Bennie’s day started rather abruptly at about 03:40 on Saturday morning when I over-eagerly arrived about 20 min early...I was rearing to go on my first outing on Witchcraft, and after a quick cuppa “boeretroos” Bennie was also looking ready to hit the water. We started packing all the gear while Nico was en-route with some fuel for the day. Nico arrived, we loaded the last tackle and fuel, and off we went to Fynnlands for the launch.
At the club we slipped Witchcraft gracefully into the water..... well, she was graceful... myself and Nico under-estimated the momentum of this lady, and almost went water skiing behind her! Soon enough we were cruising towards the harbour mouth where we greeted “Durban Port Control” who allowed us on our way to the deep.
Just outside the mouth we could see that the swells were bigger and more than usual for this time in the morning, but they clearly did not bother Witchcraft much, as it was like she was set free to run wild. We headed straight for the nearest bait mark, and soon we were loading up on a mixed grill of mainly shad and red-eye with some mozzies, mackerel and soldiers for good measure. These were some of the biggest red-eye that I have ever seen! The shad was quite unforgiving on our bait rigs, and coming up from my second last down, all that was left of my six-string was a single, bare, golden hook. I jokingly told Bennie to “watch this” and proceeded to drop the single, bare hook to the bottom. Seconds later, to my own surprise, I was on with another shad! Just goes to show..... you can catch shad on a bare hook when they are in a frenzy!
With the on-board aquarium filled up with some pretty fishies, we headed off to the deep to go see if we can pick up a fight at one of the pubs.
Just for good measure we put out two rods with the hopes that something with a long pointy nose will come for a closer look. On the way we made proper use of the luxurious space on Witchcraft so that the three of us were in front resting against the bum-boxes chatting... this while heading to the pubs at a good speed. Nico was still a bit “tired” so he took a little cat-nap in the cabin
Soon enough we were in an area renowned for the number of pubs, and we started to look for the little secret doors that indicates where the pubs were. With the combination of wind, swell and current, the pubs were not to be found, so we decided to move around in the area till we find the guys we were looking for. By now Nico has re-joined us, and was looking much better than earlier. We were just chatting about trying something else, when we were kindly interrupted by a screaming reel. Nico got to the rod first, but gentlemen that he and Bennie are, the rod was taken out of the rod holder and jammed into my eager hands.
Whatever was on the business-end of this line was in no hurry to come to the boat! The fish was being really stubborn, and showed no signs of jumping, so adrenalin fuelled speculations were rife. Eventually I managed to get some line back, but this fish was not going to make it easy for me, and it kept itself broad in the current. Soon enough we could see the number-plate, and realise that this was indeed a Dolly, and one that is not too shabby at all. Pandemonium broke out once again on the boat as Bennie went diving for a rod and almost dived into the live-well to get a bait to flick out to one of the Dorries’s 2 companions that showed up. Instructions immediately went from “bring it, bring it” .... to “LEAVE IT IN, LEAVE IT IN!!!!!!” Bennie flicked in a mozzie, but it was clear that this was not a menu item for today, so off with the mozzie and on with one of the big red-eyes, and back it went. This time one of the dories had one look at it, turned around and then came back and gobbled down the bait...... Bennie ON!
Now we were doubled up, and did a small bit of knotting to prevent the lines from crossing. Nico did a last bit of much appreciated coaching before solidly setting the Gaff into a magnificent creature that these fish are. Luckily this guy was rather tired, so he did not give us too much trouble on deck.
Meanwhile Bennie was having a jol with his catch, and Nico hurriedly got a stick ready to try and coax the remaining fish into feeding. Unfortunately the fish did not play ball, and soon enough Bennie’s dolly was clearing her part of the deck.
What a feeling and what fun!!! I was in fisherman’s heaven, and admired my fish from all angles. We had a quick photo-session before both fish were release safely into the hatches!
After that action we had an n errant to run before making sure we get back in time for the social later that afternoon. We located a new fad in 130m of water that no-one knew about, and marked it on the GPS. There were no dollies on this mark yet, so we started trolling back towards the club. By now the sea was really upside down, and there were plenty potholes on our way home, but Witchcraft and her skipper handled the conditions like it was nothing new!
Soon enough we were loading her back onto the trailer. Even this was much easier than expected, and I have battled more to ski-boats in the Vaal River onto their trailers!
Back at Bennie’s place we off loaded and took some more pictures
Nico showed us the proper way of skinning and filleting a dolly, and I proceeded with my catch doing the “monkey see, monkey do” thing, faring better than I anticipated!
Guess what was for lunch at the Critter household!
