Battle for Bait

After a great day on Saturday, and copious amounts of Brandy and Coke, we were a bit slow on Sunday morning, 12 December. At woke me at 5:00am and after the morning ritual of coffee and rusks, we hitched the boat. At’s son in law, Hubert Beuken, and Justin Otto were joining At and myself for the day. We launched in near perfect conditions and after an extremely easy launch, we settled into the daily routine of catching small livies on the sabiki rigs. After we had a few baits, we headed for Oscar.

When we arrived at Oscar, there were already 6 boats there. We knew we were going to battle for bait as all the boats riding up and down the pinnacles pushes the bait down, making them almost impossible to catch – hence the need to be on the water as early as possible. Hubert and I put out the usual selection of lures and At worked the pinnacles looking for a bait. After an hour or more we finally caught a bonito of about 6kg. It went into the tube and we continued our search. Divan was fishing on the boat “Deep Burn” to the north of us and he called At to tell him that they had a skipjack tuna for us. At headed in their direction but decided not to pull lines in and run as the bonito would probably not make the trip. We increased the revs a bit and trolled towards “Deep Burn”. About half way, one of the halco’s was eaten and the reel took off at speed. I handed the rod to Hubert and turned to the closest rod – with the islander Saillure - to retrieve it. When I looked into the water, I saw a sailfish chasing the lure. I gave two or three winds and the sailfish grabbed the lure. I gave it a few quick strikes and the fish took off. After anout 20m the hooks unfortunately pulled, but luckily Hubert’s fish was still on. I had just cleared the last line when we saw a sailfish erupt out the water about 100m behind us, the reel was emptying . Only then did we realize that Hubert was also hooked into a sailfish. At turned the boat toward the fish to slow its run and to allow us to gain some line. After about 20 minutes, the sail was near the boat. I was ready with the tag stick and was about to take the leader when At saw that the halco was not in the mouth but in the flank of the fish, three quarters of the way to the tail. Before I could get the tag in, the sail sounded. There was nothing we could do but wait until it tired. After an hour, Hubert managed to get the fish back to the boat. Unfortunately the fish was stone dead by then and we were forced to load the fish. I checked the bonito in the tube and it had perished. I called Divan on the radio and as luck would have it, the skipjack they had had also just given up the ghost – Back to the drawing board, or in our case back to Oscar.

There were by that stage 9 boats on the pinnacles and all signs of activity were gone. At suggested that we look a bit shallower to see if there were bonito on the 20meter depth. I changed the japan lure to a small feather and rigged it on a 50Lbs fluorocarbon leader. In about 23m the feather was eaten. The reel took off at speed but next thing the line parted. There had been a nick in the line from a boat that had crossed our lines earlier that day. We all looked back and saw a dorado dumping with the lure in its mouth. It was a bitter sweet moment because it was not a bait that we lost, but it was a good eating fish that we missed. I stripped about 20 meters of line and rerigged another live glow feather. At worked the shallows with no more success so we headed north and deeper. On the 47m ledge off Vegetation (a mark about 12km north of the launch) the feather and a halco took off. I grabbed the rod with the feather and Hubert the other. The fish were taking a lot of line when mine came off. I retrieved the line to see that the fluorocarbon leader had been bitten off. Hubert brought his fish closer and we saw that it was a wahoo. Probably a pair. I gaffed the fish and after e few quick photos I put it into the hatch – it was Hubert’s first wahoo.
At handed the controls over to me at about 10:30 and lay on the deck. I made a deep turn and decided to go back to Oscar. There were only two boats there by then as most had moved to greener pastures. I made a pass over the pinnacle and the close halco got eaten I ran back and grabbed the rod. As I looked back, I saw a sailfish stick his bill out the water. It was on for a few seconds before the hooks pulled. At was now awake and took over the reins. Both of us were scanning the water for any sign of movement. About 100m in front of us there was a bit of a swirl. At made a B-line for the spot and we were rewarded with a screaming reel. I grabbed the rod and fought the fish gently. I didn’t want to bugger this one up! After most of the line was back on the reel, we looked into the water and saw that most beautiful site … a yellowfin tuna of about 6kg … Finally, a bait! I passed the rod to Hubert and grabbed the fish’s tail. It went into the tube, but only just fitted. At headed for deeper water while I trimmed the baits tail. When we catch big baits, they are almost too strong to swim, so what we do is trim the tail fin using a knife. I cut the fin from the fork of the tail to the tip, effectively halving the swimming power of the fish.

When we were at 70m At told me to rig the bait. I bridled it with a hat elastic attached to a 20/0 circle hook. The tuna was let out about 20m and attached to the rigger with a rubber band. I put about 15 meters of dropback into the water and settled down to wait. At turned the boat in 200m and headed shallower. I prefer the inward tack when marlin fishing because over the years we have noticed that most of our strikes come when we are going shallower. In 180m the rigger revved properly. Hubert and I looked back and saw a blue shape in the water. We thought it was a big dorado so I pulled the bait closer so that it would not get damaged. When I looked again, the flash was a lot bigger than a dorado – it was a marlin! I let the bait out again and as the rigger took tension, the rigger popped. I fed the fish and when it came time to tighten up, there was nothing. I retriever the line and found that the marlin had hit the bridle with it’s bill and it parted. Talk about bad luck! Well, that marlin has not had an easier meal in its life than that!

At that stage, we were almost off of the launch, so we decided to call it a day. We beached and weighed the wahoo and sailfish. The wahoo was 9.8kg and the sailfish was 27,6kg. And a good time was had by all!

Good Times

So it was Friday afternoon, 11 December, and Divan and I decided to go up to Cape Vidal for the weekend. Cape Vidal is about 150km north of Richards Bay and takes about an hour and a half to get there. Mates of mine, At van Tilburg and his family, were camping there on their annual holiday and invited me to join them. Divan also had friends that were staying in the log cabins, so he was going to fish with them. I would be fishing on At’s boat “AVANTI”, a 21ft Yeld Cat powered by two 115 Mercury Optimaxes. At’s daughter’s boyfriend, Johan Strauss, would complete the crew.

We arrived at Vidal at about 4pm and settled in. At and myself packed the boat for the next day then went down to the beach for a few sundowners. All the old faces that go to Vidal on their annual pilgrimage were there. Good friends, good weather … good times.

