An afternoon launch into a glassy, flat ocean put us onto the baitfish in no time. It did take a while to catch a few maasbanker (karapauw) and shad because some cheeky yellowfin had come into the shallows and were smashing them to pieces all around us. We got off to Protea at full speed on the flat sea, with about 30 live baits.
As we stopped on our favourite bump, the bigger yellowfin tuna boiled and my Dad threw the plug straight at them. Bang! And in a few minutes the 25+kg class tuna was right at the boat. The crystal clear and smooth water made for a spectacular look at the beautiful fish but it did not make sense that this huge fish would succumb so easily. And it didn’t. After checking us out, he turned his head downwards and screamed off….laughing at the 8kg drag left so tight, from our last outing. The braid could not stand any more abuse and we finally lost the massive plug that had served us so well over the last few trips.
The live baits were a bit slow, but the home made plug my Dad made kept on getting knocked time after time. Port Shepstone angler Randy Stevens got his first big strike on plug and was shaking with excitement. Robin Manirpersad had his hands full as the bait rods started to go, double strikes happening all the time.
Then we started some dead bait fishing techniques. With such desirable baits and lures, there was just no time to relax. Our success rate wasn’t very good but we all got a few fish with more than one forced release as lines were crossing and burning off…and eventually we spotted a huge Bronze Whaler shark cruising a few hundred metres away, obviously interested in all the excitement. A few of our fish were taken and with a huge buster coming at us from the south, we packed up and headed inshore for the blast.
Checking for salmon on the Boboyi reefs on the way home, as we dropped anchor, the westerley buster hit. About 20 knots on the first puff. Hometime!
Another fantastic afternoon on Protea Reef!
