On our recent trip to Inhaca island we applied a number of alternative offshore techniques. Traditionally, many anglers simply troll lipped lures at various depths but we decided against this technique.

We had some new heavy jet heads designed for catching Wahoo to test and we proceeded to do some high speed trolling with these lures. We were also testing Halco’s new ‘Max’ lures and placed these short of  the jet heads. ‘Max’ runs absolutely true and handles the high speed well. Apart from it being effective as a trolling lure, it is very versatile and can be cast and retrieved and used for vertical jigging. The rattles in the lure add to it’s attraction and it accounted for a number of  Dorado and Eastern little tuna. Some Dorado  also fell to the jet heads but the Wahoo were not around.

Our last few trips  to Inhaca have been highlighted by our success with vertical jigging and it wasn’t long before we were jigging over the reefs. Action was relatively slow but we did get a number of Blacktip kingfish which were released to fight another day. Some Green and Rosy Jobfish also fell to the jig and here Roger was particularly successful. On watching his technique, we noticed that his retrieve was a lot slower than ours and that he applied a definite pause in the retrieve. By using this retrieve we all managed to get into the Jobfish.

Pieter hooked into a strong fish on the jig and after a prolonged fight he had a Potato Bass of some 50Kg next to the boat. After some quick photos, the fish was released. While fishing over one reef, Pieter and I both hooked fish and I had just boated a Blacktip kingie when he was radioed by one of the other boats. The rod was jammed into my hands while he took the radio and I soon boated a fish similar to mine. After a photo of the ‘double’, the kingies were released. The jigging wasn’t as successful as we have become accustomed to and some of the guys started working with the drop shotting tackle. We could only think that the fish weren’t too keen on the jig because of the number of baitfish in the water. Wherever you looked, there were shoals of baitfish. There were Sprats, Fusiliers,Mackerel, Torpedo scads and Eastern little tuna. One of the King mackerel caught even regurgitated a few squid. A few kingies were taken on the jerk shads and while fishing at Santa Maria, Pieter was smashed up on the dropshot. The Trigger fish caused havoc with the soft baits, the new Fish On  softbaits being particularly favoured and getting bitten to pieces.

We realised that our best bet to catch fish would be by using live bait  While casting at some activity with a small Viva Parade spoon, I was picked up by a really strong fish which ran braid off the Symetre at an alarming rate. I shouted that we would have to follow the fish as I was running out of line but everything happened so fast that just after we started moving, the line was finished and popped on the spool.

The next  morning was pretty rough so we headed to Bank de Chine where we caught some Carapau on Mackerel jigs. When we had enough in the live well, we headed out to sea. We rigged these fish on light single strand wire with a small single pulling hook in the top lip and a treble near the tail. By downrigging the baits with a 110g bottle sinker and elastic band, we managed to catch a number of reasonable sized Couta ( King Mackerel). At one point, Albe and I fed two livebaits to a pair of Dorado which had swum up to the boat. Albe immediately hooked the bull and a short while later, I was into the female.

Later during the day we found some Eastern little tuna and soon had two in the tuna tubes. We Catalina rigged the one on mono and the other was put on our 120lb nylon coated wire rigs that we employ for toothy species. This rig consists of an 8/0 J hook with a wide gape which is placed near the tail and faces forward. A 3/0 floating treble is placed in the shoulder and a 2/0 turned up eye pulling hook is placed in the top lip. The pulling hook is held in position by means of a crimped sleeve.

We slow trolled the baits for about an hour without any movement on the rods. To our surprise, when the lines were brought in, both livebaits were gone. I could still understand that the one on the Catalina rig could have been ripped off but to get a fish with three big hooks in it off the line is virtually impossible, especially without running the reel. Apart from this incident, live baiting proved by far the most effective technique.

This trip once again proved to us that in all your fishing, one needs to be adaptable and try different techniques to be successful.

CHARLES STEWART

Images: