X marks the Spot

On Wednesday 9th February 2022 at 3:30am, Carl and I left Ormiston enroute to the Gold Coast. We were keen to try for a few more marlin while they were around. It took us just over an hour to travel the 75km to Sea World boat ramp and after prepping the boat, we launched and headed out through the Seaway at 5am. With the outgoing tide, there was a fare bit of swell, but we followed the local boats and were soon on our way to Spot X. It took us an hour to do the 30km run and on arrival, the water was a bit green with minimal current. 

I sounded around the marks from the previous trip but there was nothing on the sounder. I worked my way South, tacking the 80m depth line. There was another boat a fair distance away so I moved in that direction. Soon, James Holt from Reel Extreme Charters on “Chasing Tail” also arrived in the same area so I knew we were in the right spot. We finally started marking bait and Carl sent the jigs down. Almost immediately he went on with some nice mackerel. With the slow current, we stayed on the spot for quite some time, catching quite a few baits. When the showing stopped, I headed back up to where it started. I also put out 2 livies, one deep and one near the top. The deep line was just set when the reel gave a short burst. I fed it a bit then tightened up and went on. Carl took the rod while I cleared the other line and started the motors, ready to follow the fish. Luckily it didn’t take too much line but came up to the surface and made a few great jumps. It was a small black marlin of around 30kg. There were a few technical difficulties during the fish when Carl lost his footing and fell over board, but luckily it was just a bump in the road as he fought and finally released his second ever marlin. All in all, a great job. 

I headed back to the top of the drift and set the lines again. Carl went about catching mackerel so that we could stock up the freezer for the Spanish mackerel (cuda) season. Our drift line had changed a bit, so I put the motor in gear and headed north, slow trolling the baits. A few minutes later, we had a pull on the deep line, but after fighting it straight up and down for about 20 minutes, we were sure it was a shark, so I parted off and headed back to the drift. James was drifting next to us and had also had some action, releasing 2 marlin. This gave us an idea of the best drift line, so it was with little surprize when the deep line went only a few minutes into the drift. The line angled up immediately and another marlin tore up the surface. I had the fish on a 50lbs standup rig, so it was a pretty quick fight and withing a few minutes, I had released my first Aussie black of around 30kg. This was great fishing and it was only 9am. 

Chasing Tail

On the next two drifts, we had 2 big sharks eat the bait and waste some of our time. We also had one marlin tangle in the leader, missing the hook. But on the next drift, we got lucky. There was another small boat next to us and we were having a friendly chat when Carl’s string of mackerel was stolen by a marlin that we had marked near the surface. Moments later, the shallow line when away and I hooked up. The fish came flying out the water between the two boats and took off greyhounding. The lines were cleared and Carl gave chase. This was a bigger fish, around 80kg so I had my hands full. We stayed close to the fish and within 20 minutes, had it on the leader. As Carl reached out to cut the leader (with Greg Edward’s 1000Lber Tackle leader cutter) it cleared the water to go on a run. The leader just touched the blades and parted as planned with the fish still making a few jumps before realising it was free. That was #3 for the day! 

Our livewell was looking a bit empty, so Carl went about catching more livies. On his 3rd or 4th drop, he lost his string of mackerel to another marlin, so we were sure we were in the right spot. I looked on the sounder and sure enough, we were marking a fish. As I looked back, the deep bait revved and the reel went away. We hooked up and Carl took the rod. It was another small fish so chased after it and we managed a quick release on another small black. This was insane fishing. 

That's a wrap.

As the day went on, the bait showing thicker and thicker. Several boats were hooked up to marlin and there were also quite a few prodigal son (Cobia) and dorado caught. Over on our boat however, it was very quiet. We had not had a pull in 2 drifts, so I sounded around and stopped in the area that we had a few fish in the morning. Carl had just put the deep line out with quite a heavy sinker. I noticed the line had gone slack, so I told him to put the drag up and wind like hell! The line came tight again and the rod keeled over. We were hooked up. The line angled to the surface and another marlin showed itself. This was a better size fish, probably around 50 or 60kg. It gave a great show before tail wrapping and going deep. Luckily we had the right tackle to horse it to the surface where I could unwrap the leader and revive it. 

By now it was 1:30pm and we had a long trip to get home, so we could not spend too much time on the grounds. We did make another drift, but didn’t have anymore action so we called it a day.

Spot X lives up to its reputation

On Tuesday 25^th January at 4:45am, Greg Edwards (aka Muddy) and I launched “ABF” off of the Gold Coast. This was the first time I had launched out of the Seaway so I was glad to have the guidance of someone who knew the area.

