SADSAA Billfish Classic 2010

The briefing for the SADSAA Billfish Classic 2010 was held on 9th February at the Richards Bay Skiboat Club. All the who’s who of South African angling were there to support the event. In total, there were 82 boats that were participating and this event promised to be the best billfishing event held in the country.

I have fished this event since 2005 when it was still called the “Black Watch” – we were lucky enough to win the tournament in 2005 with 3 marlin releases. The concept is simple ... release as many billfish as you can in four days. The winner walks away with R100 000 cash, runner up R50 000 and third R30 000. Marlin count 100 points, sailfish count 30 points and spearfish count 15 points. In the event of a tie, the team to catch their last fish first is the winner.

This year, I was fishing aboard Wayne Ritchie’s 900 Cobra, “Big W”. Joining us were Eugene Terblanche, Riaan Charmers and Darren Gray. Tackle preparation had taken place the week before the competition so we were hoping for the best.

Day one of the competition kicked off at 04:15am on Wednesday morning. All boats gathered together in the harbour mouth for the mass start. The camera crew were aboard the Bell chopper as well as aboard several participating boats. At 05:00 we were given the go ahead to head to sea. The sight of 80 odd boats all pulling away at top speed was nothing short of spectacular. You name it, from 18ft skiboats to 47ft sportfishers they were there.

Our plan for the day was to head north about 35km and work the 300-700m depth. When we arrived at the spot at 06:30, we were greeted by warm, blue water with an extremely strong north to south current. Perfect conditions. The wind was blowing a bit, probably 15knots NE but the conditions were very fishable. The spread we decided on was: Centre rigger 9inch pink and white Moldcraft Bobby Brown; Port rigger Black and Blue Iland saillure with a halfbeak; Starboard rigger Blue and pink Moldcraft tiny superchugger with a halfbeak; Port short rigger Blue and white Moldcraft tiny superchugger with a halfbeak; Starboard short rigger black and purple Pulsator Stripey Tickler; Starboard flatline big blue and white Moldcraft Superchugger behind a 18inch Williamson exciter and Port flatline blue and white Pulsator bonito smoker.

The idea behind this spread was to have very big lures close to the boat to act as teasers and then to have some bait a bit further back to snatch fish that came up close to the boat interested in the teasers. There were a few lures in the back spread just incase a fish was missed on the bait.

With the lures swimming beautifully, Wayne headed the boat in an easterly direction trying to gain some depth. There were a few hook-ups reported already and we were anticipating something to happen. At 07:35, Riaan saw a splash on the centre rigger, but nothing happened. A few seconds later, with everyone now focused to the back lure, there was another splash and the rigger popped and the reel screamed. The fish stuck its head out the water and shook violently. The rod jerked back and forth for a few seconds then pulled up and stood still. The fish was gone. After closer inspection it could be seen that the marlin had managed to get the hook over the bill and not into its mouth. When the bill pointed in the boat’s direction, the hook simply slid off. There was nothing we could do about that. It has happened many times with many different hookrigs. We reset the lines and continued trolling. At 9am, without any warning, the starboard short rigger popped and the reel took off. A small blue marlin came flying out the water about 20m from the stern and greyhounded across all the lines. We managed to clear the lines without burning off. It was Wayne’s turn in the chair so he came down to the deck and I went up to the bridge. The fish settled and we started gaining line. After 25mins, the fish was about 10 meters from the boat. Eugene was leaning out to take the leader when the hook pulled! Unbelievable! What bad luck. So near yet so far. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

We reset again and continued trolling. During the course of the morning, we had a few niggles with the spread. Firstly, the large exciter we had on the flatline would turn upside down and catch the swell, pulling it underwater. The resistance was so much that the line would run off the reel at a medium pace and we would need to slow the boat to retrieve the lure. The second problem we had was with the portside halfbeak. It was rigged with a superchugger which had quite a resistance in the water. This caused the light rubber band to break periodically. I didn’t want to put a stronger one on as the fish would probably feel the resistance and leave the bait or the body would part from the head and we would miss the fish.

At about 10am, the port rigger popped. Riaan shouted from the bridge that it was a false alarm. I assumed the same thing as this had happened about 4 times already. I stood next to the rod with the reel on freespool just in case. A few seconds later, the starboard flatline ran off a bit of line at a medium pace. All of us assumed that the bird was pulling line as it did earlier that morning. I watched the angle of the line and saw it heading straight for the port rigger bait. I was just thinking of pulling in the bait to prevent a tangle when I felt the line in my hand go tight and run off the reel at the same pace as the flat line. Damn, a tangle. I put the reel into strike and held on. Now both reels were running at the same pace in the same direction. I asked Wayne to slow down so that we could sort out the tangle. As he slacked off, I looked back to see two shortbill spearfish jumping next to each other! There was no tangle, there were two fish on! Chaos! Riaan took charge of the flatline while I held onto the standup rod. After a few seconds, my fish jumped off the hook but the other one was still on. We cleared the lines and Riaan pulled in the spearfish. I took the trace and the required photos were taken. Riaan wanted a photo so I grabbed the bill and lifted it into the boat. There was not much place to grab as the bill was so short, so I ended up grabbing the bill and the hooks at the same time and yip, you guessed it, I got a hook in my hand (not too serious though). After a few quick pics, we released the shortbill. They are one of the most beautiful billfish.

We were all stoked to be on the scoreboard and reset the lines with a spring in out step. Wayne circled the area that had produced the last few strikes and as luck would have it, the starboard short rigger popped again. A nice blue marlin rocketed out f the water behind the boat and smoked line off the reel. We all cleared the lines and Wayne chased the fish down. There was probably 450m of line off the reel when the fish slowed it’s run, but with so many boats in the area, we had to shout and direct traffic to prevent our line from being ridden off. The fish sounded and Eugene went to work putting line back on the reel. After a fight lasting about an hour, I got my hands on the leader and pulled the +-150kg blue against the boat. I removed the hooks and revived the fish for a few minutes before releasing it. What a great feeling.
After releasing the blue, we had no more action and returned to port in 4th position. There were 21 releases for the day.

On day 2 we worked the same area as the previous day, without a touch. The fish had moved south with the current and boats operating in the area released several fish. The days tally came to 18 billfish releases.

Day 3 was blown out by 9am. We had some bad luck when a small marlin had a go at the centre rigger but missed the hooks. We made a turn in the same area and the same fish ate the port long rigger. Unfortunately the hook pulled after a few seconds. There was only 1 release for the day.

