Ski boat July 2018 by Angler Publications

CONTENTS

July/August 2018 Volume 34 Number 4 COVER: Moçambican Generosity Ryan Hansen and Mark de la Hey with a double up of 15kg king mackerel caught off Moçambique. See page 39.

FEATURES

’Cuda worth R15 240/kg 2018 Durban Ski-Boat Club Festival — by Mark Wilson

Tuning in on the Pods Catching yellowfin among the dolphins — by Daryl Bartho

Tasty Tuna Turning your gamefish into a meal to die for — by Erwin Bursik

Boat Review: Magnum 2750 A stylish walk-around with a long pedigree — by Erwin Bursik

Trailer Talk Innovative solution to launching problems — by Erwin Bursik

Graduation Gift Learning tactics in a fisherman’s paradise — by Mark de la Hey

Boat Test: Seacat 565 CC An all-rounder that will suit deep sea and inland anglers — by Heinrich Kleyn

Dredging for Billfish Effective tactics whatever your craft — by Jaco Lingenfelder

Slammed! IGFA Billfish Royal Slam — all in African waters — by Jonathan Booysen

Tuna Masters 2018 Atlantic Boat Club Invitational Offshore Championship

Kings of Jigging NZ Islands produce giant yellowtail — by Stuart Lacon-Allin

Old Made New A total rebuild of a 16ft Dorado — by Erwin Bursik

Fishing Comes Full Circle Kilwa, Tanzania, shows new signs of life — by James Taylor

DEPARTMENTS 8 57 58 65 75

Editorial — by Erwin Bursik Subscribe and WIN! Kingfisher Awards Mercury Junior Anglers Reel Kids

60 79 80 81 82

Smalls &Ad Index Business Classifieds Charters & Destinations Directory Rapala Lip — Last Word from the Ladies

The official magazine of the South African Deep Sea Angling Association

DO YOU PREFER AN EZINE? FIND US FOR FREE ON WWW.ISSUU.COM

Publisher: Erwin Bursik Editor: Sheena Carnie Advertising Executive: Mark Wilson Editorial Assistant: Vahini Pillay Advertising Consultant: Joan Wilson Accountant: Jane Harvey Boat Tests: Heinrich Kleyn Contributors: Daryl Bartho, Jonathan Booysen, Erwin Bursik, Mark de la Hey, Heinrich Kleyn, Stuart Lacon-Allin, Jaco Lingenfelder, Duarte Rato, James Taylor, Kirsten Veenstra and Mark Wilson. ADVERTISING – NATIONAL SALES: Angler Publications Mark Wilson cell: 073 748 6107 Joan Wilson (031) 572-2280/89/97/98 ADVERTISING – Gauteng & Mpumalanga: Lyn Adams — 083 588 0217 Publishers: Angler Publications cc PO Box 20545, Durban North 4016 Telephone: (031) 572-2280/89/97/98 Fax: (031) 572-7891 e-mail: angler@mags.co.za Subscriptions to SKI-BOAT: R180 per annum (six issues). New subscriptions and renewals: SKI-BOAT Subscriptions Department, PO Box 20545, Durban North 4016. Telephone: (031) 572-2280/89/97/98 Fax: (031) 572-7891 • e-mail: jane@mags.co.za • Through www.africanangler.com, or • E-zine through <www.issuu.com> Reproduction: Hirt & Carter, Durban Printer: Robprint (Pty) Ltd, Durban Full production is done in-house by Angler Publications & Promotions on Apple Macintosh software and hardware for output directly to plate. SKI-BOAT Magazine, ISSN 0258-7297, is published six times a year by Angler Publications & Promotions cc, Reg. No. CK 88/05863/23, and is distributed by RNA, as well as directly by the publishers to retail stores throughout South Africa. • Copyright of all material is expressly reserved and nothing may be reproduced in part or whole without the permission of the publishers. • While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this magazine, the publishers do not accept responsibility for omissions or errors or their consequences. Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers, the managing editor, editor, editorial staff or the South African Deep Sea Angling Association.

