Blue Water Charters - Fishing Reports from Fat Girl and Nawty Girl

[Chigger]

  Good one 

[L Hooker]

Great Dorrie well done

[Kes]

Big Bull Dorado to open the season.
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 1st October 2018
After yesterdays NE winds it was a bit choppy today but settled down as the day went on. We had a short morning trip and on our lighter tackle managed to land a really large Dorado Bull to open our Dorado account for the new season. Wow, what a fish to open the season account and congratulations to the young man who fought so hard to land it.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za

Howsit bud,


Just out of interest, can you provide a list of the species that you do allow your clients to keep?


Thanks,

[Capt. Hook]

Big Bull Dorado to open the season.
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 1st October 2018
After yesterdays NE winds it was a bit choppy today but settled down as the day went on. We had a short morning trip and on our lighter tackle managed to land a really large Dorado Bull to open our Dorado account for the new season. Wow, what a fish to open the season account and congratulations to the young man who fought so hard to land it.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za

Howsit bud,


Just out of interest, can you provide a list of the species that you do allow your clients to keep?


Thanks,

It would be easier to give a list of what we don't keep/kill.
Note, that if a fish has died or dying we will keep it
- Sharks
- Billfish
- Garrick
- King Fish
- Queen Fish

There are other things as well, we do not target Geelbek and Daga, bottoms is something we do not do often and only when Gamefish are not around.

Any Fish caught on fly is compulsory release.

[Umpa Lumpa]

 

[Bwana]

Reefz and Marcos may I politely request that you clean up this thread as it is supposed to be a log of Mike's fishing reports for his operation and I feel like this recent spat detracts from the purpose of the thread.

Kes, sorry mate I don't know you but I feel like you have overstepped the line buddy. Keep it civil.
My 2c.

Done.

[Capt. Hook]

Tuna Grand Slam on Nawty Girl
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 27th October 2018
Our morning trip started out with great conditions and we had just set our spread when the Tyrnos started screaming and the rod had a good bend on it, after a good fight what we thought was a Yellowfin Tuna turned out to be a Beast of an Eastern Little Tuna. After that we managed 2 Oceanic Bonito and on the way back we hooked into 2 Yellowfin Tuna giving us a Grand Slam of 3 species of Tuna on 1 trip.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za

[Capt. Hook]

Family fun Harbour trip
Harbour Fishing Report – Durban – 27th October 2018
We had a local family book an afternoon 3hr Family Fun harbour fishing trip with a delighted young man who had his first ever fishing trip on a boat. During the 3hrs we managed to hook up 7 shad (All released as it is closed season). Dad managed to have a fantastic tussle with a smaller Hammerhead Shark on light spinning tackle and Mom got herself a nice Bar Tail Flathead. We were hoping to get a grunter for the young man but he caught his first fish ever from a boat, he was so excited.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za

[Capt. Hook]

Cold Green Xtreme Dorado.
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 15th November 2018
We got going at 04h30 and to my dismay as I left port I saw the water temperature was 18deg C and it was green, I was hoping that deeper out maybe we could find warmer blue water but this did not happen and even up to 400m it was green and cold, the best water we found was 21.3deg on the 100-200m so we ran North with this. The sea was not settled and swells all over the show with strong 30 knot winds out in the deep but much calmer on the inside so the 100-200m line was the best choice for the day but I was not optimistic. I decided on a mixed spread of bullets, konas and some of the new Rapala Xtreme’s which I have been testing and like very much and ran faster than usual at 9-10 knots to try cover as much ground as possible.
It turned out to be an interesting day with what we would call impossible conditions for producing fish and first up was a bunch of Eastern Little Tuna on 165m which is very odd as normally we never get these deeper than 50m and usually the 165m is Oceanic Bonito (Skipjack) territory. They were eating on the Rapala Extremes. After this I came back in to about 110m and we hooked up a nice Yellowfin Tuna and this was followed by another one, both on the Rapala Extreme’s. I moved out a bit deeper to about 190m and again the Rapala Extreme produced and we landed a small Dorado. The water was really green and as I went further North I tried the 80-90m and running at about 12knots with the swell and we had a triple hook up on Rapala Xtreme’s and landed 2 very nice Dorado, time was out and so we brought in the lines and ran back to port. The bullets and konas and not been touched and all fish came out on the Rapala Xtreme’s and I think had we not put these out we would have had a blank for the day, they really awesome as even at 12 knots running with the swell and surging up to 15 knots they run true, and because we had a number of lures out we had run them very close off the corners about 7m from the transom and all the fish came right in there so a great tactic for future days with cold green water.
    
www.bluewatercharters.co.za   
   

[Capt. Hook]

.

