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OFFSHORE ANGLING => Offshore Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Big Van Jnr on February 14, 2011, 10:52:31 PM
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Mynmanne 2011 Competition Report for Liberty
The Mynmanne fishing Competition is the one competition we highlight in each year’s calendar. As BigVan always say: “It is a week of Partying with Fishing in between”. The competition consists of mainly crews and teams from the Mines in the Mpumalanga area and suppliers to the mines. Some guys come to fish seriously and other come to party SERIOUSLY.
This week would be our first time we would surf launch the new boat. So in the back of our minds we were a bit worried. As one of the Mynmanne who knows my father ( Big Van) for many years said: “ van der Merwe you fished first with that Rubberduck of yours, then you did even better with that Ski-Boat of yours but now you come here and want to launch the f@..en Queen Mary 2 .. How you going to get that thing in the water?” So we got there a day or two early just to sort out everything and Pre-fish Sodwana a bit.
The Saturday we used to get everything ready and the Sunday Morning was D-Day..
The sea was on it’s head but the Surf was mangeable.
I (Big Van Jnr) loaded her off the trailer quite easy and with the gilly and Sarel they turned the nose.
Underneath the photo of the boat on the beach before launching:
(http://i52.tinypic.com/2ug1kc7.jpg)
We did not have the nicest surf. We punched a wave and then “ran the Street” safely out to the backline. This photo was quite a stunner:
(http://i51.tinypic.com/xomwdd.jpg)
Another nice Photo:
(http://i55.tinypic.com/2rzt769.jpg)
We drove out to the Big W-area and started fishing, not long and we had a proper run on the one reel.. The Guy taking the reel fumbled the drag and made a “moerse” overwind and the line snapped.. Must have been a Big Cuta. After 2 hours we switched to a Marlin Spread and headed to the Canyons, we caught a 18 kg Tuna and that made us decide to head back and have a rest before the Comp starts tomorrow.
Monday – 7 February 2011
Early morning and ready to fish everything went easy and all the hands organised by the comp made it even nicer.
Our game plan was to catch a bit of bait at HotSpot and then start catching Game fish on the Shallower reefs and later head deeper to go and target some Billfish.
The bait was sounding and was not interested in our Ya-Zuri or small feathers nothing. So we decided to start with the the bait we had and then..
We had a few Cuta baits – Sardine and Mackerel out and we started trolling..
The area where we usually find them is the BigW and Ronde Kop-area.
Not to long and we had two on board, one a Shoal Cuta (less than 4 Kg) .. and the other one our Multiplier for the day when we get our Billfish later.. The Multiplier turned out to weigh 3.77 Kg after weighing it on both scales on the boat – One reading higher than five and the other 3.5 kg. We are eternal optimists so we decided it must weigh over 4 Kg (the Minimum Weight). Things quitet down at around 10 so we headed deeper.
Fresh from Billfish University - Hemingways ,Kenya. I had a spread planned, everything was swimming great and our Teasers was working well..
Greg (Shag and Release) has had a great influence on our way of doing things, he has been my “Leermeester” translated (I think Tutor) to the art of Billfishing and I must thank him for sharing every single detail with us. He was unfortunate not to make the competition, as there is always a seat open on our boat for him. As we always believe there is always a reason: The reason was that it was my time to leave the comfort of the nest and spread my wings and fish confidently!
The Spread: Port Short: Magnum size - Moldcraft Wide Range –Purple,Black,Silver
My reason for using this: To match the hatch as we do in Flyfishing.
Starboard Short: Moldcraft Super Chugger- Fruit Salad Colours
Port Long: Islander – Express – Blue and White
My reason: Because Greg said so! It works for us..
Starboard Long: Islander – Express – Blue and Chartreuse
Shotgun: Islander with bird infront and Half-beak inside.
We were working the Mabibi- Island Rock Ledge between 80 m and 400 meters.
11:30 I was keeping an eye on how the lures was Smoking and suddenly the Port Out -Rigger went and I saw the Marlin. He must have enquired but the hooks did not set . I winded the reel 5 winds and then it was fish ON! It was Nice to see him and do the whole hook setting everything myself.. As I was deck Manager, I delegated well and everything was brought in and tidied quick. Big Van radio’ed in and it was the first Hook-up for the Competition, I had the rod in my hands so if it is a Big fish it is usually mine.. Size and Power do help when fighting these Beasts.. I got it to the boat in good time 10-15 minutes but it was still Green.. And if Greg is not around to leader that is usually my job.. But I was on the Rod so I had to persuade Sarel to do the job.. He has caught a few Marlin on his boat – Backline but it was all under 100 Kg. He fitted only one glove and had the scars to show.. You need to hold on and never let go.. the Marlin was not happy to be there. He quickly told Piet to hand him the other glove. And BigVan came to help as Sarel was nearly tossed over-board..