 The goal for the day was to target black marlin that were currently congregating on the bait shoals offshore. After leaving through the seaway, we headed due East towards Spot X. It would be a 30km run, but after 15km, the water looked really good, so we put out a spread of small billfish lures and continued on our intended course. Unfortunately, there was no action on the lures but when we arrived at Spot X, there were a lot of boats with several of them hooked up to marlin. This was great news!

There was a N – S current so I headed North through the boats, looking for bait showings. What I saw on the sounder was pretty spectacular. There were mackerel from the surface all the way to the bottom, 80m down. This huge shoal continued for quite a distance and when we arrived at the northern part of it, we stopped and very quickly caught a few mackerel. 2 of them were rigged up and we drifted over the shoal. It was a pretty quiet drift but finally, just as we were going to up lines, Greg had a pull on his livie. After a short feed, he hooked up. There was only a short run then it came in easily. Definitely not a marlin, but a skipjack. It soon become apparent that there were not only marlin on the bait shoals, but a lot of skipjack too. By the end of the second drift, we had caught 4 of them. To try and avoid them, I headed further north to a different patch of bait, hoping that we would have better luck.

A boat next to us went on with 2 dorado, so I put out a surface bait to see if there was another one for us to catch. The line was scarcely out when the line got heavy and the reel started running. I freespooled a bit but nothing happened. Just then, Greg’s reel went away. He hooked up and the line angled to the surface. I put up the drag and wound like hell to clear the line, but the line cut through the water towards where Greg’s fish was. It had eaten both baits. Luckily, mine pulled free and we could continue with just one rod. I had just cleared the last line when the fish stuck its head out the water. It was a nice size marlin of about 65 or 70kg. I chased after the fish, but it sounded and remained deep for most of the fight. After putting some big pressure on the fish, it surfaced and jumped a few times, in the process getting tail wrapped. The fish was close enough to the boat that we could get the wind-on leader onto the rod for a tip, but just then, a big shark appeared from the depths. The marlin must have seen it and took fright, going down deep. The shark faded off and eventually, a long 45 minutes after hooking up, it surfaced again for a few jumps where it luckily unwrapped. It still took another 15 minutes before I could grab the bill and remove the hook. It was a difficult fish, but it was still the first one on “ABF” in Australia.

On the next drift, the lines were just set when Greg and I both went on with skippies. They were both unceremoniously released and the drift continued. Just as we were coming off the end of the bait, we went on with a fish that took a lot of line in a hurry. We gave chase but soon realised that we were hooked up to an undesirable… Greg was on sunset drag with his fingers on the spool applying maximum drag, but the shark would not budge. After 35 minutes, I put gloves on and grabbed the line to try and pop it. Only after getting most of the line back, did the big swell and a surge of the fish meet, luckily resulting in a breakoff.  

We regrouped, had a cooldrink and headed back up to the top of the drift. Out bait stocks were low, so we decided to catch a few more for. As luck would have it, the bait shoals had moved during the long fight and it took us a while to find them again. When we did, we caught about 15 mackerel and one big maasbanker (yakka). With the pressure of getting a fish off our shoulders, we could relax on the next drift. Now that we had enough bait, we could put out a third rod, so I took a blind scoop out of the live well and caught the only yakka we had. I saw it as a sign to use it so I rigged it and put it out. The rod was hardly in the holder when it bent a bit and the reel slowly ran. With the rod still in the holder, I fed the fish a bit and then put the drag to strike position and wound into the fish. The rod bent over as the fish started moving away. Line was steadily leaving the reel and the line angled to the surface where another marlin jumped halfway out the water. I passed the rod to Greg and cleared the other line before starting up the motors and giving chase. This fish was also a difficult one, fighting deep for most of the fight. It only jumped a few times, enough for us to get a good look at it. After a 45min fight, I had the leader on another 70kg black. I wrapped it and held on while the marlin swam next to the boat with all its lights on. I leant back on the leader and the added pressure sparked a sudden surge from the fish. I wasn’t about to let go, fearing another extended fight, so the light leader popped without too much hassle. 2 for 2, not too shabby.

While I was chasing after the last marlin, I marked a few fish on the shallow side of the bait shoal so I stopped the boat up current of it to intercept. Just as the bait started marking, the deep bait went away. We were convinced that it was a marlin just by the speed of its first run and big head nods after hooking up. Unfortunately, it was like deja vu ending with another forced breakoff.

