Beast of the Bay

On Saturday 7^th September 2013, Dean, Andrew and I launched “ABF” out of Richards Bay. We were looking to catch a Garrick for Andrew as he had never caught one before. We set off at 6am heading to the pipeline to get livebait. On the way out, we saw that the water in the bay and out at sea was dirty, the worst that I had seen in a long time. There was also a really big swell that made things worse.

On arrival at the pipe, we set up 2 bait rigs and baited up with sardine before sending them down on a small showing. There was absolutely nothing! I sounded around looking for some signs of bait but no luck. The other boats there also had nothing so they moved off to look elsewhere. Knowing that if you don’t have live bait, you were dead in the water, I persisted. After an hour of trying all my marks, I had one last one to try. As I sounded towards it, I found a good showing and as the guys went down, they went tight on bait. They lifted 2 mixed strings of shad and big maasbankers. I made another drift and the same result. I called the other 2 boats to the spot before moving off back to the harbour.

I stopped on the point of the south pier, but the water was absolutely filthy. It was so bad that I suggested we move to another spot. Inside the bay, the water was marginally better, but the visibility was still less than a meter. I spoke to a few other guys in the bay and they were all struggling for bait. None had a strike yet. Not having many options, we rigged up a few live baits and slow trolled along the dropoff of the shipping channel. By 10am I was out of ideas so I suggested we go to the club and buy some takeaways and some refreshments then head back into the harbour to wait out the day. By 10:45 we were back fishing. The NE wind had started picking up, so I anchored up on the Port side of the channel in the lee of the casurinas. This was the only area with clean water so I was feeling a bit more confident. We were sitting on the dropoff in 13m of water with 2 baits out the back on balloons in the deep water and 2 flatlines on sinkers straight down. It did not take long before the far balloon broke off and the reel gave a short burst. On the surface there was a small splash followed by a small shark breaking surface with the shad in its mouth. After getting rid of it, I reset another bait. We had just cracked open a beverage when there was a big swirl and commotion out the back. The far shad jumped out of the water a few times with something on its tail. The balloon broke free as I saw a nice Garrick break surface. I was expecting the reel to run, but nothing. I waited a while before checking the bait, which was still alive and well. Oh well, I guess it was just its lucky day... not ours.

The wind was picking up quickly and with it the waves in the bay. This 20kt wind was causing havoc for me as every few minutes, the balloons would trip the links to the line. I tried everything from inflating them less to adding water to them. I was at the point of using a stronger trip, but that would hinder the strike. Needless to say, I was frustrated. To top it off, while this was going on, a small shark ate one of the deep baits resulting in a good tangle. It was time to regroup... so I sat back and had a cold one. With a new found energy, I reset all the lines and managed to get everything right.

At about 13:00, I saw one of the deep baits rev. I walked closer, just incase. Moments later the reel took off like a cuda. I fed the fish for about 15 seconds then tightened up. The rod keeled over and the reel continued running as if it were still in freespool! I handed to rod to Andrew, hoping it was a nice Garrick. Dean and I cleared the other lines and lifted the anchor. By then, the fish had taken close on 200m off the reel heading straight into the channel. When the run stopped, Andrew slowly but surely gained line. After 20 minutes, the fish was straight up and down.

We were all guessing what it was. It ranged from a zambizi shark to a honeycomb or diamond skate. The fish took us into the dirty water and visibility went down to about 2m. When the fish was quite close, I saw a glimpse of a white shape in the murky water. It did not go white to brown like a skate would, and a shark would not come up belly first... On the next turn, I confirmed that it was not any of the above but that it could be a big salmon as the length and shape was about right. Finally, the leader cleared the water and we could not believe our eyes... it was a beast of a kingfish! It made one more turn before it came within range of the gaff. I lifted it into the boat and was shocked at the size of it. We snapped off a few pics before heading back to the club.

A crowd had gathered around us when we off loaded and everyone was anxious to know the weight. It eventually pulled the scale to 28kg! A real beast for the bay. This was one of Andrew’s bucket list fish which he had tried to catch for many years. Well done Andrew.

Spring has Sprung

On Sunday 1^st September at 6:30am, Jannie, Chris and I launched “Ohana” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to get Jannie’s first Garrick, and our first Garrick of the season. After speaking to a few of the guys who had been fishing during the week, there had been a good number of Garrick in the bay, but livebait had been a problem. With that in mind, we headed for the bait spots offshore.

