I had been checking the weather forecast the entire week for a gap. It's about time the YFT arrive in numbers and with two b-days in a row (my mom's was on Saturday and dad's today) some fresh fish is always a winner. Also, I've been anxiously waiting for an opportunity to do some kite fishing. Saturday, was obviously out of question (and the weather wasn't that great!), but today... eish.... "Pablo" the weatherman, was promising some flat seas from about 2am to noon (1 m/8 s SE waves). A light NW was predicted at around 11 am which would swing to ESE in the afternoon. Nice breeze to bring us back... Just what I needed... a short session in the morning and early return. With luck I'd get some fish for the party on Monday.
My newly recruited crew member Matheo was eager to go, so after a quick call to my brother we were set!
My mom's b-day party (extended family lunch at my place) started at 1:30 pm on Saturday and I only managed to be in bed by 1:30 am the next day! Anyway, the usual routine followed. I woke up at 4 am, (1h20 before the alarm!) organized some snacks and we were at the club by 6 am.
Loaded the boat, launched without issues and by 06:45 we were on our way to my couta grounds up north. With the flat seas we were crossing Baixo Cutfield at 8.00.
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Water temp was 20.4 oC in the bay and reached a maximum of about 21.3 oC out in the blue. The water wasn't really clean, but it looked good enough...
The plan was to get some couta early and then follow up on early reports of good YFT bites offshore... also, wanted to explore a spot with a nice drop for wahoo... a great 'hoo bite in Sta Lucia last week, went around the cyber-space... and maybe, just maybe, we could be lucky...
As we crossed Cutfield, and despite what Pablo promised, a very uncomfortable freaky NW (10-12 knots) started to blow at 8:15 just before we put our lines in the water. I wasn't happy. this thought came to mind a few time: "Pablo, july to me!!!"
The NW wind blowing against the prevailing SE waves, created a washing machine in the shallows and by 9:30 we had no bites, nada. Some birds working here and there, saw some nice YFT and bonnies jumping (they wanted nothing to do with the plugs we threw at them), and my promised drop spot was empty!!! I was unhappy and getting desperate... "These grounds never (sort of)... failed me before!"
A quick "council of war" discussion with my brother and we decided to go offshore and look for the YFT. We were 8 nm from our spot so I figured "let's pull iron and give it gas" instead of slowly make the commute with lures in the water. Because the NW was still blowing, madly sloshing us around, we couldn't comfortably do more that 16-18 knots. So, with those Sta Lucia 'hoos in mind, I went back to one of my favorite techniques to target them: speed trolling! Pulled one of my
DIY trolling stinkers, attached a black/purple Williamson feather with lead head and big eyes, attached it to the Tiagra 30 outfit and gave it horns!
About 1.5 nm from our spot the Tiagra started screaming like crazy. We were doing 14 knots and were on 60 m of water. That unmistakable first run meant only one thing:
My brother took the rod and fought the fish well. I was driving and positioning the boat downswing of the fish, but the swell sometimes made it difficult.
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Gave him a good workout and after 30 min the croc was in the hatch!!!! All +18 kg of it!!!
Hi fives all around, we decided to carry on and try and get some YFT.
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Arrived at the spot, after a while the NW went down. Looks like Pablo was right after all! We set our spread of rappies and speedpros. As soon as we found the YFT it was non stop action. Not very big, but good eating 4 kg size. We had 2, 3 and even 4 rods on!!!!
It got to a point that it wasn't fun anymore. Between trying to keep the lines untangled, properly bleeding the fish in the tuna tubes and reeling other fish in, we decided to fish only 2 rods!
Eventually we had 7 in the hatch and the wahoo, I started thinking maybe we should head home... bang another double header. This time they weren't YFT ... 2 ×
It was a bit of a chaotic moment. My brother was fighting his fish on the Tiagra, I had mine on the TLD25, no one driving the boat (Matheo was getting some zzzzz)... Eventually we got the 2 'hooks in the hatch and decided it is time to go... one last round for one more tuna and bang... the TLD starts screaming... I take the rod and thought it was another football size YFT. Half an hour later this thing was not coming up... even if it had the hooks sideways, no way it was 4 kg tuna... we thought it was another wahoo. Then I saw it.... A large YFT started doing its circles.... got close to the boat, made one last run and went slack... I thought it opened the hook or something ... then I realized there was still some weight....
Taxman!!!! First time I have ever been taxed. EVER!!!!! The head weighted 7 kg, so I guess this would be a 15-20 kg fish?!?!
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I threw the towel and had my shoulders down. Time to call it a day (it was 1 pm). The tide was out so we made a 1 hour stop at Inhaca to see some friends and then went to the club for the endless pics, washing the boat, etc. In total we dei 87.7 mm and used 88 L of fuel. Not bad, not bad at all!!!
All smiles!!!
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However, the day was not over... now comes the most painful part...processing the fish! The fish must be filleted to the last bit and everything must be neatly packed into individual portions... Everything gets used... heads, guts, fins... I refuse to waste any fish!
What a day!!! I'm very fortunate and grateful for this day, and those still to come. To share it with my son and younger brother that I introduced to offshore fishing 10 years ago... to catch these fish and be able to share them with family and friends in such special occasions such as my dad's 70th.
This was a very special day, and 'till the next big catch it surely makes it to the top 5!