The Blue Marlin (please check the photo’s to verify me) was about 120 Kg (250 lb’s), we quickly took the verifying photo’s.. Tagged the fish and no revival was necessary as it was still strong.. The Hooks was taken out – Those Chain Gang’s work for us! And the fish released.. Now we were on the Board.. What a start to a Competition..
(http://i52.tinypic.com/2dtszyd.jpg)
Tuesday and Wednesday:
"Het ons boot gery!" Translated No Fish!
Part 2 - to be continued
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Nice report. Nice :billf:
I am glad to see you guys enjoying the new boat, she is awesome. I love that Big boat with the Tata Trokkie on the beach.
Well done guys.
:appr:
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Cant wait for part II! You guys prodded some serious buttock!
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Tuesday and Wednesday:
"Het ons boot gery!" Translated No Fish!
Part 2 - to be continued
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Man that is funny :lolo:, those days really suck, but great that you can make a joke of it.
Great Part 1 of your report.
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BV and BVJ, that ship of yours sure pulls fish. congrats.
Unfortunately, sometimes you go fishing, other times you go boating, seems days 2 &3 were boating days.
looking forward to the "continued" posts, and slso to see how you guys go at the Sadsaa.
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Great report! I like the explanation regarding the choice of lures!
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Eeeiiissshh......kom BVJ ons kan nie meer uithou nie..... :dunno: :dunno:
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Mynmanne 2011 Competition Report for Liberty Part 2
Fishing must be the one Sport that certainly keeps you Humble.. The Monday started off with a bang, everything worked right and we got results. The next two days we did everything the same, worked the same areas, same everything NO FISH!
We averaged 130 km’s of Trolling for Billfish each day.
Then
Thursday 10 February
The previous day- Wednesday there was boats getting quite a few strikes straight out Jesser Point in 800 to 1 000 meters of water.
So our plan for the day was to work the area South of Jesser Point and Diep Gat then later head out Deeper to 1 000 meters of water.
I made one lure change on my Starboard Short to : Pulsator Bonito Smoker Blue/White.
At 7: 30 we had our first enquiry.. it was a Yellow Fin Tuna of 12.8 kg. It will later help us a lot on our Points talley. This was on the Southern side of Diep Gat.
(http://i52.tinypic.com/jpkmzl.jpg)
Then we looked on the Garmin Blue Chart for a bit of Structure in the deeper water and Big Van found a place where the 800, 900 and 1000 meter lines was close to each other with something like a hole close by. We headed out that way.
10:00 The first Reel went .. Fish On.. a Stripey nice size.. after a bit of Head shaking and Tail walking the hooks was thrown. Ag wat.. we thought there must be more around.. We got one more strike and then
11:20 The Starboard Long was grunting like only an 80 lb Shimano can! The fish did a few jumps and the hooks were VAS! It looked Big so I took the rod .. the fight was not that long and we got the fish in good time to the boat.. Now our day was cooking..
The fish was Tagged and Released easy and it was well mannered. When the fish came close it wasn’t that big and in the region of 70 kg (160 lb’s), I felt bad because Peter ( my sister’s Fiance) is not a big guy .. and this could have been his first Billfish.
Here is the photo:
(http://i56.tinypic.com/2yjyh35.jpg)
13:30 Our team was highly motivated now to make it two Billfish for the day.
At the 900 meter mark we heard the Elastic band break on the Outrigger.. Amazing how sensitive your hearing becomes after a few days of fishing only one Tik of a reel
and you are ready.
This fish was hooked and speeding off at a speed, made a few nice jumps. Piet was on! It will be his first Billfish..
No one can put into words what it feels like to have one of these amazing animals on the other side of the line.
He was knackered, as he was going to marry my sister, we kept the boat in gear to ensure that there will be no fumbles with the line slacking.
Here is a photo of him fighting the Striped Marlin:
(http://i52.tinypic.com/51o4zr.jpg)
Now it was my turn to tell him: “Wind, Wind, Wind if you rest the fish rests, WIND!”
