So December 2012 has just about come and gone...and what an interesting month it has been!
Fishing has been tough but we have had some successes and some failures! Water conditions have gone from one extreme to the next, from horrible dirty green and cold water, to sparkling deep purple and hot waters!
One of my first trips for the Season was with Debbie and her daughter Sheena …
Debbie was the designated bait catcher for the day - landing some good size Mackerel; while Sheena caught a nice bull Dorado and her man Lloyd caught a nice Daga Salmon (which came off the hook right at the boat and swam away only to surface again a short while later!). We also managed to catch one of the largest Puffer-Fish I have ever seen, as well as some nice Snapper and Slinger!
That afternoon I took out Martin and his wife for a short trip, where we even caught a nice Dorado in and among all the debris and trees floating around due to the heavy rains the week before!
The next day was a trip with Jaco and his father, who have been regulars on board, sadly this trip was hard work and we only managed a couple of Snapper and some Slinger off the bottom and despite my best efforts the Tuna and Dorado evaded us!
However, my very next trip started off with a bang, as within minutes of setting the spread, one of the rigger lines took off like a jet plane! After thinking this was a nice sized Tuna, I was happily mistaken to find out that it was in fact a 20kg Couta!!! Caught on a Kona of all things!!! I am just glad that that particular Kona was rigged with a single hook chain-gang which is what saved us! Sadly the Kona was not the same after that…as most of the skirt was missing! Also managed a couple of nice sized Dorado as well!
Then I had Niel on board - this trip was hard but we had managed to find a nice big school of Tuna in the 5-7kg range, unfortunately these guys were not interested in feeding, we tried everything from Kona’s to Rappala’s to drifting baits to Chumming…they were just not interested in anything we threw at them! We did however get smashed up on the bottom about 6 times with something we could not hold on to and in fact, it pulled so hard that it straightened the hooks! Sadly we ran out of time before we managed to get one up; but I have the spot marked and will be going back with some heavy tackle to catch whatever is lurking beneath! That very afternoon I had 2 gentlemen from the UK on board and with good weather I made my way out to the deep! Water was good but on the cooler side. We found a couple of nice Dorado and had a couple of Marlin strikes too, but sadly they would not stick!
Then on the 24[sup]th[/sup] I had Justin and his mates on board; the weather was good but the water was not great and after a couple of hours of trolling I found some clean and warm water in-between the ships off Umhlanga! And as the sun broke through the clouds we were on with a double-up on Dorado...which we landed - both Bull and Queen of about 8-10kg! As we set the spread again we had another take from another pair of Dorries but after a short fight they came off the hooks and no sooner had they come off the hooks, I watched as a Sailie hit the one lure and gave it a quick run before dropping it and disappearing! Knowing that there was a Sailie around I worked the area trying to see if he would come in for another go at the lures…but to no avail!
I also managed to get in a nice Harbour Trip for Ashlin where we had some great fun on light tackle catching Grunter and Snapper Salmon!
Then yesterday I was out with almost perfect water … a deep dark purple colour and average temp of 26.5 deg. I headed for the deep only to find that the good water actually started in nice and close! So I dropped lines and started my hunt for Dorado and Tuna! It was not long before we found the Dorado in some 29deg water, the current was screaming south to north which made bottom fishing near impossible, so we decided to keep on trolling! Then all of a sudden the shot gun went screaming away and as I watched the line disappear we saw her jump - and a big Black Marlin armed with only a Torium 30 and 40lb line…this was going to be an interesting one! We had a good hook up and this beautiful fish was giving us a really aerobatic display! When all of a sudden the line parted at the reel but the Black was still not done showing off and carried on giving us a nice display! She was jumping alongside the boat when she turned and almost charged the boat jumping clear out the water and heading straight at us! I managed to throttle back as she jumped clear over the bow of the boat…I guestimate that she was at least 3.5 to 4m! It would have been rather interesting had she jumped on board! But Brian and his family where happy to have seen such a magnificent aerial display!
Then today was some family time before a Harbour trip in the afternoon - so we headed to the back line for an hour or so! We didn’t catch too much, just a small Pinkie and Lizard Fish, but the kids and Mommy enjoyed themselves!
As for the Harbour trip; Shaun and his two daughters had a great time catching some little Stumpies and Kingies! We also got a small Grunter and a Harbour Eel!
Thank you once again to all my great customers! This year has been great…Let’s do it again in 2013!
Fishing has been tough but we have had some successes and some failures! Water conditions have gone from one extreme to the next, from horrible dirty green and cold water, to sparkling deep purple and hot waters!
One of my first trips for the Season was with Debbie and her daughter Sheena …
Debbie was the designated bait catcher for the day - landing some good size Mackerel; while Sheena caught a nice bull Dorado and her man Lloyd caught a nice Daga Salmon (which came off the hook right at the boat and swam away only to surface again a short while later!). We also managed to catch one of the largest Puffer-Fish I have ever seen, as well as some nice Snapper and Slinger!
That afternoon I took out Martin and his wife for a short trip, where we even caught a nice Dorado in and among all the debris and trees floating around due to the heavy rains the week before!
The next day was a trip with Jaco and his father, who have been regulars on board, sadly this trip was hard work and we only managed a couple of Snapper and some Slinger off the bottom and despite my best efforts the Tuna and Dorado evaded us!
However, my very next trip started off with a bang, as within minutes of setting the spread, one of the rigger lines took off like a jet plane! After thinking this was a nice sized Tuna, I was happily mistaken to find out that it was in fact a 20kg Couta!!! Caught on a Kona of all things!!! I am just glad that that particular Kona was rigged with a single hook chain-gang which is what saved us! Sadly the Kona was not the same after that…as most of the skirt was missing! Also managed a couple of nice sized Dorado as well!
Then I had Niel on board - this trip was hard but we had managed to find a nice big school of Tuna in the 5-7kg range, unfortunately these guys were not interested in feeding, we tried everything from Kona’s to Rappala’s to drifting baits to Chumming…they were just not interested in anything we threw at them! We did however get smashed up on the bottom about 6 times with something we could not hold on to and in fact, it pulled so hard that it straightened the hooks! Sadly we ran out of time before we managed to get one up; but I have the spot marked and will be going back with some heavy tackle to catch whatever is lurking beneath! That very afternoon I had 2 gentlemen from the UK on board and with good weather I made my way out to the deep! Water was good but on the cooler side. We found a couple of nice Dorado and had a couple of Marlin strikes too, but sadly they would not stick!
Then on the 24[sup]th[/sup] I had Justin and his mates on board; the weather was good but the water was not great and after a couple of hours of trolling I found some clean and warm water in-between the ships off Umhlanga! And as the sun broke through the clouds we were on with a double-up on Dorado...which we landed - both Bull and Queen of about 8-10kg! As we set the spread again we had another take from another pair of Dorries but after a short fight they came off the hooks and no sooner had they come off the hooks, I watched as a Sailie hit the one lure and gave it a quick run before dropping it and disappearing! Knowing that there was a Sailie around I worked the area trying to see if he would come in for another go at the lures…but to no avail!
Then today was some family time before a Harbour trip in the afternoon - so we headed to the back line for an hour or so! We didn’t catch too much, just a small Pinkie and Lizard Fish, but the kids and Mommy enjoyed themselves!
As for the Harbour trip; Shaun and his two daughters had a great time catching some little Stumpies and Kingies! We also got a small Grunter and a Harbour Eel!
Thank you once again to all my great customers! This year has been great…Let’s do it again in 2013!