Tag: fishing charters

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20kg Garrick story by The Bear

Jason Heyne of the Master Watermen and his Margate shot Garrick with the kids

20kg Garrick story by The Bear

Main question I got asked on the busy beach after the dive “How long did it take to shoot this fish?”.

Followed by ”how deep/far out?” which is the usual question besides “what about Sharks!”.

Answer to the first question if you ignore the long drive and various stops to check for right conditions and you start the dive from when I entered the water from the beach…I would say about 5 minutes to 8 minutes tops! The fight and landing (hands on the fish and the usual barb/knife to the brain) there of another 10 to 15 minutes!

But..big BUT!!

I have been looking for a Garrick/Leervis (Lichia amia) of
over 20kg since I started diving in KZN waters for just over 26 and a half years! (give or take a couple of days and hours!) So 26 and a half years and 5 minutes is the correct answer!

Lost a beast in 14m two years back North coast and missed one close to this weight 2 years before at the same spot but backline, waited too long to take the shot being greedy and checking the shoal of 20 odd fish for a bigger one first!

The swim out was quick in the rip current on the south side of the point and I had just got positioned in the 2knt SN current (4m depth to sand on my left and 3m to the slope of point bricks/structure on my right on the southern end Garrick still being on the up run so facing south). I always put Camera with head strap on first before deploying my flasher so looked down quickly to my waist to get the camera out my shuttle crayfish bag and in doing so caught sight of the single Garrick just in line with me coming past me already to my left on the sand just in visibility (6m).

Quick instinct duck dive with the fish head down and moving fast it was just out of range so two fast kicks and a grunt got him to turn slightly and pause just long enough to plant a decent long-range shot just behind the dorsal fin mid-body…shot was good but that noise (DOOF) on impact told me that the spear had not passed through (hit the spine and the spear ran up it towards the swim bladder area). So I let the fish run with the float line rig and float. The fish then decided that the horizon out to sea looked good and subbed my float and so began the fastest 300m swim of my life!

Eventually, I caught up with my float which had now returned to the surface grabbed the stringer and put the camera on whilst being towed a bit. Viz was better out deeper and when I had the spear running line in my hands I could see the spear was pulling but luckily I dive with two guns with the second gun a 130 reel gun on my belt reel and managed to plant the second shot seen in the picture.

Jason Heyne of the Master Watermen and his Margate shot 20kg Garrick
Jason Heyne of the Master Watermen and his Margate shot 20kg Garrick

My dive mate Paul Roxburgh thought I was seriously deviating from the dive plan at first but then saw that I was doing full on Freestyle and thought maybe I had shot a big Cape yellowtail or Daga Salmon but obviously could not keep up and was 100 odd meters behind me inshore! Excellent camera work Paul…thank you!

20kg Garrick are spear destroyers of note…the brand new 7.5mm spear from Rob Allen is still exactly that…brand new no bend whatsoever! Top kit and master engineering!. Aweh!

At just over 20kg I am super stoked and the epic run and fight made it awesome to say the least…will drop a link to the footage when I edit and upload to Master Watermen YouTube channel!

As always dive safe and straight spears…

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Protea Reef delivers the goods again and again

Eric with his MYDO Spoon caught baby yellowfin tuna on Protea Reef recently

Protea Reef delivers the goods again and again

Protea Reef delivers the goods again and again: guest stars Eric (Queensland, Oz) and Neville (‘Toti, KZN) joined us for a very friendly high tide launch two mornings in-a-row. What luck!

Watch the video right here and read all about it below…

Day 1

Brown water extended to the horizon with a stiff but pleasant offshore breeze blowing against a small sea. Luckily, Protea Reef would be comfortable in these cool wintery conditions.

20 Minutes later and we already had live bait. I was counting down in my head. Most times it only takes 10 or 20 seconds to have your live bonito or tuna munched. Hopefully by a scorching fast gamefish, must most times once again, it’s a johnny. A big one. There are just so many huge sharks hanging out on Protea Reef. And they don’t seem to go anywhere. They love it here. Plus there are so many free meals presented by charitable sport fisherman using light tackle! In one day they can each get two or three free meals by hanging on either of the two pinnacles.

But…

Our live baits never had a touch. They were panicking properly but Neville was having far more action with his perfectly tuned plug ‘n play outfit sporting 80lb braid and leaders to match. He was getting smashed and chased and smashed and chased until we lost count.

Then it was Eric’s turn as he held on to the flick stick meant for bonito – which turned out to have another spirited yellowfin on the other end. These little fish on light tackle! What fun! Eric also had a run of yellowfin action, all perfect bait sized.

But the live baits still survived, which is remarkable for Protea Reef. But all of a sudden. A HUGE tiger shark came up from the depths and devoured first the big bait. And then another followed up and grabbed the small bait?! All in a few seconds?! After those baits lasted for hours!

Neville Coetzer tied to a monster tiger shark on Protea Reef recently
Neville Coetzer tied to a monster tiger shark on Protea Reef recently

Day 2

The brown water lined itself up properly overnight as the Agulhas current hemmed it up against the coastline. Making a really decent seam which we committed to. Bait was easy to get and we did a nice strike that really could have been a dart couta but we will never know as it shook the hooks professionally just before we could see his colour. Got to lose some fish or it will get boring!

The brown water line off Port Shepstone for dorado
The brown water line off Port Shepstone is really hot for dorado and billfish at this time of the year.