At 04:30 At woke me. After a quick cup of coffee, we hitched the boat and set off for the beach. The launch at Vidal is through the surf, but thanks to the reef that runs parallel to the coast from the right of the bay, the launch is relatively sheltered. This bay provides some protection while the boats wait for the right gap between the breakers. At is an excellent skipper and his calm and collected manner comes to the fore while in the surf … where you need it most! On this day, there was almost no surf, 1m at most. After an easy launch, we stopped behind the backline to look for some smaller livebait (maasbanker, mackerel or slender scads). Using sabiki rigs, we jigged up about 20 baits from showings on the Lowarnce sounder. After we had enough bait, it was north toward Oscar. Oscar is a cluster of pinnacles, about 7km north of the launch, that comes up from 42m to 30m. It is a great spot to look for general gamefish and small tuna that are used for marlin bait.

It was about 5:30 when we arrived at Oscar. I set out 5 lines with small halco’s and an islander saillure. At trolled these bait lures around the pinnacles looking for bonito, skipjack or small yellowfin tuna. After about 20 minutes we had a strike on one of the halco’s. I was closest to the rod so I pulled it in. It was a small bonito of about 2kg. I put it into the tuna tube and we continued trolling. A short while later we had a double strike. Johan and I ran to the back and brought the fish in. They were both small bonito of about 2kg… perfect bait. I rigged both baits on the spot with a 6 meter section of 2.5mm Momoi crimped onto a 20/0 mustad circle hook. The baits were bridled using a loop of hat elastic. The traces were clipped onto a sampo snap swivels attached to a 2m double line. We use 130Lbs line on Penn International reels with custom built bent butt rods. I am fortunate in that my Dad builds rods as a hobby so all the rods we use are custom built.

After rigging the baits, At turned the boat into the current and angler deeper. I kept the baits on a short line (holding the double in my hand) while we made our way deeper. The reason we do this is to prevent the reef sharks from taking the bait. As you can imagine, where there are gamefish on a pinnacle, there are plenty of sharks. When we were in about 70m, I let the first bait out about 20m and fixed a rubber band to the line. The band was inserted into the outrigger clip and hoisted to about shoulder height off the gunwale. I pulled more line off the reel and let it trail behind the boat as a dropback, with the reel set just above freespool. The second bait was trolled about 10m behind the boat on the port rigger.

We trolled deeper at about 4 knots (a good walking pace) and were in about 150m when the starboard bait started revving. The bait was eaten and the rubber band popped, releasing the line. I ran to the back and pulled line off the rod tip into the water just as the dropback came tight. I fed about 10 meters of line into the water and told At to increase the speed a bit. I pushed the drag to a third, then two-thirds and finally all the way to strike. The line came tight and ran off the reel at a good speed… Hookup! I quickly wound up the dropback of the port rigger to get it out the way.

At told me to get into the chair and fight the fish. Normally I would be the one who takes the trace or skippers the boat, so I don’t often get into the chair. Over the years I have gotten more satisfaction out of tracing fish and seeing other anglers catch their first billfish then actually catching it myself, but this fish was special. If it was a billfish, it would be the 100th one that I had been with and At knew that I would love to catch that milestone fish. As luck would have it, it turned out to be a bronze whaler shark of about 80kg. At least I could show Johan how to fight a fish in a fighting chair using a harness. I brought the shark to the boat and Johan assisted me to put the rod in the holder while I unclipped myself. I put on the gloves and traced the shark to the boat before cutting the trace near the mouth. We still had a spare bait in the tuna tube, so I rigged it and let it out on the starboard side and reset the dropbacks. At continued trolling and in 85m of water, the starboard rigger popped. I fed the fish and tightened up as we did the first fish. The line took tension but nothing to write home about. At and I assumed that it was a shark, so we put Johan in the chair. He fought the fish well and in about 5 minutes the small hammer head was next to the boat. I traced it and let it go. We had one bait left so I let it out to 20m and put it into the starboard rigger. We were heading toward a hole slightly north of Oscar when the rigger pulled sharply and then the line hung limp. At and I simultaneously said “Wahoo”. Wahoo are a problem when livebaiting for marlin. They munch a lot of our baits, with the hook right on the nose where they won’t get hooked, and there is nothing you can do about it.

We had no more bait and so rode toward Oscar to look for another. The first pass over the pinnacles produced a small yellowfin tuna of about 4kg. I put it into the tuna tube and we continued trolling. About 15 minutes later we caught another small bonito. I rigged it immediately and kept it on a short line until we were deep enough to put it out. There were two other boats fishing for marlin and one, “Bacchus” - skippered by Allen Beukes – was trolling alongside us. I noticed there was some action at the back of the boat and next thing a black marlin came rocketing out of the water about 70 meters behind them. What a sight! There were only two people on the boat so they had their hands full. Slowly “Bacchus” disappeared out of sight as they pulled the fish shallower and we headed deeper. In about 160m the bait started revving. I could not see what it was, but something was harassing it. Finally the rigger popped and I fed a bit. But nothing happened. I brought the bait back to find that a dorado has mauled the bait and killed it. I rigged the yellowfin and put it out on the rigger. We now had an open spot on the port side where we could put out a bait for a bycatch. At had a 50Lbs vertical jigging rod paired with a Diawa BG60 spinning reel. He has it loaded with 50Lbs braid and a 3m section of 50Lb fluorocarbon. I took this rig and tied a 6/0 mustad Kendal round (straight out the box – not sharpened) directly onto the fluorocarbon leader and off set it with the pliers. I then hooked a live slender scad through the nose and let the line out about 7m behind the boat. In about 120m I happened to look back and saw a large wahoo clear the water close to the boat. I thought it had taken the yellowfin, but when I looked it was fine. I then noticed that the scad had come off the hook. I thought nothing of it and brought in the bare hook. I noticed that there was a slight nick in the leader. Only then did I realize that the wahoo had taken the scad. I was busy hooking another scad when something caught my eye not 3m from the transom. There in the bubbles of the propwash was the wahoo! It was just cruising with us. I was now shaking and nothing could happen fast enough. I flicked the bait into the water on the wahoo’s nose and it chowed it straight away. I struck immediately as I knew there was no wire. The hook came flying past my ear as I missed the fish. I thought I had blown it! But then I saw the fish was still just sitting there. I flicked it another livie and Bang, it was eaten. I struck again, and again I missed it. By now At and Johan were chirping from behind, making me even more nervous that I already was. I hooked another bait and flicked it about 5m to the starboard side of the wake. The wahoo streaked for the bait and munched it down. I fed it for a few seconds then jammed it. Holy Sh!t. The fish took off for China under the rigger and stopped about 50 meters away. I thought that that was the end of it’s first run and that it would be a quick fight. Little did I know that the fish was actually thinking … “Should I take 200m to the left or to the right”. Without warning the wahoo came flying straight to the boat and under it and kept going for probably 150m. There was some fancy footwork to keep the braid from getting into the motors. All the time I was expecting the fish to bite the leader off. Eventually the fish calmed down and I could gain some line. There were a few good runs in between, but I managed to get the fish to about 20 meters under the boat. We were still trolling the yellowfin, so the wahoo was cruising with merrily at a speed that suited him to the ground, making my life hell! At then suggested that we bring in the yellowfin and put it into the tube so that we could go into neutral. Excellent idea! Once the boat was in the tube and we were in neutral, the fight began to make progress. Ten minutes later I had colour about 10m under the boat. I thought the fish was about 15kg when I first saw it eat the bait, but when At looked over the side and asked if he should use the bigger gaff, I knew it must be a lot bigger than that. After a few circles, the wahoo came out from under the boat and At gaffed it in the head. I was over the moon! The hook was sitting just in the lip of the top jaw where it could not be bitten off. Talk about lucky. At and I lifted the fish over the gunwale and we both said it was about 25kg. A beautiful fish! We battled to get the fish into the hatch and finally had to bend the fish quite a bit to get it to fit. What a bycatch!