Day 4 was a perfect day. Light winds, blue water and good current. Unfortunately the action was not in the area that we were fishing and we again had a blank. There were 11 fish released for the day. This brought the total release tally to 51 billfish (9 spearfish, 4 sailfish and 38 marlin).
All in all, it was a great competition and I look forward to participating next year.

Trinity of Blues

On Friday 5th February, Wayne Ritchie, Michael Duvenage and I attended the briefing of the Richards Bay Skiboat Club Marlin Interclub/Interprovincial. This competition was scheduled for the following three days. There were several interclub and interprovincial teams taking part and it promised to be a great tournament. Wayne, Michael and I were representing the Richards Bay Skiboat Club with Divan Coetzee as our deckhand.

On Saturday the 6th the weather committee called off the competition due to 20 plus knot winds. The forecast for Sunday also looked bleak so it was no surprise when the second day was also blown out. By now everyone was tired of sitting on the side but the forecast for the next day looked fishable. Wayne phoned me on the Sunday to let me know that he had to work on the Monday which meant Michael, Divan and I would need to take out Wayne’s boat without him. I was not comfortable with this and made arrangements to fish on another boat. We approached Frans van Rensburg and he offered to assist us on the last day of the tournament. Frans owns the 40ft Power cat “Trinity”.

On Monday morning, the competition organizers gave us the go ahead to fish, eventhough the wind was blowing around 18 knots. We left the harbour at 05:15 and headed in an easterly direction. The sea was relatively calm but there were a lot of white horses around. The green water was out to about the 200m mark so it took us about 45 minutes to get out there. We put out the lures and headed deeper. The radio was very quiet and only one dropped fish had been reported. At about 8am we were in 700m of water when the center rigger with the blue and white Moldcraft super chugger popped, then nothing. I ran to the rod and gave the reel a few turns. The rod bent and the reel took off in the opposite direction. Michael and Divan cleared the deck while I tried to keep the line under control and then called in the hookup. The fish jumped about 150m away showing it to be a blue marlin. Once the lines were cleared, Divan and Michael helped me get into the standup harness and the fight commenced.

The fish went deep after its display on the surface. Frans backed up on it and I managed to get most of the line back. After 30mins, the double line came out the water followed by the tail. When the marlin had sounded, the leader wrapped around its tail and I was pulling in reverse. Luckily the leader unwrapped and the fish could be traced and tagged. Divan held the fish by the bill while Michael jumped overboard with the video camera. After a few shots, Divan released the fish and we were on the score board with the first release.

The current was screaming at about 6 knots so we had lost a lot of ground during the fight. We opted to run a bit north to get back to our fishing grounds before resetting the lines. At 9:40 another boat hooked up to a good marlin on 50Lbs tackle. We were all a bit nervous knowing that a big fish could put us into second place. We were still chatting about the possible scenarios when the port rigger with the purple and black Moldcraft widerange popped and the reel took off. Michael grabbed the rod while Divan and I cleared the deck. I called in the hookup at 10:05 while Michael settled into the fight.

The fish gave an awesome show on the surface then settled. We could see that it was a good fish. After a few good runs, Michael managed to get the fish to the boat. Divan traced the fish and I tagged it. Michael jumped overboard again and filmed the fish as it swam away. The +-160kg blue marlin took 50 minutes from hookup to release.

The lines went back in and we continued trolling. The boat that had hooked up earlier released their fish about 10 minutes after we released ours. The radio was quiet for the next while with the exception of a few dorado being caught.

At about noon, we were enjoying the boat lunches that the RBSBC had supplied when we heard a loud crack followed by a screaming reel. The starboard flat line elastic had popped as a marlin latched onto the pink and white Pulsator Marlin Magnet. I grabbed the rod while the other lines were cleared. Frans called in the hookup much to the disbelief of the other boats.

Frans backed up and I retrieved as fast as I could. About 10 minutes later, the leader came up and Divan grabbed it. Michael tagged the fish and removed the hooks before turning it loose. It was a blue marlin of about 60kg. Everyone on the boat was ecstatic! It is not every day that you catch 3 marlin in one day in South Africa.

We reset the lures and again continued trolling. A short while later the port rigger popped. There was a bit of a splash but nothing spectacular. Michael brought the fish in and we saw that it was a small dorado. It came to the boat, Divan gaffed it and brought it aboard. After removing the hooks, Divan lost his grip on the fish and it flopped around the deck. Divs nonchalantly sat on the fish which actually calmed it down! It was then quickly slid into the hatch.

At about 2pm, I was sitting looking at the teaser swimming behind the boat when I saw a marlin come flying into the spread to investigate. The black body and electric blue tail was clearly visible as it darted between the lures. All of us were watching the spectacle and willing the fish to eat a lure. But it was not to be as the fish lost interest and faded off into the depths.

The day ended with no more fish caught and we managed to take top honors in the competition at the prize giving that evening. On behalf of the RBSBC team, I would like to thank Frans van Rensburg for an incredible day on the water and look forward to fishing with him in the near future.

(Pics to follow)

Getting hammered

The weather forecast for Sunday the 17th looked perfect. A light SW swinging to an Easterly by midday with a few clouds around was predicted. My Dad, Denis, At van Tilburg and I made arrangements to go fishing off Richards Bay. Our plan was to look for some bait for the upcoming cuda season. There had been quite a few mackerel around and the guys also caught a couple of bonnies.

At 4am on Sunday morning I phoned At to check if we were still on for the day. There was still a light SW breeze with a bit of drizzle. At was keen to go so my Dad and I packed our things and headed for At’s house where we hitched the boat and headed for the Richards Bay Ski Boat Club. There were about 15 boats out already, most planning to look for marlin. We joined the queue and after launching we headed to sea. We arrived at our bait spot at around 6am and rigged up the bait rods. My favorite bait jigs are the white sabiki rigs with 10 hooks on them. I use a 12oz to 16oz sinker to get the jigs down quickly and it also helps prevent tangles when the baits try to swim up as the main line is kept straight. I use a 9ft rod with a 6:1 ratio multiplier reel.

