Shoaly Shutdown

On 20 March 2011 at 6:45am, we launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. My sister, Julie, and brother in law, Carl, had come down for the long weekend, from Jo’burg, to do some fishing. There had been a few shoal cuda at “Petingo” so we decided to fish for them.

Our first stop was on the pipeline to look for some live bait. We sounded around the area and dropped sabiki rigs into each showing we found, but had no success. After about an hour, we decided to try another spot between the ships. We had the same result as the pipe and were now getting desperate for bait. Our last option was to stop at a reef in 42m of water a few kilometres north of “Petingo”. When we got there, we found a nice showing and sent the jigs down. Carl went tight with a string of bait that gave him the run around before he lifted 4 tiny bonnies into the boat! We scrambled to put the luna tube on, but as luck would have it, the pump did not work! We later found it was a loose connection. We had no option but to put them in the coolerbox to use as dead bait. We scratched around for more bait, but failed. At 9:30 we upped lines and headed for the wreck.

When we arrived, there were 3 other boats. They each had a fish or two so we felt positive. The water was crystal clean, 27 degrees and the current was screaming! The NW wind was blowing at about 8-10 knots. I am not a fan of these conditions when fishing for big cuda, but they are good for the shoal size fish. I rigged 2 wala-wala and 2 of the tiny bonnies and set them at different depths and distances from the boat. We resumed slow trolling into the current and about half way up the wreck we found a good showing halfway off the bottom. Almost immediately the bonnie on the 6oz sinker was eaten. Carl took the rod and pulled a 5kg cuda to the boat where it was gaffed. Fresh fish tonight! I had just rerigged the bait and was about to put it out when the reel with the deep wala-wala went away. Julie took the rod and fought a frisky fish to the boat. While this was going on, the surface wala-wala was eaten and the fish took a few meters of line before slowing down. Carl had by then gaffed Julie’s cuda so I passed the rod to her so that she could catch another fish. The small cuda came to the boat quickly and just as it was about to come into gaffing range, it threw the hook. Unlucky! Oh well, that’s fishing. We regrouped and set the lines with new baits. By now we were on the northern side of the wreck and started turning, the deep bonnie was eaten. I was standing next to the rod, so I took the strike. This was another small fish which came to the boat easily before Carl gaffed it.

3 from 4 on the first pass over the wreck ... not bad! What would the next pass bring? The wind had changed from NW to NE and picked up to about 12 knots. We made another approach from the south and tacked over the wreck, following our previous track. The sounder showed a lot of activity, but nothing happened. It was quite all the way up to the northern point. The other boats had also noticed that the fish had switched off. I can only guess that it was the wind direction change. We trolled the wreck for the next 3 hours without a strike before upping lines and returning to port. It was nice to be back home and washing the boat while the sun was still up!

Columbia SADSAA Billfish Classic

On 3^rd March at 5am, Wayne Ritchie, Riaan Pretorius, Rian Charmers and myself launched Wayne’s 900 Cobra Cat “Big W” in the 2011 Columbia SADSAA Billfish Classic. This was the second day of the competition and we were in need of a billfish.

We headed north to the 50m ledge and put out a spread of 6 lures. On the right flat line was a pulsator “Boaster”, the left short, behind the teaser, I had a Moldcraft Bobby Brown, right short was a Black Bart, left long was a Moldcraft Wide Range, right long was a halfbeak and the japan was a small super chugger. The sea was perfect and the lures operated beautifully on the front of the waves. Something had to happen. From 7am, the radio was busy with boats hooking up and released fish and lost fish being reported. On “Big W” it ws quieter than ever. The sound of the motors droning in the background and the slight rocking of the boat put the once alert crew into a trance and other than the skipper, there was very little activity on the deck.

At around 2pm, Riaan and I decided to relieve Wayne of his duty so that he could take a break. At that stage, we were just south of the harbour and heading shallower. There were 3 boats in the vicinity and all were hoping for that one special fish. Riaan and I were looking back and discussing the teaser when suddenly a big blue marlin exploded out of the water next to the Bobby Brown and engulfed it. Riaan and I both flew down the steps and cleared lines as the fish took. We knew the size of the fish and realised it was important to move fast before the fish woke up and took off. As the last line came out the water, the fish took to the sky and greyhounded for about 100m. The line was melting off the reel as we clipped Riaan into the black magic harness. Wayne was now backing down hard and line started coming back onto the reel. The fish was still jumping and all the other boats saw the magnificent display.

