Author Topic: Blue Water Charters - Fishing Reports from Fat Girl (Read 91098 times)

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #60 on:** March 21, 2015, 12:44:13 PM »

MARLIN REPORT - Durban - 20 March 2015
We went 1-1 with a Blue Marlin and 0-1 with a Black Marlin.
Frans and Coby from Namibia joined me along with 2 of their friends for 5 days of fishing for Frans to catch the Marlin that he has always dreamed about. The weather did not play ball and fishing was very tough with no life in the water, the water was cold averaging around 22 deg C. We went out in 30kn NE winds, 35knt SW winds, braved rain and rough seas and with the S-N current screaming I started feeling hopeless and down as there was nothing around, not even game fish. On day one we managed to land a Yellowfin Tuna and we came back early as the NE just got too strong. On day 2 we hooked up a Black Marlin and this was exciting as we saw him on the surface and I swung the boat and pulled the spread by him, he hit 3 lures before hooking up on the 4th and after doing some magnificent acrobatics he threw the hook. On the way home we landed a Bonnie. Day 3 and Day 4 got me depressed as we had no fish at all and when we started on Day 5 I felt soul destroyed as I really wanted Frans to fulfil his dream with me, he has done trips around the world to hunt his Marlin and never ever got it. Day 5 was great weather and with the previous weather being too rough for us to get out to the shelf we decided to go deep on the last day. 8.30am in 550m of water at 22 deg.C the right inside rigger line screamed and 30 minutes later we had successfully released a Blue Marlin. Frans was overjoyed and I was so happy for him.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #61 on:** March 21, 2015, 12:44:46 PM »

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #62 on:** March 23, 2015, 12:54:56 PM »

Blue Marlin Release Video - Frans's Blue Marlin Dream Catch

Timothy Scriven · « **Reply #63 on:** March 23, 2015, 02:14:10 PM »

Well done bud.

Chigger · « **Reply #64 on:** March 23, 2015, 04:43:43 PM »

Lump in the throat stuff, Well done

iNdlovu · « **Reply #65 on:** March 24, 2015, 07:52:40 AM »

Wow, that fish meant a lot to those guys, well done for giving them the opportunity Mike.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #66 on:** March 30, 2015, 08:21:25 AM »

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban 29th March 2015
The last week saw us out 4 times, its been extremely frustrating as the fishing has been difficult. I can't blame it on the conditions as the conditions awesome, water has been warm and crystal clear, full of bait fish, sprats and flying fish. On the 3 shorter trips we managed to get a good haul of Sarda Sarda, Small Yellowfin Tuna and Bonnies, but nothing big at all except for a marlin on/off, plenty Dolphins around. Yesterday I had a 12hr trip and we were looking for a Marlin, we decided to go out to the continental shelf and left early, all the way out we had no action. then when 70km offshore past 2000m deep the water colour changed from purple to a lighter blue and we saw a huge group of about 14 Humpback whales which to me is very odd for this time of year in 26 deg.C water. The birds were going mad and we managed to get 3 good sized Dorado out there. Then on the 70km haul home the only action we got was an Oceanic Bonito. I forgot to mention in my previous report when we got the Blue Marlin that we found a tiny little Bat some 55km out, I have no idea how he got there but I managed to catch him and released him when back at shore. Shame the poor little thing was almost at the point of exhaustion when I grabbed him.

Timothy Scriven · « **Reply #67 on:** March 30, 2015, 03:51:11 PM »

Good Dorrie there.
That is quite weird with the whales but must have been great to see.
Maybe that bat couldn't spell and thought he was flying a vessel named "Bat Girl"

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #68 on:** April 05, 2015, 09:33:32 AM »

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 3/4 April 2015

After some quiet fishing the past week the last 2 days was a remarkable difference with loads of Wahoo Action, On Friday I went out with my Family and my Mrs got her first Wahoo and her second and her 3rd and so on. At the end of the day we boated 6 Wahoo and lost about 6 if not more. On Saturday it was the same we boated 6 Wahoo and lost about 6, we also landed 2 Yellowfin Tuna, all the Wahoo were estimated 12-15kg range but did not weigh them, Tuna were around 5Kg, every fish we caught the last 2 days came off Rapala X-Rap 20s and 30s trolled at high speed on 30lb class tackle. Lost about 6-8 Rapalas also. Grrrr. Water was warn at 26 deg. C, crystal clear and on the whole both days had great conditions with a N-S current. Memory card went south on my Pentax so only have a Blackberry pic and Mrs. don't want her pics on the net.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #69 on:** April 09, 2015, 08:12:40 AM »