At sounded the area for a while and once we had located a bit of a showing, he pulled neutral to check the drift. The wind was a bit stronger than the current so we drifted from south to north. With the drift line established, At positioned the boat upwind of the showing and we all three sent the jigs down. We drifted over the spot and the showing came through again. Moments later all three of us felt the lines become heavy as the small fish climbed on. We brought the jigs up slowly so that the hooks did not pull and when we got the bait to the boat we would lift them over the gunwale and hold them over the livewell. Each fish was removed and then the jigs were returned overboard and sent back down to the shoal of fish. Once the production line had been established, everything works well and a lot of bait can be caught in a short time. We were getting mackerel and maasbankers, with the off karapow in between. All the baits were relatively big… perfect cuda baits. I decided to speed things up a bit and so I tied a second set of jigs onto the one I was currently using. With 20 hooks, I was ready to let the games begin. At put us on the spot and down went the jigs. As we hit the bottom, and gave one jig of the rod, there was instant weight to the line. I left the jigs down for about 15 seconds and then retrieved them. When the top hook got to the tip guide of my rod, I lifted the shoal of mackerel/maasbankers halfway into the boat and At grabbed the second half of the trace and pulled it into the boat. There were baits everywhere! At about 8am the bait disappeared. We then packed up our bait rods and headed north to the 50m ledge. The other boats were complaining that there were no fish around and that they were thinking of working their way back to the harbor.

When we arrived at the “Castle”, I set up the outriggers and clipped two traces onto the 50Lbs and 30Lbs marlin rods. The traces consisted of about 3 meters of 200Lbs nylon trace with a 14/0 circle hook snelled onto it. This was clipped onto a wind-on leader. I bridled a live mackerel using a #32 elastic as a catalina and set the lines at 20m and 30m behind the boat. I then attached the line to the rigger using a #64 elastic. The reel was set just above freespool with the ratchet on so that the fish could swallow the bait after the rigger popped. I then rigged a third bait, a big karapow, on a cuda trace with a single in the nose and two trebles. I put this bait down with the down rigger set at 90ft… about 30 meters. We slow trolled these baits across the ledge, working the high spots that come up to 40 meters. At about 9:30am, the port rigger popped. I ran to the rod and fed it a bit. While I was doing this, the starboard rigger also popped and my Dad ran over to feed that fish. I pushed the drag to strike and a dorado came flying out the water but threw the bait. My Dad put up the drag and went tight with another dorado. I fed the mackerel back and was rewarded with a pickup. I fed for a bit them put the drag up and went tight. Both fish were in the air and gave us a good show before they came to the boat where they were gaffed and put into the hatch. I took the hooks out of the two female dorado and checked the trace for any major damage. I walked back to the live well to rig another bait when I noticed the rod connected to the downrigger flick up. I knew that there was no way that the bait could break the elastic so I ran to the rod and wound up the slack. The line came tight at the same time as what a nice bull dorado came flying out the water not 5 meters from the back of the boat. I handed the rod to my Dad who brought the fish to the boat where it was gaffed and put into the hatch. Not too shabby considering there were no fish on the castle … according to the other boats.

I rerigged the three lines and we continued trolling along the ledge. About an hour later, the port rigger popped and the 30Lbs rod took off. I fed for a bit then put up the drag. The rod buckled and the reel took off. The line went straight down and stayed there… not a good sign. My Dad cleared the other two lines and I just started gaining line when the fish bit through the trace. It was obviously a shark and from the marks on the trace, it was about 2,5m long. I am glad it bit through when it did!

Anyhow, I set the lines and continued trolling. At about 1pm At said that he thought he saw a fin about 100m deeper than what we were but could not see what it was. I turned to intercept and about 5 minutes later I saw a big hammer head chasing the port bait. My Dad and I ran back and pulled the lines in while the shark gave chase. It was a good one of about 120kg. luckily it did not eat the baits. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I put the lines back in and while I was setting the last line I saw the shark again. We cleared the lines and watched the hammer come closer. We decided to hook it so that it would stop following us and we could get on with fishing. I fed out a mackerel and watched the shark grab it. I put up the drag but the hook missed the shark. It turned away, happy with it’s easy meal. But as At said, those hammers can count and it knew there were two baits. I had just put the baits out again when the starboard rigger popped. I fed the fish and put up the drag. The rod keeled over and the 50Lbs international took off. The line went straight down again indicating to us that we had hooked the hammer that had been hassling us for the past half an hour. I put on the standup harness and pulled for all that I was worth. The shark came to the boat very quickly and my Dad took the trace. At bumped the shark on the head before the trace broke. We set the lines again and trolled south back toward the harbor. On the south end of the ledge I saw a big swirl about 10 meters out the back. The port rigger popped and the reel took off. I fed the fish and put the drag up. The rod bent and the reel took off but again the line went straight down. I put on the harness and started pulling the fish to the top. The pressure was quite heavy and when the fish sounded again I pulled back with the harness to lift the fish’s head. Suddenly the reel felt very strange. I looked at it to see what the problem was but then saw that the reel seat (the plate that is secured to the rod) had bent. The rod had pulled down and the harness had pulled the reel back causing the reel to bend towards the rod but and now the spool was toughing on the rod butt. I unclipped the harness and tried to bent the seat straight but only moved it a tiny bit. This was enough to get the reel working and I pulled the +-70kg hammer to the boat where my Dad traced it before it bit through the leader. After that last shark I was buggered and we decided to call it a day. We were more than happy with the 3 dorado that we caught, not to mention the 50 odd mackerel that we had for the coming cuda season.

It always happens in threes

On Friday the 8th January it was Johan and Willem van den Berg’s birthday. These two are identical twins and have been friends of mine for about 20 years. They invited all of the usual friends around, some of which we had not seen in ages. The party got a bit out of hand as we all thought we were never going to see each other again. At around 3am the party calmed down as the guys left. The plan was to go marlin fishing on the Saturday with Oom Hannes and Michael Duvenage and Divan Coetzee on Hannes’ boat “Lihann”.

At 4am Oom Hannes woke Michael and Divs and hitched the boat. There was a bit of a ‘go-slow’ that morning due to the bottles of brandy and whiskey that had held us hostage until the early hours of the morning. Divan had crashed at the Duvenage residence but needed to race home that morning to feed the pets before he could go out to sea. In the mean time I was fast asleep at home, oblivious to the hustle and bustle of my crew mates. By 5am “Lihann” was at the club and Michael phoned me to hear where I was. When the phone rang, I reached over to answer, but didn’t realize I was on the edge of the bed and literally fell out of bed to answer the phone. I realized I had overslept and flew out of bed, brushed teeth and did some low flying to get to the club. I felt like death warmed up! When I arrived at the club “Lihann” was on the water waiting for me so I boarded and away we were. Before we were out the harbour mouth, I had found myself a dry spot on the deck on which to lie while we ran to the fishing grounds about 30km north.

