We launched from Durban harbour at around 04h00, it was a spectacular morning with virtually no wind and a small swell which greeted us with one of those perfect Durban sunrises. The water temperature varied between 24-25 deg. C. As the day progressed the NE wind started to pick up more and more, we arrived back at port at around 11h30.
We headed straight out to 180m where we set our spread and we continued out towards 250m with no result and so we started making our way towards 150m where we hooked our first Dorado which was to be the best for the day at around 170m, we had just reset the spread and got back to speed when the very same rod screamed again and delivered us another Dorado. We then continued past 150m when at around 130m we hooked up another Dorado on the same rod and lure as the others. We had turned back towards Durban at this stage and at around 120m we had a double hook up of Oceanic Bonito's which took our lures trolled with birds. We the continued on at around 90m depth we hooked up another Dorado again on the same lure as the others.
Personally I have never been one to believe that colour is as important as the movement of the lure, but today we trolled 3 of the same kind of lure and consistently caught only on the one colour, which also produced us 3 out of 5 Dorado the day before, and so there is definitely validity in colours.
There was another boat that followed us right onto our lures and I had to call him on the radio to move away. This is not the first time something like this has happened, and this is something that should never be done, it is rude, selfish and totally inconsiderate.
We then continued on trolling towards reef no. 1 and observed many flying fish right down to 50m. Once passed reef no. 1 we were South of the harbour mouth and I was going to pull the lines up at 15m. There is a good pinnacle at around 20m and I was hoping for some Eastern Little Tuna to finish the day.
I observed a flying fish at the 20m depth and a few seconds later the one reel screamed and 4 seconds later the spool was empty. This fish was so fast, and I had very little time to react, I tried to slow him down but it did not help and the reel was smoking. I had 300m of 45lb braid on this spinning reel and it was rigged with a small bird and a purple/black Dorado catcher which we were pulling at around 8 knots, even on full drag I could not slow it down. I have speculated on what it could be as I never saw what it was. My thoughts were Large Couta, Large Tuna, Large Sailfish or Marlin, I have caught Large Sailfish on lighter tackle than this; I have stopped large Tuna and Couta on the same rig and even a medium sized Saily and none of them had this kind of speed, I have hooked large Kingies and even they do not have this speed. This fish stayed on the surface for the 300m at lightning speed and never went down and so I have concluded that it was a large Marlin. I have seen a large Marlin this close in before in the past and we got our record Sailfish at this depth. In any event the fish was never seen and I will never really know what it was, but I will remember the high pitched scream of the reel (almost like a siren) for the rest of my days.
Every time I go out I learn something new, and it is this type of thing that keeps us going back for more. I have now tasted something new and I want more of it .
"In every species of fish I've angled for, it is the ones that got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. So I say it is good to lose a fish." Ray Bergman