This was the first time Rian had ever fought standup but he got into the groove quickly and once the fish was within 100m, we upped the drag to 12kg and put the wood to it! After 45 minutes, the leader came out the water and I grabbed the swivel. Wayne kept the boat in line with the fish while I pulled it closer.

Other Riaan snapped off a few photos for the competition and we then revived the fish for several minutes before turning a healthy fish loose. GREAT!! What a feeling! This was Rian Charmers biggest marlin (About 200kg) and his first on standup. And best of all, it is still swimming free.

That was the first and last fish we saw in the tournament. Congrats to the team of “Tycoon” for releasing 5 marlin in the 4 days.

Wind in the Sails

Hendrik McCarthy had arranged a fishing trip for Saturday the 12^th February with his good friend Zach on Zach’s Yacht “Vagabund”. Zach was super keen to fish for marlin and he had bought a few nice lures and good tackle for the job. The yacht was not rigged for fishing so on the Friday, we made a few make shift plans and discussed the drill for the next day. I has never fished for marlin on a yacht before so I knew we were in for some interesting times if we hooked up.

At 4:30am on Saturday morning, Ettiene de Villiers and I arrived at the mooring of the Zululand Yacht Club. We met up with Hendrik and his wife Cornelia and Zach and his wife Magda. After a quick safety brief, we cast off and slowly headed out the harbour. The plan was to head north in the shallows and then head offshore into the current and work our way back.

The trip north was like no other I have had before. The yacht had two 30HP motors in it so our top speed was only about 6 to 7 knots. I am used to running up north at speed and setting lines within half an hour of leaving the harbour. Not on this trip! We had no option but to relax and enjoy the trip. This did however have its perks. The warm oats breakfast and cup of coffee en route to the fishing grounds was a nice bonus while we watched several ski-boats shoot past us with the crew holding on for dear life and ducking for the spray coming over the nose.

At 8:30am, we were in 60m of water near Dawsons. The water was a strange colour with a tint of green. We set the four lines, two 50Lbs rigs with small lures and two 80Lbs rigs with larger lures. I also put out a string of teasers. There were no outriggers so the lines were run directly from the rod tips. With the sail down, I trolled deeper trying to find the blue water. Our speed was around 5 knots so we put up the small sail to increase the speed to about 6.5knots. The lures were tracking beautifully. There was hardly any white water behind the yacht and the teaser looked stunning. I tacked shallower at 600m then deeper again after crossing the 250m contour. We decided to test the sounder to see what depth we could read and were pleasantly surprised when it lost bottom at 1200m!!! The water was still a strange colour so I suggested we head shallower to where we had seen a few birds and flying fish. By now it was almost 1pm, we were in 800m and we were getting despondent. We were all dosing off when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a flash behind the teaser. I looked again and saw a shortbill spearfish behind the big lure next to the teaser. I shouted to Ettiene as the fish took the lure. The reel ran for a second or so before it stopped. I ran to the 50Lbs rod with the small lure on it and pulled it into the area where the fish was. Almost immediately the lure was smashed... hookup! The other lines were cleared in no time and we strapped Magda into the harness.

We knew it was a small fish so I just put the motors into neutral. The sail kept us going at a perfect pace. Magda brought the fish to the boat relatively quickly and Ettienne took the trace. The fish was hooked in the eye and bled alot. It was still very feisty and Etts had to let go of the trace to prevent the hook from pulling. We decided to load the fish due to it’s injuries and when Etts took the trace again, he lifted the spearfish into the boat. Only then did we see that it was a really big shortbill ... and Magda’s first billfish! Awesome.

