. When we got close to it, I could see that it was a shoal of torpedo scads and small yellowfin kingfish. This was the first sign of life that we had seen and so we decided to concentrate our efforts on this area.

At 13:15, as I was approaching the shoal of baitfish, the reel with the live maasbanker smoked off. I spun round to see which rod it was, only to see the second rod with the big bonito keel over and that reel also took off. Oh no, a tangle I thought! Carl grabbed the second rod while my sister took the first. Both lines ran in the same direction at a blistering speed. A few seconds later, the reel that Julie was holding stopped and the line hung limp. A burn off obviously. The other rod was still smoking and I spun the boat around and started chasing the fish. The other lines were cleared and the fight continued. After a run of close to 200m, the fish slowed and Carl could gain some line. The fish made a few circles under the boat and then came within reach of the gaff. My Dad stuck the fish and pulled it over the gunwale. It hit the deck with a thud. It was a good fish and only just fitted in the hatch.

After the chaos was sorted out, I set about rerigging and noticed that the line that Julie had had her fish on was not burnt off. The #7 wire had been bitten off in front of the bait. It had been a second fish and not a tangle after all. Probably a similar size to the fish we caught.

We had no further strikes and upped lines at about 14:30 and headed for home. When we weighed the fish, it pulled the scale down to 24,7kg. It would have been an SA record for ladies if my sister had taken the rod! Unlucky!!! Oh well, it’s not the first time and definitely not the last time...

The crocodiles have arrived ... finally!

On Saturday the 6^th of March, Ettienne de Villiers, Jacques Spence, Wayne Ritchie and I arranged to go fishing off Richards Bay the next day on Ettienne’s 21ft Yeld Cat “Deep Burn”. The weather forecast looked excellent with 3-4 knot offshore winds turning to 9 knot Easterly in the afternoon. Our plan was to go and look for ‘cuda at the legendary hotspot “Petingo”. This would be our first attempt to fish for the big ‘cuda as the season was just starting.

At 5am on Sunday I fetched Wayne and went down to the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. There was a hive of activity with a number of boats launching to take advantage of the great weather. Etts and Jacques arrived a short while later and we launched the boat and headed out the harbour mouth. We headed to the pipeline to look for some livebait and managed to get a few maasbankers. We then headed south toward another bait reef just to see if we could get a different baits. On the first drop, Wayne and I came up with full strings of mackerel! Great stuff! After getting enough bait, we headed for the wreck which is 18km south of the harbour.

When we arrived at “Petingo”, there were 2 other boats sitting on the wreck. The water was an off green colour and there was no current. We rigged up with 2 live mackerel (one on surface and another on a 10oz sinker), 2 wala-wala (one on top and one on a 6oz sinker) and a bonnie (on a 16oz sinker). We started slow trolling around the wreck but could not work it properly due to the other boats sitting directly on top of the wreck fishing with dropshot ... frustrating to say the least. One of the boats moved off the spot while casting to a shoal of torpedo scads on the surface and after catching one, they rigged it and returned to the wreck. As they stopped to dropshot, they got a good rev and managed to load a 24kg cuda! Just shows you the fish were n the area.

We continued trolling and at about 10am, the bonito was eaten. I took the rod and fought the fish for about 20 minutes before I handed the rod to Wayne (My back problems started to get the better of me). Wayne pulled the fish hard for a few minutes before we saw the big brown shape of a blackfin shark at the end of the line. We brought the shark to the boat and petted it a bit then cut the trace and released it. What an anticlimax!

We set the lines again and continued trolling. There was a lot of life around the wreck. Next to the buoy were shoals of garfish and a bit deeper were a few rainbow runner. On the wreck were big shoals of yellowfin kingfish just cruising on the surface. Around the edge of the kingfish shoal were big bonito and torpedo scads. These shoals would erupt on the surface chasing baitfish, turning the water into foam. This would be seen from a long way away as there were hundreds of birds working the surface. It was an awesome sight. With all this activity, there had to be more cuda around.

By 11am the other boats had left and we were alone on the wreck. We trolled over every inch of it looking for that one big fish. This might sound boring, but it definitely was not. Every time we trolled over the wreck, we would cast small spoons into the kingfish, scad, bonito, garfish and rainbow runner. We were having a ball. At 2pm the reel with the bonito on it took off. I passed the rod to Jacques who fought the fish for a few minutes. The fish made a few good runs at the boat and finally came within range of the gaff. I hauled the +-17kg cuda over the gunwale much to the delight of the crew. This was our first cuda of the season but hopefully not our last.

We rerigged and trolled around for a bit longer. At 3pm we had another rev on the bonito but it turned out to be another blackfin shark that jumped twice before it broke the 80Lbs fluorocarbon leader off. After that, we were all tired and called it a day. The next few trips will definitely be in search of the crocodiles of Petingo!