Author Topic: WARBird's Cape Vidal expedition Dec 2012 (Read 12044 times)

Werries · « **on:** January 12, 2013, 04:42:12 PM »

Sitting here writing this report I suddenly realise how truely blessed I am! We had a wicked time at Cape Vidal and it was only WARBird's 2nd holiday but this time we nailed it proper... we could launch on 14 occasions in the 22 days we were there ( unlike July 2012 when we could only launch twice in the 7 days) .

The bay was very difficult at first, even nerve-racking at times, as you had to negotiate between the dozens of rocks that had washed open in the last 2 months but once you knew the position of the rocks and timed your launching and beaching it was okay. I know of 3 boats that smashed their gearboxes and about 4 other boats that had prop and hull damage...but this was mostly when they came out to beach and ran out fast to get up on the beach and hit submerged rocks . I, on the other hand, was "liewer bang Jan as dooie Jan" and only idled out with my motors trimmed up to the highest point whilst still getting fwd propulsion . This helped me not to even get a nick or scratch on my skegs etc.

My permanent crew consisted of my wife, Aniza, and my son Russo(12) . Alternating crewmembers were my brother( who had never in his life caught a fish before and has only been out on a boat once while in highschool some 30 years back) and my daughter Bianca(10) and my two god-daughters Imogen(16) and Nkite(10). My brother in law passed away 2 years ago in a carcrash so I take them with me every holiday, they feel like my own kids anyway because their mother is my wife's identical twinsister.
It felt almost like one of those "Take a kid fishing" trips as I had 2 or 3 kids on the boat everyday but boy did they all surprise me. Russo has become a very good deckie and extremely keen and capable little angler,and the girls adapted well on the boat. Not once did any of them feel green or seasick which was a big plus obviously.

On our 1 st day we went south as there was a bit of a SW wind coming in later and after getting some live Maasbankers and Mackerel of the point we had a small blacktip kingie on soon. This was Imogen's first deepsea fish and after this she is hooked for life. She didnt miss one opertunity to go out with me after that.
Day one we only managed the kingie( which we released of course) and Russo got his first ever dorado.

Werries · « **Reply #1 on:** January 12, 2013, 04:47:42 PM »

Day two we were met with a beautifull day and my brother went out with me for the first time. Aniza , Russo and myself made up the rest of the crew for the day. We got some livies again and soon we got a run on a maasie at the Lighthouse and my boet got his first ever fish...a nice dorado

MZeee · « **Reply #2 on:** January 12, 2013, 04:48:51 PM »

lovely report!!!! MORE PLEASE!

Werries · « **Reply #3 on:** January 12, 2013, 04:55:46 PM »

We put out 3 livies again and after a slow drift over some reefstructure we had a triple up... Russo, Eckhardt and myself grabbed the rods whilst Aniza steered the boat like a pro...
It turned out to be 3 Big-eye kingies and we boated them swiftly. Mine was hooked badly in the gills and I had a Paela in mind for dinner so it went into the hatch . The other two were released safely.
It turned out to be an awesome day as we got 2 more dorado as well.

Plugger · « **Reply #4 on:** January 12, 2013, 04:56:56 PM »

Nice fish, nice family holiday,nice boat,nice place ,nothing pulls a family together better than that type of holiday. You can keep the bright lights.

PH · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2013, 04:59:30 PM »

Nice Werner!! Great time with the family and equally good boating skills.!!

JNaude · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2013, 05:15:39 PM »

awesome stuff and family holiday

Werries · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2013, 05:17:41 PM »

Wait guys ! Theres a lot more to come...

Day three (crew: Aniza, Eckhardt, Russo) we got some more dorados and then my boet got a monster of a Skipjack of about 7 kgs ( no pic) which revved him proper. After that things went a bit quite and I changed my tactics and put down a livie on a 8oz sinker in 40m of water. On the drift I reckon the bait dropped down to about 20m and suddenly the reel screemed away... It was Russo's turn , little did he know he was in for a big fight! Fishing like a pro he pumped and winded till I saw a big couta under the boat...I set the gaff and elation erupted on the boat as I pulled it aboard. It measure 130cm (FL) and according to ORI it is 18.04kgs. To be honest I think its more likely to be around 16kgs because it wasnt a fat fish as such but Russo will claim the 18kgs. The biggest couta on my boat sofar.

Werries · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2013, 05:20:32 PM »

We had a good day and my holiday was already promising... some more pics of the dorados

isivuba · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2013, 05:45:44 PM »

man dis mooi vis daai!... awesome post and even better to see your son having a blast. Welldone! just makes any holiday worth while.