The sea was like a dam and at 40m the water was already 27 degrees and purple! At 70m Michael slowed to trolling speed and we got to work dropping the riggers and setting lines and teasers. On the Japan we swam a medium sized blue and white moldcraft super chugger with a bird. On the Port long rigger was a pink and white Pulsator Marlin Magnet. The Port short rigger had a blue and white Pulsator Marlin Magnet. The starboard long rigger had a halfbeak with an Islander Saillure while the Short had a blue and white Williamson bonito smoker. Two teasers were pulled off the roll bars, one a chain of moldcraft squids followed by a super chugger and the other a swimming, mirror lined Saturday night special that’s name escapes me. Next to these we swam two small halcos that were intended for skipjack or yellowfins.

At 6:30 in 260m of water, we had just settled down to wait (some were sleeping already) when Hannes – the only one on the boat that could see past the transom – shouted ‘Daars hy! Dis ‘n marlyn!’ and with that the port long rigger popped and the reel took off. Michael sustained 3rd degree carpet burns when he jumped up and grabbed the harness. Divan, myself and Hannes pulled in the other lines while Michael got into the chair. The fish jumped a few times and took about 100m of line before the hook pulled. Unlucky! Michael said it was a blue of about 80kg. None of us got a good look at it because we were frantically retrieving lines. All we caught a glimpse of was the white water when the fish jumped. We reset the lines and returned to our positions prior to the strike. Hannes worked the area for about an hour and a bit when Leon Maree on “Big Sea Hunter” called us and said they had a fish in the spread that didn’t want to eat. We could see them about a kilometer ahead of us working the area in which they raised the fish. Not a minute later Leon called in a hookup. We turned away from them to give them some space to fight the fish. We were still watching them fighting their fish when I saw the port long rigger bend and the rubber band stretch. “There it is!” I shouted as the band popped. The 80Lbs International took off with the fish running and jumping away from us. Michael jumped into the chair while we were clearing the lines. Hannes was busy releasing the elastic of the starboard short when it popped in his hands and the 130Lbs international screamed. He looked back slightly confused and then saw a second marlin stick its head out the water just behind the boat! “Hier is nog een!” he shouted. None of us could believe what was happening, but there we were hooked up to two blue marlin at the same time with a hangover of note! You can’t make up stories like this even if you tried!

After the lines were cleared, I took control of the rod with the second fish. Both the fish took off in a similar direction with Michael’s fish heading for Australia. My fish stayed relatively calm and I tried my best to pull it ‘stand-up’ style without a bucket or harness on a 130Lbs bent butt rod designed for the chair … Not very comfortable! After about 20 minutes my fish was at the boat. Divan took the leader and pulled it closer. The hooks were in the top and bottom jaw which prevented the fish from getting enough oxygen and that is why it did not fight. Divs removed the hooks and turned the +-60kg blue marlin loose.

We could now focus on Michael’s fish which was now close to the boat. This fish had taken a lot of line and was still really feisty when it got to the boat. I took the leader and the fish jumped a bit giving a good show for the camera. Divan took the bill and removed the hooks before releasing the fish which was about the same size as the first fish. I think the people on the other boats 5km away could hear the shouts from “Lihann”. This was the first time Michael, Divan or I had been with a double header where both fish were released. We were over the moon! But this put us in the unique position of having 2 marlin releases by 9:30am and a lot of daylight left to try for a third marlin, something that does not happen often … It had only been done 6 times before in SA.

With a new lease on life, we reset the lines and continued the search for another fish. By 11:30 the hot day was taking its toll on the three of us. The cooldrinks were almost finished and we were starting to battle. We had to ration the liquids on the boat if we were to stay on the water longer so every hour we would share a cooldrink amongst the four of us. This was not enough so we cut the lid off a coke tin and put the blocks of ice in to melt. Now we had a few sips of water and cooldrink every hour which helped the situation a bit. At 12:00 in 650m of water the boat “Dirkie” hooked up next to us. They were fighting their fish when our starboard short rigger popped. A feisty baby blue rocketed out the water right behind the boat then took off for the nether regions of the ocean, at speed! Divan launched himself into the chair while the rest of us cleared the deck in great haste … we didn’t want to bugger this one up! The deck was cleared in a flash and Divs settled down to his task of pulling the fish. After the long fast run, the fish was spent and came to the boat easily. I took the trace and Michael took the bill. The fish was about 50kg and had an extremely small bill, so small in fact that Michael had a hard time taking hold of it. This fish thought it was a grander and gave us carrots next to the boat but we finally managed to get the hooks out and turn the fish loose. Oh my word! There is no way that I can explain how glad we were to get that fish. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. That last fish might have been small, but it put us into the record books as being the 7th crew in South Africa to have accomplished this feat, and only the second ski-boat. Wow! What an honor to be on the boat. We decided to have a celebratory cooldrink on our achievement, bugger the one cooldrink an hour rule!

Now the pressure was off and we could enjoy the rest of the day and head back to the club … but the thought of a forth fish was in the back of everyone’s minds even though no one dared to say anything incase we jinxed it. We had a knockdown from a dorado at about 2pm but it missed the hooks. It is amazing how at that stage even the strike from a lesser gamefish can make you turn into a screaming banshee, willing the fish to grow a bill and start jumping. By then the ice had melted and the last of the juices had been drank. Hannes suggested we head for home, working the 50m ledge in the process. The water was blue and there had been the odd fish caught there. At 3:15 we were on our last. We had had enough of the thirst and decided to pack up and have a drink at the club. Michael and I pulled in the teasers and the halcos and were busy clearing the short rigger lines when the center rigger popped. The reel screamed for few seconds then stood still. The bird came to the surface and the lure continued smoking behind it. We all agreed that it was probably a dorado and left the rod where it was. As we cleared the short lines, the same reel took off again, this time with vengeance. We all looked at each other not knowing what to do. We all just stared back waiting, anticipating, hoping the fish would jump. The boat went over a swell which now blocked our view. We were all on our tip toes trying to see if it would jump … and then it happened! A small black marlin came flying out the water behind the boat with the small super chugger in its mouth. We were almost hysterical! But alas, before we could get Oom Hannes into the chair, the reel stopped screaming and the show was over. The bird came to the surface indicating the hook had pulled. Talk about an anticlimax! That could have been our 4th fish – a first in South Africa! But it was not meant to be. We hoisted our three release flags and had one last high-five before we headed for home.