Etts and I set the lines again and sat back to relax. It was going to take a while to get home so we decided to head in the harbour’s direction. We were in 160m when Etts shouted “Daar gaan hy!” I looked back to see a big splash on the same lure that the shortbill ate. The 50Lbs reel took off smoking! We pulled the motors to neutral and cleared the deck. Moments later, the fish erupted out the water tearing up the surface. After about 10 jumps it ran shallower at speed. Hendrik was on the rod and kept the fish under control while I floored it at 6 knots, helping him gain line. I found it extremely difficult to manoeuvre the large yacht with the small motors, but luckily the fish settled down and stayed away from the rudders.

With most of the line back on the reel, I could back up on the fish to stop it from taking too much line. Hendrik used the swell and we gained line slowly but constantly. After 45mins, we had the windon splice out of the water. Before we could grab it, the fish sounded again. After another 15 minutes, the leader came up again. This time Ettienne managed to get hold of the leader and lifted the fish to the surface where he grabbed the bill.

It was Hendrik’s first marlin and he asked to load it. Etts and I obliged and put on the bill rope to pull it on board. We managed to get the head out the water before we ran out of steam. Zach took the end of the rope and attached it to one of the sail winches. One flick of a switch and the fish sailed onto the deck ... no mess no fuss! With the fish lying on the huge deck, it looked about 130kg, but it was in excellent condition.

We had drifted a few kilometres and were straight off the harbour mouth. It took us 2 hours to get back to harbour before we could weigh the fish. We eventually had it on the gantry at 7:30pm. The shortbill weighed 21kg and the blue pulled the scale to 170,6kg! Not bad on 24kg line ... 7:1.

All in all it was a great day and I thank all who made it possible. We had to change our style of fishing from the normal rushed pace to a laid back, ‘come what may‘ attitude ... I must say, I could get used to it!

Early Season Cuda Session

On Sunday 31^st January, My Dad and I launched our boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. There had been quite a few marlin around and every boat was out in the deep looking for them. We on the other hand were tired of doing the same thing every day so decided to look for some gamefish.

We headed for the pipeline and caught two full strings of maasbanker. It was still early so I suggested we head for small high to catch a few bonnies before looking for cuda. Arriving at small high, I put out 4 rods with daisy chains and My Dad trolled over the pinnacle. Two rods went on with beautiful bonnies. One went into the tuba and the other into the coolerbox and ice. We made a few turns and caught bait on every pass. By 8:30 we had about 15 baits and headed to Petingo.

The water was 25.6 degrees with a slight reverse current. There were a lot of reeds in the off green water which meant I would be clearing lines often. I put out 2 wala wala, 2 bonito (one live) and a live maasbanker. We trolled up and down the wreck and on the second pass, the live maasbanker was eaten by a small fish which just flicked the rod tip before getting off. I rerigged as my Dad turned and crossed the wreck again. On the Northern point, the same rod bent and the reel ran a bit before the hook pulled. It went quiet for a while until the water temperature climbed a bit to 26.2 degrees and cleaned up to a green colour. On top of the wreck, both bonito were eaten. We both grabbed rods and tussled really strong fish. Each of us brought a 70 odd kg blacktip shark to the boat where we broke the leaders. After sorting out the chaos, I reset the lines. As we moved off the southern tip, the livie was eaten again. This time the fish picked up the nylon leader before the trace, biting it off! This was not acceptable so I climbed into the tackle box and built another trace with a slightly different hook rig. The next pass on the wreck resulted in the rod bending with a small fish. My Dad pulled in a small cuda of around 3kg (perfect for a weber!) Finally we had something. In high spirits, I put out the lines again and while I was letting the last line out, the reel took off in my hand. I put up the drag and the fish took off running. After a quick fight, my Dad gaffed a 10kg cuda ... NICE! Things were happening. Again the new baits went out and we trolled over the wreck. As luck would have it, the livie was eaten yet again. This time by a smoker! I passed the rod to my Dad who had a good fight before I gaffed a cuda of about 15kg. At this stage I had 2 livies in the water, hoping to double our chances. A short while later, we had a pull on the closer livie but the hooks missed. The water temp was now over 27 degrees and the water was quite clean. We had no further action for an hour. At just after 1pm I started pulling lines. I had one livie to go when the rod bent a bit and the reel gave a short burst. I grabbed the rod and winched the fish in. It was another weber size cuda which went into the coolbox for supper that night. That was a wrap and we headed for the harbour with the first cuda trip for the year under the belt. Now the fish just need to get bigger!