Werries · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2013, 05:47:07 PM »

After taking a rest day on a windy day the next outing I was keen to get some tuna onboard so I ran very early up to leven point on a totaly flat day.( Crew: Aniza, Russo, Imogen and on her 1st outing her sister Nkite)
We arrived at LP at 05:30 and being the only boat there for the day I got viskoors when I saw the water boiling everywhere . We put out 3 rods with rapalas and halcos and I wasnt even on speed yet when we had a triple up!! Awesome!
We boated all three...not big but little yft's of around 4-5kgs.
I blooded them immediatly, set out the spread and after finding the school again about 5 mins later we boated another 2.
Mission accomplished! 10 mins = 5 tunas. They sounded after this and appeared about a mile up into the MPA and stayed there for the rest of the morning... I must be honest , I was VERY,VERY tempted to chase after them but I was content with the catch already. I then went shallow to 30-20m and drifted over the scattered reefs there with livebait but no couta was seen.
After about 2 hours of no action I decide to have some fun. I know of a hole just south of Leven which is known for Amberjacks( in the jigging days) and it goes from 80 to 160m. I set my drift up and used my 8ft Exage rod with a Stella 8000 loaded with 60lbs Saltiga boatbraid. Put a live Maasbanker on a circle , joined 2 8oz sinkers and dropped it down. As I dropped it down I started to giggle because I knew the outcome of this fight!
I hit the bottom , wound up about 5m and within 5secs had a hit. I pulled it up about 10m before I think he realised he was hooked. On full drag it took me down into the bricks and cut my 100lbs leader.
I knew I was totally undergunned but send one down again. Same story.
Next time I will definitively take the big gun( my Stella 20k, loaded with 120lbs Jigman and my Beastmaster XXH jigging rod) and get my Amber on livebait.

I set out back to base and put out a spread for saillies . We picked up two dorados . One each for Imogen and Nkite. Their first ever dorados

Werries · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2013, 05:51:18 PM »

I was having the time of my life!! Awesome weather, boat performing well and getting some nice fish with my green and young crew!

Charles · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:02:43 PM »

Awesome Werries!!

Werries · « **Reply #13 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:11:53 PM »

A big SW started to blow and blew for 2 days. The 3rd day we were met with very dirty water in the bay that came up from St Lucia which made the launching very difficult because you couldnt see the rocks. Some boats launched that morning in a lumpy sea with a surf of about 3m with 6-7sec waveperiods. I sat on the boat on the beach , wanting to launch but my gut told me to wait. I havnt been on the water now for 2 days and today seems like the 3rd.

But with 3 kids and my wife on the boat I called the launch off. I parked WARBird on the beach and sat on it for 2 hours drinking the flask coffee that Aniza made...waiting for the conditions to get better and listening to the radio to hear about the catches and the conditions out there. It wasnt promising. Only 2 dorado between about 7 boats at that stage.
The conditions got better by about 11:00 and with the bay filling up nicely ( yet still dirty) I decided to launch. I rounded the troops and launched at 12h00. I went north in search of cleaner water and found nice water on Oscars.
On our first run over the pinnacle with the halcos I had a screemer. It was my time on the rod ( as I havnt been doing a lot of fishing myself up to then) and I knew it was a solid fish!

I know there are big sharks lurking and I put the brakes on the fish and fought it hard to the boat. At the boat , I eased of the drag a bit and handed the rod to Aniza so I can set the gaf. I was awarded with my PB YFT estimated 18/19kgs. I bled it quickly( it weighed 17.6kgs on the shore) and set out the spread again. Russo picked up another yft of 8kgs and then the dolphins moved in and took the next 2. I changed tactics again and set out a faster trolling spread with a Boones jethead , some feathers and a Halco Max and moved away to another spot about 2 miles north.

Halfway we had a hit on the jethead and I was overwhelmed when I loaded WARBird's 1st Wahoo. It was also Imogens first Wahoo .All in all I knew I made the correct call that morning and we had a great short afternoon session with the 2 YFT and the Wahoo to round it off nicely.

Werries · « **Reply #14 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:23:32 PM »

The next couple of days met us with lumpy seas but with me having more confidence in my boat and a eager and willing crew we headed out in fair conditions .
We were rewarded everyday with some nice fish and didnt come home once without fish. We were truly blessed!
Aniza got a nice Green Jobfish on livebait and on the drift over the shallow reefs in front on the lighthouse we got dorados and even some big slingers came up to eat the sardine driftbaits( we released them of course)
Russo even got a couple of kingies on dropshot while we drifted...

Werries · « **Reply #15 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:37:02 PM »

On the next one day my boet got a small couta on Oscars and Nkite got a nice Hoo as well.I was extremely chuffed cause now my 2 god-daughters both got yellow fins, dorado and a wahoo each. My own daughter Bianca also got a couta that day...

Werries · « **Reply #16 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:43:45 PM »

On the one day Bryant and I decided to target marlin on livebait and after getting a 2 small yft we rigged one up and slowtrolled to the holes north of Oscars but a shark took the bait as we entered the hole. Right after that AVANTI went vas with a black on a livebait on a couta trace on a light bait stick. They fought it for 90 minutes and brought the almost dead fish broadside and decided to load it.

Werries · « **Reply #17 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:47:38 PM »

This is what a Happy crew and a happy skipper looks like...

Werries · « **Reply #18 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:50:25 PM »

Some random pics... can some-one id the snake that visited my porch?

Rory mundy · « **Reply #19 on:** January 12, 2013, 06:51:13 PM »

Now I know why the fishing was poor in st lucia the fish could not get past vidal with out you catching them well done on some excellent fish.