Big Blue on Baby Blue

On Sunday 27th November 2011, Phillip Marx and I launched his 21ft Yeld “Stephe” off Sodwana. Phillip had a few friends from Russia visiting him for a few days and so decided to take them for a day’s marlin fishing. The weather could not be more perfect. There was not a swell in the bay and I am sure we could have reversed through! Just passed the backline, Phil and I put out 5 lines with a variety of lures. The flat sea gave them an amazing action and we were sure something was going to happen.

We trolled around for a while and came across a patch of flying fish and skipjack tuna. We worked the area for a bit but only had a big dorado charge the left short before fading away. After the bait went down, we headed deeper and at 600m, the left long lure was eaten. I just saw a splash and silver flank as the fish turned. The fish slowly took line and after the other lines were clear, Phil slowed down. Both of us assumed it was a dorado or wahoo but as it came closer, we saw it was a shortbill spearfish! Classic! I lifted it out of the water for a few quick photos then tagged and released the beautiful fish.

Trolling continued and at about 11am, the centre rigger with the Baby Blue lure popped. Immediately Phillip and I started clearing lines and as we looked back, a huge blue marlin stuck its head and shoulders out the water. The reel ran for a few seconds then stopped as the hooks pulled! Unlucky! It was the biggest marlin that Phillip or I had ever seen. One of those that will haunt you for a long long time. We worked the area for an hour or so but only produced a dorado of 10kg or so. The Russians were feeling a bit queasy and so we trolled to the point. In 50m, the centre rigger popped and the reel smoked off. A +-90kg marlin jumped out the back as we frantically cleared the lines. The angler was settled in the chair with the fish still slowly pulling line when for no reason, the hooks fell out! Guess it was just not our lucky day.

Thanks to Phillip for a great day. I will remember it for years to come.

Dorado Lockjaw

On Saturday 26th November 2011, Brent and Richardo (7 years old) Goncalves and I launched Brents “Majazane” off Sodwana. We had been there for the week for the Billfish Nationals, but bad weather had blown us off the water for all but 1 day. We decided to stay for the weekend and make the most of it. This was the first day we had seen the sun in a week!

We headed north, pulling a few high speed lures. Apart from one wahoo that chased the lure, clearing the water a few times but missing the lure, there was no action. Bret suggested we move to Diepgat where they had previously fished successfully. After a quick run, the drift baits went out. About 10 minutes later, the redeye on the surface went away with a nice dorado. It gave Brent a good go on 6kg line before I gaffed the fish. Nice! A few minutes later, 2 other dorado cruised into range around the boat, but despite all out efforts, they would not eat. I assume it was the cold water (21 degrees). The baits went out again several minutes later the other surface bait was taken by another dorado. Again, Brent had fun on 6kg and tussled for about 20mins before I could gaff. We were at the end of the drift and upped lines. Richardo was not feeling well, so we decided to troll high speed lures to the point and drop him off. About half way back, the close lure was eaten and a nice dorado took to the air. While Brent fought the fish, I tried to get the 2 followers to eat. Brent put the rod with the hooked dorado in the holder and joined in to get a second. These other fish also had lockjaw and lost interest after a few minutes. Brent brought the hooked fish to the boat and before I could gaff it, it ducked under the boat and broke off... that’s what happens when you are greedy I guess.

After dropping Richardo off, we headed to a shallow reef off the point where we caught a small kaakap (green jobfish). That was the last action that we had for the day. Thanks to Brent and Richardo for a great day on the water.

Trio of Dorado

On Saturday 12th November at 6am, my brother-in-law Carl and I launched “Selfish” out of Richards Bay. There was a moderate NE wind blowing but it was predicted to swing SW by 11am. The plan was to look for a bonito of tuna and pull it for marlin. The current would push us south and by then, the wind would be SW and we could come back with it ... sounded good.