By now it was 13:45 and we were approaching the turn of the tide so we were hoping it would switch on. It seemed like the bait balls were a bit more condensed, and just as we were on top of the highest point, we had another slow but steady pull. I tightened up and the rod bent over. The fish stayed on the surface and headed into the current. When it finally did start taking line, there was a splash on the surface and a better size marlin stuck its head out. We were hoping for a quick shot at the leader, but again, the fish was stubborn and stayed down deep. Grep put big pressure on and after 20 minutes, before it came up. When it did, I had the boat right on top of it. It cleared the water like a Polaris missile. Moments later the leader came up and Greg wound it onto the reel, but as quickly as it came on, it flew off. The fish swam around the boat making spectacular jumps as it went. We chased it down and eventually managed to get hold of the leader. I wrapped it and held on until something broke. On closer inspection, the circle hook had straightened and then snapped. With that it was 3 for 3 on an 80ish kilo black.

We were on a bit of a roll, so it was back up to the top of the drift and sure enough, 10 minutes in, 2 rods went off. One was a skippie that was very quickly released. The second fish was definitely not a skippie and took a lot of line. We followed it for some time and when we got directly above it, it sounded and after half an hour still had not moved it so, not wanting to waste more time on another shark, we parted off and headed back to the seaway.

It was a great day off the Gold Coast and one that I’ll remember for a long time.

Checking new boxes

On Sunday 13^th June 2021 at 6:30am, Dave, Dale and I launched off of Wellington point. We headed across the bay, in what felt like sub zero temperatures, towards Amity Point. There was a bit of a swell, so crossing the bar was not as easy as my pervious trip, but we managed to get through without any issues.

We were hoping to catch a few end of season Spanish mackerel, so we stopped at a spot where Dale had caught live bait previously. It took some sounding around before I found the showing, but when I did, Dale and Dave both managed a few full strings of mackerel (slimies) and maasbanker (yakka).

We did not have a live well on the boat, so a coolerbox was filled with water to keep them going. It was a bit of a mission adding fresh water to the box, but it was part of the game.

We headed out to Sevens reef and rigged up 3 livies, two down deep and one on the surface. I rigged the surface bait on my trusty KP reel so I had to hold the rod while trolling.

The current was ripping north to south and there was a lot of slime in the water… never a great sign. Luckily the mackerel could handle the extra speed we needed to gain ground against the current and work the reef. After not seeing much on our first pass over the reef, Dale made a turn to approach from a different angle. We were in mid-turn when there was a splash on the surface where my livie should have been. Moments later I felt the weight on the line and I went tight with a fish. It didn’t take much line, so we kept the other lines out while I brought the fish in between the other lines. I could feel the continuous thumps in the rod indicating that it was a tuna species. A short while later, I had the fish at the boat where Dale gaffed my first Long Tail Tuna. Not a big fish by any stretch of the imagination, but a tick box none the less.

1st Longtail Tuna

With a fish in the boat, the monkey was off our back and we could relax a bit. Some of the baits were dying so we only had a limited number of mackerel left. We put on a fresh round of bait and made another turn. There was a bit of a showing on the bottom followed a short while later by a pull on the surface bait. The fish dropped the bait so I free spooled it back and went tight. This fish took a bit better run so we were hoping it was a Mackie, but those tell tail thumps on the rod suggested otherwise. It was with disappointment that we saw a big bonnie (mackerel tuna) next to the boat. It was unceremoniously released.

The rest of the morning was dead quiet so we opted to put out a few rapalas an troll around, just covering ground. We had gone a few hundred meters when the far lure went away with a smallish fish. Dave brought it in and just before we could see it, it went on a short erratic run followed by big head shakes, then just a heavy weight. It had been converted. We fought the shark for a while before breaking off.

The rest of the day was very quiet so we headed home at around 1pm. Thanks to Dave and Dale for a great day on the water a good laughs around the washbay.

Moreton Bay Tuna Hat Trick

On Saturday the 17^th April at 11am, Henk, Carl and I launched Henk’s boat out of Moreton Bay, Brisbane. This was the first launch I had made since I immigrated to Australia in March. The plan was to just have a bit of a look around the bay and see if there were any interesting spots.

Henk knew the area and stopped at a few marker beacons in the bay. I opted for a set of sabikis, Carl was casting a small spoon and Henk had a soft plastic. We caught a few small snapper and yellowtail scads (I don’t have a clue what the local names are yet) before moving towards Amity point on the northern point of North Stradbroke Island. The weather was beautiful, and there was basically zero swell, so Henk suggested we head to sea through “The Bar”. It’s the gap between the Moreton Island and Stradbroke where you need to weave your way through the sandbanks and breaking surf. Similar to the gap between Benguerra Island and Magaruque. It can get really dicey when the tide is running out.