[Capt. Hook]

Tuna on Ice
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 18th November 2018
The water off Durban is getting colder and making the wind so icy that my ears get extremely sore so it is still beanies on early mornings in November, going out the port the water temperature has been 18deg.C and deeper out a maximum of 20deg.C, the water is also green. We are hoping that warm band of water that has been seen up north will be with us soon and we should see some Marlins coming out by month end. It has been extremely difficult to produce fish in this cold water but fast trolling is getting us Yellowfin Tuna and the Eastern Little Tunas are still out in the deep so at least we are still bending rods and stretching lines.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za   
   

[Capt. Hook]

Big Sea, Xtreme Fishing.
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 20th November 2018
We had a short trip this morning. NE was blowing around 20 knots making for a large swell especially after last night’s strong winds. The water is still cold and green and the best we found was 19.3deg.C. We had not even finished putting out our spread when the one Tyrnos with the Rapala Xtreme running went off and we got a Sarda Sarda, shortly after the same Xtreme produced another Sarda Sarda, both were big Sarda Sarda’s. We then had some medium sized Kawa Kawa take the same Xtreme. Deeper out the Xtreme got hit again, a really good sized fish and before we knew it the line was out about 300m into the backing and a 45 minute fight ensued. I was convinced that this was a large Wahoo as the line stayed and the top and the fight was really strong, in the end it turned out to be a super sized Kawa Kawa. On the way back running with the swell we picked up a Dorado on the Xtreme again followed by a few more medium sized Kawa Kawa.
I am surprised that we are getting Dorado in 19deg.C water and the only lure all the fish are hitting are the Rapala Xtreme’s, they are not touching the bullets and kona’s. When that warm blue water finally hits Durban I think we will have some really explosive fishing.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za   

[FishStyx]

I know that common names differ from region to region, but please point me to the main differences between Kawa Kawa and Bonito.

[John F]

I know that common names differ from region to region, but please point me to the main differences between Kawa Kawa and Bonito.

 
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=86.0

The way I seen it... You get yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, longfin tuna, bigeye tuna.... everything else is a bonito!

[FishStyx]

   Thx bud

[Capt. Hook]

Number 30.
Harbour Fishing Report – Durban – 25th November 2018
With a rather unusual request for a school project where they had a list of 30 things they had to do for the year we had a young lady who had to do her last item which was to catch a fish and so we suggested a 3 hour harbour charter. 10 minutes after we dropped baits we had a nice Salmon on the line and her list is complete and she wanted to end the trip, we convinced her to try for 1 more and she hooked up into a shad. Both fish were released and less than 1 hour from launch we were back on the dock and trip completed along with a completed list of things to do.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za   
   

[Capt. Hook]

Tough Fishing in Cold Water
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 27th November 2018
We had an 8 hour charter booked for tomorrow which we moved forward to today due to the big SW wind forecast for tomorrow, we launched very early to avoid the big NE wind forecast for this afternoon. Inshore waters are still green and cold under 21deg.C so we decided to head out deep where the SST charts showed warmer water and once we got past 500m depth about 40km from shore we found warm blue water around 23.5degC but the current was screaming S-N from the deep to the shallows. We found lots of bird life and even small bait fish jumping but no fish. I was really disappointed as the water looked so good. Eventually we decided to head back shallow and put some light tackle squids on the corners. We got back into shallower cold green water and it was not long before the light tackle gave us some consolation prizes in the form of 1 small Dorado and after that the Bonnies kept us busy with us catching 1 after the other all the way back to port and ended up with quite a lot of them with only the last 2 hours producing us fish. Not ideal fishing but at least some action.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za   
   

[Capt. Hook]

Little Guy get his Dorado
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 2nd December 2018
Dad wanted his boy to get a good fish, water is still freezing cold and under 21 degC. 1st up was a nice Bonito, followed by a small Dorado which he fought hard on light tackle. Of all the things we were not expecting in that cold green water was a Marlin hook up with a Black of about 110kg but the little guy even with help could not hold it and it threw the hooks to the crews dismay.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za   
   

[Capt. Hook]

Good Bottoms and hungry Dorado.
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 7th December 2018
Fat Girl headed out for a short morning of bottom fishing and I must say I am really impressed with our new Shimano spinning gear that we use for this type of fishing. Many species caught, good size Copper Bream, Englishman, Soldiers, Sarda Sarda, nice Rockcod and even some Dorado came up chasing the baits a few times but evaded getting landed and we ended up with a fair amount of fish for the morning.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za

[Capt. Hook]

Nawty Dorado Queen.
Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 7th December 2018
With a short early morning trip on Nawty Girl we headed out in search of a Dorado that was requested in some difficult conditions, the sea was very unsettled and the water is still cold and green but a bit deeper out it does have a better colour but it took some time to get to this better water. Heading out to the location we were heading into a stiff NE wind which them switched to a strong SW wind which came through 4 hours earlier than expected and so the way back was again heading into the wind. The bumpy trip and getting splashed from time to time was rewarded with a really good sized Queen Dorado.
   
www.bluewatercharters.co.za