We headed to the pipe line where we stopped to look for some livies. After battling for 20mins or so, I found a shoal of maasies and Carl caught a few strings for bait before we headed out to small high point. While we were running there, the water temp dropped to 22,4 degrees and the colour was green. We were about 1km from the pinnacle when the temp shot up to 23 and the water colour improved dramatically. It was still not blue, but it was a lot better that shallower.
There was already another boat there and they had not had a pull yet... not good news. We set 5 bait rods with small lures, one of which was an iland Saillure. I trolled around the pinnacle without a pull so decided to work south zigzagging the ledge as I went. I found a nice bump on the ledge so made a turn and as I straightened out, Carl saw a splash on the Ilander. The rod buckled and the reel took off. Carl took the rod, hoping it was a bait. A few seconds later, the water erupted and a nice dorado cleared the surface. I cleared the deck and Carl brought the fish within gaff range where I helped it into the hatch ... nice ... fresh fish for supper!

We reset the line and pulled for about an hour without a pull. I suggested we change to bigger lures and go deeper to find clean water. After a quick change, 5 lures were smoking behind us. At about 450m, the temperature was 24,2 degrees but still a clean green. I tacked shallower and in 90m found a nice current line and half a degree temperature change. I trolled along this line heading back north. About half an hour later, the port rigger popped and the 80lbs reel ran a bit. It was a nice bull dorado. Carl brought it closer where we saw that it had a follower with it. I quickly grabbed a spinning rod rigged with a treble and nylon trace. A live maasie was hooked through the nose and flicked overboard.... Coconut! The second dorado swallowed the bait and turned to join the first when I set the hook. It took off jumping. I put the rod in the holder and gaffed Carls fish before continuing the fight. Not long after, Carl gaffed a nice dorado for me.

That was all the action we had for the day and headed back as the SW started picking up. At the club, the fish weighed 9, 12 and 12,4kg. In all, it was a great day.

Bitter Sweet

On 5th November at 6:30am, Ray, Andrew and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to find one of the elusive marlin that had been seen over the last few weeks. We stopped at the pipeline to look for bait but could only find one lost shad so I headed north to the ledge where we managed to find some mackerel and maasbankers. We then headed to the castle where we put out 3 bait rods and 2 big marlin lures. The water was a clean green and 23 degrees.
After trolling for about half an hour, we had a double strike on the bait lures. I cleared the other rods while Ray and Andrew fought the fish. Andrew had his fish next to the boat first. It was a 4kg yellowfin. Unfortunately it was hooked deep so we bled it for sushi. Ray brought his fish in and I grabbed it by the tail, lifting it into the boat.
I rigged the yellowfin on a 20/0 circle hook and 400Lbs trace before letting it out behind the boat. We headed deeper and the water colour and temp improved. There were a number of flying fish around and things looked good. In 200m, the water was blue and the temp over 24 degrees when Andrew shouted “There is something!”. I looked back to see the rigger clip pulling far back. There was a huge splash out the back of the boat as something tried to eat the yellowfin. Next thing there was just slack line, before the rigger could even open. I could not understand what was going on. There was another big splash out the back and from the foam, the yellowfin came torpedoing out the water, probably 3m in the air. As it landed, there was another ball of white water. This carried on for probably a minute with the yellowfin clearing the water about 10 times to get away from whatever was trying to eat it. The line would pull tight then go slack as the pursuit went on for what seemed like forever. We were not sure who to back in the chase, the petrified yellowfin fleeing for its life ... or the as yet unknown predator trying its damndest to catch something to eat. I was standing on the back hatch to try and get a glimpse of what it was when I saw an electric blue shape pass through the foam and spray, followed by a dorsal and tailfin of a big Make shark. We decided to let the mako catch the bait so that we could try catch it. Unfortunately, seconds later, in a final chase, the mako picked up the leader, biting us off before the line could take tension. A bitter sweet of note!
We looked for another bait for close on 2 hours without success so opted to fish for gamefish with the live mackerel. These were drifted in 150m on the colour change, hoping for a dorado. Unfortunately, this was not to be and the day ended without any more action.

The long wait is over...

On 29^th October 2011, Riaan Charmers, Wayne Ritchie, Jacques, Divan and I launched Riaan’s 27ft Butt Cat “Predator” off Richards Bay. We had not been on the water in weeks and we were all looking forward to an eventful day. The weather looked promising with a light SW swinging to NE in the afternoon.