With the flat sea, it was an easy crossing. We stopped on an old ship wreck on one of the sandbanks but despite our efforts with lures and live baits, we didn’t get any pulls so we headed south to a well-known pinnacle. There were great showings, but they were mainly small goatfish and some weird little fish that I had not seen before. After a while we decided to pull a few rappies around and we had not gone 50m when a reel went off. I took the rod and managed to get my first Aussie yellowfin which we bled and put in the hatch for sushi. With no more action on the we trolled deeper to another big pinnacle. As the structure started climbing, there was a big midwater showing on the sounder. Just then a reel went off with what turned out to be a big kawakawa. I made another turn and the surface lure went on. Carl caught a small skippie which we released. Its not often that you get 3 tuna species in a day, so I thought it was pretty good. I continued making turns around the spot and we had continuous action from skippies and another yellowfin. At 4:30 we called it and made the 60min run back to the boat ramp.

I am really looking forward to “ABF” arriving. There seems to be some potential in the area and it will just take some time to figure out what’s going on.

Thanks to Henk for that great day out.

Weehoos

On Saturday 6^th February 2021 at 7am, Wayne, Willis, Dereck, Rian and I launched “Galavant” off Cape Vidal. It was just a boys weekend to get away a bit, so there were no plans nor expectations of catching anything too spectacular. Besides, an Easterly wind was predicted for the day and that normally means poor catches.

We stopped off on the bait marks to look for some livies. There were big showings but they were not eating the clean sabikis. Luckily, we had brought some sardines with and after tipping the hooks with small pieces, we started catching a few. The shoal soon came up from the bottom and were just under the boat. I started chumming a bit and they went wild. At one stage, they were eating the sardine I was holding in my hands. The gopro footage is very cool. After fishing in this aquarium for a bit, we headed up north to Vegetation and put out a few baits. It was very quiet but as the day went on, we started getting a few pulls. Unfortunately, the fish were not hooking up and by 11am we only had one 10kg tuna on the boat from 7 pulls. 

We decided to make a move and head deeper to see if there was an amberjack on the drop-off. Rian and I sent down livies and I managed to get a proper pull. The fish had me pinned to the gunwale for a bit until I managed to gain a few meters and get its head up. Rian took over the rod and felt some heavy pressure as he heaved the fish off the rocks. It was a long way to the surface and eventually a beautiful tropical yellowtail came up. It was Rian’s first and nothing could wipe the smile off his face.

Rian with a weehoo

The next drop resulted in another hookup with a good fish that gave Willis a strong tussle. There were big head nods and some strong runs thrown in… the fish fought too. Unfortunately, halfway up, there was a heavy weight followed by a freight train run that couldn’t be stopped. Just then, the leader was bitten through by what we assume was a taxman. There was not much more action after that and just when we were about to pack up, a mate of mine called to say they had found a net a short distance away. We headed in that direction and on arrival there were a few dorado to meet us. I changed the rigs to a short nylon leader and a single hook with a livie pinned through the nose. We slow trolled these just behind the flasher and managed to get 3 quick dorries. When we came close to the net, Rian cast a bucktail and went on with a small fish that looked like a sarda sarda.

Dereck's weehoo

When it was in the boat, we couldn’t believe what it was. It was the smallest wahoo any of us had ever
seen… a real weehoo. We took turns casting at the net and managed to release 3 weehoo and lost about 5. While this was going on, the far line went away. I fed it and hooked up then passed the rod to Rian. The fish made a hell of a run on the surface and we could just make out the dark shape before it sounded. It showed no sign of stopping and after about 150m straight down, it settled into that slow rod thumping fight. About 20 minutes into the fight on a heavy drag, with the fish about 50m down, there were a few head nods followed by another hectic run. Unfortunately, Rian was too slow to ease the drag and the line parted near the fish. It was a bit disappointing, but that’s how it goes. We spent a bit more time around the net but didn’t have any more success so headed back to the beach.

In all it was a great day with a lot of laughs.

Always have a contingency plan

 At 6am on Saturday 30^th January 2021, Pierre and I launched “Avanti” off Cape Vidal. The aim of the day was to fish for the black marlin record on 15kg line. I had been targeting it for some time now but the fish we had caught thus far were all too small, so the search continued.

The forecast for the day was a very light SW turning East by 11am, basically a glass-off. We both knew how difficult it was to catch live bait in these conditions, so I had packed in my heavy spinning rod, just in case.

After an easier than normal launch, Pierre topped on the bait spot behind the backline. In no time, he had about 15 maasies in the livewell. Our contingency plan was now ready so we moved north to Oscar to look for a tuna. We trolled small lures around and around, but there was nothing happening. Pierre made a shallower turn and in 30m we went on with 2 frigate tuna… not the strongest baits, but better than nothing. We headed for deeper water where I rigged the one friggie on the 30lbs outfit. The water was 27 degrees and midnight blue. There was also no current which made our job of keeping a weak bait alive even more difficult. Trolling deeper over the 100m mark, we noticed that there were a few interesting showings near the bottom… definitely something to investigate later if things went quiet. 

