2015 Mapelane Junior Interclub

On Sunday 12^th July, We launched “OHANA” off Mapelane for the second day of the Mapelane Junior Interclub. Fishing with us was one of the Richards Bay U/16 teams of JP and TJ Jacobs and JP Krieg. The previous day’s fishing had not been too good with only a handful of fish being weighed. The 15-20 knot NE wind had blown consistently for the 2 days making the conditions difficult. After losing several fish the first day, we were hoping to get some points on the board.

After catching some livies on the backline, we joined the rest of the fleet fishing home reef. We were limited to the area due to the wind and so we had to make do with what we had. We put out 4 lines, 2 livies, a sardine and a small bonnie. These baits were drifted along the 16m to 25m marks. It was pretty quiet and only a few fish had been reported. To pass the time, JP played around with a sabiki jig catching the odd Maasbanker and a few sand soldiers as we drifted. We had just drifted onto a small patch of reef when the medium livie was eaten. The fish hardly pulled the reel, but no matter, we had a fish on. JP took the rod and quickly had a small 4kg cuda at the boat which I gaffed. Finally, something in the hatch. We drifted off the reef and decided to up lines and do a short drift over the same area. I was retrieving the deep livie and was holding the line, having just removing the sinker, when the line was ripped out my hand! The rod bent and another small cuda went on a run. Before anyone could take the rod, the hooks unfortunately pulled.



Richards Bay U/16 team with their catch

After running up and resetting the lines, we drifted south past the point. Realising we only had half an hour left of fishing, we decided to continue drifting until lines up. We were all pretty much falling asleep when the reel on the bow rod smoked off! Talk about a wakeup call… TJ took the strike while the rest of us cleared the deck. Jannie followed the fish with the boat and after several fast runs, I managed to gaff a 12kg cuda.

The comp came to an end shortly after that and at the weighin there were a few nice fish including two prodigal son of 17kg and 20kg. Congrats to the other Richards Bay team for taking the gold with a great cuda of 24kg on the first day.

I look forward to seeing all the juniors there again next year!

Slim Pickings

On Sunday 5^th July, Ray, Marnus and I launched “My Wish” out of Richards Bay. There had not been too many fish around the last while but we were hoping to at least hear a reel or two during the day.

We stopped off at the pipe line and caught a few livies before heading towards 5mile. The swell was pretty big so we could not get too close to the backline but the small reef that I have been fishing the past few days was fishable. I rigged up a few livies and trolled onto the showing. It did not take long for us to get a pull and after a bit of a stubborn fight, Marnus had a blackspot kingfish in the boat. At least the ice had been broken.

Bonnie and kingfish

We rerigged and I trolled over the showing again. This time the bait just revved a bit followed by a slight bump on the rod. Marnus checked the bait and found that there were a few teeth marks on it and it had been squashed slightly.
A fresh bait was rigged and I made another pass over the reef. Again the bait revved and the rod tip bumped a bit before going quiet. The bait had the same marks on it as the previous one. I could still not make out what they were so we tried once more. As I was nearing the mark, a shoal of redeyes popped up on surface so I lowered the sabikis into them and caught a few snoek baits. While this was going on, the deep bait went away. Marnus passed the rod to Ray who had a good tussle on his hands. I moved the boat away from the structure just in case it was a kingfish that wanted to cut us off. The fish fought deep and there were constant tail beats so we all assumed it was another king, but when it came into view, it turned out to be a big kawa-kawa.
I made a few more passes over the marks, but there was no more action so we upped lines and ran a bit further north and put out a few baits for snoek / cuda but after a few hours with no luck, we headed back to the harbour. The water looked good around the pier so we pulled some livies around hoping for a Garrick, but despite there being a lot of baitfish activity, we never had any pulls and headed home.