We headed up north to Groenkop where the guys had caught some snoek the previous few days. We trolled small lures for about half an hour before upping lines and running for the deep. We had the big guns with us and put out a spread of marlin lures looking for our first billfish of the season. The water was a cold 22.7 degrees, but at least the water was blue. We headed out to sea hoping to find warm water and something that would indicate where to concentrate our efforts. The temperature stayed about the same all the way to 1100m with it reaching a max of 22.9degrees... Not exactly ideal.

There was nothing that tweaked our interest so we headed shallower. In 450m, we found a slight current line with the odd bird nearby. I zigzagged the line a few times and started seeing flotsam. In this same area, we found a few flying fish. This was the most activity we found so far. About an hour later, we had a pair of dorado come into the spread and managed to hook one of them up. Riaan fought the fish to the boat where Divan gaffed our first Dorado of the season. A fish of around 11kg ... Finally some action. We worked the area for a while without any more action. At 2pm We turned for the harbour. In 100m, Jacques saw movement on the japan lure on the centre rigger. As I looked up, I saw a small billfish chasing it down. Moments later, there was a big splash and the rigger popped. The reel gave a short burst but then went silent. I tried teasing the fish, but to no avail. I assume the cold water resulted in the fish not being aggressive and so it just swatted at the lure before moving on. Oh well, at least we saw our first billfish for the season.

We headed back to the harbour where we had some electrical issues. After manhandling the boat onto the trailer, we found the problem to be a faulty battery. It was a really great day on the water and a good sign of things to come...

All quiet on the fishing front

The past few weekends have been terrible in terms of weather and no fishing has taken place.

There have been a few daga salmon caught in the week by anglers fishing at night. The garrick have slowed and only the odd one is coming out.

So far, there have been 3 blue marlin and 1 shortbill spearfish caught by the guys fishing for billfish, the biggest being a 175kg blue caught on Friday. Several billfish have been lost. The conditions are very unpredicatble with blue water close in one day and cold green water as far as you can go the next. The only constant factor is the bait. There are alot of bonito around and have been for the past month or so.

Hopefully the conditions will improve and remain stable enough to get out there and fish.

I will keep you updated.

Patience Pays Off

On Saturday 3^rd August 2011, Ray and I launched “Selfish” for a day’s Garrick fishing. There had been quite a few coming out and we wanted to get into some of the action. The weather forecast did not look too great for the morning, but the prediction was for a beautiful afternoon. We were on the water at 7:30am and went straight to one of the buoys in the harbour to look for bait. As we stopped, it started to rain ... NOT AYOBA! We battled for about an hour before we decided to go to the pipeline and look there for some.

After a bumpy and wet ride, we arrived and send down sabikis. Before Ray and I hit the bottom, we were on. We both lifted full strings of maasbankers into the boat. Maasbankers are not my favourite bait, but beggars can’t be choosers. Drift after drift we caught maasbankers. Every now and again, there was a shad in the mix. It was a bit of a mission but at least there were a few shad around. I moved a bit and found some nice pinky’s, but it was shad I was after so I returned to the maasbankers to persevere. On the second drift, there was a strange showing about 5-10m from the surface. Ray and I lifted the jigs into that depth and both went on instantly. We lifted 2 strings of beautiful size shad into the boat! We went down again and the same story ... patience finally paid off! Within 15 minutes, we had enough shad for the day and headed back to the south pier.

I rigged 4 baits, 3 on surface and 1 deep and slowly trolled near the pier. The water was an off green and the changing tide was making it worse... at least the rain had stopped. We had trolled for a few minutes when the far bait was taken. I fed the fish but nothing happened. After a while, the line picked up and ran off the reel. I gave it time and then set the hook. It turned out to be a small Garrick of just over 6kg. The lines went back in and I worked the same area. About half an hour later, the same rod had a pull. I fed the fish and hooked up. It took very little line and came to the boat quickly. I traced the fish and lifted it into the boat by the tail. If it was not a competition, I would have released it. At least we were on the board. The rest of the day produced no further strikes and at 4pm we upped lines and went home.

