Richards Bay Easter Bonanza 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anticlimax in the dark

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New SA Record ... well, almost!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The crocodiles have arrived ... finally!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Species Galore!

On the weekend of 27^th/28^th February, a good mate of mine – Pierre Smit - was having his bachelors party at Cape Vidal. All the usual suspects, including Piet Joubert, were there and it promised to be a good weekend. At van Tilburg had arrived at Vidal on the Thursday afternoon with his boat “Avanti” and if the weather allowed, we would fish on Saturday. I arrived at Vidal on Friday at about 5pm and joined in with the festivities that were already taking place at the beach. The party then moved up to the Barracuda fisherman shack where we were staying. Most of the guys sat around the fire until about midnight and then called it a night.

At 4:45 At and Piet woke a few of us and we headed to the beach. The SW wind was blowing about 10knots and it was predicted to pick up to about 20 knots by the afternoon. At, Piet, Divan, Peetertjie (Pierre’s younger brother) and myself hopped aboard and At took us safely through the surf. The first stop was at the livebait marks directly off the launch. There were shoals and shoals of baitfish on the surface and every cast into the shoal resulted in an almost full string of livies.

The current was from South to North (reverse current) and combined with the SW wind, we were pushed north at quite a speed. At suggested we slow-troll south to get back to the area where the baitfish were so I rigged 5 rods with livies and staggered them in distance from the boat and in depth. We slowly made our way south and were almost in the bait area when I noticed the rod with the furthest line (AKA Japan) bent slightly. I told Divan that there was something not right with the bait and he pulled the line in to check it. About 20m from the boat, the reel took off in his hands – “ON”! He gave the rod to Peetertjie who pulled a skipjack tuna of about 4kg to the boat. After the quick fight, the skippie was released and the lines reset. In about 24m off the point, the rod on the downrigger went off. I took the rod out the holder and passed it to Divan while I retrieved the downrigger. I heard the reel running relatively slowly and told the guys that I thought it was a prodigal son. Divan knew I had never caught one before and offered the rod to me. I thought of taking it for a moment then said he should keep the rod – I could be wrong about the species. The fish came up about 20m from the boat and cleared the water. I only got a glimpse of the fish when it re-entered the water and noticed that it was a very dark fish. A few minutes later, we had the fish next to the boat and confirmed that it was in fact a prodigal son of about 9kg. My heart sank but I knew I would get my chance some time or other. Piet gaffed the fish in the head and lifted it halfway into the boat. As he did this, the fish started twisting on the gaff – as prodigal tend to do. The hooks caught on one of the safety lanyards and pulled out of the fish’s mouth. With all the twisting and shaking, the fish managed to climb off the gaff and took off like a rocket! So near yet so far. Suddenly I was glad that I had not taken the rod because I would have been upset to say the least!

After regrouping, At suggested that we run South to the lighthouse and drift to the point. Al of us agreed and made it happen. At stopped the boat in 30m next to a strong current line and we set the lines. The wind had picked up a bit which allowed us to point the nose of the boat north and have the lines out the back. At tacked between 30m and 22m all the way to the point. On the first drift, we managed to get a Dorado of about 6kg which Peetertjie fought. As we were retrieving the lines to run back to the lighthouse, Divan shouted that he was on. He was busy removing the sinker from the deeper line when the fish took the bait that was now not more than 10m behind the transom. I looked back to see a sailfish clear the water! Absolutely spectacular! The rest of us quickly retrieved the remaining lines and then stood watching the aerobatics of the sailfish. It continued jumping toward the boat and on several occasions it almost landed in the boat! Divan could not retrieve any line because the elastic was still attached to the sinker, now hanging off the rod tip. He had to put the rod down and then remove the sinker before he could get a tight line on the fish. After this circus was over, Divan handed the rod to Peetertjie. The fish jumped a few more times and then settled. After about 10 minutes, the fish was next to the boat and Piet grabbed the bill and lifted the +-20kg sailfish into the boat for a few quick photos. The fish was then pulled next to the boat for a few minutes before it was released. Great!

After running South again, we set the lines and started drifting. In 33m off the lighthouse, the japan rod took off. I handed Divan the rod and he pulled in a cuda of about 10kg. About 15 minutes later, the bait with a 6oz sinker was eaten and the reel ticked off about 3m of line. I took the and quickly pulled the fish to the boat. I was expecting a small milk shark of a remora, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw a long sliver shine. Piet was quick on the gaff and brought a +-5kg cuda into the boat. Things were looking good! Off the beacons, another rod took off. Piet grabbed the rod and had a good tussle before he brought a +-7kg cuda within range for Divan to gaff.

We again headed South for the lighthouse where we started another drift. The wind was now blowing about 20knots and the sea was getting rough – but the fish were eating so we stuck it out for a bit longer. We had just started our drift when I saw two Dorado behind the boat. They both ate surface baits at the same time and gave a great display. Piet and I pulled the two fish to the boat and Divan gaffed them and put them into the hatch. About 10 minutes later, Divan saw 2 more Dorado behind the boat. I pulled in the closest surface bait and both the Dorado tackled it. I hooked up on one of the fish but the second one grabbed the skirt on the trace and ripped the hook out of the first fish’s mouth. Both fish then disappeared at speed. Not long after, the medium depth bait was eater. Peetertjie fought the fish to the boat where we saw that it was a foul hooked cuda of about 5kg. The fish took a final run near the boat and the hook pulled – unlucky. With the drift almost over, the deep rod went off. Again, it ran relatively slowly. I again nominated it to be a prodigal son but nobody thought I was being serious ... until the fish popped up next to the boat and I turned out to be right! Piet redeemed himself and gaffed the +-5kg fish and put it into the hatch. That brought our species tally to 5 for the day. Not too shabby!

With the sea getting really rough, we decided on one last drift. About 5 minutes after setting the lines, the japan line smoked off. I picked up the rod as the fish stripped line at a fast pace. Before the other lines could be retrieved, the hooks pulled. I rerigged the bait and the wait continued. Off the point, just before we called it a day, the deep line took off. Piet told me to take the rod as it might be the fish I was looking for as it started off relatively slowly. The other lines were cleared and I started fighting in earnest while At followed it. After about 15 minutes, the fish had taken us to 40m and we all realised that we were connected to a shark. The fish came to the surface in front of the boat and then ducked under the boat. I slacked off the drag and cleared the motors before increasing the drag again. As the pressure came back, the line parted where it had rubbed on the sharks skin. After that fight, we called it a day and headed back to join the rest of the party on the beach.

Thanks to everyone for a great day on the ocean.

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.