After about an hour, the friggie succumbed to the warm water and we were back on the troll looking for another bait. As we passed over the 50m ledge, the far line went off with a bait. I cleared the lines while Pierre brought it in. Just when I was getting ready to grab it, there was a big commotion on the surface as a marlin came in and grabbed the skippy. Pierre fed it a bit then tightened up. The fish took a bit of line so I followed it with the boat. Moments later, it rocketed out the water about two meters into the air then went greyhounding away. I managed to keep up with it until it sounded, so it was not too far away. When it came up again, it was out of breath, so Pierre got the leader on the rod. Pierre passed mem the rod so that he could put gloves on. Just then it sounded again and I was left with a stubborn fish that had gone deep. After 20 minutes of back breaking vertical tug o war, Pierre grabbed the leader, removed the hook, revived it and released it. What a bonus! At least we caught our target species on the line class we wanted … albeit not according to our plan.

After a quick and well deserved cooldrink, we set the bait lures again but after 2 hours we had no pulls. I suggested we put plan b into action and drop a few livies on the deep marks, hoping to get either a sarda sarda which we could swim for bait or something more substantial. I rigged up the spinning rod with a live bait trace and put on a 10m sinker line with a 20oz weight. The biggest maasie was pinned and Pierre was ready to go. I stopped on top of a decent showing and Pierre let the bait go. It was on the bottom for only a few moments when it was eaten. Unfortunately, the fish pulled hook after a short run so Pierre had a long retrieve with an empty hook. It was my turn to make a down and decided to go big or go home. I rigged up one of the frigates that were in the hatch and when Pierre gave me the thumbs up, I sent it down. To make the bait look a bit more enticing, I wound it up a few meters then dropped it to the bottom, basically jigging the bait up and down. Less than a minute went by when there was a hard thump on the rod and a heavy pull. I fed some line then tightened up. There was something on, but it seemed to be swimming up as there was some slack line. I thought it was either a shark or possibly a marlin but after gaining about 10m of braid, the fish turned and the pressure came on in a huge way. I was pinned to the gunwale and held the spool to try and stop whatever it was from getting any line. My palm was on fire, but eventually it stopped and I could lift the rod. I gained a good few meters before there were big head nods and the second run began. It was back to the fetal position on the gunwale holding on for dear life, expecting to feel that pop at any moment. 

A once in a lifetime AJ

The run stopped and immediately I was on the attack and pulled as hard as I can ever remember (which is probably not that impressive anymore considering my back condition and the fact that there was no bucket on board). The runs were now only a few meters at a time and I had it probably 30m off the bottom. I could feel it was getting weaker, but just then my adrenalin wore off and I was feeling the pain. I tagged out with Pierre, hoping he could do the hard grunt and wind the fish to the surface. I put on my back brace and took a few minutes to recoop. Just then, Pierre said that he was tagging me back in as he was also hurting. I took the rod again and went back to putting max pressure on. Every turn of the reel, the fish came easier and easier. I could feel it coming to the top as almost a dead weight. Looking over the side, there was a huge light blue shape rising fast. Only then did we notice it was air bubbles that came from the fish at it was popping. The line angled to the surface as the fish came closer. Just then we got a visual of it. The size of it suggested it was a big potatoe bass or something to that effect, but then we saw that massive head break the surface and we were both blown away at the size! It was an enormous Amberjack. I brought it alongside where Pierre gaffed it. It took both of us to lift it over the gunwale and only then did we see how big it really was. I put a tape measure on it and it was 1510mm long but had a massive girth (probably due to the air). The estimate was at around 40kg but we would have to wait to find out.

When the dust had settled, we went back to the spot and put the second frigate down. Unfortunately, we had no further takers and decided to troll lures back to the launch. As we went over the pinnacle at Oscar, 3 reels went off with skipjacks. One pulled hooks, but we managed to rig up the other two. Just like that we were live baiting for marlin on 30lbs again. We headed out deeper and at 95m the rigger revves and popped. Just then a big hammerhead surfaced behind us. Pierre gunned the motor while I wound like hell hoping to miss the shark but alas, the hook found a mark and I was tight on a big shark on light line. I knew it could take us a long time to get it close, so I put the drag to 8kg and pulled like there was no tomorrow. After about 25 minutes, the leader came out the water where Pierre cut the leader. The other skippy was still swimming, so we transferred it to the 30lb rod and continued trolling. Unfortunately, the warm water and lack of current took its toll and the bait died an hour later. With that we headed back to the beach. Luckily, I had my calibrated scale with me (anticipating the marlin capture) so we could get an accurate weight on the amber. It eventually weighed in at 44.8kg. An absolute beast.