On the first drop with the sabikis, Chris caught 3 nice shad. I baited up and went down and as I hit the ground, went tight and lifted a string of shad into the boat. Within 15 minutes, we had a livewell full of bait and headed back to the harbour to find a suitable area to anchor. The water was quite dirty in the bay, but knowing that Garrick feed in all water conditions, we went about setting anchor. We opted for 3 balloons, one with a weight and the others without. We then also set 2 weighted baits straight off the rod tips at 7 and 9m. Things were very quiet until about 10am when the boat next to us landed a fish. 10minutes later, we had a pull on the weighted balloon. I fed the fish a bit, but it dropped the bait before I could set the hook. A short while later, we had a shark eat one of the baits and bite the leader off.

By 12:30, we were bored as hell so decided to check out the water on the outside of the south pier. There was a huge swell running and the water was churned up badly. The strong reverse current ran along the pier causing major rips and coupled with the easterly wind, it made a beautiful colour line about 100m from the pier. We decided to pull the baits along the line for a while before we went home. I rigged 2 surface lines and 1 deep. Jannie slowly trolled along moving north. A little ways ahead of us, a few small baitfish cleared the water followed by a big boil. Moments later, the far surface bait went away. I fed it for a while  before tightening up and setting the hook. I passed the rod to Jannie while Chris and I cleared the other lines. It did not take long to get the fish to the boat and on the first pass, we saw 2 followers. I flicked out another bait to try and tempt a second fish, but no such luck. It took some time to finally get the fish within range and finally I lifted Jannie’s first Garrick into the boat... Finally, the pressure was off.

I rerigged and set the lines. Jannie trolled the same line and it was not long before the deep bait went away. After feeding and hooking up, I handed the rod to Chris who had a great fight with a feisty Garrick. This fish was a carbon copy of the first. It was mission accomplished for the day as both Jannie and Chris had their first Garrick... Chris had caught ‘leervis’ in the Cape before, but never in Natal.

The rip was starting to dissipate with the change in tide so we did not have much longer to fish in these prime conditions. I set the 3 lines again and within a few minutes, the close surface bait gave a few short bursts. I looked back to see a Garrick circling it with the shad trying to jump out of harms way. I lightly pulled on the line to interrupt the jumping and was rewarded with an awesome smash on the surface. I fed the fish but after a few seconds, the fish dropped the bait and did not return as they usually do. I replaced the bait and Jannie made a turn over the same spot. It was no surprise when the same reel went away. This time it all went according to plan and I hooked up. While retrieving the other lines, Chris noticed that one of the lines was tangled with mine so he had to control the other rod to prevent a burnoff. The fish gave me a good fight next to the boat and after 15 minutes, Jannie lifted it into the boat. It was a perfect end to what started out as a slow day.

The fish were all between 7,5 and 9kg. Not a bad way to start the season.

Change of Plans

On Sunday 4^th August, Jacques Spence and I launched “ABF” off Richards Bay to look for snoek. The weather forecast looked unreal with a maximum of 7kt. We left the harbour at 5:30 and had lines in the water by 6am. I was concerned that the fish would not eat in such calm conditions during the day and hence the reason for launching so early. I hoped to snatch a few before it was light. Despite having 5 beautiful baits in the water, we never had a pull.

 

By 8am, not one of the twenty odd boats had a strike so I upped lines and headed for the pipeline. I rigged up a set of sabiki jigs and when we found the showing, Jacques dropped the jig to the bottom. He immediately went on with a string of maasies. We made another drift and Jacques went on with a few mackerel. This sparked my interest so I rigged up a second bait rod and sent the jigs down. I also went on with a string of mackerel. All fishing plans went out the window at that point and operation bait collection commenced. Drift after drift we went on with a mix of mackerel, maasbankers, redeyes and razorbellies. We sat on the shoal for an hour or so and managed to fill the livewell and headed for home.

 

After vacuum packing the baits the final tally came to 88 mackerel and 30 redeyes. Bring on the gamefish!

The Need for Speed

On Saturday 3^rd August, Pierre Smit, My Dad and I launched “AVANTI” off Richards Bay. The weather forecast looked good and we were hoping to get a few snoek. We left the harbour in the dark and ran up north to 5 mile light house. It was just getting light when I set the rods. I put out 2 fillets, 2 redeyes and a whole sardine.