The good weather is coming and the Umzimkulu is real friendly and nicely navigable at the moment. Get in touch if you would to either join us at sea like this trip or fish the estuary. Or the Sandspit.

Check out the accommodation and setting of the Umzimkulu Marina at http://umzimkulu.co.za.

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Email Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27793269671 anytime.

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100kg Yellowfin Tuna by Nitro off Shelley Beach

Mustbyt Charters of Shelley Beach hauled in the biggest yellowfin tuna ever seen in Natal today

100kg Yellowfin Tuna by Nitro off Shelley Beach

For years down on the lower Natal South Coast, a few lucky (skilled) anglers got to wear a special jacket, from Shelley Beach Ski-Boat Club. It was awarded to club members who brought home a yellowfin tuna of 100lbs or more. Only very few qualified for the honour.

There was a similair bench mark set in Durban, where very few tuna over 30kgs every made it back to base. But recently, a 50kg yellowfin tuna was weighed in there, setting a brand new club record.

And two years ago, Captain Duarte Rato fishing out off Bazaruto, got a 72kg fish. Bigger than he had ever encountered up there in Mozambique, by double almost. Also in the shallows.

Dave Phillips and I were fishing the Umzimkulu a while ago, and he noted this increase in size of yellowfin caught off Natal, over the last decade. Dave got his own 32kg fish off his ski, off Durban, and noted that many fish in this size range were being encountered. Right in the shallows too.

100kg Yellowfin Tuna by Nitro off Shelley Beach
100kg Yellowfin Tuna by Nitro off Shelley Beach

We both had to agree, there have been many more bigger yellowfin up for the fight, along the backline reefs and deeper too, over the last few years. Right in our home waters, this is happening.

Ok sure, Richards Bay get some big sickles. But nobody would believe anybody, who said they saw a 100kg tuna anywhere near Protea Reef back in the eighties or nineties. But they have been seen in the past, and Brian Mackenzie once lost a 2 metre long yellowfin tuna, right under the boat, when I was 15 and fishing aboard Allison Anne. Off Port Shepstone. Denise Milton, also down at Shelley, once reported a shoal of tuna over 100kgs. None of us believed her.

The thing is, we have been stripped my many, many fish, on Protea Reef, and surrounds, over the past three decades. We were always stuck with Daiwa Sealines and Penn Senators. Slow retrieve and terrible drags. None of our tackle would have been up to a 100kg tuna back then.

But nowadays, everyone seems to have a few International W’s or their ilk, packed with line, and tied up proper. Stick a Kona on one of these outfits, and you are actually in with a chance.

So, either the big yellowfin have read the Sardine news about the mackerel and bait proliferation we have experienced on the south coast over the last decade or so. Or, they have been here all along, but now people finally have the tackle to stand up to the beasts..

Muchos Respect!

Keep tabs on things at The Sardine News here…https://thesardine.co.za

Or Facebook page here…http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

And check out the Umzimkulu Marina if you want to get in on action like this.

 

 

 

 

 

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Team Tuna 5-0

Launching out of the Umzimkulu River on Saturday – on the hunt for dorado, led my Dad (Brian Lange) and myself past the quiet water line (not a strike or sign of the westerly loving Dollies), out to 55m for a few bottomfish. A Ferdie Kingfish and a few slinger later, the current got up to max speed…despatching us off to Protea Reef for a tuna or two. Ha ha!

The first strike came in three at once…after a minute my hook came out (drag too tight on the strike), the second was bitten off (must have been a couta or wahoo, possible small shark) and the third also shook it’s hook.

Back for another drift, a shoal of tuna broke the surface – threw the plug – taken as it hit the water…a few minutes later and the small fish right next to the boat…I pulled the hooks out – out of practise! These tuna are mean!

Back up to the Northern pinnacle for a last drift…before dark… a few hundred metres away we see some huge yellowfin jumping clear of the water, sailing through the air in arcs. Chumming and spraying water, we get their attention – my rod screams…really screams!!! This time I did it right and soon the fight was on. Or so I thought. With only two of us on the boat, clearing lines was a mission…not that it affected my fish…which just kept going and going against a 5kg drag. After 200m or more line was gone, I reduced to about 3kg’s…the fish just kept going and going. Another 100m of line gone and the TLD 25 was smoking. Down to 2kg’s drag. Then the fish stopped for a few seconds and I won a metre or two, but it then took off again at very high speed. The 60lb line could not cope any longer – bang it was gone. The line had parted, and on analysis was found to be frayed and damaged. The fish most likely swam off the edge of the inside pinnacle and the line scraped the rocks or something!

So, a nice welcome back to Protea Reef for me! Need practise for that place!

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Umzimkulu Dorado!

Marc Lange fishing on the Niteshift out of the Umzimkulu...dorado!

Marc Lange fishing on the Niteshift out of the Umzimkulu...dorado!
Marc Lange fishing on the Niteshift out of the Umzimkulu…dorado!

When the rivers fill right up with brown pigmented water from the summer rain catchment areas in Kwa-Zulu Natal, they  spew out into the ocean hitting the current to form a beautiful seam between the brown and blue water.

This is Dorado time on the Natal and Transkei coast! They swim up and down this seam ambushing baitfish caught swimming in and out of these brown clouds.

Marc Lange with two nice ones…I am pretty sure there were a few more in the hatch! The Umzimkulu River mouth makes for a huge plume and the dorado patrol aggressively…feeding all day sometimes.

Check out http://www.umzimkulu.co.za for more on how to get into the action!