We arrived at the club to see the boat “Dirkie” waiting for the trailer. As we drove past, we could see a massive tail sticking out the back. The fish that they hooked up next to us was the big female and the few small fish we caught were the males patrolling in the area that she was in. After quite a bit of battling, the fish was hoisted on the gantry and pulled the scale down to 316,4kg (696Lbs) a beautiful fish! Well done to the guys on “Dirkie” on an exceptional fish.

We on the other hand were at the bar drinking the best tasting water ever! After the thirst was quenched Hannes ordered “The Long Glass” for the team of “Lihann”. A drink had never gone down with more lumps and bumps than that one, especially after the previous nights celebrations. But it was still a great ending to a great day!

I would personally like to thank Hannes for inviting me to fish on this day. I think I speak for everyone on the boat when I say it was a spectacular day and will remain in our minds for many years to come!

Moose

On Saturday the 2nd Divan and I went to visit At van Tilburg at his camp at Vidal. We needed a place to crash for the evening because our previous night’s accommodation was being used by friends who had packed up camp and were leaving early the next morning. At said that we were more than welcome to stay and that we should fish with him the next day. We were grateful for the hospitality and moved all our gear to At’s camp. That night after supper, a few of us stayed up playing the drinking game “Moose”. It took a toll on all of us and at about 3am we managed to get to sleep.

The next morning at 4:30am At woke us. To say I felt terrible was putting it mildly! Desiree du Toit, Schalk Exley, Divan, At and I hitched the boat and headed for the beach. We had an easy launch and ambled through the surf. We were marlin fishing today so we headed to Oscar to look for bait. There were already 4 boats there when we arrived, all trolling lures for bait. We managed a quick skipjack as we arrived and put it in the tube and continued trolling. After 15 minutes the bait died and we were back at square one. The skipjack were boiling everywhere at that stage, but none of the usual tricks were working. I had one bump on a small spoon that I cast into the shoal but unfortunately it pulled hook after a short run. About an hour later, At’s nephew who was fishing on another boat called us to give us a +-4kg bonito that they had caught but didn’t want to use for bait. We accepted with open arms and put it into the tube. At immediately headed north for deeper water. We were traveling at a good trolling pace so I put out 3 halco’s and a bucktail jig – just for incase. Not ten minutes later one of the halcos was eaten. Schalk brought the fish to the boat where we saw that it was not a bait but a wahoo of about 8kg … something for the pot. In 70m At slowed down and I rigged the bonito on a 20/0 circle hook and put it out about 20 meters behind the boat. After I had put the line in the rigger and set the dropback, we all settled down to wait.

There was a beautiful current line at about 160 meters with a few birds and a pod of dolphins feeding on some baitfish. This looked like the depth to work. When we reached 200m At turned shallower. At 158m the bait started revving wildly. The rigger popped and I fed the fish. The line didn’t pick up while I was feeding the fish so I held onto the line to feel what was happening. All I could feel was the weight of the bait. I pulled the line in for a bit then decided to feed it out again. While I was doing this, the line picked up and started pulling off the reel. I fed the fish for a while then At increased the speed and I increased the drag. The rod bent and the reel ran as the line took tension … Hookup! Des was nominated to take the first strike – because she looked the least hung-over out of the rest of us - so she jumped into the chair and put on the harness. Schalk and I transferred the rod and clipped Des in. The fish had taken a lot of line but had not jumped, but the way that it had taken the bait had us convinced that it was a marlin. After coaching Des on how to use the harness and chair properly, she pulled the fish to the boat fairly quickly. I took the trace and brought the fish closer. The sun was at a bad angle so we battled to get a look at the fish. Finally we got a look at it and saw that it was a nice marlin. The fish was still very green and I didn’t want to hurt myself or the fish by having it thrash next to the boat so I let go of the leader and slacked the drag for Des. At increased the speed and we put some line in the water. The fish now decided that it wanted to fight and took to the air. We got some good photos of the fish in the air while it was performing. It was only then that we could see that it was a blue marlin. The hook was solid in the jaw so we knew the hook would not pull if we had slack line.

Schalk decided that he wanted some underwater shots of the fish on the trace so we tied a rope to the boat and once I had a good grip of the trace and the fish was under control we sent Schalk overboard. After the photo’s were taken and Schalk was safely in the boat, we brought the fish closer. Schalk asked to load the fish as he needed the meat so At gave him the billrope and I pulled the fish within reach. Schalk grabbed the bill and put the rope on. The fish was tired by now and didn’t give us much hassle. Divan, Schalk and I pulled the fish over the gunwale and the hugs and handshakes … and a kiss or two … were handed out.

Now we were out of bait and Oscar was buzzing with boats. We decided that there was no chance of getting bait there so we decided to go and vertical jigg on the 100m mark of vegetation. Schalk and Des are machines when it comes to jigging. Their tackle is perfect and they both have the stamina to work 500gram jigs in 100 meters for hours on end. On the first drift Schalk caught a Sarda orientalis (striped bonito). We put it into the tube and continued jigging. The current was just too strong and after an hour of battling we decided to swim the sarda. I rigged it on a 20/0 circle hook and set it behind the boat. At trolled deeper and a about 130m the bait started revving. Just as the rubber band was about to pop, we saw a big hammerhead grab the bait. I pulled the bait away but it was too late and only got the head back. Again we were left with no bait. The sea was getting a bit rough and by now most of the boats were back on the beach. We made our way to Oscar to find it all to ourselves. We pulled for about 10 minutes when two rods went off. We managed two nice bonito which were immediately rigged. There baits were exceptionally strong and at about 3pm, after pulling them for a few hours without a rev, we cut them loose and hit the beach.

We took Des’ marlin to the gantry where it weighed in at 127kg. Not bad for your first blue marlin.

The Best of Both Worlds

A good friend of mine, Johan van den Berg, phoned me on Friday the 1st January and invited Divan Coetzee and I to go through to Cape Vidal and fish with them on Saturday to see if we could catch a marlin for the New Year. Johan and his Dad, Oom Johan, were camping at Vidal for a few days over December and had some space on the boat. It didn’t take much convincing to get me to pack my things and hit the road. I picked Divan up at about 5pm and headed for the Vidal gate. The traffic was horrendous due to all the people going to and from the beaches at Richards Bay, St Lucia and Vidal but we managed to make the gate before it closed at 7pm. We arrived at Johan’s camp and settled in. Johan braaied for a couple of steaks and a good time was had by all! After the boat pack was made, everyone went to bed.