Back to marlin fishing. We put the yellowfin out and continued trolling. At turned at 60m and headed deeper. In 75m the rigger popped and a big hammer head shark ate the bait. We hooked it but as we were getting Johan into the chair, it bit through the 550Lbs trace. We found ourselves without bait again so we headed for Oscar again. It was 13:30 and we all knew that the chance that we would get bait again was slim. At pulled the bait lures for 30 minutes when one of the rods took off. Johan brought in a yellowfin of about 3kg. What a bait! I put it in the tube and At took us to 70m. I rigged it and we continued trolling deeper.

The weather was beautiful so we decided to make it a long day. At about 14:30 At and Johan had a snooze and left me to man the controls. At about 3pm I was in 50m and going shallower, heading for home, when I decided to make one more deep turn. At and Johan would not even realize it since they were sleeping. In 65m the rigger was pulled flat and the rubber band popped. I shouted “there it is” and ran to the back to feed. At and Johan almost got carpet burns they jumped up so fast! While I was feeding, at saw the fish jumping out the back. This is an indication that the fish has felt the hook and is trying to get rid of the hook. I pushed toe drag to strike and started winding. The rod bent but then suddenly came back. The fish was off. I retrieved the line to see what had happened, but I could feel the weight of the bait. I told At to put the motor in neutral as I free spooled the bait back. After about a minute, with the bait probably 25m down, I felt the line taking tension. I fed some slack into the water then told At to increase the speed. I pushed the drag up and to all our surprise, the line came tight. The fish was taking line off the reel relatively slowly, and it stayed near the surface. At one stage I saw a splash at the back, but was not convinced it was a marlin. If it was, it was a small fish. I told Johan to get into the chair and fight the fish. He did a great job and had the leader on the tip in about 10mins. I took the trace and pulled the fish closer to see what it was. When I finally got a good look at it, I saw that it was in fact a marlin. The circle hook was in the corner of the mouth, but one of the gill rakers had been snagged as the hook pulled out of the stomach and the fish was bleeding profusely. We decided to load the marlin and readied the deck. Once I had the trace, Johan got out the chair and put on a pair of gloves. I brought the marlin closer and Johan grabbed the bill and put on the bill rope. After the fish thrashed around and we were sprayed with white water, Johan and I loaded the fish. I was stoked with this fish because it was Johan’s first and my 100th.

We beached at about 3:45pm and went to weigh the fish. The black marlin weighed in at 74,6kg. Then it was time for the wahoo to be weighed. It pulled the needle down to 27,1kg! My biggest Wahoo by far … and on a spinning reel with fluorocarbon trace … guess it had my name on it.

We found out that “Bacchus” had loaded their marlin and weighed 156kg. Well done to them on a great achievement. Its not easy with only two people onboard!

That night after the fish had been filleted and everyone was settled, we relived the day looking at the video clips and had a good laugh. I feel privileged to have been a part of it.

Real men don't drink pink drinks

After a great day of dorado fishing off Richards Bay On Saturday, I was absolutely buggered and planned to get a good nights sleep. A mate of mine, Michael Duvenage, phoned me at about 7pm on Saturday evening to ask what had happened on the water. After telling him the story, he said that he and his Dad, Hannes, were going to sea the next day. I mentioned to him that if the two of them needed someone to share their boat lunch with, I would be happy to join them, but left it at that.

I went to sleep at about 8pm and slept like the dead. At about 04:45 my phone rang. I was still fast asleep but managed to make out that it was Michael. They were already at the ski-boat club and if I wanted to join them for a day pulling lures for marlin, I was more than welcome to. I told him I would be there in 15 mins. Dragging myself out of bed, I dressed and made my way to the club. When I arrived, the boat was already in the water with the outriggers up, an arsenal of 80Lbs and 130Lbs Penn Internationals at the ready and everyone waiting to go. Hannes has a beautiful 21ft Yeld Cat called “Lihann” powered by two 140 Suzuki’s. It is a pleasure fishing on his boat.