Play it by ear

7kg Queenfish

On Sunday 28^th June, my Dad and I launched Selfish out of Richards Bay. We were not sure what to fish for as results had been patchy over the past week. All we did know is that we were not going to have a very long day. I took a few basic rigs with for the day including 2 spinning rods and some light cuda rods. We were on the water at 6:45 and made our way to the pipeline to get bait. After sounding around, we found a big shoal of bait and almost every down I made produced a string of mackerel or Maasbanker. With no real game plan, we decided to fill up on bait while the opportunity presented itself. It did not take too long to fill the bait box and with the live well full, we headed North towards 5 mile.

13kg Kingfish

There were a few birds dipping in an area and the sounder showed some bait. We stopped and fished for them, hoping that they would be redeyes but unfortunately it was also Maasbanker. One of the strings was eaten on the way up so I rigged up a spinning rod and sent a livie down. It did not take long before the rod bumped and keeled over, the reel screaming as the fish took off. The line angled to the surface and a nice queenfish splashed around on top. It gave me a good go but I could not understand why it was that strong until I saw where it was hooked… in the tail. After a while I finally had it on board. We made another drift and again the rod went away with a strong fish. We both assumed that it was another queenfish as it was a similar fight. A while later, I had a nice kingfish in the boat. This was turning into quite a good day considering we had a game plan.

5kg Snoek

We made another drift and something small ate the bait. It turned out to be a Rockcod which went onto the ice. By now the bait had scattered and with no more pulls on the few drifts we did, we decided to head further north to groenkop and put out some livies for a cuda. Being in a good snoek area, I also put out a fillet on the surface. Things were very quiet and at noon, we turned back to the harbour saying that we would troll until 1 o clock then head home. We trolled into an area where there was a bit of life. There was some surface bait activity, a few showings on the sounder and even a lonely whale cruising around. I made a few turns without a pull so I straightened out and took a course to go home. As I turned to start clearing the lines, I noticed the surface rod with the fillet bait bending. I ran to it and wound tight. The fish took a bit of line and I passed the rod to my Dad. While he kept the fish under control, I cleared the lines and stowed the rods. I put a gaff into a nice snoek just in time to head home.

In all, it was a really nice day and considering we didn’t have a plan, playing it by ear seemed to work out. 
 
 

Losing baits chop chop...

On Saturday 20^th June, At, Tammy, my Dad and I launched “AVANTI” out of Cape Vidal. We were hoping to get a sailfish for Tammy. We caught a few livies before putting out the sailfish spread… just incase.

Sunrise at Cape Vidal... Beautiful!

I had a similar setup as we used in Angola with 4 spinning rods and 4 halfbeaks. Two behind the teaser and two off the riggers. All were rigged with circle hooks and fluorocarbon leaders. There was an exceptional amount of bait in the water, from red eyes, maasbanker and mackerel to frigates and jube-jubes. The sounder was packed with bait showings. There was a current line at 45m so we focussed our efforts between 50 and 30m. It did not take long before there was a strike on the close bait. It was a wahoo that smashed the halfbeak then doubled back towards the teaser and picked up the main line in its mouth and then bit us off while still in freespool. Several turns later resulted in two more wahoo smashing the baits and neatly slicing the hooks off before the riggers even popped. Pretty frustrating… Luckily I had rigged several spare baits and leaders and could replace them as soon as they were lost.

Pre-rigging a few sailfish baits

At made a shallower turn and both close baits were eaten. Unfortunately both baits returned neatly sliced off behind the heads. I assumed that they were cuda but who knows. We made a few more turns but things were quiet. I decided to check the baits and found that both rigger baits were chopped. This was getting ridiculous…

We decided to stick to the current line to avoid the cuda and were rewarded with a dorado of around 6kg that found its way into the hatch… Finally! Trolling continued but it went very quiet, apart from a small yellowfin that crushed one of the long baits. With the fish being pretty shy due to the abundance of bait, I put the one long bait 50m back. At around 3pm, this rigger popped and Tammy fed the fish. When she tightened up, the line ran off the reel at a medium pace. All of us were looking back when the fish went on an exceptionally fast run on the surface. Through the white water it was making, we could see that it was a billfish, but we could not id it as a big sailfish or a small marlin. At had slowed the boat and we were bringing in the other lines when the fish went even faster! Before the drag could be slacked off, the 10kg line unfortunately parted. Not great…

We rerigged and trolled to the point before heading in. We had tried our best, but unfortunately that’s how it goes. I'm sure we will try again and hopefully be more successful.