8 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

EDITORIAL

INTERESTING RESULTS FROM SACRAA SURVEY

URBAN Ski-Boat Club’s annual fishing festival, without a doubt the largest offshore recreational fishing competition in African waters, was once again a resounding success in 2018. A full report can be viewed on page 10 of this issue of SKI-BOAT magazine. However, it was not so much the results of the competition that got me thinking while drinking in the atmosphere during the final weigh-in session, but rather the large crowds of folk it drew — ostensibly all interested in fishing. How big is our overall community of deep sea Erwin Bursik anglers here in Durban and in South Africa as a Publisher whole? That was the question that went through my mind on that and subsequent days. Coincidentally, a few weeks later I attended the South African Consolidated Recreational Angling Association (SACRAA) bosberaad. This organisation was essentially formed to look after the entire sport of recreational angling in South Africa be it in dams, rivers, beaches, estuaries, lagoons or out at sea. It is neither club nor association related, but was created to act as an overall mouthpiece for all anglers to ensure that all of us who fish for pleasure — and of course those who follow us — will still be able to pursue this pastime. The association was originally the brain child of the South African Fishing Tackle Agents & Distributors who obviously have as much of a vested interest as anglers in ensuring that angling in all its facets is nurtured and fostered. To begin with they used SAFTAD’s own funds to kick-start this initiative which has been in existence for four years. A team has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to essentially keep us anglers on the waters of South Africa — and fishing. SACRAA and other funding partners commissioned the recently tabled “Economic Survey of the Recreational Fishery”. It was conducted by a multi-disciplinary and multi-national team of researchers headed by Dr Warren Potts from the Department of Ichthyology at Rhodes University. Rhodes University and senior economists had finalised it using worldwide accepted models to achieve results that have been approved and accepted in worldwide academia involved in studies such as this. Although I’ve not yet had access to this study, at the bosberaad we were told that of the total of 1.3-million people in South Africa who venture out at least once a year to attempt to catch a fish for fun, 67 000 are offshore anglers. I found that very interesting indeed, and even more so when one reads what the projected revenue spend is by anglers in a year and the fact that approximately 94 000 jobs are created by this section of the South Africa population. While these few statistics which emerged from the economic survey answered the initial question I raised surrounding the popularity of the Durban Ski-Boat Club Festival, they have opened a Pandora’s box of facts, figures, statistics, questions and observations that I will go through when I can get the study results in hard copy. SACRAA’s mission and the results of this study will be of interest to each and every angler in this country and will no doubt feature in future issues of SKI-BOAT magazine as we as offshore anglers have a huge capital investment as well as an ardent desire to go fishing, forcing us to take this matter and future projects extremely seriously. For further information on SACRAA visit <www.sacraa.co.za>. Till the next tide.

Erwin Bursik

TOP CATCHES

Possible first blue marlin grander caught in Mozambique

HE Bazaruto Archipelago is well known for being the only place in the Indian Ocean to regularly produce grander size black marlin. However, more recently, further south of the Mozambican coast, a blue marlin fishery has been discovered off Inhaca Island and its numbers can compete with the best in the world. Although known for its numbers rather than size (the biggest blue marlin weighed there had been just north of 600 lb), in the last couple months a few very big fish have been seen and caught, emphasising the number of big blues that have been seen on East Africa’s coast this year, culminating on the grander blue marlin caught recently at Richard’s Bay. In March of this year, Capt Duarte Rato took a few clients to fish out of Santa Maria on the 31ft FourPlay, along with owner Marcelo Matos. Carl Jankowitz and Rian Chalmers were the first clients and their first day out, 5th March, is one they will never forget. Action was slow as they worked the 320to 400-metre mark straight out of Hell’s Gate, with only four good dorado to show for the day. Trolling back home just after 3pm and in 170 metres of water, a truly gigantic fish took their left short lure, a Bahama Phoebe 60, and proceeded to jump. Carl jumped into the chair, but unfortunately after a two hour tussle the fish got tail wrapped

