Tales of Nereus- Nikao

[Nikao]

   
    So it has been a while since I posted a fishing report... So  to Start I would like to introduce you to NEREUS (Meaning -NEREUS was the old  man of the sea, and the god of the sea's rich bounty of fish) the newest member  of our Fleet... He is a 19ft Yeld cat Walk around with 2 x 90 Evinrude etecs to  push him along... so it is after weeks of prepwork getting him ready to go for  a his Samsa inspection. I Finally managed to pick up my LGSC from samsa last  week which worked out quiet well... with some support from Neptune the weather  was looking good for the weekend, just in time to take Nereus for his first sea  trial and put him through the paces. So after arranging with one of my mates at  the Ski boat club we agreed to take him for a run down to Aliwal and back and  pop a couple of lines in the water while on our way   So we meet up at 5:30 and where at the Club for 6:00 and started loading the  all the Rods and tackle. And after sorting out a couple of small issues like  flat battery we were ready to undergo his maiden voyage... so we hitched up the  tractor and headed for the beach. Ballie our Tractor Driver and duty offices  reversed her up to the water and dropped him just short of the shore break  where I have to say I though we would battle to turn him but with just myself  and Daniel we managed with very little water and effort to turn him around and  push him in.. We dropped the motors and where off... the launch was an  interesting one with a couple of nasty curlers and double stacks coming through  but we managed to make a couple of tight turns and get out safely.. I have to  say I was very surprised at how those 90's made him hope on to the plain... any  way once on the back line i decided to give him a good run and flattened the  spoons and was flying along at over 60kph with no problems.. After a little  testing we turned and headed south to Aliwal... running in the mid RPM we where  comfortably able to maintain a comfortable 40kph speed down to Umgaba where we  decided to drop lines and troll the rest of the way... as i have not loaded all  my makes as yet i just worked the ledges and drop offs and was not long before  we had a couple of bonnies on the line.. But sadly that was all we managed to  find... as we worked out way out the the 200m line the weather was getting a  little wet so we decided to pull lines and run back to Warners... the run took  up about 20min to the back line. As we awaited our turn to beach I check the  fuel and was surprised that we had only used a tank per motor. . In any case we  waited our turn lined up and went for the beach...
 
 

[Nikao]

More pics

[isivuba]

Good to see you back on the big blue Richard and the boat looks like a winner . Could you please let me know how far up Warner beach is from Umkomass river mouth cause it looks like a good place to launch for Aliwal.

[Nikao]

Thanks Mike He is a beast of a boat plenty power and skill..

Warners is about a 20km run from Umkomaas on the back road! launch is not to bad but can get a little scary at times once you are in the water there is a nice hole you can sit in and wait for your break.. there is a bit of room to run as well.. good idea to come and watch the boys launch before trying it as there are a couple of bricks and banks that you need to watch out for.. ask me I learnt the hard way... lol

[Gregf]

Very nice Richard, looks like a good ride. Tell me are those motors trimmed up in the on the ocean photos or is it an optical illusion ?

[Debbie]

Looking good Richard ..... nice to see you back on the water

[CLS]

Great to see you on the water again Richard, hopefully we can meet for a beer or two sometime. 

[strandloper]

Great to see you back on the water Rich!
Hope to see many BiG Fish on the deck!

[Umpa Lumpa]

Very nice Richard, looks awesome.

[Nikao]

Very nice Richard, looks like a good ride. Tell me are those motors trimmed up in the on the ocean photos or is it an optical illusion ?

Hi Greg they are trimmed as i was trolling one of my little tricks.

[Corks]

  Nice Richard, I've heard reports of the guys in the US running the Etechs for over 1000hrs with no issues


No for some photos of fish

[Wynand13]

Great to see you are on the water again!!

[Willie]

  Richard nice to see you back looking forward to the fishing reports

[Nikao]

Weather is looking a little wet for the weekend but have a charter for both Saturday and Sunday. going to be hunting  on Saturday then Sunday we chasing Going to be an interesting weekend!