Fickle 'Fins

At 7:30 on Sunday 15th June, Tammy and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. We were keen to try for anything that would bite and it was really just a relaxing day on the water with fantastic weather.

We stopped at the pipe and filled the live well with mackerel and Maasbanker before heading to the kasteel. There were already a few boats there but it seemed quiet. I put out 2 daisy chains and 2 halfbeaks and trolled north into the current. It did not take long to get a pull and both daisy chains went on. Tammy and I pulled in a mix of small jube-jubes and yellowfin. The jubies went into the tube while the yellowfin were released. The current had pushed us back a bit so we trolled north again. Again the two chains went away followed by one of the halfheak. We winched in some more jubies and then a yellowfin that ate the halfbeak, which was released. We were battling to get north with the current as every time I stopped to pull in a yellowfin, we would drift back so I left only the chains in and trolled on the current line instead of over the reef. This seemed to work as all the pulls we had were jubies and no more yellowfins.

Finally we were far enough north to put out baits. I put a live bonnie down deep, a live maasie mid-way and a live mackerel on surface on the spinning rod… looking for trouble. I tacked over the reef a bit but nothing was happening. I checked the bonnie and found it to be dead. There were some scrape marks on it where a bigger tuna had grabbed it but not eaten it. I rigged up another one and sent it down. On the next pass over the reef, the rod went away at a very slow pace. There were a few nods then it headed to sea. Even on sunset with 50Lbs line I could not stop it. Finally I managed to break it off and we could continue fishing. I checked the other baits and saw that the surface mackerel had been mouthed by a fish so it was replaced with a fresh one. I put a live mackerel down deep and continued trolling. After a bit, I checked the deep bait and found that it too had been mouthed. There were a few fish around, but they were not eating properly. I was still busy putting a fresh bait on when the surface mackerel went away. Tammy fed it a bit and tightened up. The fish took some line but then settled to a strong deep fight. After 15 minutes or so, Tammy was taking strain and rather that have a shark eat the fish, she passed the rod to me and I put some more pressure on it. Not long after, we had a nice 18kg yellowfin on the leader and Tammy passed me the gaff. It was a bit awkward to fight and gaff the fish especially with it being quite feisty. In the end, I just put the gaff in anywhere so that the fight would be over… turns out the gaff shot was not that great… at least the circle hook was hooked in the right place. We bled the fish and put it on ice.

Bleeding a nice yellowfin 

We fished on for a while but it was very quiet. There seemed to be quite a few yellowfin around and the marks on the sounder indicated that they were the culprits mouthing the deep baits and the wire traces scared them off a bit. One of the boats near us was fishing in a competition and needed them for points so they sent a tuna bait down and ended up with 3 of them in the 13-16kg class. We had enough tuna in the freezer so I was not keen on catching another one. It was getting late so we took the cuda baits out and put out the two chains and trolled south along the ledge heading home. We managed to catch a decent number of the bonnies to fill the bait freezer. In all, it was a good day.

Some people just never learn...

On Sunday 24^th May at 5:30am, At, Tammy, my Day and I launched “AVANTI” out of Richards Bay. We were hoping to get a few cuda that had been around. We stopped on the pipe line and quickly caught a few livies before making the long run to High Point.

On arrival, I put out 5 small lures to look for bonnies. At trolled around for a while but had no luck. I put one of the lines on the downrigger and didn’t wait long to have a pull. It was a big kawa kawa that we released. On the next turn, we had another pull but this time it was converted and the leader finally chafed through. We trolled for about an hour, releasing a few small yellowfin before we finally caught a bonnie small enough and swam it live on the surface. I rigged up a wala-wala and put it down 20m as well as a live maasbanker on the downrigger. At trolled around the showings and the pinnacle and soon the rod with the wala keeled over but shot straight as something broke… I retrieved the line and found that the fish had picked up the leader before the wire. Unlucky. I rerigged and trolling continued. A while later, we passed over a good showing and again the rod with the wala keeled over as a cuda chowed it. My Dad took the strike and had a good tussle before I could gaff an 18kg cuda. Finally, a fish in the hatch. 