and had to be towed in. It was heartbreaking that there was no scale to weigh the fish in Santa Maria, but at 137 inches (348cm) short length and a mid-girth of 74 inches (188cm) she was just over 1 000 lb on the formula. Interestingly enough, the same angler had weighted a black marlin with the same crew and with the exact same measurements a few years back; that fish weighed in at 1 098 lb (498kg).Whether this blue marlin really was over the mark no one will never know, but with those measurements and seeing as she was exceedingly fat all the way to the tail, she might very well been Moçambique’s first grander blue marlin. In the following two weeks the same crew but with different clients released and saw a lot of good fish. To illustrate the quality of the area, on their last fishing day they had ten blues up, with eight strikes, six hookups (including a triple hookup) and four releases with fish up to 600 lb. Fishing nearby, on the same day, the crew on Kambaku hooked a fish that was in the goosebumps category. The fish broke the leader and Luis Nunes, who has seen his fair share of really big fish, called it by far the biggest he’s ever seen. • To watch a small video clip on Carl Jankowitz’s big marlin off Santa Maria go to <youtu.be/ 9Vs4QHa_BHM>. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 9

FESTIVAL

By Mark Wilson S always the build-up to the Durban Ski-Boat Club Festival was super exciting, but there are always questions ... Would the old faithful and new aspiring anglers still support a festival that had left its historical home and would they press forward in strong support? There was really thing to fear, though because the club is nicely settled at its temporary home with its sights firmly set on its final home once the city’s development is completed. This year 28th and 29th April had been set aside as fishing days with all the anglers hoping to boat a worthy ’cuda and secure the main prize of a Seacat 510 with twin 60hp 2stroke Yamaha outboards and a trailer worth R410 000. This magnificent prize was the result of an ongoing collaboration between Yamaha, Natal Caravans & Marine and Durban Yamaha. The fact that there were further prizes on offer in excess of a million rand didn’t hurt either. And yes, to answer my earlier question, this year’s festival was wholeheartedly supported by 693 anglers on 237 boats! Certainly one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world. ’Cuda are not the only fish in the running for prizes; other gamefish including bonito, dorado, prodigal son, queenfish, snoek, wahoo and yellowfin tuna can also bag great prizes for the anglers that land them. Billfish and kingfish are not permitted at weigh-in, though, and thus anglers are dis-

couraged from targeting them. Specific categories are also set up for ladies and junior anglers. Durban Ski-Boat Club believes strongly in the event being a family affair and caters accordingly, with safe areas for the youngsters to enjoy themselves. As usual the NSRI was invited to do a rescue demonstration on both days which was thoroughly enjoyed by those who were waiting for the boats to return and fish to be weighed. The weather played ball this year and although at first anglers found it difficult to locate the croc ’cuda, the other species kept them busy and filled all the categories with worthy fish. Ethan Pretorius, a junior angler, was first to weigh in a decent sized ’cuda on the Saturday. Everyone agreed his 20.38kg specimen was a good fish, but would it be good enough to survive on top of the leader board for the full duration of the festival? Weigh-in times opened at 3pm and 2pm respectively on the two days fishing and generated a great deal of excitement as animated anglers stood in line waiting for their catch to be weighed. The club had arranged for the weigh-in station be situated in front of the large tent right next to the prize boat and within easy view of all inside the tent who were enjoying the shade, company, food and libations that were readily available. As usual, this was an incredibly well run event and the committee must be congratulated on pulling it off so well, especially in a time of transition.

’CUDA WORTH 2018 Durban Ski-Boat Club Festival 10 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

Eventually Ethan’s ’cuda was chased down, but only two anglers managed to eclipse the benchmark he had established early on the first day’s fishing. Carel Hunlun weighed in a beauty of 25.18kg but top honours and Seacat 510 went to Ryan Driemeyer with a winning ’cuda of 26.9kg. I pulled out the calculator and did the maths — if the first prize’s value was divided by the winning fish’s weight, the fish was valued at just over R15 240 per kilogram. A dream fish and a dream come true; a very profitable two days for Ryan indeed. FINAL RESULTS — TOP 15 1 Ryan Driemeyer 2 Carel Hunlun 3 Ethan Pretorius (Junior) 4 Cameron Sim 5 Jonathon Bakos 6 Buks Krugell 7 Dayne Koekemoer 8 Michael Beresford 9 Shane Rajbully 10 Kenny Moore 11 JJ van Rensburg 12 Mark Naylor 13 Clayton Human 14 Matthew Defilippi 15 Buks Krugell

