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OFFSHORE ANGLING => Offshore Fishing Reports => Topic started by: skipsch on October 11, 2012, 08:05:53 PM
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The whole winter I was walking around the house like a Lion with a sore tooth. After late April’s fishing trip to Sodwana I was terribly depressed. When at a social with my buddie’s the only thing I could talk about was Marlin fishing. To my surprise they were not the least annoyed. As they started asking questions, I started to go to my “happy place” again. Man!! Does that give one a Babbelas!!
After a couple of braai’s we were so amped to turn talk into action, we decided to get there as soon as possible. I spoke to a few guys at Sodwana and they said the Billie’s is coming alive. Even some stripey’s to be found.
We got our act together and packed our bag’s.
We arrived at Sodwana late Friday night and pitched the camp in buckets of water.
The Saterday was a blow-out, but that gave us a chance to organize our tackle.
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Sunday morning early the green crew was onboard and we launched without a hazzle.(Maybe a little as the rugby and the day off took its toll)
We headed straight out for the 500 meter mark and covered it around the canyon.
Towing for about an hour we got a hook-up on a Billy that tore the line from the reel. The crew quickly cleared the boat in a flash. (We have been over this a thousand braai’s). After 10 minutes it came off and after inspecting, we noticed the split-ring at the back of the fridged-bird had broken open. My Deckhand swore there will be pay-back at the retailer… We decided to make a safety-line for all the fridged’s as soon as we are back on land.
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No need to say that the rugby and day-off had a direct impack on the crew ...
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We re-rigged and started towing again. In our spread we had a jet-head tipe cona on the top far back with a fridged bird to it, on a tld25. It was only to tease the fish. After many hours, the tld25 start screaming frantically. I took the rod out the roof and handed it to the “next up” crew. He handled it supreme. After a mere 15 minutes he had the fish next to the boat. It was a ferious 50kg Black Marlin.
We got it close to the boat and as Hardus was leadering the fish right next to the boat for a picture, it shook its head and came off. It was so tired it didn’t even swim away from the boat emediately. Unfortuantely we couldn’t get the camera in time but with the Video camera got a nice shot of it under water.
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I rated it a technical release and raised the flags for the Lucky angler. After another hour of rough sea's we called it a day and headed back.
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On Monday and Thuesday we had no luck. Although it was rough seas we tried our best. We had a strike on a Whahoo catcher on the Japan line but the standard rigg could not hold and the crimp as well as the cable-knot gave way, resulting in a lost fish .
We went further North and saw a Shark on Starboard-side and made a sharp right turn to check it out. As we went past it, a tld25 screamed again and as I turned back to have a look, saw a nice sized Sailly taking its leap of faith. It came in at an aqward angle and because of slack on the line, it threw the cona.
Wednesday was a blow-out.
Thursday delivered nothing. I could not believe that we couldnt find even one school of Tuna or Bonnies. We searched from far north down to diepgat. Nothing. Seas were choppy but bearable.
Friday morning Hardus (My second in command and the only guy with a bit of experience) took the day off to shake the Cold thats been haunting him since the first day. Me and the "greenies" launched like pro's and headed out in search for some Tuna and Bonnies. Round about 11 o clock the crew asked me when we going to tow for Marlin. With vague answers I tried to avoid the real reason. At 12 they insisted, and we threw out the Cona's. I went out to the 500m mark and worked both wall's of the canyon. Then I went deep up to 700 and came back through the canyon. I was fed-up and tired, and made a wide turn out of the canyon to tag back to the shore.
The next moment a 80 roares and I was schocked. Once again the "Greenies" cleared the other rods and had the harness at ahnd and around my waist. I got on the reel and pointed the "New Skipper" in the correct direction.
The fish fought hard. After an hour we had the fish close to the boat. As the new leader-man was leadering the fish closer he noticed the clip on the back of the fridged had pulled open. Quickly he ordered one of the other crew to clip the other 80 onto the cona as a safety catch. The fish still had some fight left, so we let it go again. After 10 minutes we brought back in and it was diving from side to side at the back of the boat. For the un-experienced skipper this proved to be a bit over his head and the fish got a slice or two from the prop. Bryan leadered it to the boat and I ordered it to be loaded.
It was a young Black Marlin of about 75kg.
The crew was extatic, but so was I.
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The rest that followed changed this hard, tough week for these "GREEN", "HARDCORE" anglers into the heaven I've mentioned around the braai-fire's.
That I cant describe and pictures cant do justice.
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Nice report and nice :billf: action, pity about the props. Well done
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Fantastic report and congrats on the :billf: !
Great stuff! :happ:
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You guys are privileged (http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7l8ds3dQBXYAd6pXNyoA?ei=UTF-8&fr=chrf-yff13&p=privileged&SpellState=&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top) to get something I myself it`s one of my dreams to get a fish like that.
Just goes to show patience pays off at the end of the day.
Well done to all
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Well done to you all, what motors are running on your seacat and how many of you were on board ? Sorry saw you have 60 x 4 strokes, are there 5 of you on board ?, sorry for all the questions but I have a 510 and find it crowded with 3 on board, take my hat off to you all.
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Congrats and nice report. Pity the fish got hurt, just goes to show that stuff happens.
(clap)
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Great report and well done on the :billf:
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:cgrts: :tkx:
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Your spur of the moment decission paid off and perseverence pays!
Well done hope there will be many more Skipsch. ...Now suppose you going down again sooner than later?
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I am glad you guys got your fish after much hard work in some really crappy looking sea's well done. Pity about the boarding of the fish but unfortunately these things happen, bet it tasted like a million bucks!
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Congrats guys that is some good fishing for the week. You certainly had the correct konas in the water. Show us some pics on what you got the fish and strikes on please?!! You have a well trained crew on your boat now. May there be many more billies for you.
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Well done guys!! always great to see new guys getting involved in the sport,I am sure you have converted them for life!!
As you say Safety lines are a must on any birds, with those snap swivels use a bit of copper wire and wrap them closed, it only takes a couple of seconds but will help to keep them coming open. What make swivels were they?? I have had it happen before but not since I changed and only fish with saampo and centro's now, they are a bit pricey but very good snaps. The alternative is the pig tail swivels a lot of the top guys swear by them but I found that we got a lot of line twist with them.
congrats again on the Billie!! :cgrts: :billf:
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Congrats to you and your crew Skipsch, sounds like a lekker boys trip. By the sound of it you had no problem raising the fish! Aside from some tackle failure you did very well. :win:
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Great stuff guys, great report and congrats on the :billf: !
Sorry for the stupid question, I have never fished for marlin before, but how exacltly do you make a safety line across the bird?
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Thank you all.
Especially for the guy's who post reports for our land-logged guys during hard times.
@ ROBYOSH - If thats your dream, forsure you will have your day. Indeed we are priviledged, and hope a mere report shows our apreciation.
@CLS - Thanks. Yes we were 5 up except for the day we caught the Marlin (that day we were 4 up). Before we went out to sea the first day, we decided on a pecking order on the rods. We gave each Guy tasks. When we got a strike, everyone knew what and where he should be. For the first three launches we had 60 x 2l frozen coke bottles in the floor hatches witch added another 120 Kg. Could honestly say we had fun and no one was cramping another one's space. Boat beached nicer with the added weight.
@Toppie - Definitely sooner :hnthnt: . Whould have loved just to be a spectator at the OET or Billfish15. Will be down there mid December again.
@Prego - Yea , more like 800 000 buck's. Ive got 4 strokes :hnthnt: . Nothing beats fresh Marlin, battered and deepfried the same night in camp.
@BigVan - Thank you Bigvan. I will post some pick's of the cona's soonest. The Purple/black worked at the 500 and the Blue/white a bit shallower. Oom Tokkie and some of the other regular guy's recommend the Blue/white as a good allrounder.
@Shagnrelease - Thank you Shagnrelease. I cant remember exactly what make they were. I like the centro's, and on recommendation will stick to them. The fridgeds were Pulsator, and we noticed that the split rings were silver-soldered to keep them from pulling. Thanx for the copper-wire tip. Will definitely have them on next time around.
@Bwana - Thanx Bwana!! It was a great adventure! I think none of us returned as the same guy that left.
@Fishaholic - Thanx Fishaholic! Shagnrelease did a post on it somewhere on the forum, just can't remember where at the moment. It is a piece of leader-line with 2 eyes that is hooked in parallel with the fridged-bird. Should the fridged fail, the back-up line will still hold the fish/cona.
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Thanks for an excellent report
Good learning to be had for all reading this report
Have some cred