I boarded “Lihann” and Hannes opened the motors, heading out the harbour in a northerly direction. The area we intended working was about 30km north of Richards Bay called “Dawsons”. There had been quite a few marlin taken in that area over the past few days. At about 40 meters the water was purple and warm. There was almost no wind and the sea was as calm as a mill pond. Michael and I went to work setting the five lines. On the Shotgun (or Japan as we know it) Michael put out a 9inch cup-faced lure in the Lumo-Sprocket colour made by one of the local lure manufacturers (Moldtech) – we refer to it as an ‘Ice Cream’. This was headed by a medium sized bird. On the left long rigger, was a pink and white 12” Mold Craft Bobby Brown. On the right long rigger was a large halfbeak rigged on a 10/0 stainless mustad big game hook. There was an Islander Express over the top of this. On the left short rigger was a blue and white Williamson Bonito Smoker and on the right short rigger was a Pulsator purple and black Stripey Tickler (the one I used the previous day for the dorado). Off the transom we ran 2 teasers. One was a chain of Moldcraft squids followed by a medium super chugger. The other was a weighted swimming teaser covered in mirrors … a real Saturday night special! With all this paraphernalia out the back, Hannes worked his way deeper.

We had enjoyed the outing for a few hours with some great 80’s music in the background when Hannes shouted “Daar is hy!”. Michael and I both almost got whiplash spinning our heads to the spread. All I saw was a bit of a splash on the left long, then nothing. A few seconds later, the bill and dorsal of a marlin appeared behind the Bobby Brown lure. The fish looked determined to eat the lure and grabbed it in a ball of white foam. The rigger bent toward the fish as the line took the full tension of the strike. Next thing, the line started running off the 80Lbs International, but there was a problem … the line was slipping through the rubber band and so, the line ran from the rod tip to the rubber band in the rigger and then to the fish which was now taking line at an increasing pace. Michael and I jumped for the rigger clip and managed to break the rubber band. Not the line was where it should be. To my surprise, Hannes and Michael looked at me and said I should get in the chair - something I was not expecting. Normally I would drive the boat or assist on the deck when a billfish was hooked, but now I found myself in the fighting chair after so many years. Needless to say I was a bit rusty.

Hannes and Michael cleared the deck double time and I settled into the fight. The marlin was still taking line steadily when it jumped for the first time. No matter how many times I see a marlin jump, my legs still go like jelly. It is an awesome sight and I wish every angler gets the opportunity to see it at least once in their lifetime. The marlin only jumped that one time before it calmed down. Hannes slowed the boat’s speed to idle and I began the work of putting line back in the reel. I can remember joking during the fight that if it was a striped marlin we were going to boat the fish because that was one species that I still needed to tick off of my species list. After about 15 minutes the marlin was near the boat. We had all seen that it was a small fish and so planned to release it.

The leader came up and Michael took hold of it. Due to the angle of the sun, I could not make out the specie until it was about 2 meters away. At first I thought it was a small blue, but when the fish opened it’s dorsal fin, I could not believe my eyes … it was a stripey! I was over the moon. The fact that the fish had not jumped much and it had come to the boat so quickly meant that it was still very energetic. This normally translates to a lot of thrashing next to the boat and usually the first aid kit is needed if the wireman is not wide awake! Michael took hold of the bill and the fish protested wildly! There was A LOT of white water coming over the gunwale and I can vividly remember the sound of Michaels hands being slammed against the side of the boat!
At one stage the fish decided that an “out of the water” approach would be better and launched itself into the air with Michael hanging on for dear life – Real ESPN stuff.

Hannes tried to put the ORI tag into the fish, but the soft stainless of the new tags folded over when it hit the marlin’s skin. After battling to straighten the tag, we decided to release the fish before it sustained any damage. Michael removed the hook and let the marlin be on its way. To say that we were happy was an understatement! There were hugs and shouts and yes … the inevitable air punches but luckily no pink drinks!

I was handed the video camera just before Michael took the bill, so I managed to get the whole thing on video. It is a classic man vs fish clip that had us in stitches every time we watched it.

Once the celebrations were over, Micheal and I set the lines again and we continued trolling. The fish was released by 8:30am so we had the whole day to find a second marlin. We were in 275m of water when I saw a big swirl on the port side of the boat just behind the halfbeak. I was not sure what it was until I saw the marlin come flying down the swell, all of its lights on, after the bait. I shouted to Michael and Hannes as the rubber band popped. I fed the fish for a few seconds and put the drag up. The fish took some line before the hook came out. It took the bait a second time but the same thing happened. The fish faded off to the japan lure where it grabbed it with a size splash. The rigger popped and the fish took about 40m of line before the hook pulled! Frustrating to say the least!

We reset the lines and continued trolling. About 3 hours later, a dorado came flying into the spread and ate the left short lure on the 130Lbs rig. The reel did not even tick once, the dorado just pulled along on the surface at the same speed that we were trolling. It was unceremoniously brought to the boat and lifted over the gunwale and straight into the open hatch. As soon as a dorado touches the deck, it goes completely mad! And it is not a good idea to get close to it with a few 12/0 marlin hooks flying around the place! Obout an hour later, other dorado fell to the same left short lure. It also ended up in the hatch with great speed!

The halfbeak had been damaged by the marlin strike so Michael replaced it with a belly shine from a dorado which was put on the right long rigger. Just as we were about to pack up, the strip bait was eaten by another small fish. I brought the fish in very quickly on 80Lbs tackle and Michael put a tag into it before releasing it. It actually felt good releasing a tuna for a change!

When it came time to pack up, I was given the honour of hoisting the release flag for my first striped marlin. What a feeling! We were back on shore by about 4pm and then it was time for the traditional drink for people that had caught a marlin. The Richards Bay Ski Boat Club has a “Yard of Ale” that is filled with 12 tots and 2 cans of mix. This beast of a drink is shared by the whole crew until the bulb of the bottom of the glass is reached, then it is up to the angler to polish it. Who am I to mess with tradition?! Bottoms up! What a great way to end a great day!

First Holiday Launch, 5 December 2009

With Summer in full swing, the dorado have started making an appearance. I did not have leave over the festive season because I took too much during the year (but it was worth it!). I received phone calls from people who were catching sailfish, marlin and some dorado on a regular basis. This just made me enjoy work like you can’t believe.

After looking out the window and seeing beautiful conditions for the past week, I had had enough. I checked the weather report (something I do religiously during the week!) one last time. Typically the weather will be perfect in the week and on Friday at around 2pm … when I knock off work … the cold front will move in and the SW winds will howl until Sunday afternoon. The prediction was for a SE wind of 15 knots swinging round to a NE in the afternoon.