’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda ’cuda

26.90kg 25.18kg 20.38kg 19.90kg 18.94kg 18.44kg 17.80kg 16.54kg 15.42kg 15.06kg 14.92kg 14.72kg 13.74kg 13.64kg 12.82kg

SPECIES PRIZES Bonito Tristan Peter Dorado Clive Smit Prodigal Logan Naidoo Queenfish Megan Barclay Snoek Matt Defillipi Wahoo Ian Beneke YF Tuna Alain Kahn

7.14kg 8.18kg 17.62kg 8.92kg 6.66kg 12.52kg 25.72kg

(Lady Junior)

TOP JUNIORS 1 Ethan Pretorius 2 Liam Labuschagne

’cuda ’cuda

20.38kg 8.66kg

TOP LADIES 1 Cheryl Roux 2 Ursula Rohrs Ameen

’cuda ’cuda

11.50kg 11.40kg

STATISTICS No. of anglers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .693 No. of boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237 Total no. of fish caught . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Total weight of fish . . . . . . . . . . . . .909.10kg No. of species caught . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

R15 240/kg SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 11

The guys aboard All In were justifiably proud of the 26.9kg king mackerel caught by Ryan Driemeyer.

Post- Festival interview with Hilton Kidger SB: Well, that was another very successful festival; as festival convenor you must be happy that it went so well. HK: For the first time ever I actually fished in the DSBC Festival, so a lot of what took place during the day and at weigh-in was a case of “out of sight, out of mind”. However, I kept very close to Shaun Lavery and Alan Gouveia, my coconvenors, who gave up their time to make sure all ran smoothly. We also have an amazing support team that has worked with us over the years, and they are skilled in making sure the organisational side of the festival is well oiled. This included the exDUC staff who really got stuck in. SB: This is the first time this festival has been held at the PWC that now houses the DUC and DSBC. How did you find the blending of the two clubs over festival time?

HK: We have now been together for nearly six months, and in that time we have made many new friends all with a common interest of the ocean. We even involved three of their social stalwarts, namely Adrian Ash, Nic Steyn, and Laura Wayman, who ran the press boat and in fact started the festival on Saturday. They even have their own reef — Mahogany Reef! Adrian in particular was instrumental in bringing together the senior players in Metro Police, SAP Point, the Water Wing and Search and Rescue, and the Port Captain prior to D Day, and what a great initiative that was! It allowed us to meet and greet and establish informal and closer links with the City and Harbour Management. With the incredible support of these guys we had a crime-free festival and the Port Captain, Justin Adams, even gave permission for the DUC surf ski

race to be held in the harbour entrance. He also arranged for the NSRI rescue demo to be held in the harbour mouth using the Transnet helicopter. These events really added great spectator value to the overall festival, especially for the families of the anglers who had come to enjoy the weekend with us. We also had another fishing comp runnning alongside the main comp for the paddle ski anglers. Their club chairman, Ernie Hovelmeier, put this together and they enjoyed themselves immensely. SB: It appears that the DSBC Festival has really matured over the years, and although the focus is on anglers and ski-boats, it is quite apparent that this is held for other reasons too. HK: You’re quite right. As this festival grew over the years, we realised that

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 13

14 â&#x20AC;¢ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

Relieved that their fish did indeed win the 2018 Durban Ski-Boat Club Festival, Justin Driemeyer, Adam Furniss, Barry Livesey and Ryan Driemeyer accept their prize boat from Bill Harrison of Natal Caravans & Marine.

although it’s branded the DSBC Festival, it actually belongs to all the anglers who have participated each year and that we are merely the platform for their enjoyment. The festival is also a great opportunity to show case our city as a great venue for deep sea angling. It also draws in a lot of economic benefit because a lot of people rent accommodation in the area. We regularly get feedback from the renters of accommodation at the Point so say over the festival weekend all their beds are taken up. You can add this to all the other positives of this well-established event. SB: With merely a week to D-Day the beach at the Point looked in a mess, yet on the day it was all sorted. How did you get that right? HK:Fortunately, we have a very strong relationship with Godfrey Vella who heads up the pump station that feeds sand to our beaches. His hands are full providing sand to our north beaches that have been seriously eroded, but in