 

I had just cleared the deck when I heard a reel go. It was the whole sardine had been eaten. The reel gave two or three short bursts as the fish shook its head and then it absolutely smoked off! It was definitely a nice cuda that had just figured out that it was hooked. I took the rod out the holder and eased off on the drag. I was about to pass the rod to Pierre when the reel went silent and the rod flicked back. I retrieved the line to see that the light #3 lead wire had broken... which was expected. We were not targeting cuda and it is very seldom that you get them out on the scaled down traces.

 

I was busy rerigging the trace when another reel went away. This time it was on a redeye. I passed the rod to my Dad who brought in a nice snoek. Great start. I rerigged the baits and replaced the whole sardine with a small razorbelly. Pierre trolled shallower as the sun was just clearing the horizon. In 12m of water, 2 reels went off. One on a redeye and the other on the razorbelly. Pierre and I took the rods. The fish swam everywhere and picked up a few lines in the process. After a bit of bobbing and weaving, we managed to load 2 nice snoek. Again I rigged the baits and Pierre tacked deeper. We were in 16m when a redeye went away. My Dad took the rod and after a good fight, loaded another snoek. We had found the line that the fish were on so we worked it for a while. I was throwing a spoon as we trolled and I noticed a big swirl behind the lure. I increased the retrieve speed and a snoek came flying up behind it. It bumped the lure then turned off. I made a few more casts and had fish follow every time. I was expecting a reel to go away, but nothing. We worked the area a bit more and I was busy retrieving the sardine to check it when I saw a dark shape behind it. I wound faster and a snoek raced in and gripped the bait. It took a few meters of line then pulled the hook. It definitely seemed as if the fish wanted a bit more speed as every time I increased the retrieve speed, it would induce a strike. Pierre increased the speed of the boat and pulled through the area. The rod with a redeye bent as we went on to something small. Pierre pulled in a nice big garfish that managed to get snagged, and released it.

 

We rigged up 3 fillets and put them out. I also put out 2 small rapalas. It did not take long for a strike. This time it was on a fillet. Pierre took the strike and brought in a small snoek. On the next turn, the same rod went away and the result was another small snoek. After that, the fish switched off and no one had any more action. We upped lines and went to the pipeline to look for Garrick bait. A few pinkies and maasbanker later and we were off to the backline south of the harbour. We trolled in 2.5m to 3m of water going south. I flicked the spoon as we trolled and on the third cast, I had a bump. I continued the retrieve and saw a snoek of around 4kg follow it. Unfortunately it faded off and never came back. After trolling for about an hour without a pull, we upped lines and returned home. We weighed the 2 biggest snoek and they came in at 7kg and 7,2kg.

Mid-week break in the Weather

On Tuesday 23^rd July at 5pm, Wayne, Neville, Zander and I launched “Galavant” off Richards Bay. The weather forecast was excellent and we were keen to get into some Daga Salmon action.

By the time we arrived at the pipe, there were already about 10 boats there. We sounded around until we found a good showing and threw the anchor. The NE was still blowing and this made things more interesting. The wind resistance on the cabin caused the tandem anchors to continuously slip and we could not stay on the spot that we wanted. While retrieving the rope, the anchor hooked up to an old rope that had been discarded by someone else... we were now tied to a spot, 50m away from where we wanted to be, and could not get the anchor untangled in the wind / swell. We decided to stay right there, in the desert, and give it a shot.

 

We went about catching some live bait and in no time we had 4 baits in the water. Things were exceptionally quiet and not one of the boats had had a touch yet. At 7:30, Wayne informed us that he was getting a pull but when he tightened up, the hook pulled! Unlucky. At least we were now more confident about the spot we were in.

I was using 8kg line instead of 100Lbs braid. Knowing that there is a 1 fish bag limit, I was hoping to have some fun with the fish as opposed to ripping it in as fast as possible. About half an hour later, I felt my bait rev followed by a heavy bump on the rod. I fed the fish a few meters then tightened up. The rod keeled over as the fish went on a run. The other guys lifted their lines generously to avoid tangles and breaking off. The swell gave me a hard time but eventually, I turned the fish and got it to the surface. Wayne gaffed a nice daga that we estimated 17kg. With a fish on the deck, the pressure was off. I was out for the night and kept myself busy catching shad.

The wind started dropping and it turned into a beautiful evening. Zander was the next one to suddenly stand at the ready as his rod bumped. After a short feed, he hooked up and was pulled flat to the gunwale. The scarborough reel knocked him a few times before he got control. This fish was very strong and kept him busy for a good 10 minutes we got colour. It was a beautiful daga that I gaffed and hauled aboard. We all called it 30kg plus! What a nice fish.