I knocked off work and went down to the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club (RBSBC) to see what the other boats had caught. There were a few dorado and two marlin releases. Not exactly fireworks. I phoned a good mate of mine, Divan Coetzee, and asked him if he wanted to join me the following day. He was also in the unfortunate position of not having leave, so he was just as frustrated as I was. We decided that regardless what the weather was going to throw at us, we were going.

My plan for the following day was to run north to an area called the castle (several high points on the 50m ledge that runs the length of the NE coast of South Africa) with the wind. I would load up on live bait and then pull small lures up the ledge hoping for a few small bonito. I would rig the bonito for marlin bait and if there were no bonito around, I would pull the mackerel instead. At the end of the day, when the wind had turned NE, I would be able to come back with the wind – Brilliant!

So, at 04:30 on Saturday morning, my alarm went off. I looked out the window and saw that there was a bit of a breeze. I took a quick peek at my ultimatum tree (the tallest tree on the block which was a great indicator as to what to expect). It was a 50:50 call. Oh bugger it, I’m going. Divs arrived at about 04:45 and we hitched the boat and left for the club.

We were fishing on my Dad’s boat “Selfish”. It is an 18ft Hunter built by Trimcraft powered by two 60HP Mariner Bigfoots. The boat was built in 1994 but has been stored in a garage ever since, so it looks pretty good … if I do say so myself.

When we arrived at the club, I was surprised to see that there were no other boats out. Apparently the other skippers/crews were fair weather fisherman and decided to give the day a skip. Obviously they had been on leave for a few days already and were not as desperate as us. We launched at about 05:15 and headed out the harbour mouth and turned north. I headed East at first toward a few bait spots of mine. The sea conditions were less than perfect. There was a 15knot SE blowing with about a 2m swell. This was uncomfortable to say the least! At least the water was a beautiful blue colour and 25 degrees with a bit of current in a N to S direction.

When we arrived at the bait spot, we both dropped down with the sabiki bait jigs and instantly produced a full string of mackerel! Divs and I were busy making bait when I noticed a swirl on the surface about 30m away. I had a suspicion that it was a dorado and quickly tied a 6/0 single onto one of the game rods. I then grabbed a live mackerel, hooked it through the nose and flicked it overboard, free lining it. About 30 seconds later the line went tight. I fed the fish for a few seconds then pushed the drag up to strike. On! It turned out to be a small dorado of about 5kg. Divs and I put about 20 mackerel and about 10 maasbankers into the hatch before heading north to the castle.

On arrival, I rigged two halfbeaks (one on the japan line and the other on the port long rigger). This was just for incase a sailfish was in the area. I then put out a small black and purple Pulsator “Stripey Tickler’ on the starboard long rigger on the 50Lbs marlin rod, this was for the small black marlin that were being caught on the ledge. On the flat lines, I put out 3 halcos. These were intended for the bonito.

With the spread out I headed north zig zagging the ledge from 45m to 65m as I went. It was about 20 mins before one of the halco rods had a strike. It ended up being another dorado. When Divs brought the fish to the boat, it had a follower. I hooked on a live mackerel and flicked it out. It was like feeding candy to a baby. On! With 5 lines still in the water, two fish on, an unsettled sea and both of us trying to keep our balance, it was a bit of a mission to keep everything under control. Luckily everything went according to plan and we managed to get both fish.

I made a turn over the spot where we got the initial strike. The halco that had the strike earlier jumped out of the water due to the boat surging down the swell. I asked Divan to bring it in so that it could be tuned. As he got to the rod, the reel screamed. On with another dorado. I slowed the boat down to fight the fish when the port rigger popped - On with the second dorado. I left the second rod in the holder and waited for Divs to boat his fish. He then took the other rod and managed to boat the second fish as well.

The lines went back in and I continued north. The sea was gradually getting better and the clouds were burning off, letting the sun come through. The lures looked really good as they smokes behind us with the swell. Things were quiet for about 30 minutes when the starboard rigger popped. The 50Lb rod bent a bit and line slowly left the spool. Divan was tired of pulling fish and refused to take the rod. He said it way my turn and that he was busy with some other “stuff” at the moment. I reluctantly took the rod and pulled a good dorado into the boat.
I put out the lure again and had just settled down when the same rigger popped. This time I had “Stuff” to do and told Divan to pull the fish. He unceremoniously lifted our 7th dorado into the boat.

It was now about 9am and the other boats bad plucked up the courage to launch. There were three other boats near us, but they were battling to get fish. Everything went quiet from then on. We continued north about 10km in which time we had one other strike from a small wahoo. Unfortunately the fish pulled hooks at the boat. By 11am the sun was out and the white caps had vanished. It was turning into a beautiful day. I suggested that we bring in the lures and rig the mackerel for live baiting. I had brought a 50Lbs and a 30Lbs marlin rod with for the day. I was looking to catch a small marlin on standup tackle. If a black marlin happened to eat the 30Lbs outfit, and it was over 118kg, it would be a new SA record. The challenge was on.

I rigged 2 mackerel on 14/0 circle hooks on 250Lbs trace. The bridle I used was a #32 rubber band. After putting the 30Lbs outfit out about 25m, I attached the line to the starboard rigger clip with a thinner rubber band and put about 8m of drop back into the water. The 50Lbs outfit was set at 15m and attached to the port rigger also with 8m of dropback. I headed out from the 50m ledge toward deeper water. The marlin had been coming out between 75m and 200m of water so I wanted to troll in that depth range.

At 12:00 we were in 90m the starboard rigger popped followed shortly by the port rigger. I fed the fish on the 30Lbs while Divan fed the one on the 50Lbs. We both tightened up at the same time. Divan went tight but my fish came off. I retrieved the line as fast as I could to make way for Divan. As I did this, a good size dorado came flying out of the water after the hook that was pulling a bubble through the water. I lifted the hook into the boat and hooked another live bait and flicked it to the waiting dorado. It gulped it down as it hit the water. I fed the fish and tightened up. The hook missed again! By now, Divan’s fish had started jumping, showing itself to be a nice big dorado, with a follower! I went into panic mode and grabbed the first rod I could find with a ‘J’ hook on it. On went the live bait and into the water. It was a coconut every time we fed a fish a live bait. Now we had 2 fish taking line in opposite directions. I put my rod into the holder and got another rod ready for Divan’s follower. Divan shouted that the free swimming fish was around the boat, so I flicked it a bait. Coconut! Now there were three! Divan pulled the fish hard on the 50Lbs and I lifted the dorado into the boat and straight into the hatch. Divs took the next rod and pulled that fish in aswell. After being pulled around by a few fish, he downed tools and told me to bring in the last fish (which was about 100m out by now!) A short while later and the last fish of the triple hookup was onboard. Brilliant!

