Yesterday a good fishing guide, and friend, Niel Gouws and I went fishing.. There was a break in the August winds that have been terrorising us for the last couple of weeks, and although my “intel” told me that it wouldn’t be a good fishing day, we went anyway...
Within five minutes of setting out lines, we hooked a Malabar Rock Cod in 10m of water that confounded me. It wasn’t on a reef, but rather over sand. God knows what he was doing there, because I sure don’t. We then circled some bait fish and tried to identify what was eating them- but to no avail. Just birds diving without the splashes.
I then saw a fin on the surface, and said it looked like a shark. On closer inspection, we saw it was a Cobia (prodigal son). Then we saw another about 200 meters from there. They weren’t feeding...
Went to deeper water, to go and look for some Yellowfin Tuna, before I convinced Niel that we should go back to basics as we weren’t getting anything more. Back to basics is when you go back to the spots you know hold fish, and you put bait out. We went back to 27m, and set up a drift going back shallower. I was looking for Cuta, which have been scarce with the colder winter water. I needed to replenish my fish supply in my freezer- it’s been a long winter...
I had five strong rods out and a lighter one- all with bait. Guess what one the sailfish chose? I couldn’t set the hook after it jumped, and that one got away. You gotta go sail fishing with a rod that has a strong tip for a strong hookset. I had broken my own cardinal rule, and I paid the price.
We saw another two pairs of two sailfish swimming just under the surface of the water on different occasions. You generally see that sickle shape of the tail fin if you really look out for them. They were just cruising, and I tried presenting the baits just in front of them with a fast troll, but they weren’t interested either.
Came across a feeding frenzy of sharks breaking up a bait ball, and I was sure that this was going to be where we go tight. Tuna were jumping around as well, but once again, nothing.
So, even though the catching wasn’t good, the fishing sure was. Now I know, go and look for Tuna, because they will be there in the colder water, and put a few trap sticks out with halfbeaks for a sailfish, just in case. If the hook had set on that Saily, then we would have been happier heading back home... You never know what’s out there unless you spend the time on the water.