First Garrick of the 2011 season

On Saturday 20^th August 2011, my Dad and I as well as Nico Swart launched our boat “Selfish” off Richards Bay to look for Garrick. This was the first time in several weeks that the weather and sea conditions had allowed us to launch. Finally we were could get rid of the withdrawal symptoms we were experiencing.

We headed to one of the nearby marker buoys in the harbour where we found a shoal of shad. We sent down sabiki rigs with pieces of sardine and quickly had a hatch of shad for bait. Our next stop was just over the channel to the south pier, where the fish had been coming out for the past few days.

As we arrived I rigged up 4 shad, 3 on surface and 1 deeper with a running sinker. We then slowly trolled along to the end of the pier. Nico had never fished for Garrick before, so I rigged 2 baits on spinning rods and 2 on conventional reels. The spinning rods are easier to use because you can leave the bail open and when the fish takes the bait, the line automatically freespools. I explained the drill to Nico and then we sat back and waited. At about 8:30am, half an hour after we put the lines in the water, I looked back and noticed the line was running off the one spinning rod. We were in a area where there was a big swell. I thought a swell had popped the trip and we were having a ‘false strike’. I picked up the rod and held the line. I felt the line take tension and then there was the heavy weight of a fish. I continued feeding the line and after a count of about 20, I tightened up and set the hook. When I was sure the fish was on properly, I handed the rod to Nico. The fish did not take any line and came to the boat very easily where I put the gaff into it. Great, our first garrick for the season, and Nico’s first.

The lines went out again and 20minutes later, the deep bait revved and the reel ran. I fed the fish but after a few seconds, the bait was dropped. I changed the terminal config to allow the sinker to run more freely and rigged the bait for another go. Things were very quiet and so we tried on the outside of the pier along the colour line that formed during the outgoing tide. As we crossed into the clean water, one of the surface baits was taken. I fed the fish for a while, then set the hook. The fish started taking line and as I passed the rod to Nico, the hook came out. Bad luck.

I rerigged and made another turn. This time, the deep bait went. I fed the fish and then set the hook. This time I made sure I gave it enough time to eat, resulting in a solid hookup. Nico took the rod and had a good tussle with a Garrick. After a few short runs, I gaffed the fish. Nice. I made a few more turns over the colour line and about half an hour later, the deep bait was taken. I fed the fish and tightened up. The fish took off and splashed on the surface. It was another Garrick. My Dad took the rod and had a great fight before I gaffed the fish.

Things went quiet from then on and after an hour of nothing, we upped lines and went home. The fish all weighed between 8 and 9kg.

Madeira

On the 14^th July 2011, Riaan Pretorius and I left Durban Airport for a 10 day trip to Madeira, Portugal. Good friends Mike Warren and Allan Myburg invited us to spend a few days there to see if we could get a nice Blue Marlin... even though the season had been shocking so far.

Our flights took us from Durban to Joburg to Frankfurt to Porto and finally to Funchal... 25 hours later! Allan was there to meet us and after a 30 minute drive, we arrived in Calheta, our base for the next few days. Omega 1, a 48ft Buddy Davis is moored in Calheta Marina which is only 10 minutes from the house where we were staying. After settling, we went down to the mooring to meet up with the locals and hear what had been happening the past few days. The news was not good. There had been nothing in the past few days and there was a sombre mood amongst the crews based there for the season.

Being middle of summer, the weather was beautiful! 26 degrees, sunny skies and flat seas ... every day. The sun only set at 21:45pm with boats launching at 19:45 for an hour or so marlin fishing! This was difficult to get used to. Our daily movements were very laid back. Up at 6:30, a light breakfast, leave for the marina at 8:00, stopping at the bakery for freshly baked buns, a cup of coffee at the marina cafe and then onto the boat, leaving the harbour at around 9am each morning. The run to the fishing grounds was about one minute ... not even 500m! The water is purple in the marina and the deep water (over 100m) starts immediately. Our average day would end around 5pm. After returning to the marina, the boat was washed and prepared for the next day. At about 6pm all the crews met at the marina cafe for a few beers and some snacks before heading home. Riaan and I had our daily sundowners at 21:45 (after dinner!) before retiring for the night... what a life!

