On Monday I did an update and gave some feedback on the Marlin Tournament held in Struisbaai last week and the two days of "marlin mayhem' on the Alphard Banks. Our plans were to get out there this week and for once mother nature smiled upon us and gave us two good weather days when we needed them. The forecast showed Tuesday and Wednesday as being very nice and we lined up a couple of charter clients that have been waiting to get out there.
Ion Williams and his group (regular clients and good friends) joined us on Tuesday morning. We left harbour at 4.30am and arrived at the Alphards (42 miles SE of Struisbaai) at 6.30am. The sea was flat calm and our first plan was to catch some yellowtail on the pinnacles. The 'tail did not let us down, and although they were small fish (2-3kg) we caught about twenty or so before they started going off the bite. By then a there were about five boats on the banks and a few were already trolling kona's for marlin. It was soon clear that Tuesday was not going to be a repeat performance of the events on Saturday and Sunday when the marlin went absolutely bananas. (See my previous blog/report on that story) By around 10am we had not seen any action and although one or two other boats had seen a marlin or two and had reported a strike here and there, none had been successfully caught. We decided to try for a few bottomfish. At about 11.30 we had caught our fill of bottoms and went back on the troll. Not long after, one of the clients spotted a striped marlin greyhounding across the sea a few hundred meters from us. We headed in his direction and within minutes had a very lit up stripey stalking our kona's, but before we could get really excited, he turned away and that was the last we saw of him.
Just then "Blade", another boat not far from us, reported a strike and "fish on". It was a big (around 250kg) black marlin and after having the fish on for about 5 minutes, the wind-on leader failed. I could hear in his voice on the radio that Patrick Christodoulou, the angler, was as mad as a snake. And I did not blame him one bit. I am sure the manufacturer of the leader has, and rightfully so, by now had an earful. Marlin fishing is difficult at the best of times and tackle failure is unforgivable. That was the end of the action for the day and although no marlin were caught, is was still a very nice day on the banks. The wind had been pushing gently from the west all day and after the previous day of easterly, I was hoping that the westerly would bring the fish on a bit better on Wednesday.
The next morning we were at it again. Tony de la Fontaine had given his lovely wife, Marjo, a marlin for Valentines day. And we had been given the task of delivering it......No pressure here!! Wednesday arrived with a light SSW wind and by 7am we were back on the banks. The water was a bit bluer, a bit warmer and had a bit more of a kick in it than the previous day. What is more, we were the only boat there. Clearly the lack of activity on Tuesday had discouraged the rest of the mob. I know hindsight is an exact science and it is easy to make statements after the fact, but I really did remark to the rest of the crew that things just felt different, the conditions were right.
Our plan was, firstly to get a few 'tail and then go in search of the marlin. The first fish hooked on the spoon was a decent one and after a good go, Marjo had an 8kg yellowtail on the boat. A hour or so later we had caught enough 'tail and whilst we were debating whether to start trolling, a marlin jumped clear of the water about 300 meters from the boat and our minds were made. By 8.15 we we trolling and at 8.45 one of the outriggers bucked as a fish gave the far left kona a clout. A split second later the ratchet screamed and not too many split seconds later Gareth had the rod in his hands and pushed the drag to full strike. Fish on!
I left the wheel to lend a hand and for a second I was very puzzled to see Gareth standing holding a seriously bent rod with line heading to the horizon and yet I could see the dorsal fin of a marlin quite close to the boat. Even before the penny dropped that this was a second fish, the outrigger jumped as the stripey hit the short left kona and a second later the next reel was howling. Whilst holding the first rod, Gareth leaned over and pushed the second one to full strike. Then the pawpaw really hit the fan. I was on my way to grab the second rod when the third rigger clip snapped, then the fourth. To try to describe the situation in detail is impossible. I have heard of marlin "pack attacks", and in the last few days a couple of boats have experienced them. Until this moment I had never. Four fish on in a matter of seconds. The sound of multiple Tiagra reels belting out a cacophony of ratchets is indescribable. You gotta be there! Then the second rod to go tight went silent. A second later the rod that Gareth was holding went slack. The fourth fish had already come unstuck before we even had a chance to touch the rod and I was left with the third and last fish peeling line from the Tiagra 30 at an alarming rate.
A minute or two into the excitement and the reel was about three-quarter down to the spool. Gareth grabbed the wheel to turn and chase the fish whilst I strapped Marjo into the black magic harness and then that line stopped running as well................The sudden silence and the "what the hell just happened" look on everyones faces would have made interesting video footage. In fact the whole episode would have been interesting. We started recovering the lines that had been run out from the boat in all directions, hundreds of meters of it. The last line to lose it's fish was also the last kona we retrieved. As I reeled it closer to the boat the electric blue of a lit up marlin materialized behind the lure. Gareth and I saw it simultaneously and whilst reeling like hell, the hungry stripey engulfed the kona, I let him get his head down and then hit him hard to set the hook. Once again the line peeled from the reel and after a few hundred meters he slowed down. I really feared that this fish would, as the others had done, run a few hundred meters and simply spit the hook, but this time he stayed stuck and we strapped Marjo into her first marlin. We then settled into the fight and half an hour later we had a very lively stripey of about 75kg alongside the boat. Yours truly had to hold him by the bill whilst everyone else tried to sort out a very fancy Nikon camera that had decided this was the right moment to get temperamental. The result was I nearly got my eyeballs shaken out of my head and we did not really get any good photo's of the fish. The one we did get shows my sunglasses being shaken clean off my face! Aahh, such is life, but we did tag and release him, or her, to live and fight again another day.
AND, Marjo got her Valentines day present. Damn, I love it when a plan comes together.
Half an hour later or so we had another single strike but the fish did not stick around. With the pressure off, we went back to the pinnacle to be greeted by schools of yellowtail milling around on the surface. We got some underwater video footage of the yellowtail and after playing with the camera for a while, Gareth took his gun and on two drifts shot a 7kg geelbek and two yellowtail, one of which was a real bruiser but it pulled off the spear. I saw it fighting just below him and it was a very BIG fish. The language that came out of the snorkel was blue. We caught a few more and could probably have filled the boat if we wanted to. It was incredible to see so many fish on the pinnacles in the middle of the day. Usually they disappear into the depths during the day and I can only ascribe the reason they didn't to the fact that they weren't getting harrassed by multiple boats and divers. It will go down in my books as one of the best days I have had at the sea. I do not know if it will ever happen again, but I will remember it as the first day someone got a marlin for Valentines day and I saw a "marlin pack attack".
As a matter of interest, it is also the first day since I arrived a month ago that I have seen blue water on the "Vlakbank". I stopped there briefly on the way home yesterday and it had gone from green on Tuesday to a deep irridescent blue. I really thought things were coming right with the water and the weather. Today the SE wind is back with a vengeance and it is forecast to blow for a week. It will very likely make the water green and cold again. I am holding thumbs that I am wrong, but I cannot see how it will fail to do so. Next week is the SA National Spearfishing Championship and it will be held right here in Struisbaai. Hopefully the guys will get some dive time and decent water, but at this stage it seems like a long shot. I will be tagging fish at De Hoop with Marine and Coastal Management. Someone's gotta do it!
Will the marlin and warm water be here next Friday? Who knows, I will do an update next week when I return. Till then, tight lines.
Cheers
Alan
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