ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website
OFFSHORE ANGLING => Offshore Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Bwana on June 17, 2014, 11:23:47 AM
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As winter settles in on the KZN South Coast the countdown is in full swing for the 2014 Mallards Mercury Shelly Beach Ski Boat Festival which will take place from the 2nd to the 5th of July. This popular deep-sea angling event is a showcase of some of SA’s biggest names in angling, attracting anglers from all over the country all competing for the grand prize for the heaviest game fish. This year’s event boasts some exciting changes and spectacular prizes. Once again the first prize is a magnificent Cobra Cat 630 with two 115Hp Mercury four stroke motors, sponsored by stalwart sponsors Mallards Marine and Mercury Marine South Africa. There are many additional prizes including resort holidays, tackle, electronic equipment and much more. This year the main event will literally be hosted in the Shelly Beach Ski Boat Club’s back yard! To commemorate the Shelly Beach Ski Boat Club’s 40th anniversary the whole event will be run on the Club’s grounds in a large Bedouin-style marquee and the main clubhouse building. “This will undoubtedly increase the excitement and atmosphere of this year’s event as the launches, weigh-in and evening entertainment will be concentrated around the main Club facilities” said Anton Gets, Commodore of the Shelly Beach Ski Boat Club. The event is open to launching from Durban through to Port Edward, covering a very productive section of our coast line and anything is possible! Entries are still open so contact Brenda at the Shelly Beach Ski Boat club on 039-3151476 or shellyp@venturenet.co.za for more information about this great angling festival.
Winners of the 2013 Ski Boat Festival – Team Tom Buoy with the main prize of the Cobra Cat 630 ski boat for their 28,6kg Yellowfin Tuna!
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More details:
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Thanks Mark, Glad its back in a tent and close to the club..should be another awesome comp!
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Right, things kick off tomorrow night at the Shelly Ski Boat Club, the tent is up and the place is looking great! Take a look at what's floating in the swimming pool........ first of its kind Cobra Cat 630 Centre Consol! What a beauty and a great first prize for this great event!
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Good luck and tight lines to all our UA member fishing this one. Enjoy it boy's. :fshn: :fshn:
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Must have been interesting getting that boat in the pool? Good luck to all UA anglers participating :sreel:
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Yesterday saw a couple of nice fish come out with leading fish so far a 30kg Couta, followed by a 28kg yellowfin. We had a tough day yesterday plagued with engine trouble that has forced us to swap boats for day 2. We did manage two yellowfin of 14 and 15 kgs. Today we hope for more fishing time and less fixing time!
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Yesterday saw a couple of nice fish come out with leading fish so far a 30kg Couta, followed by a 28kg yellowfin. We had a tough day yesterday plagued with engine trouble that has forced us to swap boats for day 2. We did manage two yellowfin of 14 and 15 kgs. Today we hope for more fishing time and less fixing time!
You should've given me a shout boet, would've made a plan to get the Scouse down there for you (bat
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Yesterday saw a couple of nice fish come out with leading fish so far a 30kg Couta, followed by a 28kg yellowfin. We had a tough day yesterday plagued with engine trouble that has forced us to swap boats for day 2. We did manage two yellowfin of 14 and 15 kgs. Today we hope for more fishing time and less fixing time!
Wow those are nice fish, pity about the motor troubles, what was the problem ???
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(http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af345/lebaka/coot_zps88dd36a1.jpg) (http://s1022.photobucket.com/user/lebaka/media/coot_zps88dd36a1.jpg.html)
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goodluck gents...get that donkey :cout:
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is that fransoir from the boat bluetooth with that couta??
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Good luck Bwana, hope you get a fat one today!
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Mark got a nice fat Tuna on live Mackie about 30 minutes ago!! (clap)
(https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t1.0-9/10343691_10152139604555906_6509111734217691164_n.jpg)
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(clap) Great catch, go Mark! :win:
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:corrct: Nice!!!
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You biscuit!!!! Awesome stuff (clap)
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Well done Mark. Now to find his big brother. :sreel:
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Well done Mark, now we just need pic's of the winning fish mate.