This is a big Blue marlin fishery with little or no bycatch so there is no place for light tackle. Each day we would set the lines with 5 BIG lures on HEAVY tackle. All the boats in the area are running similar patterns, waiting for that one big fish to show up. The average size of the fish in Madeira are 600-700Lbs with 900Lbs and bigger making the occasional appearance.

After 3 days of trolling in perfect conditions without a strike, we decided to try some other types of fishing. I had taken the daytime swordfish gear with me and Allan was very keen to give it a go to see if this could be an option for when the fishing was slow. It would also be the first time deep dropping was done in Madeira. In total, we deep dropped for 4 days. On day 1 we never had a bite after 3 drops. On day 2 we tried another area and on the first drop, we had a bite. The rod bumped and the reel took off. Riaan took the strike and tried to gain line on the fish. It took about 20 minutes to get the 500m mark back on the reel and a further hour to get the fish to the surface where it turned out to be a bigeye thresher shark of about 100kg. This was the first Thresher shark caught by a sports fishing boat in Madeira. Not too bad. The rest of the day was dead. On Day 3, we had another bite from what I am positive was a broadbill. The weight tripped and the rod slowly pulled down. The fish let go then ate again after teasing it a bit. I took the strike and about half way up, the hook came out. The bait had a slash mark on it but other than that, it looked perfect... just bad luck I guess.

The next few days were the same, without a strike so we took a day off to see the island. It is beautiful! Some of the places are out of a dream. Absolute paradise.
Our trip came to an end very quickly, and even though we did not catch a big Madeira blue, it was still amazing. Riaan and I agree that we would go back any time again. If you get the chance to go, grab it with 2 hands. Both Riaan and I are very grateful to Mike and Allan for hosting us for the few days and showing us what the island has to offer.

Junior Nationals 2011 Richards Bay

On Sunday 10^th July 2011, I launched “Lihann” in the 2011 Junior Nationals off Richards Bay. I had the Natal U/19 team on board as well as a selector, Phillip Marx.

We headed to the pipeline to look for livebait. We managed to get about 15 shad and a few pinkies before heading to Mapelane lighthouse. I had heard that there were a few nice fish caught there the previous day so I was pretty confident that something would happen. Just short of lighthouse bay, the team put out a few small lures for snoek and I trolled around hoping to find them. After about an hour, there was still nothing. By 10am, other boats were also struggling on the pinnacle so I suggested that we run further north to the ledge and focus on cuda.

The team rigged up 2 wala-wala, a live shad, a bonito and a mackerel. The third line was still being put out when the first bait (a wala) was taken and the fish smoked off. It was on Chris’ rod and he fought what seemed to be a nice fish. After about 15 minutes, the hooks suddenly pulled! The 7/0 single had opened! Bad Luck. The lines went out and I zig-zagged the ledge moving slowly south. At about 11am, the 2 deep baits went away on a double strike. One pulled hook but the other one found its way into the hatch ... a cuda of about 10kg. The spot was marked and I made a turn while the lined were set. As I passed over the mark, another deep bait was eaten. Chris managed to get a nice cuda after a good fight. By now there was a frenzy of bait rigging and setting of lines! I made a wide turn to give the team time to regroup. Finally we got a good spread out and I made another approach. Again, the deep bait went away, but the hooks missed. Our conversion stats were not too good! Almost every turn resulted in a strike so I suggested a few adjustments, the baits went down again. The next pass resulted in a solid hookset and another shoal cuda went into the hatch.

There other boats had seen very little action and moved off to other spots for the last hour of the competition. The fish seemed to go quiet after that, apart from a big shark that ate a bonito. I trolled a bit further south on the ledge and had a strange pull on the deep bait. It turned out to be a small cuda that never knew it was hooked and woke up next to the boat when I put the gaff into it.

We ended up with 4 cuda from about 10 strikes. Our biggest fish for the day was 18,8kg which helped the team into first place on the first day. Unfortunately, I could not participate in rest of the tournament due to work commitments but it was great to be part of it.