It was getting late so I rerigged the baits and trolled south toward the harbour. In about 60m of water, just deeper than the ledge, Divan spotted an old net floating in the water. I trolled past it and was rewarded with a double strike. We fed both fish but the line never picked up. I retrieved the lines to see that one of the rubber bands was bitten off and the other had pulled through the head of the mackerel. I assumed that these were small wahoo as some of the other boats had caught shoal size wahoo in the same area earlier in the day.

We decided to make another turn around the net and had a dorado come swimming next to the boat. It quickly turned to the baits and with little surprise, the rigger with the 30Lbs popped. Divan connected the fish and brought it into the boat. While this was happening, I let out the 50Lbs a bit futher and put it into the starboard rigger. Divan rerigged the 30Lbs and put it out. About 15mins later, the starboard rigger popped. I fed the fish and had a solid hookup. This time the rod bent double and the reel took off! I told Divs that I suddenly had “Stuff” to do and that he should take the rod. To my surprise, he laughed at me and handed me the harness – great, with friends like that who needs enemies! In any event, I strapped myself in and pulled the fish hard. My back was aching after 20 mins but I was determined to beat the fish. After a strong hard fight, I managed to get a hammerhead shark of about 140-160kg to the boat. The leader was quickly cut and the shark went on his was.

I had had enough for one day so Divan and I cleared the deck to go home. I increased the speed and headed for home. I did not want to pound all the way, so I slowed to about 12 knots and asked Divs to put out the 50Lbs rod with the black and purple “Stripey Tickler”. We had done about 500m when I noticed the lure was tumbling a bit too much. I told Divan to let the line out a bit further to stop it from jumping out the swell. He was busy letting the line out when the reel took off in his hands, burning his fingers a bit. He put up the drag and attended to his fingers. I didn’t understand what was going on until I saw the rod bending and the dorado jumping out the back - Classic! To add insult to injury, I told Divs that I was a bit busy and he would have to catch the fish. After a few choice words, he brought the dorado to the boat … and believe it or not … there was a follower! By now it was second nature … hook a mackerel … flick it out … coconut! This brought the total for the day to 14 dorado.

By now both of us were tired and the rods were packed away and we headed for home. What a Legend day! Thanks Divs!

A Great Petingo Day

At 11am on 3^rd May 2009, my brother in law Carl and I launched “SELFISH” off Richards Bay. We had planned not to fish, but the weather had settled and it was turning into a beautiful day. There had been good numbers of big cuda around so we decided to give it a go.

We headed to Petingo into a really sloppy sea. It took us almost an hour to get there but when we arrived, the conditions looked perfect. There were several boats that had been there since the morning, including Wesley and Bryan Rapson on “Blackfin”. There had been a few fish already so things looked good.

I only had 9 wala-wala with me so if they were going to eat, it would have to on wala. I rigged 4 rods, 3 on surface and 1 down and started my approach. “BIG W” and “Blackfin” came past me on either side and they showed me that they had 3 and 4 fish respectively. Wesley shouted that they were eating only bonnies down deep. As they passed me, I looked back to see the far surface rod bend and the reel took off. Both Wesley and Wayne could not believe it. I just had to smile. Carl took the rod and fought an average size cuda to the boat where I gaffed it. Nice ... on the board.

Lines went back in and I made another circle. We were busy putting sunblock on when I heard a splash behind the boat. As I turned to look, the reel smoked off. I took the strike and after a good fight, Carl gaffed a nice cuda of 20kg or so. Definitely worth coming out for the afternoon.

The other boats were not having much luck since we arrived so some of them upped lines and went home. This gave me more room to troll. I had just gone over the wreck on the southern side when another surface rod took off. Carl was on the rod and brought in another nice cuda of about 20kg. After having 3 strikes, I found the pattern and speed that the fish liked and stuck to it. All the fish were on surface so I brought in the deep bait. I had the rod in the holder while removing the sinker when all of a sudden the line was ripen out of my hands! The cuda had grabbed the bait not 5m from the transom! Awesome. I took the strike and had a great time with another good fish over 20kg.

The other boats were now following me so I made a few wide turns to shake them. On one of these turns, I asked Carl to check the baits. He picked up a rod and gave a few turns on the reel. The rod was almost jerked out of his hands by another cuda! This fish gave us hell and we soon found out why. It was a really nice fish and it was foul hooked. This fish was the biggest of the day and didn’t fit in the hatch so it lay on the deck with a towel.

One of my friends approached us and asked how many fish we had as he had heard we were doing well. I was busy telling him when another reel smoked off. I took the rod and brought in a nice fish of just under 20kg.

By Now the bait stocks were low and it was getting late. I decided to make one last turn over the wreck. As we came off the wreck, the reel took off. Carl brought in another good fish to end the day. We knew that this was a special day and that we would not have similar fishing in a long time to come.

We were back at the club at 17:30 with 7 cuda. The smallest was 12kg ad the biggest 27kg.

2009 Bonanza

The first day of the 2009 Richards Bay Easter Bonanza dawned and nearly 100 boats took to the water. Wessel and Marinda as well as David Allen were with me for the competition and we were going to look for cuda. David and I launched “SELFISH” at about 4:30am and went to fetch Marinda and Wessel. By 5am we were waiting for the call to start fishing. In this time, I rigged up 5 baits so that I could put out as I stopped. When it was lines in, we sped off to petingo to get a shot at a fish before the rest of the fleet.

We stopped at petingo and I put out the baits, some deep, some on surface. In the distance you could see the boats approaching at speed. The water looked good and on my first pass over the wreck, the deep bait was taken by a nice fish which smoked off. Wessel took the strike and had a good fight with a nice cuda. About 15 minutes later, I gaffed a fish of 22kg. Nice start. Within half an hour, there were 25 boats on the wreck so I moved off to deeper water. At 11am, I made my way back to the wreck. Some of the boats had left and now there was some space to operate. I made 2 turns and a surface bait went off. Marinda fought the fish to the boat. It made another run and then stopped dead in its tracks. Marinda pulled in the head of an average size cuda which the shark had eaten near the boat. Unlucky. Later that day, we had another fish take the surface bait. David took the strike and brought in a cuda of about 8kg. That was the last of the action we had, but it was more that most of the other boats.

