Poor tangled little Sailfish, Saltwater Fishing Report

From the weather front I am pleased to report that the waters off Durban are cleaning up and warming up, I think that the West that blew over the weekend helped us out a lot.

Today was gorgeous with the wind only blowing at a mere 2knots, swells were rather big at 2.5m but spaced at 15 seconds making for a comfy day and the conditions were almost to nice. Once out past the inshore area were the temperature was around 24.5deg.C we found the thermocline and cleaner water at 27.5deg.C and decided to fish along this thermocline. There was lots of life in the water which made me happy after the last few dead trips.

The fish were not interested in our lures and so I dropped down some Yozuri’s on the deeper reefs and used some red bottom fish as live bait, including a 30cm soldier bream.
In the end the smaller live baits yielded 2 nice Dorado (Mahi-mahi) one being a Bull estimated at 8-9Kg (18-20lbs).

The best action was yet to come when a large Sailfish took the large live bait and ran across all our lines getting himself tangled in all 5 of our lines, with a team effort we managed to get the tangled Sailfish next to the boat where I quickly cut all the lines around him before any of the other hooks got into him and he was released safely, but to quickly for pics. The Sailfish is estimated at 55Kg (121lbs). I am glad I eventually got this fish as I have seen him around a few times and missed him twice already.

The Bull Dorado was the anglers first Dorado ever, and so he kissed it and I remember his wife saying something to the effect that he would never kiss her with this lips again.

About the Author:

Captain's Bio: Started fishing in Durban Harbour at age 7 and got hooked for life with over 35yrs experience, 3yrs ago I started doing full time Charters. My boat which is a 32ft Silverton Sport Fisher is moored at Wilson's Wharf in Durban Harbour specialising in singles or groups up to 4 persons.

My specialty in Durban is Game fishing, and in the summer months we target Billfish and Game fish in our sub tropical waters, Autumn and Spring are also mainly spent targeting Game Fish and also Reef fishing which is the main fishing done in our winter. The weather is good all year round in Durban our summers hot and winters mild.

I am very passionate and conservation minded with regards to my fishing, my boat has a good reputation and catch record here in Durban and is well respected with many satisfied clients.