Teasing Striped Marlin off Durban

[Capt. Hook]

On Tuesday when I got to the Marina at 05h30 the rain was coming down in buckets and so we waited for it to clear before we went out for the day and eventually got out at around 06h30.

Tuesday was a fly fishing booking and we wanted to get some Dorado on fly. I fished certain points closer in with no success and the water was green and the temperature had dropped with the current running S-N and a light SW wind. The sea was flat and so we decided to make a long run up North to some deeper spots which we worked hard with no success, even when I ran teasers we had no enquiries.
Eventually we decided to put some hooks on the teasers and take a slow troll home.
I was improvising here as it was light 20lb rigs, there were no leaders and the hooks were tied directly to the 20lb line. This should have been fine for a Dorado or Tuna if we played the fish carefully. And so I set a spread with 4 lines all with teasers rigged with 4/0 hooks.
We had just got to speed and within 100m a reel started screaming and we saw a splash, we both shouted Sailfish and on the next jump we shouted Marlin.
Yes, can you believe it; we hooked a Striped Marlin of around 50Kg on this light tackle with no leaders.
The other lines were cleared and we gave chase because there was only 200 odd yards of line on the reel and we could already see the spool.
After chasing the Marlin further North for what seemed like for ever we eventually managed to get him near the boat and the he wrapped the line around his bill and it rubbed off and he got away.
Adrenalin pumping from this ordeal we reset the spread and made a very long trip home landing four Dorado along the way of which two were really decent sizes.
We eventually got back to port after trolling the 50Nm back home

On Wednesday I was out again for a short 5hr in-shore trip and the sea was flat like a lake, but the water was even colder than the previous day and we only managed to land a small Bull Dorado of around 5Kg.

On Wednesday afternoon I took 5 kiddies to fish for Mackerel by Vetchies for 3hrs and this turned out to be great fun with some really great kids.

On Thursday afternoon we went to target some Springer in the harbour on fly with no success.

I am not finished with that Marlin and next chance I get I’m gonna get him with the right tackle.

Sorry no pics.

[jaenswart]

good stuff Mike, sorry you did not land it. Maybe you should have spent 5 more minutes rigging and done it proper you have zero chance rigging it directly like that. Next time boet

[tkei]

Jy Wil Mos.
hard luck, but cant expect a different result with a rig like that. I have unfortunately learnt, short cuts dont work in fishing. All too often I have put the last live bait on the 4/0 or on a light hook snoot etc and the one you wanted all day/ year/ life comes along on that rig and it ends in tears (every time)

[Capt. Hook]

good stuff Mike, sorry you did not land it. Maybe you should have spent 5 more minutes rigging and done it proper you have zero chance rigging it directly like that. Next time boet

It was a fly fishing booking, I did not have anything else on board and already knew I was taking a chance but did it anyway. 

[jaenswart]

It was a fly fishing booking, I did not have anything else on board and already knew I was taking a chance but did it anyway. 

lol..well at least you gave your clients the opportunity to see a marlin jump and release itself

[Capt. Hook]

lol..well at least you gave your clients the opportunity to see a marlin jump and release itself

Yes, the problem with fly fishing is that you have too keep everything clear and pack as little as possible to prevent line snags when casting.

That Marlin jumped at least 20 times, and the guys had a good long and hard fight.

[CLS]

Hi Mike, any mackerel at vetchies ??

[Capt. Hook]

Hi Mike, any mackerel at vetchies ??

Yes, but there are more at S Pipe, containers, Fairway bouy etc. seems they are prefering the deeper marks

[John F]

Great stuff FA as usual... I'm sure it was great fun!