As Wayne’s bait hit the bottom, he felt a bump but it was not his lucky night and missed the fish. The bait came back with teeth marks everywhere. Things went quiet again and at 11pm we upped lines. After struggling to get the anchor loose for about an 20 minutes, we headed back to the harbour. The fish weighed in at 18,8kg and 33kg. Really nice fish considering...

 

Putting the Fun back into Fishing...

On Sunday 21^st, Wayne, Zander and I were bored and looking for something to keep us busy so we launched “Galavant” in the Bay. There had been the odd Garrick around so we took a few small rods and headed for the south pier. We anchored and set about looking for live bait.

 

The pickings were very slim and none of the boats were finding suitable bait. At one stage, Zander caught a small seapike which he was about to release when I asked him to keep it so that we could rig it... desperate times call for desperate measures. I pinned the small pike and put it out in a balloon. I had hardly finished setting the line when the reel gave a short burst. The balloon broke away and I started feeding the fish... hoping for a Garrick. I tightened up and as the rod buckled, the tip shot back. It was a small shark that bit the hook off... This was the start of the shark plague and almost every bait we put out produced one.

Wayne had a tiny rod onboard, intended for the kids to catch blacktail and moonies at the mooring. I could not pass up the challenge and rigged up a bottom trace with a bloody chunk of sardine. I struggled to get a shark, but managed to get a few small bottomfish. I cut up some chum sardines to try and attract the shad. Eventually, Zander caught one and rigged it on a balloon. While this was going on, I persevered with my “Noddy” rod.

Finally, I felt the line tighten up and the game was on... The little rod bent to angles that I have never seen before as reel screamed off. AWESOME! I had a great fight with the fish making a few good runs before it was close enough for Zander to grab it. Classic! Its amazing how a bit of light tackle can bring the fun out in any kind of fishing.

 

Unfortunately the day ended without a Garrick, but we all had a great day on the water.

The Show Must Go On

On Saturday 29^th June, Jannie Jacobs, his wife Mia and son TJ, Francé and I launched “Ohana” off Richards Bay. Our club was hosting a Ladies and Junior Competition so Jannie asked me to be deckhand on Saturday while he skipped. The competition was supposed to be a “Ladies and Junior Interclub”, but unfortunately, after the invites had been sent out to all the clubs in South Africa, we only had 1 team from PE send a team. Disappointing to say the least. As the saying goes, the show must go on and the RBSBC changed the format to a social comp and invited all members to enter. There was an overwhelming response for such short notice and 12 teams ended up fishing! Great to see the enthusiasm and support from local members.

The format of the comp was 1 point per kg and the minimum weight of 1kg. No IGFA rules and no line class. It was as relaxed as a comp could be. The weather favourable on day one and all the boats launched by first light. We headed for the pipeline and collected some live bait before heading to the ledge. The sea was a bit bumpy, but was predicted to settle. I put out 4 small halcos and an Ilander saillure, just incase there was a sailfish lurking. Jannie trolled over the ledge and as the reef started, one of the reels went off. I passed the rod to Francé who brought in a small yellowfin tuna... first points on the board. Without wasting time, the lines went out again. There were a lot of albatross around and we snagged one on the surface lure. Jannie trolled over a midwater showing and it was no surprise when 4 reels went away. Mia, TJ and Francé all fought fish while I cleared the dead line. Unfortunately the one fish pulled the hook but Mia and Francé each landed the shoalie yellowfins. TJ’s fish was converted to a shark which bit through the nylon leader after a while. We continued trolling and went away with a good fish on the surface lure. It took a lot of line and we had to turn after it to slow the run. While I was clearing the deck, the hook pulled... unlucky. A short while later, Francé caught another small yellowfin.

By now we were pretty confident that we had a good position on the leader board and decided to fish for a cuda. I rigged up 2 dead baits and 3 livies. Jannie slow-trolled across the ledge and it was not long before a reel went off. Due to a bout of seasickness, most of our crew were out of action so Francé took the strike. She fought it well but when it was near the boat, it made a fast run followed by a slow, constant pull heading to sea... another conversion. The baits went out again and two more sharks and an albatross later, we were near the end of the ledge. As we were deciding to try another spot, the downrigger rod went away. Again Francé took the strike and brought an 8kg cuda to the boat. That was our last strike for the day and we were back in the harbour by 3pm.

On Sunday, I fished on “ABF” with Martinus Mathee. We tried to get a Garrick, but they were not having any of it. Apart from a small snoek, our day was quiet.