The second day of the Bonanza dawned and we set off at about the same time as the day before. The sea was flat so we had a great ride to petingo. There were fewer boats and we could manoeuvre easily. Things were very quiet and at about 11am, Wessel brought out the lunch pack. The first thing I saw was a pack of green apples! That is the worst thing you could have done. I am very superstitious about apples and from there, I was totally negative. Needless to say, the apples went for a swim.

At about 12 o clock, one of the surface walas was eaten and the reel smoked off. I took the strike and pampered the fish to the boat. I didn’t want to take any chances with the curse of the apples onboard. Luckily we had some good luck and David gaffed a fish of 21kg for me. Great! I put the lines out and as I turned there was a big splash behind the boat, followed by a smoking reel! Wessel took the rod and fought another nice 22kg cuda to the boat where I gaffed it.

Everything went dead from then on and we returned to harbour with 2 good fish. Unfortunately they were not big enough to win any prizes, but they tasted awesome.
The last day was blown out and that ended the 2009 Bonanza.

BIG Cuda!

On 1st May 2008, At van Tilburg, Piet Joubert, Pier Smit, Gert and I launched “AVANTI” off Richards Bay. By all accounts, it was terrible weather. A SW of 20 knots was blowing, it was drizzling and the sea was unsettled. But, with the cuda season coming to an end, it was not or never to get one last good fish.

We headed straight to Petingo. The trip took us about an hour to do the 18km into a head-on sea. When we finally arrived, we were not alone. Mike Leenstra on “BELUGA” was also there and he had 2 nice fish on board already. I went about rigging 2 wala and 2 bonnies. The sloppy conditions made setting lines at the slow pace very difficult, but somehow I managed to set the 4 lines. At trolled around the wreck for about an hour without a strike. I checked the baits but they were still looking good. At turned the controls over to me saying I might have more luck in riding over a fish.

I made several figure eights around the wreck and finally, at I came off the Southern side of the wreck, one of the surface walas was eaten. Everyone was sitting on the other side of the boat to keep dry, so I was the closest one to the rod. I ran back and took the rod. The guys cleared the lines and I called At to take the rod because it felt like a nice fish. He said I someone else should take it so I gave the rod to Pier. The fish made a few strong fast runs and after about 25minutes, it was near the boat. It made a few big circles and when it was within range, I put the gaff in. At first, I did not realise the size of the fish until I lifted it over the gunwale. It was massive! The biggest cuda I had been with ... by far! It was too long to fit in the hatch of the 21ft Yeld so we lay it on the deck with a towel over it. After congrats all round, we reset the baits.

I trolled around for another two hours or so without another pull. Mike had also not had another rev. The wind was more than 25knots and the sea was getting ugly. We decided to call it a day and had dry ride back with the wind.

At the club, Mike’s 2 fish weighed 24kg and 26kg. Two really nice fish. When we finally put out fish on the scale, it pulled the needle to 36.2kg!!! A great beast. It was the biggest cuda in SA for the year.

Lessons Learnt

On 18^th February 2008, my Dad and I launched “SELFISH” off Richards Bay to fish for cuda. It was a bit early in the season for the big cuda, but this day we were hoping to avoid the bigger fish. I was looking for an SA line class record cuda on 1kg line. Ultra light line and big fast fish are not a good combination so we were looking for the smaller cuda that had been around in the size rang we were after.

We stopped off at a few bait spots but could not find anything. There was not a breath of wind, the water was gin clear and 24 degrees... not great for big cuda. We gave up on live bait and headed off to petingo. Arriving at 9am, we joined the other boats in trolling around the wreck. I put out 2 rods, both with mackerel on the surface. I had very light wires and leaders so my traces were pretty much invisible. I had just put the baits out when the starboard rod bent and the reel took off. Before I could pick up the rod, the fish was off. The 3/0 hooks did not set with the light drag ... that’s par for the course. In went a new bait and my Dad continued trolling. With this light line, you need to be close to the rod so that you can slack the drag as the fish speeds away. Most times, I would only fish with 1 rod and I would hold it all day.

The water was so clean that you could see down the sides of the wreck. There were shoals of bigeye kingfish, seapike, batfish, scads and other bottomfish. It was beautiful! With so much activity, it did not take long for another rev. This time the hooks sat and the fish sped off. The other line was cleared and my Dad chased the fish. I was on it for about 20 minutes when it took another long, deep run. We could not chase the fish as it went down and it managed to get out enough line to result in the friction parting me off. When the line parted, I was in free spool! With this light tackle, the odds are never in your favour.

I rerigged and made another pass over the wreck. Again the rod bent as a fish took off. This time it did not fight on the surface, but rather went deep. The head node indicated that it was probably a kingfish and with such a big structure, it was no surprise when it cut me off... back to the drawing board.

In the next 2 hours, I had 3 other fish on ... presumably cuda. One pulled hooks on the first run and the other two popped the line after about 15 minutes. I had had enough so I brought out the big guns ... the 4kg rod J Now these fish had problems. I pulled one 1kg rig and the 4kg rig. On the first pass over the wreck, the 4kg went. I put some pressure on the fish and turned its head. Not long after, I released a bigeye kingfish of about 3kg... Revenge!

It was now about 11:30am. We were on the southern side of the wreck when I saw the 4kg rod bend a bit. I went to the rod and tightened up. There was a bit of weight, but then the bait came out. I held the bait there and the fish came back. Again, when I tightened up, it was on but then off. I was sure it was a small hammerhead so when the fish came back, I fed it a bit before setting the hook. This time, there was some good weight and the fish took some line. I told my dad not to worry about the other line as it was a shark and I would force it a bit. As I applied more pressure, there was a few big head shakes. I thought it a bit strange and told my Dad that something was not right. My words were not cold when the line angled to the surface and a sailfish out the back! NICE! It took off across the flat surface putting up a great show. The other line was cleared and we followed the fish. In the clear water, the sailfish was clearly visible and we stayed on top of it until it tired a bit. I worked the fish up where my Dad grabbed the bill. I took out a tag and popped it into the shoulder before taking the bill. We revived it for a bit before sending it on its way. We followed it for a few minutes, the orange tag clearly visible from a distance away. Finally it disappeared into the depths. Great. I estimated it at about 18-20kg ... a perfect fish for 1kg. Oh well, lesson learnt.

The day ended without any cuda, but it was still a great day on the sea.

Mapelane Billfish 2007

At 4am on Monday the 5^th March 2007, the “My Lady” team consisting of Jannie Nel, Trevor Harvey and I arrived on Mapelane beach for the first day of the Mapelane Billfish Invitational. The weather over the past 4 days had been horrific and the swell was really big. On the first morning of the competition however, the wind had died down but the swell was still big. The weather committee got together and made the call to cancel the competition for the day. Jannie had his brand new 17ft Yeld Cat off the trailer for the first time and was still keen to have a social fishing trip to see how the boat handled. Without much deliberation, we put the boat into the bay and made a few laps to check that everything was working. Jannie saw the gap and we comfortably made it through the sets.

The sea looked good, apart from a large swell that was running. We headed up to the slides, a few km north of St Lucia, where we put out a few small lures to catch livebait. The current was doing about 4 knots and the colour was a deep blue. We trolled for about half an hour when we had a double strike on skipjack tuna. These were quickly brought in and rigged on 20/0 circle hooks. I let out the lines and Jannie headed to deeper water.

The strong current pushed us south at quite a speed and at about 10am we were straight over the launch. While trolling, we found a flock of birds dipping on the surface and headed in that direction. Shortly after seeing the activity, I walked back to check the baits. When I looked into the water, I saw 3 or 4 small skipjack swimming with us, several meters behind the boat. I put out a small lure, but they were not interested. They swam with us for about an hour before we parted company.

The baits had been swimming for a few hours and were starting to take strain in the large swell. We adjusted the direction to troll in the trough to reduce the surge on the bait. This resulted in us trolling deeper. In about 250m, I saw a big blue flash about 10m from the port rigger. I jumped up and saw a marlin following the short bait. The fish had all its colours lit up, but it did not want to take the bait. I pulled the line out the rigger and let the bait further out, thinking the marlin was a bit shy of the boat. This also did not induce a strike. The fish made a big circle and then saw the long bait. It raced over to the bait but did not strike. The fish was obviously interested in the bait but would not take it. It obviously needed to be enticed to feed. I released the line from the rigger and let the dropback come tight off the rod tip. I then wound the bait in at speed hoping that this would tease the fish and it would strike. The marlin chased the bait right to the boat before moving back to the short bait. By now the three of us were out of ideas and were ready to give up! I let out the bait again and the marlin followed it again. When it was about 50 or 60m back, I put the drag up and had Jannie increase the speed of the boat. I wound the bait back to the boat causing it to skip on the surface. I could not see if the marlin was still around, but as the bait came down the swell, we saw the electric blue colours of the marlin closing in fast! I continued winding and lost sight of the bait behind the swell. Suddenly there was a heavy weight on the line and so I hit freespool, assuming the marlin had grabbed the bait. I fed the fish longer than usual as it was very shy, before tightening up. The rod loaded up and the reel started running... Hookup! The fish came flying out the water about 100m behind the boat giving a great show. I called to Jannie to get into the chair and we strapped him in.

Trevor cleared the other line and I took over the controls. Jannie had never fought a marlin out of a chair, all his marlin were on Scarborough reels, so I coached him until he got the rythme. The fish was very stubborn and took a while to get it to the boat. Trevor and I decided to boat the fish because friends had asked for marlin steaks for starters at the opening of a new restaurant. When the fish was near the boat, I put the autopilot on and took the leader. When the fish way at the boat, Trevor grabbed the bill and put the billrope on. The fish gave him a bit of a hiding before the two of us pulled the 90kg Black Marlin into the boat. Great! The first launch and the first marlin ... Nice.

By then it was about 12:00 so we headed for the beach.

Personal Best

On 29^th December 2004 at about 5am, At van Tilburg and I launched his 16ft Yeld Cat off Cape Vidal. We headed for Oscar and put out 5 bait rods looking for marlin bait. There was an easterly wind blowing and the baitfish were off the bite. We trolled around the pinnacles for about 3 hours without a strike so we headed north. In the middle of nowhere, the closest rod ran a bit. I took the rod and brought in a small Dorado of about 2kg. We knew we would battle to get another bait so we rigged the Dorado and put it out.

At about 9am, the rigger revved and before I could get to the clip, it released. I fed the fish but the line never picked up. After a short while, I started retrieving the bait. I could feel something pulling on the other end but then it would let go. I brought the bait in and saw that it had been ripped to pieces by a bigger Dorado. The bait was just too big for it to swallow.

At and I decided not to look for another bait but rather head shallower to look for gamefish. We stopped at a reef in 15m of water and caught a few maasbanker. I rigged two baits and let them out. I had just put the second rod in the holder when the first reel ran. A nice Dorado jumped out the water. I brought it to the boat where At gaffed it. As he lifted it into the boat, it jumped off the gaff. The Dorado went wild and managed to get caught up in the harness. I jumped on top of it and got it into a headlock. While this was going on, the second reel took off. At and I first put the dorado safely into the hatch before I took up the other rod. The fish felt quite heavy and after putting some pressure on it, the line angled to the surface. The next thing a big sailfish tailwalked across the surface. It looked very lethargic and after a few more jumps, it sounded. At followed it and I gained line, working the fish up. After a while, the sinker came up and At removed it. The fish came in easily and was soon next to the boat. The fish had lost its colours and was a dull grey colour. I removed the hooks (which were in the gills) and towed it alongside the boat for about 15 minutes. The fish showed no signs of life so At and I decided to load it. I tried to pull it over the gunwale but couldn’t so At assisted me. Both of us battled, thinking it was about 40kg or so. Finally it was on the deck and we continued fishing. After 2 hours without another strike, we upped lines and headed home.

We weighed the sailfish to see how big it was. It had us all guessing as it had good condition and length. It finally pulled the needle down to 55,4kg, my personal best!