At about 6am Johan woke me. I was looking forward to a days marlin fishing when Johan mentioned that we were going to fish for gamefish. First I thought he was joking but when I saw the fighting chair being removed, I knew he was serious. We didn’t complain because just to be on the water is great so we hitched the boat “INYATI” – a Cobra cat powered by two 75 Mercury’s - and headed to the beach. After a tricky launch, thanks to the spring high tide and a good shore dump, we headed for the bait spots. There was one rod rigged with sabikis and Divan manned that. Johan told me that there were very few cuda traces so we needed to make up a few. I got to work making a few live bait rigs but I needed wire. After looking through all the boxes and trays, we found a roll of #3 piano wire (the kind you use for queen mackerel). I was nervous of using such thin wire as most of the time a ‘cuda would bite through this. But beggars can’t be choosers so I made five traces, a few with glow beads and others with different colour cuda dusters. In the mean time, Divan had caught some nice big maasbankers and mackerel.

We headed up to Oscar and put out some rapalas and small konas to try for a yellowfin or a wahoo. After trolling around for about an hour with only one half hearted strike on a rapala, we headed north to vegetation. When we arrived, we rigged the livies on the suspect traces and staggered the bait in distance and depth. I took over the controls and started zig zagging the area between 18m and 30m into the current. In 20m the reel with the deep bait gave a few ticks. I asked Johan to check the bait and he brought it in. There was a small milk shark hanging on the trace. It was quickly released and the bait reset. I made another turn and the same bait was eaten by another small shark. I trolled a bit deeper and at 28m Johan and I saw a swirl on the surface between the lines. We both ran back to the rod that the fish was nearest to. Johan was trying to get the rod out the holder while I had the reel on freespool, thinking the fish was a dorado. The fish took the bait and I fed it for a bit. As I pushed the drag up and the fish took line, the rod next to me – with a 12oz sinker and live bait - also slowly bent and ran a bit. I picked up the deep bait and passed it to Oom Johan so that I could clear the other lines. Both lines were going into the water at the same spot and taking line at a slow yet constant pace. Divan and I cleared the other lines and I went back to the controls. We all thought the lined were tangled and tried to unwind them by doing some fancy weaving but nothing helped. We noticed the line coming to the surface and thought the fish had been hooked on the one rod and tangled in the other line. This was not the case! All of us were looking back when a small black marlin stuck its head out the water in slow motion and jumped showing that both traces were in its mouth. Oh my soul! The first thing that went through my mind was the #3 wire. Surely there was no chance that we would get the fish. I was more that happy to just stand there watching the show … while it lasted. The marlin looked very lethargic when it jumped and slowly swam toward the boat. I thought we would get a quick tag into it but I needed to move fast. I grabbed the tag stick and tried to fit the tag – this was not easy since I was now shaking like a leaf! Before I had the tag ready, the fish was on the leader, 3 meters away. I finally managed to fit the tag and passed the pole to Divan. Before he could get the tag in the fish went ballistic! There was just white water everywhere. Johan tried to control the fish but on 10kg line there is not much you can do. He unfortunately parted off his line leaving Oom Johan to fight the fish by himself on 15kg tackle. The fish took about 60m of line and then sounded. I got the boat on top of the fish and tried to move it shallower. It was not having any of it and stayed down deep. After 20 minutes the fish came up and we could get the leader on the rod. The fish was just out of reach of the tag pole when it took off again, jumping in a big arc to the right. I opened the two 75’s and sat right next to the fish with if jumping at about shoulder height not 4 meters from me. While this was going on Johan was now trying to tag the fish in mid air! The fish went deep and the fight became a tug of war as we tried to gain any line that we could. After about 15 minutes of stalemate I suggested we put some line in the water to get an angle on the fish so I put the boat in reverse and backed away from it. After about 40m of line left the reel, the line shot to the surface and the fish jumped. I took the boat toward the fish and Oom Johan managed to get the leader on the reel. The fish spun around and swam to the back of the boat, right on the surface. I put both motors into reverse and managed to keep pace with the fish … by now it looked like a clip from ESPN with water coming 6 inches over the transom! The marlin was about 3 meters away so I closed the gap by turning towards the fish. Johan leaned over the gunwale, and with Divan holding his shirt, he planted a perfect tag shot in the fish’s shoulder - Brilliant! The fish objected to its newly acquired piercing and greyhounded away from us. I spun the boat around and chased it in forward. With the leader on the reel again, Oom Johan put some pressure on the fish and parted the trace for a release. If I could draw an air-punch and insert it here, I would but you will just need to believe me that we were stoked! Releasing a +-75kg marlin on a cuda stick with #3 wire was not bad going!

After the traditional handshakes we decided to go to Oscar and look for a kaakap or cuda because the gamefish were not exactly thick at vegetation. We arrive at Oscar and put out the lines. I trolled over the deeper pinnacle while Johan put a vertical jig down. I notices that the downrigger had released and asked Divan to check it. Just then Johan had a hit on the jig but lost it. While everyone was busy checking the downrigger and dropping the jig, the rod next to me with a big livie on the surface smoked off. I happened to be closest to it and was not busy with anything so I took the rod. The fish took a lot of line and so, after the other lines were cleared, we chased the fish. After about 15 minutes we managed to boat a good cuda of about 13kg – we were very lucky because the hook in the mouth had been bitten off and the other hook had snagged it in the head. We trolled for about half an hour more before the SW wind picked up and forced us to beach. All in all, it was a great day. Johan and his dad were happy that we had caught a gamefish and Divan and I were stoked to have released a marlin. I guess you can have the best of both worlds after all!

A very close shave!

On Christmas afternoon, I drove through to Cape Vidal to join At van Tilburg for the weekend. I arrived at about 5pm and unpacked my bags. At’s wife Kathy had organized a bring and braai at the day visitors picnic site overlooking the sea. It was a beautiful evening and the party ended up in the wee hours of the morning.

On Saturday the 26th, At woke me and said that he was not going to sea, but his two nephews, Riaan and Pierre, were going as well as Johan Strauss. They wanted to fish for gamefish. I said I would join them as I would much rather go to sea then sit on the side, especially on such a nice day. We hitched the boat and headed for the beach. After an uneventful launch, we were through the surf and stopped to catch some livebait. After catching a few maasbanker and mackerel, we traveled north for about 5km.

