Our last outing was in Feb, so the inner itching to launch and experience that wide open space and all that is associated with it, was becoming unbearable. We already had to cancel twice, due to funny weather conditions, so the boat was fueled, prepared and ready for almost 3 weeks.
That off course didn't stop us from having a very intense preparation day on Saturday... peterblace provided the tools and means so that we could enjoy some nice wors Prego had organized... they were awesome Prego - thanks mate! Added that to some proper porra chourico and we were rolling!
The weather on Sunday was looking really good so all was set for an early launch - wanted to target couta (haven't really seen them this season), so a nice couta braai for my bruder's b-day next week was the order of the day.
At 05:00 we were in the water sunrise was at 05:46 so we slowly cruised to Xefina island keeping an eye on the poorly marked gill nets and even a shadowy fisherman on a dugout canoe. Peterblace would be fishing that day as well so we would meet up front.
The weatherman was dead right for a change and we had flat seas all day! Fantastic conditions: temp up to 30o C, just a breeze of NE wind (which followed the SE the day before which cleaned the water) and very warm water 26.4-29.9o C (inside the bay).
We went straight to the northern couta grounds and as we got there, whilst I was riging some dead baits, we had 4 lures in... a combination of x-raps, Halco max and speedpros...
The shotgun with a gold halco max got hit and a nice 6 kg kawakawa was landed quickly. The dead baits went in... a combination of carapau (Angolan horse mackerel), half beaks and mackerel... not long and a barracuda and rat coutas hit the baits and were landed. Not exactly what we wanted but hey... we were getting fish for the big party.
A 9 o'clock halt of activities was previously arranged as a small and private ashes scattering ceremony was to be held at Baixo Ribeiro for a fellow club member who died in a car crash a couple of weeks ago. We stopped the boat and observed 1 min of silence and payed our respects to Alexander. RIP Captain!
Immediately after that, 3 of our lines got tangled and we had to spend a few minutes sorting it out. I told my bruder.... while we doing this, let's keep one bait in the water and get the boat moving dead slow... you never know.... not long after that zeeeeeeee ... a nice 5 kg
hit the carapau and was landed shortly!
The fishing went quiet and we decided to keep going north, and took the dead baits out and put the rappies in... so we could cover ground a bit quicker....
The one rod with another halco max was hit and as we were fighting the fish the port motor went down... hum... that's odd ... could not be fuel... it was only 10is o'clock and usually the first sets of jerrys last well past noon... Anyway, we got the fish in and checked the motor.... a 4-m long piece of old rope was completely wrapped around the prop!!!
We got it out carefully and inspected the prop... no damage was apparent.... these motors are so sensitive... any obstacle and these things just switch off! Fantastic technology.