Third Time Lucky!

On 22 January 2011, Divan and I launched my Dad’s boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay. The plan was to go and catch bait for the upcoming cuda season. I had packed the boat with 5 bait rods rigged with daisy chains and just in case, I put the 130Lbs on as well. We headed off to Small highpoint and by 6:30 we were trolling for small bonito. I had just set the lines when Divan trolled over the pinnacle. Almost immediately three reels took off. A few seconds later, the other two also went vas. Both Divs and I grabbed rods and started pulling in the fish. I managed to bring in 3 small yellowfin of about 3kg. One went into the lunatube while the others were released. Meanwhile Divan tussled with his fish and after 15mins had it near the boat. It was a nice yellowfin of about 12kg. It was bled and spined before going into the hatch. Nice! We regrouped and set the lines again. We had just turned when 4 rods went away, this time with small bonitos... perfect bait.

By 8am we had a about 15 baits. There was a great showing on the sounder and bait crashing on the surface. The area was alive! I made a wide turn and started approaching the pinnacle. Two rods went away and I winched in a small skipjack while Divan fought his. His fish was almost at the boat when the rod gave a few heavy jerks. A few seconds later, a maimed skippie came to the surface, with a marlin following it! Panic stations!! Divan held the skippie in the water to keep the marlin around the boat. I flew into the hatch and pulled out a livebait trace. My hands were shaking as I tried to untangle the trace and clip it onto the 130Lbs rod. The fish kept coming up to the skippie which would be pulled away just in time. I was frantically looking for a bait needle but had to settle for a piece of copper wire. The yellowfin in the tube was rigged in record time and popped over the side. Instantly the marlin switched on his lights and high-tailed it after the bait. I fed the fish while Divs cleared the deck and went to the controls. I increased the drag and Divs upped the revs but nothing! I could only feel the bait. I pulled it in slowly in disbelief ... how could we miss that! The yellowfin was still swimming even though it had been beaten up pretty badly. We looked to the back and saw the marlin still following the bait. We tried everything we could think of to get it to take the bait again, but the fish lost interest and faded off. Bummer!

We put the bait rods in again and continued catching bait. At about 9am we caught another small yellowfin and put in the tube. By 10am we were itching to rig it and so, without much convincing, we left the bait expedition and changed to marlin fishing. We headed out to the 350m mark and then headed back to the shallows. The wind was picking up so I suggested we pull the bait over the pinnacle where we caught it ... maybe we can at least catch a shark. We watched the sounder as we trolled over the pinnacle. At 36m, the bait revved. I grabbed the line out the clip and waited for the bite. I felt a heavy jerk then the line pulled tight. I fed the fish but nothing happened. We retrieved the line to find the bait had been hit off the bridle by a marlin ... Unlucky! Divs and I turned to each other and both said “Bait sticks” at the same time. The third rod went out when two took off. I popped one bonnie in the tube and rigged the other. We both agreed to stay on the pinnacle and hope that the fish was still hungry. On our third or fourth turn, the bait revved and the rigger popped. I fed the fish and Divs went to the wheel. We tightened up and this time the rod bent and the reel started running. The line came to the top and a black marlin broke the surface. I climbed into the chair and strapped in while Divs got out the gloves and tag pole.

After a few jumps and short runs, it was at the boat. I leaned out the chair and tagged it (Yes ... our tag pole is long) while Divs wrestled it on the trace. After removing the circle hook, we released a healthy +-100kg marlin. Great! Third time lucky ... probably on the same fish!

Our day had come to an end and we headed back. What a great end to a great day.

Starting the new year with stripes

On 8^th January, Joe Martins, his wife Kim and I launched their 20ft Glacier Bay “Aqua Joe”. Joe had been slowly getting his marlin tackle ready and desperately wanted to catch a marlin. He had asked me for advise with regards to rods, reels, lures etc. After a few weeks, he finally had everything he needed and we were ready to try it out. We left the mooring at 6:30am and headed north off Richards Bay. The sea was a bit rough due to a storm that had passed the previous day. After dodging logs and masses of reeds, we found clean water in 100m and could start fishing.