All the competition boats launched in perfect conditions. After a long day, there were a lot of small yellowfin and the odd snoek and cuda weighed. Francé took the top individual, TJ ended 7^th and Mia 9^th due to a few more yellowfins on the ledge.

Congrats to the committee for hosting a really great social event that included the whole family. I hope that this can be an annual event, with more interest from other clubs.

First Snoek of the Season

On Sunday 23^rd June, Mike and Dale Leenstra and I launched “Beluga” off Richards Bay. We were just going for a relaxed social outing and had no plans of really fishing too hard. Mike also wanted to test his new GPS / echo sounder.

The sea was calm and a nice clean green colour. We stopped at the pipeline, but after almost an hour, we had not caught a single live bait. This often happens after a SW buster comes through. We decided not to flog a dead horse, so we headed for 5 Mile. There had been a few Snoek (Queen Mackerel) caught there the previous day, so it seemed like the logical place to start. Dale and I put out a few baits and Mike trolled along the colourline looking to find a fish. It was not long before the surface bait went away with a small fish. After much deliberation, I took the rod and winched in a small snoek ... my first for the season. The baits went in again and the search continued. After about an hour, we were quite far north and turned back to work the shallow ledge. Dale and I were playing around with the GPS when a nice midwater showing came through. We were still joking about it being a shoal of snoek when one of the reels went off. Mike took the strike and landed a nice 4kg fish. While Dale and Mike rigged and set the lines, I turned back towards the waypoint. The showing had gone, so I tacked north for a few hundred meters. By luck, we drove over the showing again and the deep bait went on. Mike was next to the rod, so he  brought in a really nice fish, the biggest of the day so far... around 6kg. I was busy turning when the other deep bait had a pull. Unfortunately it missed the hooks. The baits were rerigged and I trolled the area without another pull. I started trolling north as it seemed like thats the way the shoal had been moving. About 20minutes  later, the deep bait went away with a small fish which Dale brought in. We were keen to release it, but unfortunately it was in the gills so we kept it.

 

Things went a bit quiet for a while and we were contemplating returning to port. At one stage, Edmund Johnstone came past us and went on with a fish. He had been trolling lures and had had a few strikes already. That was enough to convince us to change rigs. Dale and Mike set the lines and I tacked back over the area we had found a few fish earlier. It was not long before we had a pull. Dale took the strike and when I slacked the speed, another rod went away. Dale got a small snoek to the boat where we released it. Mine was in the gills and bleeding badly so it went into the hatch. I made another turn and this time the japan rod went away. Mike took it and got another nice size fish to the boat.

 

It was 11am, so we decided to troll back home. We had gone about a kilometre when we spotted a shoal of halfbeaks leaping out of the water toward us. We all agreed that there must be something chasing them and when our lines came into the area, a reel went off. Dale passed me the rod. It was hardly fighting, so we assumed it was small and would release it. When it came to the boat, it turned out to be one of the biggest fish of the day, so it ended up in the hatch.

 

We trolled right into the harbour without another pull. It was a really enjoyable day and the fact that we had a few fish was a bonus. Mike and my fish weighed in at 6.3kg and 6.4kg respectively.

Tuna Tango

On Monday 17^th June, Carl, Julie, my Dad and I launched “SELFISH” off Richards Bay. It was a laid back day and we only put to sea at 7:30. A big cold front had moved through over the previous 2 days and there was still a bit of a swell and reverse current around.

We stopped at the pipeline to look for bait, but failed. I then headed to a deeper mark between the ships, but could not even find a showing. As we headed south, I tried all my bait marks, but only managed to find small bottomfish. We had no option but to fish with the deadbait that we had.
We arrived at the 32m reef of Petingo and I went about rigging a few baits. With my sister onboard, I was mindful of the ladies 6kg cuda SA record of 21kg, so I had a 6kg outfit that would hopefully produce a nice fish. Opting for a surface mackerel bait on this rod, I let the bait out about 50m. When I put up the drag to place the rod, the resistance of the bait increased, followed by the rod bending. I wound down and tightened up. To my surprise, the reel smoked off. Everyone onboard was oblivious to the fact that I was on so I put on the ratchet to make the situation known. I could not pass the rod to my sister as I had handled it, so I took the strike. My Dad spun the boat around to follow the fish and slow the run. The line came to the surface which made my job of regaining line very easy as we sped toward the fish. Just before we could identify it, it sounded, taking about 20m of line. From that point, the fight changed to a straight up and down tug o war. I thought the fish had tailwrapped as I could feel the steady tail beats on the rod. Slowly, inch by inch, I lifted the fish on the light 2kg drag. As the fish neared, it began to make the characteristic big circles of a tuna. I looked down and could see the short silver shape of some sort of tuna, but it almost looked like a big kawa-kawa. Finally after another 10 minutes of circling, the fish came within range and Carl gaffed the fish. It was a nice yellowfin tuna. Not bad for the first bait of the day.
I rerigged and set all the lines while we trolled the reef looking for some form of life. About half an hour later, while adjusting the deep lines, I heard a reel go. I looked up to see the 6kg rod bending. I called to my sister to take the rod while Carl and I cleared the other lines. The fish did not put up too much of  struggle and came to the boat pretty quick. It too was a yellowfin, but only a small one. Still, a nice fight on 6kg line.
We trolled around until noon before moving to Petingo, but by 2pm we had not had a pull, so we upped lines and headed back. My yellowfin ended up weighing 14.2kg and Julies was 4,2kg.