Typical Murphy's Law

Not long after, I saw the rod with the live bonnie give a quick flick then there was nothing. I retrieved the line and found just a bit of skin left on the one hook. The back hook was missing and wire had been bitten off…  and it was pretty thick wire…

With the lines out, we decided to look for another livie so At made a few turns on the pinnacle. It didn’t take too long and we were on with 3 bonnies that went into the tube. I rigged up two, one on surface and one down deep. As we went over the pinnacle, a shark ate the deep bait. I pulled it to the boat and where it was calmed down before being cut off. A similar fate lay ahead for the other 2 bonnies over the next 20 minutes. I was pretty much over the sharks and opted to put out a few dead baits and a small live maasie. At moved to the southern point of the ledge and trolled into the current. There were a few nice showings down deep, but the fish were not eating. I decided to play “Murphy’s Law” and rigged up a long 10kg rod with light leader and wire. I pinned a small live maasbanker which went out on surface a long way back. Within a matter of minutes, the rod went on and I pulled in a tiny yellowfin that I released before setting the line again.

Back breaker of note!

Things were a bit quiet but then the long rod keeled over and the reel ran. This fish took a bit of line then went deep followed by a smoking run. I was sure that it was a small tuna that took the bait and was now being chased by a shark. This run continued for a while before it stopped and there was just a solid weight which I could not budge. At followed the line and I retrieved what I could. When we came close, the line angle surfaced and there were some big head shakes. I thought it could be a hammerhead, but next thing, the fish took off on surface with the line bubbling through the water. At chased after it but even at speed, I battled to gain line. The angle went down again and the rod tip indicated constant tail beats. I was having a dejavu experience from last February…Some people never learn from their mistakes! This was without a doubt a big yellowfin. 

33.5kg YFT after a shark bite

For an hour I tussled the fish putting as much pressure as I could. It had been on the double a few times but could not get a good look at it. It sounded again taking a lot of line. I was pretty buggered by then and decided to free spool hoping it would stop running and come to surface. After giving it slack for a few minutes, At followed the line and the fish angled to the surface. Most of the line was back on the reel so I could put pressure on it again. The leader came up but the afternoon sun made it extremely difficult to see the fish. My Dad took a gaff shot, but the fish spooked and went down a few meters. I leant back and it felt like the fish just gave up as it came straight to the surface. Only then did I see that a shark had grabbed the tail. My Dad gaffed the fish and needed help lifting it over the gunwale. I was absolutely broken. My arms were like jelly. Long soft rods and big tuna are not a good combination. Even though the fish was bleeding from the tail, I raked the gills to bleed it properly. By now it was 4pm so we headed back to port. The yellowfin weighted in at 33.5kg…

Cannibals

On Saturday 2^nd May, Bryant, Tammy and I launched “Selfish” off Richards Bay. The Northerly wind was blowing a bit but was predicted to settle through the day. Our first stop was at the pipeline and it did not take long to fill the live well before heading out to the ledge.

Bryant with a Kawakawa

When we arrived, we put out a few small lures and trolled around the pinnacle. It did not take long before we caught 2 small bonito. These were put in the tubes and we continued trolling. After a while, the  other boats left and we could spend more time on the marks. I rigged one of the live bonnies and put it on the downrigger. I was hoping for a kingfish or something. On the second pass, there was a good mid water showing and it was no surprise when the livie was eaten. Bryant took the rod and put big pressure on the fish, just in case it wanted to go for the rocks. The fish did not fight too much and came in relatively easily. I was slightly disappointed when I saw that it was a big kawakawa of about 7kg. We unceremoniously released it and rigged up the other bonnie. After a few passes, I pulled it up to check it and found that it had been mouthed by something and it was dead.