I set the spread with a Moldcraft Widerange and Bobby Brown on the long riggers and a Pulsator Bonito Smoker and Stripey tickler on the short riggers. With the lures swimming beautifully, I trolled deeper towards the 500m line. We were in about 350m when the port short rigger popped and a nice Dorado jumped out the water. Joe had the rod in seconds but due to a bout of seasickness, he handed the rod to Kim who brought it in without too much fuss. The lines went out again and trolling commenced.

The sea slowly got better and better and at about 8:30 it was quite pleasant. We came into an area where there was a lot of bait. The small skipjacks and yellowfin were jumping everywhere. This was definitely the place to stick around. Kim had bought a Moldtech lure the previous day and asked me if I could rig it up for her. It was a similar shape to the Bobby Brown, so I swapped the lures. Now Kim was also confident in the spread. At about 9am I was looking back at the lures when I noticed a strange swirl behind Kim’s lure. Moments later, a bill and dorsal came out the water and crashed the lure. I shouted as the rigger popped. The reel took off and a +-100kg Blue marlin launched itself out the water. It gave two or three jumps and then the reel stopped running ... it had thrown the hook! Unlucky! At least we had seen a marlin for the day. I checked and reset the lures and continued trolling. I heard over the radio that a few boats had strikes in 250m so I worked shallower. The sea went dead from 10am until 12pm but then the birds started dipping and the bait came up again. At around 1pm, I saw a fish come up behind the starboard long rigger and engulf the lure. The rigger popped and the reel took off. Joe and I cleared the other lines before Joe donned the harness and took up the rod.

The fish jumped probably ten times before it settled. I slowly backed up on the fish while Joe gained line. The fight lasted about 30 minutes and Joe had it next to the boat. When it came to the boat the colours had faded due to the hooks forcing its mouth closed. After explaining the drill, I took the trace and brought the striped marlin closer. Joe asked to load the fish because it was his first marlin and a dream come true. The fish did kick at all so I pulled the fish over the gunwale and into the boat where Kim snapped off a few pics. Joe was over the moon! Mission accomplished.

We reset the lures and trolled for about an hour longer. It was getting late and there was still a lot of work to be done so we upped lines and headed home. The fish weighed in just under 60kg.

Wrapping up the year

On the last day of 2010 at Cape Vidal, I awoke to the sound of relatively heavy rain. We had planned to fish for marlin with Mike Buyskes on “Thresher One”, a 21ft Tomcat. After checking out the sea and weather, we decided to give it a skip. Back at camp, we made breakfast and lounged around. By 10am we could not take it anymore and decided to launch ... come hell or high water!

At 10:30 Mike and Mearl Buyskes, Bryant Beukes and I were through the surf. There was a light SE blowing but the sea was great. Mike had found a likely looking are on the GPS along the 500m contour that he wanted to work so we headed straight there. Twenty minutes later, we were at the spot and we went about setting 4 lures on 50Lbs and 80Lbs rigs. Mike then worked the contour from 450m to 600m. There was a great upwelling and temperature break along the edge of the contour and after trolling for about an hour, we started seeing flying fish, skipjack and spinner dolphin.

We had just turned at the 450m mark and were right on the edge of the rip when I saw a fish coming into the spread on the starboard side. The short rigger popped but nothing. Mike kept his course for a while when the short port rigger popped and the reel ran for a bit before stopping. By that stage I had the pitch bait amongst the lures but the fish was not having it. It wanted the big lures. I told Mearl to wind the lure to its original position and after retrieving 5m of line, the bill and dorsal of the fish broke the surface behind the lure and smashed down. This time we were hooked up! After a scramble to clear the other rods, the deck was cleared. Mearl took the chair and strapped in. The marlin stuck its head out the water showing it to be a small stripey ... Mearl’s first. The fish was a bit out gunned with the 80Lbs rig, and was at the boat in 8 minutes. It was cleanly hooked so we got the hooks out and turned it loose. Great!

The lures went out again and Mike continued to work the area. At about 2pm, another small stripey came up on the short starboard lure. I pitched a halfbeak to is but the fish was just window shopping and after a half hearted look, it faded off. Despite working the area for another half hour, we could not raise the fish again. At 2:30pm we upped lines and headed for the beach. What a great way to spend the last day of the year!

