Mike Smith
Sealiner
THIS!
Got to the Fridge around 11H30 armed with only fresh sardine and nice California squid. Water was rolling nicely with a good discolouration. First rod went in at 12H00 and the second shortly after that. After 15 minutes I checked baits and found both to be untouched which signified either the presence of predators or complete absence of life. Put on some fresh halved fillets with a nice sliver of chokka and while I was casting my second rod, the Purglas Executive 400/3 was pulled flat! I mean literally flat!
My rod holder which has a stainless steel angle for support was bent at a 45 degree angle with the tip of the rod only a metre off the ground! Without even taking the time to reel up my bow from the current cast, I ran over to pick up my rod. Bad move! With the south wester which was blowing, albeit mildly, the bow blew over my line where I had hooked the fish! Ai jai jai! Hier kom nou 'n ding aan! I felt that the 6.0 stainless steel Mustad J-hooks were set firmly and proceeded to turn the fish's head. Lekka! He turned as if ordered. The fish was now swimming nicely toward me when all of a sudden I felt this huge dead weight on the other end! Jissis! It felt like the fish had stuck its tail in the sand and braked like an F1 Ferrari before a chicane!
Weird thoughts went through my head - Taxman! Seal! Shark! Hook trace caught on reef! Wrong! All of the above! A huge clump of seaweed had gotten tangled in my other rods line and yes, you guessed it, it got snared with my line which had the hook-up! Ai jai jai! I could hear faint sounds like champagne bottles being opened one after the other but softer though and the smell of soft boiled eggs emanating from my wader soon after that! Fyn poepies!
Now this fish was not going to give up so easily! He turned and smoked me for about 50 meters but I was not giving up either! When he turned and swam out, he actually managed to dis-entangle the weed from my mainline and I managed to get his head turned toward the shore again! Lekka! Not so! Although he got the seaweed cleared, he was still tangled with my other rod's line so I had no alternative but to turn the drag off the other rod and proceeded to reel in the fish, another set of trace and 7 ounce grab sinker and what felt like a ton of seaweed which was still tangled with the other rod's line.
Does anyone on this forum know what this feels like! I am sure Stu knows - He got smoked often enough which made his arms look like something out of a Popeye cartoon! Anyway by sheer willpower I managed to land the fish by using a series of waves and timing each one just right to lift the rod tip every time to get the whole mess closer. YOH! What a fight! Should have taken a photo of the seaweed I landed as well!
Got to the Fridge around 11H30 armed with only fresh sardine and nice California squid. Water was rolling nicely with a good discolouration. First rod went in at 12H00 and the second shortly after that. After 15 minutes I checked baits and found both to be untouched which signified either the presence of predators or complete absence of life. Put on some fresh halved fillets with a nice sliver of chokka and while I was casting my second rod, the Purglas Executive 400/3 was pulled flat! I mean literally flat!
My rod holder which has a stainless steel angle for support was bent at a 45 degree angle with the tip of the rod only a metre off the ground! Without even taking the time to reel up my bow from the current cast, I ran over to pick up my rod. Bad move! With the south wester which was blowing, albeit mildly, the bow blew over my line where I had hooked the fish! Ai jai jai! Hier kom nou 'n ding aan! I felt that the 6.0 stainless steel Mustad J-hooks were set firmly and proceeded to turn the fish's head. Lekka! He turned as if ordered. The fish was now swimming nicely toward me when all of a sudden I felt this huge dead weight on the other end! Jissis! It felt like the fish had stuck its tail in the sand and braked like an F1 Ferrari before a chicane!
Weird thoughts went through my head - Taxman! Seal! Shark! Hook trace caught on reef! Wrong! All of the above! A huge clump of seaweed had gotten tangled in my other rods line and yes, you guessed it, it got snared with my line which had the hook-up! Ai jai jai! I could hear faint sounds like champagne bottles being opened one after the other but softer though and the smell of soft boiled eggs emanating from my wader soon after that! Fyn poepies!
Now this fish was not going to give up so easily! He turned and smoked me for about 50 meters but I was not giving up either! When he turned and swam out, he actually managed to dis-entangle the weed from my mainline and I managed to get his head turned toward the shore again! Lekka! Not so! Although he got the seaweed cleared, he was still tangled with my other rod's line so I had no alternative but to turn the drag off the other rod and proceeded to reel in the fish, another set of trace and 7 ounce grab sinker and what felt like a ton of seaweed which was still tangled with the other rod's line.
Does anyone on this forum know what this feels like! I am sure Stu knows - He got smoked often enough which made his arms look like something out of a Popeye cartoon! Anyway by sheer willpower I managed to land the fish by using a series of waves and timing each one just right to lift the rod tip every time to get the whole mess closer. YOH! What a fight! Should have taken a photo of the seaweed I landed as well!
Great . Great Reporting there Mike . It's About Time someone Puts up a show for ME to Read , for a change ! lol .