I rigged it up to swim better and sent it down again. Bryant put out a live maasbanker on the surface, hoping for a yellowfin. As I was approaching the pinnacle, the surface livie was eaten. Bryant took the strike and quickly brought in a small yellowfin which was bled and put on ice.

There was no action on the deep bait so we pulled it in and drifted over the pinnacle. Bryant put out a live maasie and went tight on a 5kg bonnie which we released. It looked like fun so I rigged up a light spinning rod for Tammy and pinned a livie. On the next drift, she went on with a strong fish that took a lot of line. I chased after in and just as we had it under control, the rod gave a big bump and the fish was gone. I assume it was eaten by something larger. On the next 4 drifts, we hooked up to small yellowfins and big bonnies which we released. By 12 o clock we decided to run to Petingo and fish there for an hour or so. Unfortunately we never had a pull and when the Easterly wind started blowing, we upped lines and headed home.

Umlalazi Cuda Classic 2015

On Saturday 25^th April at 5:30am, At, Gert, Tammy and I launched “AVANTI” out of Richards Bay. We were fishing in the Umlalazi Cuda Classic. Our first stop was a the pipeline to catch bait before heading to Petingo.

When we arrived, At stopped short of the wreck and I put out a livie and 2 wala-wala. I was busy rigging up 2 bonnies when the surface wala went away. Gert took the strike and soon had a 12kg cuda on the boat. Not a bad start. I rigged up all the rods and At circled the wreck. There were a few boats around so it made things interesting. After an hour or so, the surface livie rod bent a bit then straightened. I picked up the rod to feel what was happening when it was pulled flat and the reel ran. It was a short run and quickly turned to the boat. The other lines were left in the water while I bobbed and weaved my fish through them. Soon I had a 10kg cuda on the boat. Not what we were looking for, but better than nothing. Trolling resumed and on the next turn, the livie on surface went away again. Tammy took the strike and brought in a rather small 6kg fish. I didn’t like the downward trend in size… Something had to happen.

Things were a bit quiet for about an hour so I decided to check the baits. I pulled in the surface bonnie and was shocked at what I saw. The bonnie had been chopped off clean behind the pec fins, including the wire to the tail hook. What was scary was that the ratchet never even ticked once!

 

I rigged up a fresh bait while At worked the wreck. I noticed the deep rod dip a bit then straighten. There had definitely been a bump. I retrieved the sinker and put the rod in the holder while I handlined the bait to the boat. The bait was near the boat when the line ripped through my hands. I let go of the line and the rod keeled over. We were on! At took the strike and fought another small 10kg cuda to the boat. Petingo was just not producing the goods for us.

Lines up came and we headed back to Zini. At least we were all on the score board.

On Sunday 26^th, the NE was blowing 15 knots and predicted to strengthen during the day. There had been a few nice fish at high point the day before so after catching a few livies, we headed 40km with the wind to the ledge. On arrival, we caught a few bonnies which I rigged up live. We had gone about 100m when the deep bait went away at speed… obviously a good cuda. Gert took the strike while I maintained a tight line on the other livie on the surface. I felt the bait rev followed by a sudden heavy pressure are the bait was eaten. The reel smoked off with the line cutting a bubble trail through the water. Gert’s fish sounded and then there were a few big bumps on the rod. The fight changed to a slow and heavy weight. Obviously a conversion resulting in the leader being rubbed through on the shark’s skin. My fish was still on surface and taking long fast runs. At followed it and soon it was close to the boat. It made a few circles before going on one last run. It was then that I felt the dreaded nods and the conversion. After going to sunset on the drag with 50lbs line, I could still not stop the shark. Both At and I had to grab the spool to break it off. How frustrating! I had 2 more bonnies and again it didn’t take long before we were on to another good cuda. This fish smoked off on surface before sounding and… yip, you guessed it, conversion… Other boats were having a similar issue with the sharks and from then on, every bonnie that I rigged was eaten by one.

I had no option but to rig up other baits so I put out 2 wala and 2 livies. After a few minutes, the deep livie went away and Gert fought a 9kg bonnie to the boat. By 12 o clock, we were tired of fighting sharks, heavy winds and other inconsiderate skippers so we upped lines and headed to Zini.

 

Our fish from the first day netted each of us some nice prizes. Well done to the winning angler with a cuda of 33,5kg. Congrats to the Umlalazi Ski-Boat Club for a great competition. See you next year.

Catching bait and having fun...

On Sunday 19^th April, At, Tammy and I launched “AVANTI” off Richards Bay. We wanted to catch some bait for the next few weeks. After stopping at the pipeline and catching maasbanker and redeyes, we headed deeper and found a few mackerel. With the bait box looking good, we headed to the ledge to look for some bonnies.

I put out a few daisy chains and trolled over the reef. All five rode went away on small yellowfins. While we each fought fish, the other rods in the holders got slack line and the fish pulled hook. At had his fish at the boat when it turned around and took off. Seconds later a small black marlin stuck its head out the water! The conversion did not last too long before the leader parted. I managed to bring in one small yellowfin.

On the next few turns, we found some kawakawa. There was a good showing on the reef so we stopped to drift over it. Tammy and I each hooked a live maasbanker on and let them down to the showing. Both of us went on. Tammy pulled the hook while I fought a big kawakawa to the boat. It was around 9kg. On the next 3 drifts, we had a few pulls and caught more big bonnies. It was now 1:30pm so we decided to head for Petingo and try for a cuda in the afternoon.

On arrival, I let out 5 lines with livies and bonnies. It did not take long for a pull. The surface livie went away at a medium pace but the line angle then went deep. Tammy fought the fish for a while before it went on a run. It all suddenly ended with the leader being cut off. Not sure what happened there. Trolling continued and a while later the surface livie went away again. I took the rod while the other lines were moved out the way. We had just settled when the surface bonnie was eaten and the reel took off. Unfortunately the hooks pulled quite quickly. I continued to fight and soon had a 12kg cuda in the hatch. It was getting late so we made one last turn over the wreck and had a blacktip shark eat a bonnie before jumping and breaking off. That signalled the end of the day and we headed home with a few baits for the next  few trips.

One down, more to come.

On Saturday 11^th April, Wayne, Tammy Lorenzo and I launched “Da Boys” off Richards Bay. We were keen to get some fish to eat as the pickings had been slim. We stopped at the pipe and caught a few livies before heading south to Petingo. The Northerly wind was blowing a bit, but we were willing to take the punch on the way home.

Wayne and Lorenzo with some cuda

The water was a nice green colour and there was a 2 knot N-S current. We had to come right with a cuda. I put out a few lines while Wayne crossed over the wreck. There were a few garfish swimming with the boat and there was a good showing on the sounder.  I was busy letting out a live maasbanker when the line took off. I tightened up and went tight onto a baby cuda. Within seconds, it was in the boat and chilling on ice. Trolling resumed for a few hours without a pull. The wind had picked up to a 15 knot NE and we knew the ride home would be bumpy. I made one last turn over the wreck and drifted with the wind. As we reached the southern end, the surface livie went away but almost immediately pulled hook. On closer inspection we saw that the fish had picked up the leading wire before the bait and never hooked up. I rerigged and made the same turn, drifting back with the wind. Again at the end of the wreck, the rod with the deep bonnie bumped a few times but never came tight. I was busy telling Wayne that it was time to go home when the reel with the surface bonnie smoked off! I passed the rod to Wayne while Tammy and I cleared the other lines and stowed the rod. The fish gave Wayne a good fight before coming within gaffing range. I lifted a nice cuda into the hatch. Great stuff, but it was time to go home before the wind caused problems.

After a long bumpy ride we arrived at the club where the cuda weighed 18kg. ot bad for the first fish for the season. Hopefully there are a few more to come.