Twas the day after Christmas

On 26^th December, Alan and Bryant Buekes and myself launched Allan’s 19ft Yeldcat “Baccus” at Cape Vidal. By 5:30 we were through the surf and headed for Oscar. When we arrived at the southern pinnacle, Bryant and I rigged a few small halcos and daisy chains and started putting out the lines. Before I could place my line, Bryant’s rod went away. After a quick fight, he brought a beautiful little yellowfin of about 2kg ... a perfect bait! I rigged it on a 20/0 circle hook and bombed it back into the water, keeping it close to the boat and away from the sharks. Allan took a course deeper and we waited until we were in 60m before I let the bait out.

The sea was very uncomfortable with the SE wind of around 15 knots and we bumped our way out to 500m before turning. In 400m, I saw a small swirl between the boat and the bait. I went to the back to see what it was. There were two Dorado cruising with us. I quickly grabbed a bait rod with a daisy chain on it and cast it out. The Dorado came over to look but lost interest very quickly and swam off. I took out a mackerel and hooked it onto the back of the daisy chain and left it to wallow in the wake. We continued shallower and at 300m, the bait rod with the mackerel took off. I fed the fish and tightened up. A small Dorado climbed out the water a few times before coming to the boat where we loaded it. At least we had something to eat. After turning in 60m, I headed out towards the ‘hole’ off Vegetation. The sounder showed the bottom falling away and minutes later, the rigger popped. I fed the fish and tightened up. We were on for a few seconds then nothing. I fed the bait back with no result. After retrieving the line, we saw that it was a small shark and only the head of the bait was left. It was back to Oscar to look for bait.

Bryant and I set the bait sticks and Allan trolled over the pinnacle. Allan had just passed over the deeper pinnacle and was moving shallower when one, two , three, four ... five rods went away ... a full house! I grabbed the closest, shortest rod and quickly pulled in a small frigate tuna. It was badly hooked so I put it into the hatch. By then, Bryant had a small yellowfin next to the boat which I grabbed, unhooked and bombed into the luna tube. Bryant grabbed another bait rod while I readied the two marlin rods. Alan brought in another small yellowfin that I quickly rigged and bombed into the water, keeping it within a few meters of the boat. Alan headed deeper off the reef and away from the sharks while Bryant pulled in another beautiful yellowfin which I rigged on the 50Lbs rod. The last rod also had a yellowfin on it and this one we released ... our good deed for the day. With 3 beautiful baits, we were pretty confident.

We had just settled when I saw another 2 dorado cruising in our wake. I grabbed a baitstick, hooked a mackerel on and flung it in their direction. Immediately the smaller one grabbed the bait. I fed it for a bit then hooked up. It came to the boat very quickly and it had a follower ... a nice bull Dorado. Bryant flicked a frozen mackerel at it and hooked up. The bull went mad, jumping over my line and burning me off. Unlucky! Bryant managed to get his 12kg fish to the boat where I gaffed it for him.

At about 2pm, I saw the spare bait rev. Seconds later a shark appeared behind it in hot pursuit. I grabbed the line and pulled the bait away. Bryant did the same with the main bait while Alan opened the motor and sped away. Both baits were fine so after about 200m, we slowed down and put them out again. We had just settled when the main bait was eaten. After feeding the fish for a while, we tightened up but there was nothing. Just the head came back. We transferred the spare bait to the main position and continued trolling. Our bait in the tube had died due to being badly hooked so this was our last chance. In 120m the rigger popped. I fed the fish but when we tightened up, there was nothing. Again just the head came back. That brought our day to a close. It was obviously not our day ... maybe next time.

Raising the Dead

On 24^th December, I joined Frans van Rensburg, his son Jako and two of his friends on “Trinity” for a day on the water. We left the dock at 4:30am and headed straight out until the water was a deep blue colour. The lures went out and Jako trolled the area for a while. It was very quiet and so we headed north. The sun had broken through the clouds and the lures were looking great. Something had to happen! About an hour later, at 9am, the flatline was eaten by a hungry Dorado. This was brought to the boat and unceremoniously gaffed. Jako worked the area and soon after, we had a small marlin chasing the long port lure. It swatted the lure a few times, but never hooked up.

