Nikao Fishing Adventures- Action Updates

[Nikao]

    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^th 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!
 

[Serra Moz]

Cool, lekka fun!

[Fritz]

Some nice fish their Richard, you have been shoes about your fishing lately. But I can see why. I think I need to stand and wait for you at the harbour mouth next you go out.
Have you chatted to Debby about Mandy eyt?

[dodger]

Some nice fish there, the marlin would have been fun if he had stayed on, although on that gear you would probably been out over Christmas

[Nikao]

Some nice fish their Richard, you have been shoes about your fishing lately. But I can see why. I think I need to stand and wait for you at the harbour mouth next you go out.
Have you chatted to Debby about Mandy eyt?

Hi Fritz have been working hard for the fish was good to see you out on the water the other day!! had a good hook up not far from where we saw you!

I did manage to chat to Debbie about Mandy.... She said it would be her pleasure to show her the ropes!  I will send her your Number!

@ Dodger- it would have been an interesting fight to say the least but   am sure if the line had not snapped we would have got her next to the   boat in quick time! well thinking about it....we did have her by the   boat quickly considering that she charged us down and that the Toruim   has a 6.2-1 retrieve  may have been a very short fight

[Capt. Hook]

Nice Fishing Rich 

[Nikao]

Went out this morning only to turn back due to unsafe conditions!
this is not the first time the swell and weather predictions have been wrong!!! When exiting the harbour the Swell was up to at least 2.5m as apposed to the 1.5-1.7m predicted!!

Trip has been moved to another date and clients are happy and safe and that is what matters!

[dodger]

safety always comes first 

[John F]

Aye! 

[Capt. Hook]

Went out this morning only to turn back due to unsafe conditions!
this is not the first time the swell and weather predictions have been wrong!!! When exiting the harbour the Swell was up to at least 2.5m as apposed to the 1.5-1.7m predicted!!

Trip has been moved to another date and clients are happy and safe and that is what matters!

Cluck cluck

[dodger]

Went out this morning only to turn back due to unsafe conditions!
this is not the first time the swell and weather predictions have been wrong!!! When exiting the harbour the Swell was up to at least 2.5m as apposed to the 1.5-1.7m predicted!!

Trip has been moved to another date and clients are happy and safe and that is what matters!

Cluck cluck

'Cluck cluck indeed   

'I think Nikao made a sensible correct decision, based on the sea conditions, his boat and his clients,there is nothing chicken in doing that.

[Capt. Hook]

Went out this morning only to turn back due to unsafe conditions!
this is not the first time the swell and weather predictions have been wrong!!! When exiting the harbour the Swell was up to at least 2.5m as apposed to the 1.5-1.7m predicted!!

Trip has been moved to another date and clients are happy and safe and that is what matters!

Cluck cluck

'Cluck cluck indeed   

'I think Nikao made a sensible correct decision, based on the sea conditions, his boat and his clients,there is nothing chicken in doing that.

Dad, am pulling his leg 

[Kumz]

Great catches ...

[Nikao]

just got home from a double up of 2 x 8 hour trips today fishing was hard but did get a  will sort out report tomorrwo as i am out again in the morning and it is time to crash

[Capt. Hook]

just got home from a double up of 2 x 8 hour trips today fishing was hard but did get a  will sort out report tomorrwo as i am out again in the morning and it is time to crash

Nice one Rich  .....

[dodger]

just got home from a double up of 2 x 8 hour trips today fishing was hard but did get a  will sort out report tomorrwo as i am out again in the morning and it is time to crash

well done Richard 

[strandloper]

Congrats on the  Rich!

[WalkersKiller]

Awesome stuff!

[Nikao]

So with the weekend behind here's whats happened!
On Saturday i have to run 2 8 hour trips the first we launched at 4:00am into a light SW wind with swells around 3m at 15 seconds! it was not long before we found some good water nice and close! temp was up around the 26deg marks and water was deep blue and clean! after working the area for a while i kept seeing a dark shadow in the spread but alas it was not ready to commit to any of the lures! after traveling up north we tried a bit of bottom fishing, as we get read to drop lines we hear a report over the radio of a hook up on a Black Marlin about an hour and a half later they landed it on a TLD20 but sadly it got caught up in the props and died    The current on the bottom was flying from South to North this was going to be a tough as we where drifting up to 500m off the mark in what felt like seconds! but we did manage a couple of nice sized Snapper before we called it quits for the day and headed back!

After giving the boat a quick clean and grabbing some Chow my next Charter arrived! I had, had to move there trip from the other day when the weather was so bad! as they all walked onto the Dock Deon says that it is only going to be him and i on the boat as "mommy" and the Kids are not wanting to join us this time as they are a bit scared of fishing into the night!  So after a quick fuel stop we exited the harbour at around 14:00 and with the Swell dropping i made my way to the deep blue water to look for that shadow from earlier in the day! after a couple of hours i was starting to get worried as we had not even had a sniff on the lures!! I decided to head back to some shallower waters when  as i looked back all i could see was this beautiful sight of a  jumping against the Suns reflection on the water! Woooooohooooo!!!!! after quickly Strapping Deon in to the harness and clearing the lines the fight was on! Deon was smiling From ear to ear!
with only the 2 of us on the boat this was going to be a tough one as i have to skipper, Direct leader, and tackle hooks and fish! but after a 30min she was close to the boat and gave us a good couple of Jumps! after 45min i had her on the leader next to the boat! now was the tricky part to grab hold while leadering the fish! i had asked deon to unclip him self and place the rod back into the gunnel so that he could come give me a hand as i reached out to grab her bill the hook pulled and she quickly darted back down to the depths!! sadly i was unable to get a pic of Deon holding his fish but he got to see her and loved every min of it! after a quick couple of High fives!we rested the spread and continued onward!

her is a short vid on the Fight
Fighting Marlin.MP4

[John F]

Congrats Rich!!! Great come back after the canceled charter the other day!!!

Well done!