Blue Water Charters - Fishing Reports from Fat Girl

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report Durban - 20-03-2017
 It was a stunning weather today with nice calm seas, we took a father and son along with some of his buddies out for a birthday treat with a 5hr inshore/mini deep sea charter. Water was clear and 25 deg.C and it was not long before the first Bonito was on deck. For a short while after that things were quiet when there was a Dorado (Mahi Mahi) double up making for some great excitement for these young men and I am sure for the dads also. I must say that when I see young people full of excitement and outdoors it gives me great pleasure.

[John F]

Good to see you up and running Mike!

[Timothy Scriven]

Nice one Michael

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report - Durban - 24/03/2017
 Another Game fish Grand Slam on Fat Girl to the delight our mix of guests from Belgium, France and Holland.
 With an early launch for a 5hr charter and were able to get some good fishing in before the big West wind hit Durban.
 Water is warm at 25deg.C and reasonable clear.
 Very early we hooked up a cute baby Dorado which we released to swim another day. It amazes me that even as small as it is, it is already a perfectly formed Dorado, and it always intrigues me the size of lure these little guys tackle.
 Next up was a really nice size Wahoo, which gave a good fight.
 On the way back in we had a double hook up with a Yellowfin Tuna and a Oceanic Bonito

[Capt. Hook]

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[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report Durban - 25-03-2017
 Saturday was overcast and raining and we had 4 guests from up country as this trip was part of a bachelors party weekend, they were happy to go fishing in the rain when we gave them an option to move the trip to Sunday and suprisingly they were sober for a bachelors weekend, am sure they did not want to go fishing on Sunday with thier plans for Saturday night. LOL. The barometer was very low and expectations were not good. For all the efforts we endded up with 2 Oceanic Bonito (Skip Jack) and again got a tiny Dorado which we released to get bigger. We also lost a decent size dorado at the boat and had a big strike but no hook up.

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report Durban - 05/04/2017
 A short trip inshore for some young boys proved to be great fun on light spinning tackle and a great day out, sea conditions were Ok but the current was screaming and sinkers ice cold at the end of it all a nice Yellowfin Tuna was the pride of a young man along with some bottom fishing fun for everyone.
www.bluewatercharters.co.za

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 08-04-2017
With our deckhand getting robbed on his way to work this morning we left later than planned, shame poor guy had his whole week’s wages stolen, very sad.
So departing at 06h30 we decided to give our customers an extra hour due to the delay and so ended up being out for 6hrs instead of 5hrs.
Light NE winds made for nice seas and water colour not to bad but not as blue as we like it. The water temps are starting to drop as we are in autumn already and were just under 24 deg.C.
The fishing turned out great today with a lot of fish, 2 Dorado (Mahi mahi) one of 7Kg and a nice Bull of 13Kg, on top of that we also got into a school of Oceanic Bonito (Skipjack Tuna) and landed 15 of these so everyone had great fun and sport today.
www.bluwatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

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[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 09-04-2017
With it being school holidays we have had many children along on our charters and today was no exception. I always love the pure joy that oozes out of them when they catch a fish, it’s contagious and one ends up in a great mood feeling happy.
We had nice conditions today with water temps just under 24deg.C. Water is clear but not blue. Wind was up a bit from yesterday peaking at a 12knot NE and conditions were sunny.
Still lots of Oceanic Bonito (Skipjack Tuna) around today and we landed a good few putting some really contagious smiles on some young men’s faces.
I think that with the amount of Bonito around all we need is some clear cobalt blue water and we could have a good black marlin bite going.
www.bluwatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 11-04-2017
We had some guests from Sweden today, sea conditions were great, water reasonably clear but the temperature is slowly dropping with today at 23.3deg.C.
The wind has turned again and coming from the SW but it was a very light wind today.
Fishing was good with some Dorado (Mahi Mahi) catches and some Oceanic Bonito (Skipjack Tuna), our guests only kept 1 Dorado and 1 Bonnie and the others were released.
www.bluwatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 16-04-2017
Easter weekend brought us a cold front and some strong SW winds and so we were only able to do one of our trips. Inshore waters are now at 22 deg.C and deeper out just over 23 deg.C so the temperature is steadily dropping as we get into Autumn. There was a strong S-N current but heading out in the deeper water we managed this magnificent Yellowfin Tuna making an 11yr old young man very happy.
www.bluewatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