We decided to pull some lures over Oscar pinnacles to have some fun with the bonito or tuna and so we put out a few halcos and an islander saillure. We were in 40 meters of water and I had just finished setting the lines when Riaan said he saw a fish jump behind the close lure – the saillure. I spun round to see a wake forming about 5 meters behind the lure. Whatever it was, it was fast and it charged up to the lure and smashed it. The reel smoked off and I handed the rod to Riaan. The fish took about 100m of line before it slowed down. By then Johan and I had cleared the other rods and Riaan could start gaining line. After a few good runs, the fish came to the boat, tail first. It was a wahoo – Riaan’s first! He was over the moon and after a few quick photos we reset the lines. Pierre trolled over the pinnacles and we were rewarded with a double strike on the halcos. Riaan and Johan pulled he fish to the boat. They were both small yellowfin tuna of about 2,5kg … perfect marlin bait … but we didn’t have the marlin tackle on the boat, so we reluctantly released them. When I let them go I could feel the heartburn! We continued trolling and the furthest lure got eaten. The reel took off at quite a pace and I picked up the rod to pass it to someone else. Everyone looked at me and said “you take it”. Oh alright if you insist! I battled to gain line until Pierre drove toward the fish, which was still on surface. When the double and leader came out the water, I saw that it was a nice yellowfin of about 8kg. I passed the rod to Riaan and grabbed it by the tail. I removed the hooks and slid the knife into the bloodline then put it into the tuna tube. It might sound cruel but it is the best way to ensure that the fish is bled properly for sushi.

With a few tuna under the belt, we headed north to vegetation – a spot 12km north of the launch where we had done well in the past. In about 23m over the marks, I heard the close reel give a short burst. I ran to the back to see a sailfish billing the islander. I picked up the rod and put it into freespool with my thumb on the spool. When the sail took the lure, I gave it a few seconds then tightened up. It was on for a moment then off. I lifted the rod and went to freespool again. The sail came in again and did the same thing with the same result. After the third time it lost interest and whacked a halco on the way through but also missing the hooks. I told Pierre to make a turn and come over the exact same spot and we might raise the fish again. As we turned the far lure got chowed. The reel initially took off then slowed ... this was no sailfish. Johan pulled the fish in quickly and I gaffed a king mackerel (cuda) of about 6kg. Pierre worked the area a bit without another strike. I suggested we rig the livebaits and slow troll over the area. If there was one cuda, there would be another. I rigged 4 live maasbanker and a dead sardine, staggering them in distance and depth. We trolled between 20 and 30 meters using the current to push us from north to south. And would you guess it … in 23m on the mark I saw the long surface rod bend a bit then straighten. I ran to the back picked up the rod and put the reel into freespool. The line took some tension and I fed some line out. As the reel picked up speed, I put the drag up to strike and wound up the slack. The rod bent and I struck back. Almost immediately a sailfish exploded behind the boat heading in the opposite direction. The reel was absolutely smoking at that stage. I knew Johan had not seen, let alone caught a sailfish, so I handed him the rod and said good luck! I’ll never forget the look of panic on his face – Classic! Riaan and I cleared the other lines as fast as humanly possible. Johan said that there was not a lot of line left on the reel, but I assumed he was just over reacting and casually told Pierre to start turning toward the fish, I also told Johan to back off on the drag a bit. Pierre said we should calm down because the situation was under control. I thought the same, until I glanced at the reel in Johan’s hands. Holy S%*t! we were down to about 20 meters and loosing fast. I shouted to Pierre to turn … NOW! He shouted back saying “Calm down!” – Obviously he didn’t understand the severity of the situation! Adamant get some immediate action out of Pierre, I took the rod from Johan and showed Pierre the reel – which was now about 6 or 7 turns from the knot – and said “Your call!” and left it at that. I gave Johan the rod just in time because if I didn’t have two hands to hold on with I would have been overboard! Pierre spun the steering wheel left full lock and opened both 115 Optimaxes to the max. AVANTI flew around as the line came to an end and the knot started pulling tight. I grabbed the line between the reel and the first guide to create some slack on the knot to prevent it from breaking. Pierre created some slack, but was running toward the fish and not where the line was going into the water. Riaan and I were almost out of our minds trying to get Pierre to turn a bit left to chase the line and not the fish! Pandemonium! Luck was on our side and the tension slowly released and Johan could get a few turns onto the reel. I told him to keep the rod pointed at the line and wind for all that he was worth. He did very well and after we had about 20m on the reel, and I told Pierre to slow down. There was enough line in the water to keep tension on the fish’s side so we were not worried about the slack on our side. Calm was restored after we had about 100m back on the reel and the fish had settled down. Johan told us that he wanted to load the fish and because it was his first one, we didn’t have a problem with his request. After about 25 minutes, the fish was next to the boat.
We don’t like to use the gaff on billfish (unless we don’t have a choice) because it makes the photograph look terrible, so I took hold of the leader and brought the fish within reach. I took the bill and lifted the fish into the boat. We were all over the moon. After the very close call with this fish, we were very relieved to have it on the boat.

After a well deserved cooldrink, we reset the lines. I was busy putting out the second livie when the reel took off in my hands. I fed for a moment then gave a quick strike – on! The fish took some line then came straight to the boat. Winding like a madman, I managed to keep tension on the fish, but as the double line came out the water, the hooks pulled on a smallish cuda (+-5kg). We had one more chop on a livie before we decided to put lures on and troll for home. Over Oscar pinnacle we managed a bonito of about 3kg which we released before heading for the beach.

We loaded the boat and parked the boat at the washbay. We weighed Riaan’s wahoo and Johan’s sailfish. They weighed 14,6kg and 29,8kg respectively. Overall, it was a fantastic day’s fishing with two ‘firsts’ ... not every day you catch 5 species of gamefish.

Competition Time

Thursday the 17th December was the briefing for the Meerensee Boat Club Marlin, Gamefish and Bottomfish competition. I was participating in the competition for the first time and was looking forward to 3 days of marlin fishing. I would be fishing on Wayne Ritchie’s boat “Big W”, a 900 Cobra Cat powered by two 300 Suzukis, moored at the Tuzi Gazi waterfront. The other members of the crew were Peet Oelson, Jaques Spence, Divan Coetzee and Nati Coetzee. Nati, Jaques and Peet had not yet caught a marlin and we were keen to get one of them into a fish.