[ST(d)]

Weather is looking a little wet for the weekend but have a charter for both Saturday and Sunday. going to be hunting  on Saturday then Sunday we chasing Going to be an interesting weekend!

Thanks for the invite, See you in the morning.

[lebaka]

Weather is looking a little wet for the weekend but have a charter for both Saturday and Sunday. going to be hunting  on Saturday then Sunday we chasing Going to be an interesting weekend!

Thanks for the invite, See you in the morning.

lucky sod

[ST(d)]

Weather is looking a little wet for the weekend but have a charter for both Saturday and Sunday. going to be hunting  on Saturday then Sunday we chasing Going to be an interesting weekend!

Thanks for the invite, See you in the morning.

lucky sod

You spelt STd wrong lol

[Nikao]

So the weekend has gone and I can honestly say I was happy to have an ST(d) on board for my Saturday  trip... The day started at 5:00am with ST(d) meeting me at Warner Beach Ski Boat Club for a days  fishing as he was helping me out as a guilly.. and I must say that when I arrived at the club with boat in tow at 5:15am, St(d) was already there waiting, ready and willing to go! The sea conditions were good with a small swell and a light NE breeze. Myself and ST(st), who will now be known as Q here forthwith... (as ST(d) takes to long to type) started prepping the boat for launch, were doing so in a light drizzle but that was not going to deter us as my charter arrived for his trip - Stefan had come all the way from Germany to try his luck for a  off the South African coast.
After he arrived he asked the question... where is the Marina? To which Q pointed to the beach and said over there!

In any case Stefan was non the less fascinated by the way in which we go to sea.. as he thought we where crazy but after he saw a couple of the other boats run the gauntlet, he became excited to give it a go! So after warming the motors we hooked up to the tractor and headed to the beach...with little effort, myself and Q turned Nereus and climbed aboard. Strangely we had to punch a couple of double stack waves but made it out to the back line with little or no real drama. After we we made it to the back line I picked a mark on the horizon and despite the constant rain, we ran out to the 150m line where we dropped lines and started working the areas for some .  Besides the rain, the water was clean and warm and it was not long before we had found a gap in the rain and some brighter areas which we worked up and down for a couple of hours - working from the 400m marks to the 700m marks. Sadly we did not see any but we did try chase some birds, which we could see were eyeing out Bonnies jumping, but even with Q and Stefan throwing spoons and poppers at them they where just not interested...we started to make our way back to the deep side of Aliwal before we changed tactics and went on to some lighter tackle to try and target some smaller Tuna before heading back to the beach. Sadly there seemed to be a complete lack of fish around. We worked the waters up to Umgaba where we upped lines and ran back to Warners to beach at 14:45, having covered 150km we only used 5 tanks of fuel which was most impressive, considering we were running between 15 and 20 kmph while trawling and 40 to 50 kmph when running distance ... although we didn't catch anything, we had a good day on the water seeing Dolphins, breaching Whales, Flying Fish and Bonnies.  I also introduced a GERMAN to a couple of CRAZY SOUTH AFRICAN fishermen...but at the end of the day he had a great time and enjoyed the experience.. AS for our Sunday trip we ended up cancelling it as we arrived at Durban Ski Boat Club to meet a stiff NE wind which one could see would have made fishing very uncomfortable, so instead we decided to forget the fishing and go have a nice breakfast instead..all i have left to say is a a huge thank you to Q aka ST(d) for coming along to help on the trip! You wash the boat well and are a great help when launching and to my client Stefan ... Thank you for the fascinating stories of your fishing trips around the world and I look forward to seeing you next year when you come again so we can get you that  !!!!

[Umpa Lumpa]

Nice report Richard pity the fish did not play the game  


Hope that Q from Qarletonville did not pass any wild ideas on yo you for Nreus Only joking ST(d)


Look forward to more reports

[ST(d)]

Thanks Again for taking me with you Richard.  to you again.
Just one thing I have to add, Richard is a very bad waitress in the morning when he needs to bring coffe to the Gilly, But when I took my shirt off that afternoon to washed the boat, man nobody could stop him from getting the  to me, not sure if it was my topless boat washing of the cold  that was encouraging him.