Thanks a million to Pierre for a really memorable day on the water. I will never forget it and I’m sure we will still tell the story over a few times.

Stop! Hammer time.

On 9^th January 2021, George and Geraldine Breedt and myself launched “Cyclone” off St Lucia. We were targeting a ladies SA record Black Marlin on 30lbs tackle. There had been the odd fish around so hopefully we would get lucky.

29.1 degree water

We started off running far north near Big Hill area where we put out a few small bait lures. George trolled around the pinnacles but even though there were great showings, nothing was biting. The water was a beautiful dark blue colour, current was ripping at over 3 knots but the water temp was an unreal 29 degrees! This normally makes the fish lethargic so we had our doubts.

Friends of ours caught a small tuna a bit south of us so we headed in that direction. It wasn’t 15 minutes and we went on with a frigate tuna and a small skippy. I rigged the skippy immediately and by the time I got to rigging the frigate, it was dead. At least we had one good bait swimming.

The tide change was at 12:00 so we had a long wait before then so we nursed the skippy for 3 hours in the bath water temp water. We had just gone into the “prime time” when the bait started swimming strangely. It went deep for the first time and the rigger showed very erratic movements. This passed after a few minutes and all returned to normal. Just then, George looked back and saw a marlin swimming just behind the boat. It was just a black colour with no lights on. No matter how much we tried to tease the fish into feeding, it just faded off never to be seen again.

After an hour, the skippy succumbed to the warm water. We spent some time looking for bait, but with no success so we headed home to regroup.

Looking for a bait

On Sunday 10^th January, we were back on the water. It was a similar plan of action but only at 8:45 did we manage to find bait. It was again a skippy, but this time it was a plus size bait of about 6kg. It swam beautifully as we headed out to sea. The water temp was only 27.5 degrees this day and there were heavy dead plankton lines from the previous days hot water. The current had also dropped to almost nothing.

Our bait swam for about 2 hours when it revved and the rigger popped. While feeding some drop back, the reel never took off, do we suspected a false strike. I started retrieving the line by hand while Geraldine manned the reel. The bait was about half way back to the boat when the line was ripped out of my hands and the reel smoked off in free spool. Geraldine fed the fish for a bit then tightened up. The line went straight down and stayed there. The rod was transferred into the standup harness and the fight began. The fish came in pretty easily and soon the leader was out the water. I wrapped it a few times and pulled a decent size hammerhead shark alongside where the leader was cut.

It was the first time that Geraldine had fought a fish on standup gear and she caught her biggest fish. The next time will be a lot easier.

The SW wind started blowing after that, so we headed back to St Lucia.

Too close to call!

On Sunday the 3^rd January 2021, At and I launched “Avanti” for our first trip of the year. The forecast was for a light SW wind dropping to nothing. We had an idea that the gamefish would switch off so decided to target that illusive 30Lbs black marlin record.

We headed off to Oscar pinnacle to look for a live bait, but after an hour without any luck, we headed north along the 50m ledge. We were just being lulled into that lazy state, listening to the drone of the motors when two reels went away with skipjack tuna. One pulled hook but the other managed to find its way into the tuna tube.

We were in a good area, so I rigged it up on a 12/0 j-hook and let it out about 20m. It was a relatively big bait for 15kg line, and a single #32 runner band was almost too light to hold it. The problem was that If I put on 2 bands, there was a chance of popping the main line if they didn’t release. I made a plan with 2 rigger clips and ran two single bands to each clip so that one would take the load and pop easily but the backup one would hold the bait long enough to prevent a premature release of the line.

At angled the boat out to sea at an angle that kept the bait happy and soon there was a rev on the rigger. The release clips worked brilliantly and I could feed the line back after the strike. As this was going on, we saw the dorsal fin of a hammerhead behind the boat. Immediately I tightened up and luckily managed to rip the head of the bait away from it without hooking it. With a messed-up bait, we put out the bait rods and headed back to the ledge.

Wahoo breakfast

We were extremely lucky as no sooner had we crossed over the reef, two rods went on with skippys. One was in the gills and was DOA while the other I quickly rigged up and put the line in the rigger while At took us deeper out to sea. The wind had now dropped to nothing but there was a swell from the east that would make out shallow tack a bit of a problem. We turned at 250m and had some issues with the bait wanting to die, but after nursing it a bit, it came right and swam well again. In about 200m, there was a shoal of frigate tuna on the surface. Hoping to intercept, I let a small feather out about 100m and when they were in range, I retrieved it. I went on almost straight away. After bobbing and weaving through live bait and drop back, I managed to get the bait in the tube while I quickly rigged up a rod with a leader. A quick rig and we had 2 baits swimming behind us.

