The 2 of us launched a little before 05h00, it was a stunning windless morning and it was still dark so we had to run out with the lights on. There was the lightest of NE breeze blowing the swell was less than a meter and the water surface temperature was 24.5 deg. C.
We shot out to the No. 1 Buoy to collect live bait and the water surface was like a sheet of glass, but there was a lot of debris floating around from Tuesday nights storm (what a storm that was), we struggled for live bait here and so I moved on to the north side of No.1 Reef where we managed a few Mackerel. We had a glorious sunrise and the sky light up in a bright orange and golden glow.
I then set a spread of 2 deep running Rapala's (30ft) and 2 shallow running Rapala's and took a high speed troll over the Glen Ashley Pins to Couta Reef running over Shot Gun and Hand Grenade points and then took a few runs over the Mid Reef section, but we got nothing this way.
We then stopped at Mid Reef where the water was crystal clear and free from debris and did some Vertical Jigging here as I have caught good Couta (King Mackerel) here on Jig before, after a few jigs Frik's line went tight and the rod got bent properly, the reel went ZZZZZZ and the line was peeling off. After a good 15 minute fight with a few runs the biggest Eastern Little Tuna (ELT) I have ever seen in my entire life came up.
This ELT was huge, and not only was it long but it had a Pot Belly like a Large Mouth Bass and was round and fat.
I then put some Yozuri's down and managed to get to full lines of Mackerel, and I then put out 2 live baits which we trolled slowly around the reef hoping that we would get a nice long ZZZZZZ from a hungry Couta in the area, but nothing.
After spending a fair amount of time trolling up and down the reef slowly with our live mackerel, I decided it was time to move on and we left the reef and I set a new spread with some Darters and shallow running Rapala's and took a fast troll towards the Old Well to look for some Dorado. En route to the old well at about 65m we got a huge ZZZZZZ and the line was peeling off one of the Rapala rods a rate of knots and once we had all the other rods in a good fight followed with several good runs and we eventually got a Wahoo board and he was a fine feisty specimen.
This is my second Wahoo of Durban this season, and I am really pleased about this, as they are not common in these waters.
The first signs of Autumn are starting to show and I saw a lot of Juvenile Gannets flying around, I can see the Southern Cross at night and sunrise is starting to get later each morning.
All the large Jelly Fish are gone, but there were a lot of Blue Bottles around, each with its own resident little fish that it shares a symbiotic relationship with, there were also a lot of the small translucent Jelly Fish around, and I saw a small shoal of what I think was baby Couta swimming around. The Flying Fish were plentiful but they were all small, and there were many minute fish of which I could not ID swimming around in the crystal clear waters.
After landing the Wahoo we reset the spread and carried on towards the old well where we cam across a FAD, I pitched a Live Bait there but there was no fish on the FAD. I carried on passed about another 13 FAD marks that I have and the bad news is that they are not there anymore and so I decided to head out deep towards 250m depth where we got an Oceanic Bonito and then we had a visit from a 100 strong pod of Dolphins which came right up to the boat and swan around us for sometime whilst I was re-setting the spread after the Oceanic Bonito.
The water here was warmer and averaged around 25.8 deg. C and I carried on towards Marlin hole, by this time the wind had shifted to a SE and was blowing moderately, on our way towards Marlin Hole we hooked up another Oceanic Bonito and after we landed this the SW wind came through and we decided to call it a day and head home.
The wind and the swell were opposing each other and we had to ride back on very steep short period waves, and even though they were not big it was difficult as the boats nose would lift and the wind wanted to pick us up and through us over and so I had to keep some weight up front (Frik) and we took a reel pounding as we headed back. I was hoping for one more ZZZZZZ but it was not to be today.
Wait…. There is more, the story is not completed yet.
On our way back one motor started giving problems and it seems like a faulty coil and it ran then spluttered and then ran and so on.
I have taken Frik out before in November last year and for anyone following my reports that trip resulted in a the "No Fish Report" due to the ice cold water we encountered, which was the second time ever that no fish were caught on one of my trips, and so I had decided to give Frik a little extra this trip and made his 8hr booking a 12hr booking to thank him for his confidence and support even after a bad trip, and obviously with more time we covered a lot more distance and when we got to Reef No. 1 the one motor ran out of fuel and so we had to travel the last 4 miles on one motor.
So it seems that when going the extra Mile one should check that you have enough fuel.
It gets better….
Once we had entered the port and had covered about half the distance to the slipway, the other motor ran dry and we had to travel the last bit on my rear battery powered sneaker motors which was very slow, and it was tense as Frik had to be at the airport to catch a flight home, so when we hit the slipway Frik rand to try get to the flight on time. A little later I got a call from Frik to say he made it and was on his flight. I think he got a few strange looks at the airport because he was still in his fishing gear and still smelling like fish, and I suppose no-one wanted to sit next to him.
Whilst bragging with the Wahoo at the slipway there where some guys there who caused confusion stating that our Wahoo was a Couta, and by now all his vertical Bars where gone, and I confirm it was most definitely a Wahoo.
This morning both Frik and I woke up stiff and sore from the bumpy ride, and Frik told me his arms and shoulders were also saw from the vertical jigging, and many people think that jigging is easy, but I can assure you it is hard work, but can be very productive, and so that is my report on a long 14hr trip out of Durban.
I also have noted after various conversations with various people that there is a misunderstanding about Couta and Barracuda and to set the record straight.
Here in South Africa Couta is the local name given to King Mackerel also known as Spanish mackerel in some parts of the world, and King Fish in others, the Scientific name of this species is Scomberomorus Commerson.
Barracuda or properly called Greater Barracuda has the Scientific name Sphyraena Barracuda and although it has a serious set of teeth is not related to the "Couta" aka King Mackerel.
