Happy New year to all.
After my disastrous trip that was destroyed by the Lockdown in March, and the financial damage that it caused to most, it looked like a Dec holiday to the kei was out of the question. Eventually I decided that life needs to be lived, as 2020 taught us that we never know what tomorrow brings. 2 weeks at the family cottage was on.
We arrived on Christmas day, 2 days early as a surprise to my folks. Most of the family hadn't seen each other for 18+months due to Lockdown so it was a great reunion.
Early on the 26th I was unexpectedly woken up, with a fuzzy head. Fishing time. I hadn't even unpacked a bag yet.
The current was screaming but I managed a 40kg copper in the current which was no mean feat just to hit bottom. Current was too heavy for my son to even attempt fishing. We then went deep to try for marlin. My dad had dropped a very big blue early on in the holiday after 1 hr and missed another a few days later so they were around if we found the right conditions. Water was OK but not perfect and we spent the rest of the am trying for them but quit early as it was very hot and didnt want the copper to spoil in the hatch even with ice bottles in the hatch with it. On the way in we dropped 1 dorado .
We spent a few more days at sea but the current was very strong, to the point of being unplayable and generally it was average fishing. A few guests on the boat and my son caught some decent reds, dagarad, rock cod etc.
Having been going to our place for 43 years , I did my first trip to Mapuzi caves and to Harrisons cottage on the south bank of Umtata River mouth. It wass great doiung the trip with my Dad and son and daughter. Visitors to the area should really get a guide and do this trip. I would also love to throw a line off the bricks around the caves. Looks very fishy and just looking into the gullies I saw plenty good fish eating and swimming around.
31st dec we went out with my dad, son and brother and picked up a few decent Skipjack tuna. Great fun for my son and his confidence on he boat had improved tremendously. Great to watch him take the rods out the holder and fight the fish unassisted. Sea legs were growing.
we found great water around the area with the bonnies, and set 2x 80's with big lures on the riggers with a spread of small dorado sized lures for the others. We had a few skippies eat the big konas and at 8am on the dot a Pulsator tube on the 80 screamed off and a decent black marlin came out the back of the boat. It behaved perfectly, cleared the spread. It pulled 300+m of string and hooks just pulled. Frustrating. We pulled the rest of the day but zero seen.
0n 5th Jan I took my daughter out for the first time in over 6 years. We ran to Mbolompo early to try for yellow tail. I had one on off on a popper and a few hammer heads were caught but no tail. Unfortunately drone fishermen have become a huge proble. We had one guy arrive after we had done a few passes, fly his drone 30m in front of us and 100m deeper than us and drop his bait. we had the line come right through under our boat and had to lift engines to prevent braid getting into our props. Last thing we wanted witha swell running was braid wrapped into our props. was tempted to assist him in shortening his line by a few 100m. He then proceeded to hurl abuse at us for driving near his line. to The same idiot then did it again about 30min later after losing a fish. Next time I will relive them of their line. LOL
7th Jan was my last day and there was a huge party the night before. We launched late and didn't even stop to get mackerel for bait. Just my 2 brothers on the boat and me. We ran out to the area where the water improved and where we had been getting bonnies. Set the spread of small lures and soon had a small yellowfin idb (first and only 1 we saw) and a few bonnies were caught and where possible released. We set the riggers and big lures, our usual spread and the hong kong I pulled my old red ilander hawaian eye out as I never ever use it. We hadn't had any luck on our usual lures we run there.
7.55 and the Tiagra 50 on the hong kong went away. immediately could hear it was a proper fish and soon there after a good black was jumping out back. cleared the spread and I was on. Black magic please. MMM, sorry its left at home. Great. Out came the cheapy sure catch belt and my old shoulder harness. 40min in the fish started to dive and then stopped. No more movement. 200m of backing and 250m of mainline out. 2hr 45 later I finally lifted the black to the surface, tail wrapped and stone dead. Big celebrations as it was my first marlin ever and the first we have had stick for a long time. We had every intention of releasing it, as we intend to release every billfish we catch. We have upped our tackle to 3x 80's and only 2 50's int he water to allow us to land them faster for a healthier release, but a tail wrap was beyond our control.
During the fight my brother threw a drumstick bone over the side and a dorado swam up and ate it. No fuss, my brothers then fed them a few sardines and soon had 2x decent dorado on board. At this stage we still thought we could release the marlin so kept the dorries.
It is no easy feat loading a fish that size with 2 people and a rather finished me.
We ran home to a great welcoming party of family and friends.
It weighed in at 147.6kg on the certified scale. A great party ensued while we filleted the fish. The dorado, and bonnies were given to the community members that had come to see the fish, and a large portion of the marlin was likewas given to our staff who inturn shared it with their families and friends. No a piece was wasted.
All in all a successful trip. Some great family time. Our beach was open as it was just us, I removed my blank against marlin caught so a good end to a bad year and a great start to the new year.
Just a pity I could not release this beautiful fish. Next time.