The competition rules were tag and release for all marlin. There were prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The prizes were in the form of cash – R10000 for 1st, R5000 for 2nd and 3000 for 3rd. The entry fee was R500 per person – which was a bit steep I thought. But regardless, we were going to fish. There was also a Calcutta for the marlin boats which was set at R1000 per boat. This would go to the boat that scored the most points each day. The briefing was short and sweet as briefings should be and then the anglers took to the bar. Lines in was only at 6:00am so everyone would be fishing ‘office hours’. I felt that the lines in time was far too late. In summer, the sun is up at 4:30am so by 6am the day is almost half over considering it takes about an hour to get to the fishing grounds. Be that as it may, it was nice to wake up as a respectable hour to go fishing.

The first day to the competition started with a bang for the boat “Big Sea Hunter”. They had a stripy and a black marlin release before 9am. “Buoy ‘n Sea” released a black marlin and “Majestic” released a blue. We were unlucky with a small blue that struck a lure on the long rigger but threw the hook after two jumps. We did manage a small wahoo of 10kg.

At 5:30am on Saturday morning, we were at the mooring. We tied off and made our way to the barge in the harbour where we needed to collect our competition disc before we could exit the port and go to sea. We left the harbour mouth at 6am and headed north to the “Castle“. The plan was to work the 50m ledge going north, looking for a black marlin and then to head out deeper to look for a blue or stripy. We were pulling seven rods as there were more than enough hands onboard to retrieve lines in a hurry, so I could put out quite a variety.

On the japan I put a Pakula copy in the Lumo Sprocket colour flavoured with a dorado belly shine, headed with a medium size bird. On the starboard long rigger I put a purple and black doorknob and on the port long I put a halfbeak/blue and white Iland saillure headed by a small bird. On the port short rigger I had a Williamson bonito smoker and on the flat line I put a 15 inch off center lure. On the starboard short rigger I had another halfbeak / Islander Saillure and on the flat line I put a bonito express. The lures were fine tuned so that they popped every 4-6 seconds. The spread looked good.

We worked the same area as the previous day with no action. At about 9:30 Wayne made a turn in 200m and headed shallower for the 100m mark where we had marked some bait the previous day. Divan and I were busy changing the port flatline when the port long rigger popped. I fed the halfbeak back for about 5 seconds then put the reel to strike. The 80Lbs standup rod buckled and the reel took off. Everyone ran for a rod and cleared the deck. I kept the fish under control while lures flew into the back of the boat. I was lucky enough to be looking back when the fish came out the first time. What a sight! The blue rocketed out the water full body length. As it hit the water it was airborne again. I shouted to the guys to look at the great show, but everyone was too busy clearing rods. The fish greyhounded from left to right then doubled back to the left. It must have jumped 30 times in succession. By now, everyone had cleared the deck and was watching the fish give a beautiful display. It was Nati’s turn on the rod, and we quickly got him into the black magic harness. I handed him the rod and helped clip him in. This was the first time he had ever been marlin fishing, so I coached him as the fight progressed. The fish stayed on the surface and Wayne could back up on the fish to regain line. After 20 minutes the double line came out the water followed shortly by the leader. As I took a few wraps on the leader, I could see the fish swimming strongly 7m down with all its lights on.

The competition rules stated that the photograph of the fish had to be bill in hand before it qualified as a release so I had to take hold of the bill! I knew that if I took the bill at this stage, I would be beaten to a pulp (the fish would also sustain unnecessary damage) so we decided to fight the fish a bit longer. Not that we had much of a choice because the fish then decided to sound, taking about 100m of line in the process. Nati was sweating properly by now but hung in there until the leader was in reach again. I wrapped the leader and pulled the fish a bit closer. It was still very strong and with a flick of the tail it pulled the leader from my hands. With its head down, the fish headed down again. Nati was now fighting for his life and trying to stay onboard with 12kg drag. The fish stayed deep for about 20 minutes but the fight had suddenly changed. The rod tip indicated that the fish was shaking it’s head constantly while it was taking line. I called to Wayne that I thought the fish had tail wrapped. Nati could not gain an inch, but the fish also didn’t take anything. I assumed the fish was dead and put the reel into low range and showed Nati how to use the swells to gain line and get the fish coming up. Every time the swell dropped, Nati would gain a few meters. As the swell lifted, he would slowly drop the rod tip so as to keep the line he had just gained and then lift at the top of the swell. This worked a treat and within 10 minutes the fish popped up next to the boat tail first.

I unwrapped the leader and pulled on the trace to get hold of the bill. The fish looked like it was not going to make it but we thought we should try to revive it anyway. Wayne kept the boat moving forward into the current and Divan and I held the fish upright alongside. Peet and Jaques were the designated camera men and took the required photos for the competition. After about 25 minutes the marlin’s tail started moving slowly from side to side and the colour came back. I reached down to remove the hook and the fish bit me on the thumb. From that bite, I could feel that the fish was gaining its strength! After 30 minutes, Divan and I turned the fish loose and saw it slowly disappear into the depths head first with the tail swaying back and forth. What a great fish. Everyone on the boat estimated the fish at around 180kg give or take a few kilograms.

The time was 11am and there was still time to fish so the lines were reset. At about 2pm I saw a dorado cruising in front of the boat. It arced to the left then saw the lures and came flying into the spread. Always an amazing sight to see. The fish ate the short rigger lure on the port side and hooked up properly. Peet pulled the dorado to the boat in a few seconds and Wayne gaffed it. He unceremoniously whipped it into the fish hatch before it created any more havoc.

That marked the last of the action for the day. We were the only boat to release a fish so we won the Calcutta for the day.

On the Sunday morning the weather was perfect. We headed out to the deep and put the lines out. Wayne worked two good current lines at 350m for a while before we caught a yellowfin of about 10kg. After the yellowfin, we had a small billfish on the port short rigger that teased with the small purple and black stripy tickler but didn’t get a hook in. At about 12am the bank of clouds from the south built up and the southerly wind came through at about 15 knots. It gradually strengthened to a point where the competition was called off. There were no billfish caught, but there were some good king mackerel (between 20kg and 26kg) and musselcracker (between 20kg and 31kg) caught. At the prize giving, we won the Calcutta of R6000 which we donated to the local autism school. All in all it was a great competition. Thanks to everyone on the boat for making it a great competition and well done to Nati for catching his first marlin.

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.