The surge caused by the swell took a toll on the friggie and soon it was shuddering on the surface. I tried to revive it a bit and just when I thought it was coming right, there was a long flash behind it and a cloud of blood… one wahoo attack! I immediately freespooled what was left of the bait and had another bump but it was all she wrote and I retrieved the head and shaved leader. Back to
one bait.

1 hour into the fight

There was absolutely no current, so due to the very small inward angle we were heading, we made a lot of ground going north so we were now off halfway in 130m of water… the same depth that the hammer had eaten us earlier. When the rigger revved, I ran to the back and pulled the line out the clip, holding it to feel what was happening. 

Black Marlin on 30lbs

The bait kicked wildly then there was a hell of a weight and I let go fearing the line would break. I fed the fish quite a bit as it was a big bait and when the reel was really going, At gunned the motor and I tightened up the drag and wound like hell. Everything came tight and line flew off the reel so At slowed down to reduce the amount of line in the water. The line was going down deep, so we were already thinking that it was a shark. I donned the harness and noticed the line angle coming up. In the distance there was a big splash as a marlin showed itself. It was far away, but looked marginal to beat the current record… but it was a long way from being caught. At backed down on the fish and I picked up most of the line before it sounded. Luckily for us it decided to swim shallower and all we could do was follow. An hour in, surfaced and greyhounded for about 100m with us in chase. On the last jump, the bait went flying but the hook had luckily set. The fish had now changed direction and headed deeper. It had no real pattern, probably due to the lack of current. I went up to 6kg on the drag and this made the world of difference. The fish shook its head more and surfaced a few times to where the double was out the water. All the time we tried to judge the size, but it was too close to call so we decided to take a chance and gaff it. 

After 2 hours and 15 minutes, the leader came up and onto the reel. I locked up the drag and muscled the fish closer. With the boat on autopilot, At took the leader and wrapped it a bit. I slacked the drag, grabbed the gaff that was lying ready and stuck the fish. There was some white water, but the fish was pretty tired. We loaded it and started the run back home where we made a make shift gantry in a tree. It was with great disappointment what the scale confirmed our suspicions … the fish was 113.2kg… only 5kg shy of the current record.

It was still a fantastic 7:1 fish on the light tackle and what a great experience. I will remember that fish for a long time.

Great fun after a year of Covid

I’ve just come back from my 2020 holiday. I was lucky enough to spend the time with good friends at Cape Vidal from 28^th November to 12^th December. Over the years, we have seen that the fishing is fantastic over those 2 weeks and then tapers off into December. This is due to that first appearance of warm current from north, bringing with it all the summer gamefish. This year was no exception. In fact, it was one of the best dorado seasons I can remember.

If I had to write a story about every day’s fishing, I would be writing for a long time, so I’m just going to give you the brief summary and maybe highlight a few days that really stood out.

The boat we fished on was the very first 22ft forward console Yeld Cat named “Avanti”, owned by At van Tilburg. I was super excited to fish on her and man was I impressed. This early season fishing is normally in strong wind and heavy seas, but on this boat, it was a pleasure.

In total, I fished for 10 days and our stats, even if I do say so myself, were pretty impressive.

Dorado:               83

Sailfish:                2 from 4

Cuda:                    26

Snoek:                  1

Tuna species:    13

Kaakap:                1

Marlin:                 0 from 2 

Our best day gamefishing was on 2^nd December. At, Henry and I launched at 5am and battled for an hour to get a decent amount of bait. The SW wind was blowing 20 knots and the sea was pretty big. This was a dorado fisherman’s dream conditions … well mine in any case. The game plan in these conditions is simple, find the depth where the fish are (normally where the bait is), turn the stern into the wind, turn off the motors and let the flasher do the rest.

Our baits were live maasbanker rigged with a cable tie through the eyes on 5/0 single hooks with 60lbs nylon leader. Three of these were fished around the flasher and one rod was further out the back. All were fished with light drags set just enough to stop the bait from taking line off the reel. 3 rods were on standby with single hooks to pitch livies to the followers. When the dorries are thick, anything with a pulse is fair game, sand soldiers and lizard fish included. 

On this day, the action was non-stop. Most of the time, when one close rod went off, the other 2 did as well. On many occasions, I would be feeding and hooking 2 fish at a time while Henry had the third. Our team production line worked well with myself rigging bait and hooking fish, Henry fighting them and At gaffing. Every time I passed the rod to Henry, I would put another bait out… as long as the flasher was in the water, the fish were there. At one point we had 4 dorado and a sailfish hooked up and managed to get all of them. It sounds unbelievable, because it was. One of the most action-packed days I’ve ever had. By 9:30 we had 28 dorado and 1 from 2 on sailfish. The smaller fish were released so that we could stay within our limit… and freezer space. 