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 8th April 2015
What a hectic day, we launched at 06h00 for an 8hr Game Fishing Charter and the conditions were great, water clean and warm but cooler than it was on my last 2 trips. I started out using 50lb tackle because I was tired of loosing my X-Raps on the 30lb tackle. In the first 5hrs things were quiet and we landed 1 Yellowfin Tuna and we lost 2 small Dorado. I then decided to change down to 30lb tackle running 4 smaller X-Raps and 3 feathers for the way home. At about the same time the wind changed. This was when things got wild and the next 3hrs was so full of action there was not a dull moment. First up we got a small Bonnie and then the action got hectic and we hooked up another 14 Yellowfin Tuna including a 4 up and a 7 up and 1 really good size Yellowfin. We also hooked up 2 Black Marlin on the little Jet Feathers and had each one on for about 30min on the 30lb tackle and it both cases the small hooks opened up. In the end we got back to the Marina 1.5hrs late with 15 Yellowfin Tuna on deck and a Bonnie. What a crazy day.

L Hooker · « **Reply #70 on:** April 09, 2015, 08:21:21 AM »

Lekker day out well done

sardinella · « **Reply #71 on:** April 09, 2015, 10:27:59 AM »

Nothing beats a crazy day on a boat with a few tangles, on off's and some hectic shrieking and swearing.

Timothy Scriven · « **Reply #72 on:** April 09, 2015, 11:53:29 AM »

As always, great stuff Cpt.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #73 on:** April 09, 2015, 01:49:09 PM »

FISHING VIDEO - Tuna Frenzy - 4 up and 7 up - Durban.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #74 on:** April 09, 2015, 08:00:05 PM »

FISHING VIDEO - Lady Angler gets good Tuna on Fat Girl

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #75 on:** April 12, 2015, 02:30:30 PM »

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 11th April 2015
We launched into lovely conditions, but the water was green and colder than it has been for a while, we trolled some Rapala's for about 22km heading North and only found good clean water after 70m in front of Umdhloti where we hooked up into some Yellowfin Tuna. The clients had requested some bottom fishing and even though the current was screaming and we suggested that we carry on looking for Tuna they insisted and we obliged. It was very difficult getting the lines down with the boat drifting at 5-7Km/hr. We still managed some good fish and landed some Englishmen and Rockod along with a some Soldier Bream. Making our way back towards Durban and docked with 2 Yellowfin, 8 good bottom fish and a bunch of smaller ones.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #76 on:** April 12, 2015, 08:39:14 PM »

FISHING VIDEO - Dorado Mayhem on Fat Girl

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #77 on:** April 14, 2015, 07:27:01 AM »

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 13th April 2014
We went out looking for a Black Marlin and found two, but neither of them stuck. The first one tried to take a Yellowfin that we were fighting and the other was just an on off. We hooked up a massive Wahoo which made 12Kg's of drag look like butter, I actually thought the drag went of the setting and checked it and it was OK. This Wahoo took off like a Marlin and only because it jumped and I saw it do I know what it was but eventually it broke the wire. We ended the day with 4 Yellowfin Tuna, 1 was a good size.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #78 on:** April 21, 2015, 08:19:08 AM »

We did a short offshore Cruise late yesterday afternoon and stuck some Rapalas off the back, hooked into a nice Yellowfin Tuna that got Taxed by a Shark which even snapped my Rapala in half, the reel screamed and a lot of line was taken as first I thought we were into a big fish, I reckon the Shark had the Tuna before we even took the rod out the gunnel. In the end we got half a head and a broken Rapala.

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #79 on:** April 27, 2015, 08:21:14 PM »

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 23rd -27th April 2015
Been a busy 5 days that started with a howling SW wind and ended with a howling SW Wind
Thursday we headed North along the coast line till past Umdloti and then headed out deeper, water was green and cold inshore but cleaner deeper out and we landed some smaller Yellowfin Tuna.
Friday we headed out deep to the canyons to look for a blue Marlin with no luck.
Saturday and Sunday we fished the Durban Couta Competition and managed to land a Couta (King Mackerel) of 8.7Kg and we hooked up a massive Zambezi (Bull) Shark (Brown Marlin) which we eventually got to the boat after 2 hours. There was around 380 boat fishing the completion with only 22 Couta (King Mackerel) weighed in and ours was 400grams short from the 15th place prize effectively putting us in 16th place.
On Monday we went far north looking for a Black Marlin and we only managed to land a really good size Yellowfin Tuna. On the way back in we heard on the radio that some poor chap had been blown out to sea on his paddle ski and we assisted in the search, the NSRI had sent out to boats and they eventually found him.