Fishing Report – Durban – 22-04-2017
The guys from Nissan in PMB booked an afternoon backline trip with us on Saturday, along with Mackerel and Shad some nice bottoms were also caught along with a nice Rockod. The water was warm and over 24deg.C and so one of the mackerel was sacrificed to be used as a live bait to see if anything big was lurking around. I must make note that this was done on very light tackle and it was not long before the reel was screaming and an hour later with an epic light tackle fight a superb Yellowfin Tuna of 16Kg was landed making this the highlight of the afternoon.
www.bluewatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

Fishing Report – Durban – 25-30 April 2017
A busy long weekend and lots of trips. We had great weather on most days. On average the water temps were around 23.6deg.C, green inshore but nice and blue out in the deep. A fair amount of Yellowfin Tuna and Oceanic Bonito (Skipjack Tuna) on the smaller side were caught and what I would guess was probably our last Dorado for the season came out on Friday. We also saw some big Tuna on the sounder out in the deep on the thermocline. I think we can expect some nice Tuna catches if the conditions are right over the next 2 months and usually among these once can get a Sailfish as the water starts cooling down.
The worst thing happened on Tuesday with a Tuna estimated at around 25Kg was lost near the boat on light tackle when the hooks pulled after a 1.5hr fight. It is frustrating and disappointing when that happens after all the work has been done and no reward.
The highlight of the long weekend was a magnificent Sailfish caught on Saturday out in the deep and after a good fight it was released back into the ocean.
Some 6yr old girls had great fun on the backline with Mackerel and Sand Soldiers and a few nice Slinger were caught on other trips.
www.bluewatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

Fishing Report – Durban – 5 May 2017
Stunning conditions, but the water was green and water temps averaging 23.6deg.C, before heading out to the deep there was a stop for live bait and then these were deployed inshore and some nice Couta (King Mackerel) were landed. After that the deep was quiet with the exception of a sailfish that made itself known but showed very little interest after that.
www.bluewatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #fishing #charter #Durban

[Capt. Hook]

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 17 May 2017
After all these heavy rains it was great to have sunshine again, we were expecting the water to be filthy but deeper out it was clean and the temperature was a surprising 23.8 deg.C.
Conditions were also great with flat seas and a gentle current.
It was only a short morning charter and we had 2 very unusual catches with 2 Bludger King Fish caught out deep trolling Rapalas, never seen this before. Perhaps they were lost.
In addition to the 2 King Fish, 4 Yellowfin Tuna also succumbed to the Rapalas making a good fish count for the day.
www.bluewatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #tuna  #game #fishing #charter #Durban

[dugong]

Nice although that looks nothing like the Bludgers I have caught??

[John F]

Agree dugong... think that fish is a black jack (Caranx lugubris)... which is an oceanic species. Also the dark coloration of the body and white-bordered anal fin is consistent... would like to see a pic without the extended mouth...

Nice one Mike

[Capt. Hook]

Agree dugong... think that fish is a black jack (Caranx lugubris)... which is an oceanic species. Also the dark coloration of the body and white-bordered anal fin is consistent... would like to see a pic without the extended mouth...

Nice one Mike

Barry Wareham says it an Amberjack. I never saw the fish myself and although we have hooked up Tropical Yellowtail in the shallows, never had something like this from the deep, as these were caught after the 100m dropoff. So not sure

[FishStyx]

Not an amber either... Most likely a Black Jack. Caught quite a few at Bassas. Amber and Bludger both similar body shapes but without that "Jack" profile.