The very next day also stood out in my mind as one that I really enjoyed. The SW wind from the day before had died and a NE wind was predicted. With enough gamefish in the freezer, we decided to target marlin but on 30lbs line. With the same crew from the day before, who between us we have been with over 600 marlin captures, I felt pretty confident of our chances.

We had some bad luck with a few live baits being hooked in the gills and dying in the tuna tubes. Also, the dorado, which were great fun the day before, were now a plague and grabbed any surface lure we put out. We moved to an area further north and managed to get a 2kg kawa-kawa which I rigged up on the 30lbs outfit. The bait had a small profile in the water, so out came the flasher. Suddenly it looked like a shoal of bonnies instead of just 1.

We picked up a thermocline at 180m and in 185m, the rigger popped. I fed the fish but it suddenly started jumping towards us, trying to throw the bait. I tightened up on the fish and it went mental on the surface. Just seconds later the fish was off. On closer inspection, the 400Lbs leader had broken. Probably due to a tailwrap. Oh well, the fish looked a bit small for the record, only about 90kg. 

We headed back to the bait pinnacle and managed another small kawa-kawa. This time we only made it to 115m when the rigger popped without any warning. I was dropping back when the fish erupted next to us with the bait hanging along the side of its body and the leader through its mouth. As can be expected, this didn’t last long and soon the party was over. Again, the fish was a bit small so no harm no foul. 

In all it was a great fishing trip. I know its going to sound like marketing smack, but what was strikingly obvious was how effective the flashers were. Later in the holiday, when the dorado tapered off, the cuda were also coming up on the short lines. Report from some of the other boats are that the sails and little marlin have come in on them, as I told them they would. It was also nice to see that the charter boats off St Lucia have ordered a few sets from me, so that tells me everything! Henry was baffled by them to the point that I made him a mini version that he is going to try for tigerfish and bass. 

I’m looking forward to seeing the results from the boat Cyclone. George and Geraldine Breedt and fishing light line exclusively and use my flashers to tease up their fish. I know of two double headers of sailfish they released on 4kg line so far and there are a few SA record applications in the post.

Good luck to everyone for the December holidays and have a great and safe festive season.

12:1 Sailfish

We were on the Vidal beach at 6am on Sunday the 8^th November 2020. After a bit of celebrations, the night before, we were a bit sluggish to say the least. Luckily the launch was as easy as the day before and we were through the surf in no time.

The live bait catching session was a carbon copy of the day before and we struggled to get 15 baits. Eventually we had enough to start fishing and it didn’t take long to get a few pulls. Unfortunately, we could not do anything right and pulled hooks on 4 cuda in a row. This was getting a bit out of hand and after a bumper day the previous day, we were having a tough time.

36.75kg Sailfish on 3kg line

I had put my 3kg outfit a short distance behind the flasher, rigged with a maasbanker on a circle hook, hoping for a sailfish. Unfortunately, the previous day only resulted in dorries and this day, I only had a cuda chop. At around 9:30, on the inward tack, Terence noticed the maasie revving on rod tip. He sounded the alarm and I rushed to the rod just in case. Just then, the reel started running so I freespooled a bit then tightened up. There was some heavy weight and a few head nods. I had a pretty good idea of what it was and sure enough, the line angled towards the surface and a good size sailie went mental on the top. I slacked the drag and ran to the controls, rod in hand, while Andre and Terry ran to the back and cleared lines. I got the boat going after the fish which was not about to stop jumping. By the time it slowed down, Terry was on the controls and Andre had the gaff at the ready. With the fish on the top and a full compliment of crew, we closed the gap on the fish, hoping that it would stay on top. All of a sudden, the double line came out the water followed by the leader. I tipped the fish which then ducked under the boat. I put the rod down deep under the motors and moved to the starboard side where Terry could now see what was happening. He chased the fish in very tight circles without any line coming off the reel. We inched closer and I managed to get the leader on the rod. I wrapped it around my hand between the reel and first eye, then heaved the fish closer. Andre made the gaff of the century and stuck the fish perfectly in the head. We all grabbed the fish and lifted it aboard. The fight took a whole 7 minutes! The result was a 36.75kg sailfish on 3kg tackle! What a great fish. Awesome job to the crew!

The lines went back in and I had just straightened out on the inward tack when the far line went away. At the same time, a nice big sailie cleared the water but when it landed, the reel went quiet. The hooks had pulled! Unlucky. Andre had just reset the far line when the rod keeled over and he was on. The fish fought very strangely but came to the boat easily. Only then did we see that it was a small cuda hooked in the tail.

By now it was 11am and we knew there was a lot of cleaning work to do so we headed home to weigh the fish and do all the required admin work. Thanks for a great weekend guys!