Jako found a current line and trolled north along the deep edge. At 11:45, there was a huge splash on the long starboard lure and the rigger popped. The 80Lbs rig took off and a big Blue marlin took to the air. We all grabbed rods and cleared the deck as the fish absolutely smoked off. Jako backed up hard trying to keep up with the fish, but it was too fast. Moments later, a movement to the starboard side caught my eye. It was our marlin, greyhounding parallel to us ... in the opposite direction! There was about 500m of line out when the fish slowed down and we could regain line.

Hennie regained most of the line, but the marlin had other ideas and sounded. We could do nothing but watch as the fish took more than half the spool of line. After two hours, the fish stopped and we could only assume it was dead. We were in 500m of water with a dead fish lying on the bottom... not a good situation to be in! We tried every manoeuvre in the book, but the fish would not budge.

Out of pure desperation, I put on a pair of gloves and grabbed the line. There was some tension, but I could pull it up. Slowly ... very slowly, the dead fish started to lift off the bottom. I continued hand-lining the fish while Hennie took up the slack. After 100m, Jako took over from me. So we took turns raising the fish until the elastic from the rigger came out the water. There was a huge amount of tension on the line now and almost zero stretch. I handed over to Jako, warning him not to put too much pressure on the line. Everything was going well and the fish was about 15m under the boat when a swell unexpectedly caused the boat and the fish to suddenly pull apart. All I can recall is Jako’s hand shooting towards him as the line popped. The big fish slowly sank back to the depths. By now it was after 3pm and the battle had taken its toll on the entire crew, physically and mentally.

We decided to up lines and head for home. This day showed us how important a good team is. Even though we did not manage to get the fish, we felt we had done our best.

Hard luck prize

On 19^th December, Wayne Ritchie and his two sons, Divan Coetzee, Jacques Spence and I launched “Big W” off Richards Bay. There had been a lot of billfish around and we were keen to catch one. We set off at 5am and were soon in good water. The lures went out and we trolled towards the drop off.

In about 300m, Wayne’s sons started feeling seasick and Wayne suggested we head back and drop him and his sons off. We trolled shallower and in 96m, I saw a fin slicing through the spread toward the teaser. I shouted to Wayne who was closest and before he could react, the short starboard rigger popped. The fish took some line then took to the air showing itself to be a good striped marlin of around 70kg. We cleared the lines and slowed the boat down. Wayne was busy clipping himself into the harness when the marlin jumped again and shook the hooks out. Unlucky! We were still in good water so put the lines out again. In 70m, the long port rigger popped and a Dorado splashed around. I happened to be near the rod, so I winched it to the boat where it unfortunately pulled hook. By now, we were in green water and we upped lines and dropped Wayne off. Wayne suggested that Divan, Jacques and I should launch again, so without much ado, we headed back offshore.

The same spread went out as we passed over the colour line and almost immediately, we hooked a Dorado. Jacques made short work of it before I gaffed it. There were a few hook-ups on the 500m contour so Divan headed out to sea. It was very quiet, but at about 14:00, the short starboard rigger popped, the reel gave a short burst but then nothing. We continued on our course and were rewarded with the long starboard rigger popping. This was a strip bait so I gave a few moments before setting the hook. The line ran off the reel at a constant speed but after I felt a few good head nods, it took off. We all looked back and saw a nice blue marlin clear the water. Beautiful! I gave the rod to Jacques and Divs and I cleared the lines. I went to the helm and as I was about to start backing up, the line went limp. On closer inspection, we saw that the trace had broken ... who knows why!

At 3:30pm we trolled towards home and in 80m, we had a Dorado take a lure. Divan pulled it in and it had two followers. I ran down stairs and flicked out a piece of belly shine on a spare rod. Almost immediately I went on. Jacques took the rod and I gaffed Div’s fish.

We rigged another rod with a belly shine and slipped it into the wake. It didn’t take long to hookup and we managed to get all three fish. They were not billfish, but they were a hell of a lot of fun and a great way to end the day!