After a while he was winning.. Piet asked: “net ‘n slukkie water asseblief oom!”
He was one proud guy as I leadered the fish and held onto the Bill.
Congratulations Peter we are proud of you!
A photo of Peter's fish Greyhounding:
(http://i52.tinypic.com/xcrokg.jpg)
A photo of the proud fisherman:
(http://i56.tinypic.com/21doi28.jpg)
Our week was made and as lines up is at 15:00 we headed back, we were 28 km from Sodwana – Jesser Point.
If we could stay out, we probably could have tried to catch another one.
The flags were flying and this day belonged to the crew on LIBERTY!
(http://i54.tinypic.com/dvjb6o.jpg)
The competition for us was finished, and the next day will just be for fun!
The Friday was a separate comp where the Biggest Game Fish win!..
We fished for Cuta in the Big W area and got a few smaller Cuta and one Cuta that weighed.
The Friday night was prize giving and we won a couple of nice Prizes, and finished overall 3’rd. Which for us was fine, just a tad more luck and blessing and we could win this competition sometime.
Thanks to the crew of LIBERTY – Big Van and everyone organising the competition it was a memorable one.
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Well done Guys. :win:
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Great report. Really enjoyed reading it. Liberty crew is on a roll. Richardsbay look out!
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Lekker and big :resp: (clap) (clap)
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Well done guys, great report, I was in Pongola Friday the 04th Feb on business and saw the boat (ship) and truck stopped at the Pongola Wimpy, must say she looks impressive. (clap)
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Awesome stuff Van's!!! Proud of the manne!!
(clap)
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Nice report BVJ that boat is realy something. (clap) (clap)
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You guys really enjoying the boat, love the pictures
Really great picture punching the wave!
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Greg (Shag and Release) has had a great influence on our way of doing things, he has been my “Leermeester” translated (I think Tutor) to the art of Billfishing and I must thank him for sharing every single detail with us. He was unfortunate not to make the competition, as there is always a seat open on our boat for him. As we always believe there is always a reason: The reason was that it was my time to leave the comfort of the nest and spread my wings and fish confidently!
It seems the student has surpassed the teacher!!! Guys I am so happy for you all, you have taken to the Marlin fishing experience with a dedication and persistancy that can only bring success, its fantastic to see you guys getting out there and hammering the fish yet keep your un-wavering ethics of releasing every fish, thats truely :ayb
Talking about leaving the nest brother!!! :hehe: you do realize that your poked now and I am officially retired as wire man on "liberty" now!! Now Me and Big Van just take it in turns to drive while the other fights the fish and you just wire all day bro,then we retire to the cockpit like ballies and sip on a cold one until it all kicks of again :billf: :billf: I am Glad the combos are still working for you and that you are confident enough to experiment with your own ideas, thats important!!
Congrats to my "Myn-manne team" hopefully next year is different I can join you again,and well done peter for your first and dont forget the invite to that "special barra" honey moon :crzy :crzy
I look forward to seeing you guys on the water at the classic, take care till then :billf: :billf: :billf: :billf: :billf: :billf:
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Big V Junior, sorry mate I see you asked for help on the ID on that first fish but, I cant tell by that image, it could be a small blue or a stripey :dunno: :dunno:
also you must post that photo of the fish grey hounding its a great pic!
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Awesome report and well done, guys! (clap) (clap) :resp: :resp:
I think even the "het ons boot gery" will an awesome experience.......love your boat. :ayb
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Great stuff! Excellent report and fantastic pics!
Well done Team Liberty!
I'm sure we'll see lot's more flags up the rigger!
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Great stuff! Excellent report and fantastic pics!
Well done Team Liberty!
I'm sure we'll see lot's more flags up the rigger!
At their rate of success they will soon hang flags on both riggers! :win: :win:
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Hi Guys
Thanks for the congratulations. Tunaman may we all hang those flags at the SADSAA. Yes I can only say after this trip that I am happy with the whole rig. I did go down to Sodwana with worries of how easy the boat will offload in the surf as well as loading onto the trailer. Will the truck battle with the weight of the boat on the beach and all those small litle things that sit in the back of your mind, how will the boat react in turning in the surf etc. I was first amazad by the power of the truck. We did take the tyres to 1.2 bar pressure and the boat to 1.4 bar. We never had a niggle in the soft sand. We have actually used the truck to pull the boat up the beach by just attaching the winch cable and reverse the truck up the beach. The TATA just pulled. The trailer worked well. We could dump the boat in 2 feet water and it was easy to bring the nose of the boat around. The loading of the boat on the trailer was also made easy with the winch on the truck.
Now the behaving of the boat in the surf was immaculate. If you check the photos we had a 2.5 meter surf the first couple of days. I can turn this boat within 10 meters in the swell at fairly high speed. After a couple of days it felt if I was skipping my olfd 18 ft boat. The 150 hp Suzis has ample power to let me feel safe in the surf and the power was always there when I wanted it. So end of story is that I am a happy fisherman and boater.
Tight Lines Mates
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Hi Guys
Thanks for the congratulations. Tunaman may we all hang those flags at the SADSAA. Yes I can only say after this trip that I am happy with the whole rig. I did go down to Sodwana with worries of how easy the boat will offload in the surf as well as loading onto the trailer. Will the truck battle with the weight of the boat on the beach and all those small litle things that sit in the back of your mind, how will the boat react in turning in the surf etc. I was first amazad by the power of the truck. We did take the tyres to 1.2 bar pressure and the boat to 1.4 bar. We never had a niggle in the soft sand. We have actually used the truck to pull the boat up the beach by just attaching the winch cable and reverse the truck up the beach. The TATA just pulled. The trailer worked well. We could dump the boat in 2 feet water and it was easy to bring the nose of the boat around. The loading of the boat on the trailer was also made easy with the winch on the truck.
Now the behaving of the boat in the surf was immaculate. If you check the photos we had a 2.5 meter surf the first couple of days. I can turn this boat within 10 meters in the swell at fairly high speed. After a couple of days it felt if I was skipping my olfd 18 ft boat. The 150 hp Suzis has ample power to let me feel safe in the surf and the power was always there when I wanted it. So end of story is that I am a happy fisherman and boater.
Tight Lines Mates
And the new rigger set up looks awesome mate!! much better!! :happ: :happ:
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Congrats on the 3rd place. That rig looks like a winner. I am sure it is just a matter of time before you get that 1st place.
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Geluk julle manne!!!...en mooi visse en fotos daai (clap) w;k sien julle in Richardsbaai volgende naweek.
Cheers
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Well done fella's (clap) (clap)
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Baie geluk "Team Liberty" :billf: Hoop ek sien julle in R/Bay oor 2 weke. :happ:
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Awesome report well done Team Liberty..
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Well done - BV!!! good report, nice to see that Liberty's wake has some harmony, always a good sign for whats to come!! - thanks for the heads up on the spread.
"I made one lure change on my Starboard Short to : Pulsator Bonito Smoker Blue/White." very good lure that, either on the short or flat, we have got 4 fish on the yellow/black Pulsator Bonito Smoker (yft) running in those positions. (it actually won us a charter with Steve Andrews on Citation in RB next month because the fish was on a Pulsator lure)
I also see that you run few Illanders, I have to say that we have tried them but they have never produced here in Durban (they also seem so scare the dollies?? - never catch dollies on them??)
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Well done - BV!!! good report, nice to see that Liberty's wake has some harmony, always a good sign for whats to come!! - thanks for the heads up on the spread.
"I made one lure change on my Starboard Short to : Pulsator Bonito Smoker Blue/White." very good lure that, either on the short or flat, we have got 4 fish on the yellow/black Pulsator Bonito Smoker (yft) running in those positions. (it actually won us a charter with Steve Andrews on Citation in RB next month because the fish was on a Pulsator lure)
I also see that you run few Illanders, I have to say that we have tried them but they have never produced here in Durban (they also seem so scare the dollies?? - never catch dollies on them??)
I think it is because the Durban dollies are so small... :hehe: :hehe:....just kidding. Islander in Rbay knocked the socks of the dollies. Swimming pulsators in the spread and they took the Express every time. Areas probably differ.
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I also see that you run few Illanders, I have to say that we have tried them but they have never produced here in Durban (they also seem so scare the dollies?? - never catch dollies on them??)
Its weird how some lure work for some and not for others, I cant believe its areas?? an ilander catches fish in the pacific and sodwana but not durban?? I dont understand it but I have some lures which other guys swear by and Have never caught bugger all with it, and others are deadly. The ilander is my single biggest marlin producer to date and it has accounted for many a dodo as well, man wish we had all the answers!!
here is an interesting thread where the guys share some more spreads.
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,3462.60.html (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,3462.60.html)
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I should have worded that differently and said "never produced for us here in Durban" I suppose its also that we are not catching big numbers, in 2010 we only got one sail and a Black on the last day of the year!!(although we fish very little) so nothing to prove/test any lures on here in Durban for us, the Moldcrafts(WR/BB) have had by far the most pulls recently for us in Durban, something like 11:3:1
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I agree that the Mouldcraft Wide Range get good hits off Durban, especially off the riggers, I also agree with the statement that the Islander lures do not produce off Durban and actually scare the fish, the only way that Islander lures work off Durban is when you rig them with a Semi Stiff Pro Rig and add a nice slice of Belly Shine.
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Hi Guys
I must admit I will not put a spread out without a Ilander white and blue. On the outrigger far out.Spoke to Greg during Mynmanne and he said he mates got most of their fish the previuos week at Vidal on Ilanders smoking at the back. Well we had the same experience last week. We have even included some belly shine to one of the ilanders and the blue marlin Franco caught has first striked on it and then returned to strike again and then went vas. I am a converted Ilander user as 80% of marlin that was caught by my boat was on Ilanders. Blue and white the predominant colour.
FA the marlin in Durban dont like the smoke :hehe: :hehe:
Cheers mates and :tite
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Liberty
Big Van congratulation on 3 place you guys deserve it.I drove to Durban last week thursday and though of stopping by Sodwana but though it wont be a quick stop over and i had to get on the boat Friday morning.
For inrest guys i drove from Lydenburg to Durban via Swaziland oshoek in and zosini dam out and i will never ever drive thru piet retief pongola again i will do the trip in under 5 hours thru swaziland so guys try it i do recommend the road no potholes minimum traffic and its almost a double road.
Big van im going thru middelburg next tuesday maybe you have time for a cold one in the afternoon.
Luan
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Hi Luan
You are welcome to visit. I will be at my factory at Newton 14 in the industrial area. Close to the highway. Phone nr. 0832511240
Cheers and Tight Lines
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"FA the marlin in Durban dont like the smoke " Big Van, The Durbs ous always like the smoke!!
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Make them smoke chomma the marlin likes it even more. How is the cuta fishing around Durban lately? Me and Tunaman is fishing his boat at the Durban Festival. Hopefulle will we meet you guys then.
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It has been ok but the guys are getting taxed up north around Umdloti, the week long easterlies really stuff the water up here so things havent really turned on IMO, March can often be a lot better when the conditions settle, to be honest I havent even targeted couta this year as I have been fishing on the big boat for bills, but my boat is always ready. I may fish if I can as it is a lekka comp with prizes all the way to 40th!! Closer to the time I will give a bit of a heads up as to whats going on. How big is Tunamans boat? it may be worthwile running quite far, depending on the water??
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:hehe: :hehe:
Often the big Blacks come in close near the Bluff, most likely to get to smoke that green stuff.
@BigVan - Please post a pic of your Islander lure and how you rig it.
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HI Mike I can unfortunately not take a photo as the rig is at Hluhluwe. I rig them with normal 400lb nylon and a chaingang as hook set. I use two crimps te get the last hook of the chaingang standing proud at the back. We battled at Sodwana with the strong current but speeded up untill all the lures were smoking. Will show you the lure at RBay this weekend.
Cheers mate
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It has been ok but the guys are getting taxed up north around Umdloti, the week long easterlies really stuff the water up here so things havent really turned on IMO, March can often be a lot better when the conditions settle, to be honest I havent even targeted couta this year as I have been fishing on the big boat for bills, but my boat is always ready. I may fish if I can as it is a lekka comp with prizes all the way to 40th!! Closer to the time I will give a bit of a heads up as to whats going on. How big is Tunamans boat? it may be worthwile running quite far, depending on the water??
Dugongboy My rig is a Cobra Cat 625. Are you referring to run to Yellowtail or the likes?
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That was my thinking, 50 k's is nothing for your boat, it can be productive but will def have a few other boats there during the comp, in saying that I have only ever fished there twice and only got a few med size fish but one head of about 10!!
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I will definitely compare notes with the Ballito guys as they normally have a fair idea what is happening on those reefs. I do however believe if fished correctly Umdloti will deliver. Found that there is however one particular way and time it has to be fished..... :hnthnt: :hnthnt:
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Great going Guys!!!