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Well done Mark!!!
Any news after day 2? anyone? :dunno:
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Brewitt... (bat
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Tune him in Shaun, we need to know what's happening down there.
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So what are the results ??
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think the coot took the boat
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Hey guys, sorry I wil do a full report ASAP i'm just swamped after not being at work for a week!
Short version:
1st Couta 30,7kg
2nd YFT 30,6kg
3rd Couta 30,5kg
4th Couta 29,7kg
5th Tuna 28,4kg
How close was that!
Will uopdate soon with official compe report and my personal report
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Jeepers, good fish those..................................bet you won't get those out at the Caissons w;k :brnz:
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Roy Jackson was the overll winner with the Couta of 30.7kilo.
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Ok guys so here is the story of the 2014 Shelly Beach Ski Boat Festival, my apologies for not giving regular updates as promised but we had a HECTIC week with travelling, boat prep, boat repair, fishing, and obviously a bit of :frid . Anyway here it is:
Firstly this is a great tournament to fish, it is well-run, has great prizes and offers great fishing all round. This year the first prize was a brand new Cobra Cat 630 centre consol which was on display at the Ski Boat Club in the swimming pool! It's a beauty and had all the guys super excited at the briefing. Every year the big tussle is between the guys targeting :yft: versus the guys targeting :cout: and with the large numbers of big tuna being landed off Durban lately we decided to give Durban a shot for the first two days of the comp. We made some arrangements with our mates and organised to stay in a boat garage at DSBC. We arrived around 4.30pm on Tuesday 1st July and quickly settled in and set up camp in the garage. We were fully kitted with mattresses, fridges, freezers, rods and loads of tackle. We unhitched both boats and set about prepping the gear and packing for the morning. The game plan was to fish for tuna on the wreck and bait spots with live bait. We finally settled in at the bar at DSBC to discuss tactics and have a few :beer: :beer: .
Day 1
After and early wake up and prep we waited in line for the tractor to push us in. After a relatively uneventful launch (and a few jokes about how spoilt the Durban boys are with their lack of surf at the launch site) we set about getting live bait. Big thanks to Lindsay (Dugongboy) for giving us a heads up as to where to find live bait quickly we had a tank full of great livebait (another thing the Durban boys are spoilt with!) :+ cred: Dugongboy. We headed out to the fairway marker where we quickly loaded some more mackerel (there was a massive shoal at the marker). On our way to Dozer and Caissons we crossed paths with a pod of dolphins and quickly flicked out two mozzies on the grinders and immediately had two pulls. I duffed mine letting it eat for too long but Clint connected his and within 3 minutes we had a 16kg tuna on deck. Good start! We then headed out to the barge and tried a few drifts but the water was green and the drift wasn't great with a fresh NE wind so we headed out to mid-reef. The sea was much bigger there and we settled onto a drift for about 30 min. I got one nice yellowfin of 14kg on a live mack under a balloon before we decided to come back inshore and fish Caissons where Brad said he had been getting some decent pulls in between being taxed. The it started - major issues with the starboard motor. It wouldn't start so we set about checking everything but no luck. We put a spread of Halcos out and started trolling towards DSBC while we worked on the motor. Just before the Barge we find a wiring problem and got the motor to start but decided to hit the beach to get it checked. The tech met us on the beach and worked on the motor for an hour before giving us the bad news - faulty computer box = R23k!! Ouch. We broke out the beers to numb the news and tried to work out a gameplan for the next few days. Within 20 minutes we had two offers for boats to use - one from guys at DSBC and the other from Shaun17 (thanks for the gesture bud :+ cred: for the gesture!). Eventually we came right with one of our mate's boats (Shaun B) which comes from Shelly. We fetched the boat and then went about swapping all our gear over to his boat for Day 2 onwards. The plan was to leave Clint's boat in Durban and tow Shaun B's boat back with us to Shelly for days 3 &4. Late to bed, but organised for Day 2! Feedback from Day 1 showed a couple of good fish weighed down at Shelly with the leading fish a 28,4 YFT caught by our buddy Jess on ME Steph.
Day 2
We got up early and managed to launch earlier than Day 1. This was revenge! We got a full tank of bait just off Vetches and headed straight to the fairway marker to see if the mackerel were still there. No joy so we headed to Dozers where the bait showings were wild and we did a few drifts there but no takers. From there we headed to the Barge and did some drifts with the livies out. I got a nice pull on a live mack under a balloon and landed a nice 16,7kg tuna. It was very quiet after that and not many fish came out aside from a 21,5kg tuna caught on a local boat at the Barge by a junior - nice fish, it took top prize in the end for Juniors. We headed back to the beach early to pack up and head back to Shelly for days 3 & 4. We loaded both boats to tow back and left Clint's boat behind in Durbs to get repaired. We made it back to Shelly by 5pm to weigh the tuna - at least we were on the board! Day 2 had a new leader - a 30,5kg couta caught south of Port Edward but conditions had been tough all round.
Day 3
Back on home turf and there was news that the tuna were in the area. We launched late to avoid the circus at the Shelly Launch site and headed up to Sheppie to find some bait. We loaded a couple of livies and headed to our honey-hole called The Playground near the northern pinnacle of Protea Reef. We started the drift and worked the chum and block baits in the usual way. There were a few guys bending around us but the action was far from wild. We worked hard but couldn't get past the shoal-sized yellowfin getting 3 fish in the 16-17kg range which we didn't even weigh at the scale. At the end of day 1 the leading position had swapped again, firstly with a 30,6kg yellowfin and then with a 30,7kg Couta! Day 4 was going to be a cracker, with fair seas and then a big buster SW wind coming through by 12.
Day 4
Again we launched after the rush, with the plan to only fish for tuna straight away. We got on our drift line early and immediately had results with 2 fish in the 15-16kg range on the first two drifts. We got two more fish before 11 and I managed a beauty of a yellowfin which we guessed around 23kg! The wind came through sooner than planned and we hit the beach at 12, having had to plough through a huge sea and rolling swells getting drenched in the process. We weighed our 5 fish and my tuna went 23,6kg so hopefully in the prizes! The usual weigh in trash talk was going on between teams with some guys pretending to have huge fish, and other guys saying they had lost the winning fish to sharks etc, always good for a laugh. After a shower and quick clean up we headed to prize-giving. There was a great vibe and the outdoor tent and big bar area were a hit. The food stall served great food and the Cobra Cat floating in the pool set the mood! The prize giving went well with a host of great fish caught including a wahoo, some big couta and big yellowfin and eventually the winner was announced - Thunderchild took the top honours with their 30,7kg Couta caught on day 3. We managed to get 14th place and in the prizes for the 23,6kg tuna.
It was a great comp, awesome venue and some top class fishing by anyone's standards!
Some pics:
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sorry don't know why the top pic came out upside down :blush:
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:corrct: thanks for report :+ cred:
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lekka mark looks like a good compo to fish
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Thanks for report Mark, maybe myself and FFF will give it a go next year.
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Cool report Mark, thank you bud and better luck next year.
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Lekka report Mark :+ cred:
Mike we should join them next year. :dunno:
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I agree mate, lets make a plan and DO IT! :frid
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I agree mate, lets make a plan and DO IT! :frid
Talk to you at the social :hnthnt: .
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great catches and thanks for sharing
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Congrats Mark and big up for the report! Bad news about the motor :cnfzd
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Great report and thanks for the update.
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Thanks for the report Mark! Nice YFT!
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Well done fellows!!
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:udman: lekker report Mark!
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there are some awesome photos from justin klusener photography on facebook
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Lekker report Mark, congrats on some awesome fish bud!! Geez, really impressed that you guys survived the Durban launch... With any luck the dates align better and we can get some better UA representation down there next year.
That last photo is awesome, the fish isn't bad either w;k
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Thanks guys, it is a great comp and certainly one worth doing next year. There are some great pics as Gary pointed out, if you are on Facebook go to Shelly Beach Sbc or Justin Klusener Photography and you'll see all the pics.
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Thanks for a great report and well done on some great catches by east coast standards
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4th place :yft: