Fresh news in from Jason Heyne featuring a helluva yellowfin weighing in at 27 kg! Considering the unideal conditions spurned by the cut off low weather phenomoenon we just been through, this fish is a huge hit! – Xona
“The diving conditions this week have been well below average. To top it off the coast was hit by a huge storm on Wednesday so diving this weekend is out unless you like diving in mud! Well done Dylan Koekemoer on getting club merit fish of the week again and Marcus on getting fish of the week a 27kg yellowfin tuna! As always dive safe and straight spears.”
After an interesting week of fishing, the absolutely magnificent yellow fin tuna caught on Bliksem, took first prize. At the 2017 Mercury Shelley Beach fishing tourney held this past week.
40.9kg’s May not break the scales in Cape waters, but here in KZN Natal, that is a seriously big yellowfin. Massive actually. The normal tuna we catch here only hang about until they hit about 35kg’s. Making them sexually mature. Which is the point in their lifecycle when these bigger fish hit the tuna lanes out deep. Half way between us and Madagascar and all the way down to Cape Town – on that line. About two hundred miles out. And become breeding stock. And open season to anyone with a ship!
Overall the fishing wasn’t that great, but as usual it was a well run event with lots of excitement and thrills.
A great fish for a winner!
Thanks to Craig Bell Roberts at The Tackle Box in Shelley Beach, for keeping us up-to-date and for providing the photographs.
Click here for more information on The Tackle Box.
Fresh news in from a competition held off Inhaca Island…the new Gummy Squid Jigs are proving to make excellent catches, time and time again.
These fantastic photos were submitted by some of the participants…
“Hello
The fish equaled the all tackle world record Yellowspot king. Also caught a golden king that was very close to the 10kg line class IGFA world record but released the fish so didn’t weigh it. Caught a nice GT of 107 cm.
All on squiddies. Regards
Pierre”
Check out this link for more Gummy Squid Jig action.
Catch ‘n cook: Kingfish ace out…GT caught by Brian Lange
Launching on a whim earlier this year out of the Umzimkulu, and therefore ace out – “I’m just going fishing in the river…”, Brian Lange came back with this monster GT (Giant Trevally / Giant Kingfish) caught on a live bonito on the backline off Port Shepstone. It was too difficult to release fishing on his own and we needed fish for the fridge, so it came home and fed everyone.
Marinaded chunks grilled on coals for not too long are delicious, and shallow fried battered slices will get the kids crazy for it. It’s easy to flavour the batter with your favourite herbs and spices. Don’t cook for too long!
However, the GT is normally released – in fact most of the kingfish species are best thrown back, some also carry ciguatera poisoning.
What we shouldn’t tell you though, is that the Bluefin Kingfish is the one to eat. Succulent, full flavoured…it just melts in your mouth. Luckily they are hard to catch and hard to find, mainly further north. They swim in shoals and so are susceptible to over fishing by netting, sometimes in the fish markets up north, someone brings in a bakkie load. They get quite big, a 10kg bluefin is one helluva fish. And here is a real treat, an underwater video clip of two beautiful adult Bluefin Kingfish…enjoy…
And then finally…the biggest Giant Kingfish I have ever seen was this one we caught off Tofo in Mozambique. It was estimated at 60kg plus, it was a full 6ft long and had eyes like golf balls. I was on Meida van Wyk’s boat fishing with his son Richie, who just had enough battery for this one photograph. It was a smooth release – the kingfish chowed a 5kg live bonito and the brand new heavy tackle outfit gave a good performance bringing the fish healthy to the boat in an hour or so.
Estimated 60kg GT released in southern Mozambique.