Tangling with Daga

On Friday afternoon 14^th June, Jannie Jacobs, Jannie's brother, Robert and I launched “OHANA” off Richards Bay. We were hoping to find a few dagga salmon that had been around. After arriving at the pipeline, we sounded around for a while to look for signs of life. It was not long before we found large bait showings indicating the spot to focus our efforts. We checked the drift before setting the sand anchor. We positioned ourselves perfectly on the top of the showing and I set about catching a few maasbanker before the sun went down.

As the sun set, the bait went off the bite so we set about rigging up the bottom rods. While Jannie rigged 2 rods to catch shad, I hooked up a live maasie and sent it down. It only took about 15 minutes before I felt the heavy bumps on the rod. I fed the fish for a few turns before I tightened up. The rod buckled over as the fish ran, but this was short lived as the hook pulled out after a few meters. After losing the first fish, everyone scrambled for a rod and sent down a livie. With a few lines down, our chances improved and Robert was the next to get a bump. This turned out to be a really nice rockcod. By now, the shad were around the boat so it was operation live bait and within half an hour, there was a healthy supply of bigger livebait for the evening.

Jannie put the bait rod down and rigged a shad on his bottom rod. The bait was only down for a few minutes before he had a pull. Unfortunately, his result was the same as mine... pulled hook. Things went a bit quiet and by 7:30 we still had no dagga on the boat. There were about 14 boats on the pipe and by the sounds of things, there was very little action. I switched on the echo sounder to see what was going on below. I saw that we were a few meters off the pipe, probably due to the wind and current pulling on the anchor. We pulled in a bit of rope until we were on top of the pipe and the showing... things had to happen. I put out a trapstick with a live maasie and floated it out the back. There had been a few kingfish in the evenings and I was hoping for one to climb on. Probably 10 minutes later, Robert had a bump and hooked up to a nice fish. Moments later, Jannie also hooked up so there was a bit of weaving to keep the lines apart. Jannie mentioned that he could feel another line on his line and next thing, his line parted! Robert managed to get his fish to the boat where we gaffed a 16kg dagga. When we lifted his fish into the boat, I saw that my trapstick line had been tangled up and while loosening the knot, I felt something pulling back on the other end... there was a fish on my line. Quickly we undid the tangle and I went about fighting the fish. As it came close, my trace cleared the water, with my bait still intact. There was however another line tangled around it... it was Jannies fish that had burnt off earlier! After handlining the fish, Jannie gaffed a 14kg dagga. Talk about lucky!

We had caught 2 fish in 15 minutes so there was obviously a shoal under the boat. I set my trapstick again and then put out a bottom rod looking to hookup the conventional way. I had just hit the bottom when the trapstick reel went away. I handed off my bottom rod and took up the other rod. Thinking this was a kingfish, I fought it really hard and within a few minutes, the fish was next to the boat. It turned out to be another salmon of 18kg... what a luck. I rerigged another bait on the same rod and had just turned to drop another bait when the reel went again. This time It took off at quite a speed with some good head nods. At one stage, I felt a rope on my line so I freespooled for a bit. Luckily the line came free and I muscled the fish to the surface. It turned out to be yet another salmon. This was the biggest so far and ended up being 21,3kg... not bad for a cuda stick.

It was now 8:30 and we had out quota of salmon. We opted to continue fishing and release any further fish we caught. Despite fishing for another hour, we had no further action and headed back to port. Thanks to Jannie and crew for a great night.