spite of this huge responsibility he and his team sorted out the beach at Vetch’s and it was business as usual. Believe me, there were some anxious moments, but as always “Mr Sandman” delivered! SB: What about sponsors, particularly in these hard times? HK: We are fortunate in that our regular sponsors once again put up their hands and their budgets. I must once again take this opportunity to thank the CMH Group led by Basher Downs (Nissan Pinetown) who liaised with Allan Gouveia and supplied eight vehicles from their various franchises. As a result we had Mazda, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Ford and Landrover — all fitted with Warn Winches supplied by Peter Symons of Mr Winch — launching and retrieving the 240 boats. We salute their drivers who gave up their long weekend to support us. Our shorts were sponsored by two people — Marty Lodetti of M Projects in his personal capacity, together with

Future Life (a first time Platinum sponsor) who also supplied 2 000 breakfast packs; thank you Gregg Lacon-Allin. Future Life is produced and distributed under licence via Gregg’s business Equal Trade 4. Mention must also be made of Shaun Lavery — Mr Yamaha in Natal, Bill Harrison of Natal Caravans and Marine, and Ryan Hansen of Durban Yamaha for putting together the first prize boat valued at R410 000. Likewise our thanks to Wesbank for their support, without which this festival would cost a lot more to enter. If ever there was a sponsor who’s team gets involved in this event it is the famous trio of Craig Whitehead, Loise Antrobus and André Burczak. They really enter into the full spirit of the festival, if you get my drift! The Kingfisher, Lowrance, Mr Winch, Maxe, Maxel, Amstel, Captain Morgan, Ray Marine, Coca Cola, Ice Cool, Coopertires, Club Marine, Garmin, Ski Port, Ski-Boat magazine and Dyna Chem also made generous contributions.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 15

The NSRI rescue demonstration is always spellbinding. They will receive an R11 000 donation collected at the 2018 Festival. Although they’re not a sponsor, the NSRI is a very valuable supporter not only of our festival, but also of every skiboat angler who gets on the water, and our special thanks go to them. These amazing guys and girls are all volunteers who ask nothing more than to serve our community. As part of our contribution of raising funds for the NSRI, the anglers who enter have the opportunity of adding a bit extra and this year we collected R11 000 which will be put in their bank account. Thank you, Station Rescue 5! SB: Tell us a bit about the team that won first prize. HK: Firstly the Driemeyer family are well respected in Winterton where they have farmed for absolute ages and this win means they now have celebrity status! It also means that the village will pour out so to speak and expect to celebrate their success at their expense. The Bridge Hotel will have an early Christmas season. Their boat number is NAM 23. I don’t think they — or many other anglers — have a clue what NAM stands for so I will use the medium of SKIBOAT magazine to enlighten them. It stands for Nambiti International Sporting, Dining and Game Fishing Club which was established about 40 years ago, at the Royal Hotel in Durban. The 16 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

founding members were myself and a great character called Jeff Richmond. We tried to register with NADSAA, but John Bonamour, who I think was the president at the time, turned us down and I had to persuade him we were for real. The rest is history so to speak. Getting back to the winning team, though, Ryan Driemeyer (the winning angler) tells me that the owner and skipper, Justin Driemeyer, launched his boat for the first time at the festival and had never fished before in the festival. To take the cake, the ’cuda took a top bait (maasbanker) that was 50 metres behind, with the rod positioned in a holder on top of the Bimini! It was caught at Umdloti River mouth. This just goes to show that the festival is all about having your bait in the right place at the right time! You don’t have to be a rock star to win. The rest of the team consisted of Barry Livesey and Adam Furniss, also well known characters from the area. SB: I hear they thought they were pipped at the post with a bigger fish. Is that true? HK: Let me set the scene: Picture four anxious anglers biting their finger nails as the clock heads towards 2.30pm (cut off time) on the Sunday. Unbeknown to these young men, one sleazy convenor, AKA Shaun Lavery

created a diversion and removed the winning fish, and then pandemonium ensued when he announced that a huge ’cuda was coming in and it looked like it would be the winning fish. The fish was duly brought to the scales and our equally sleazy weighmasters, Bundu Bester and Dave Durant, weighed the fish with Sleaze No 1 (Shaun) proclaiming that this was definitely the winning fish. The blood drained from the faces of the four youngsters and tears welled up in their eyes, but good breeding steeled their resolve. Winterton cowboys don’t cry. Lavery announced the fish’s weight — 26.9kg — looked at the Driemeyer clan and said,“You see, I told you it was the winning fish.” Just to make sure they knew it was indeed their fish that had won, he confessed to his prank. All four were ecstatic — a happy ending and another lesson learned! SB: You said the ’cuda were on their way to the festival; what happened to them? Remember last year when they rocked up big time? HK: There’s only one explanation — they are still at Fernando’s Bar in Ponto Du Ouro sipping R and Rs. SB: What about next year? HK: Buy me a drink at Mahogany Reef and we can discuss it ...

TACTICS Daryl Bartho with a 29kg yellowfin tuna caught on a livebait rigged on a 6/0 Mustad tuna circle hook.

TUNING IN ON THE PODS Catching yellowfin among the dolphins By Daryl Bartho

ARGETING tuna on the dolphins can be either an extremely rewarding or very frustrating experience. Up until a few years ago very few anglers would go searching for a pod of dolphins with the aim of catching a few good size tuna, but that has changed and it’s suddenly a very popular tactic. Could the sushi rage or all the latest delicious tuna recipes be responsible for more people

targeting these brutes or is it rather the thrill we get from trying to stop them? Let’s face it, there are no longer many inshore fisheries that allow small boats to consistently target fish in the 20-30kg range. The last two dorado and ’cuda seasons have been dismal and this has resulted in even more anglers chasing tuna on the dolphins. Whatever the reason, almost every pod of dolphins along our coastline gets bombarded by ski-boats, jetskis or fishing skis these days.

It can be a very productive tactic, but it’s imperative that every angler respects these mammals and fishes in a manner that allows them to go about their feeding and cruising as they normally would. Too often I’ve seen a boat or jetski disrupt the natural behaviour of the pod. This results in a mood change with these intelligent creatures and I firmly believe that the tuna respond to this as well. Fishing around a pod of dolphins that doesn’t feel threatened and is SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 21

Illustration of a typical dolphin pod formation showing where the tuna are likely to be found and where to position your boat. allowed to feed naturally will result in more tuna hookups. There have been plenty occasions when a few boats have rushed onto the dolphins and had no bite whatsoever; once the majority of the boats moved off the patient anglers reaped the rewards and got a few bites when the dust had settled. There are no set rules when it comes to any method of fishing, with

Brett Bartho with a 28kg yellowfin tuna caught on a Roosta 130.

22 â&#x20AC;˘ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

techniques and tackle forever improving, but below Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve listed three approaches we most commonly use when targeting these big tuna.

GETTING AHEAD OF THE POD Position A on the diagram When we first started targeting tuna on the dolphins we would go about 300m ahead of the pod, running really wide on the way past. Once in front of the pod we would then cast two livebaits (rigged through the nose) towards the oncoming dolphins, keeping the boat idling forward. Our first choice of bait here would be maasbanker rigged with a 6/0 Mustad Demon Circle or VMC 7/0 Live Bait hook with a metre of 50 lb flouro and no.4 Power swivel. The dolphins would swim over our baits as we idled along and we would let the tuna swallow the bait with the reels on freespool and ratchet on, before setting the hook. Initially we used our ’cuda rods with our Daiwa Saltist BG 50 reels spooled with 300m 50 lb braid backing and 200m Maxima 12kg Ultragreen monofilament line. However, we soon realised how much quicker it was to subdue big fish with spinning/coffee grinder style reel loaded with 65 lb braid. APPROACHING FROM THE SIDE Position B on the diagram Since we started using spinning reels, braided lines and 7-8ft casting rods we’ve tried a few different approaches when targeting tuna on the dolphin pods. One of the most effective approaches was to drive up on the flanks of the pods without creating too much prop wash or disrupting the pod and casting livebaits or a popper towards the dolphins. We found that this approach resulted in the dolphins not changing direction or sounding because they did not feel threatened by the boat or the boat wash. I find that if the pod is moving it up and feeding the dolphins are less likely to be “spooked” by the boat. This is also when the tuna are at their most alert, hoping for scraps from the feeding dolphins or for a baitfish to make a mistake while fleeing the ambush. Tuna don’t always swim in the middle of the pod, sometimes they can be ahead, behind or on the sides of the dolphins. Some days the tuna smash the bait the instance it hits the water and other days patience pays off and your bait is only picked up after the pod has swum past. In this case the tuna are trailing the dolphins and not swimming amongst them. A good pair of polarized sunglasses comes in handy and allows you to locate these gas bottles, giving you a better idea of where to cast. The way in which you rig your livebait also has a lot to do with your success ratio on the pods. If the tuna are sitting below the dolphins then it is imperative to get your livey to swim down once it hits the

Brett Bartho with another beauty caught on the Roosta 160.

water. Rigging the maasbanker or mackerel between the dorsal and tail, either on top or on the underside, allows you to cast a great deal further and also helps the bait swim downwards. When rigging the livebait in the snout we use a treble hook as we find the circle or livebait single hook sometimes turns, and instead of hooking the tuna it rather hooks the bait in the gill plate or head. Bridling your bait from the bridge of the eye socket is a better option; it results in a better hook up ratio and allows you to cast further. APPROACHING FROM BEHIND Position C on the diagram On days when the dolphins are a bit skittish then it is sometimes best to try pitching baits or surface stickbaits/poppers from behind the pod. The same rules apply — try not to disrupt the pod while edging in as close as you can without having the pod sound or change direction. This is where the poppers and stickbaits come into a league of their own. With this method the boat doesn’t need to be right on top of the pod as you can cast these lures long distances and you can have multiple casts while the pod is still in range. There are always going to be the days when artificial lures outfish the livebaits and vice versa. We always carry a range of different size Halco Roosta poppers with us as well as a few floating and sinking stickbaits as you never quite know when the fish are going to prefer artificial or liveys.

Our rule of thumb is to use the Roosta 135 for flat, glassy conditions and the Roosta 160 for windy/rougher sea conditions. If we’re fishing areas like Aliwal Shoal or Protea Banks we fish more 160 and 190 Roosta poppers. These larger poppers have significantly stronger hooks, thus allowing you to stop the bigger fish while using a much higher drag setting. We never leave the beach without our Daiwa Saltist 8’6” popping rods rigged with our Catalina 5000 spinning reels loaded with 65 lb braid. When we’re fishing areas with a lot of shark activity then we fish 100 lb braid so we have a better chance of putting the brakes on and getting the fish to the boat before the taxman takes his share. We mostly use Sunline 67 lb fluoro carbon leader on our popping outfits and the length of the leader is normally from our top guide to the base of our reel. I use the Daiwa Grandwave jigging rod with a Saltist 5000 for casting baits and this is also loaded with 65 lb braid. If the bite is slow and the fish are a bit shy then we tend to use a thinner and longer f luoro leader. The only downside to this is that if you gut hook a big tuna and have it on the line for a long time, its teeth can chafe through the thinner leader line. Using a circle hook helps prevent this problem because it hooks the fish in the scissors of the mouth. Let’s hope these tuna stick around for a while and that everyone respects the dolphins and the other anglers out there, ensuring everyone has a good time. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 23

TECHNIQUES

By Erwin Bursik

VERY sports angler who decides to keep one of the fish he catches to feed himself, his family and friends is morally obliged to carefully handle and prepare this delicate flesh to maximise this valuable commodity. Daryl Bartho’s features on how to fillet a ’cuda in the May 2018 issue of SKI-BOAT magazine has been highly acclaimed. In view of this Daryl agreed to prepare a moderately sized yellowfin tuna — the size that most South African offshore anglers catch — so that our readers will know how to get the most out of their catches. Of course those of our fraternity who catch the huge yellowfin tuna off Cape Point will have more to work with than the rest of us, but the system of filleting or portioning stays the same. Before Daryl even starts the process of making the first slice he cleans and sanitises the stainless steel table, cutting board and knives. During the whole exercise he and the other staff who were processing fish continually clean their knives and work surfaces to ensure the final fish fillets are top quality so that when they go on show in the shop they look perfect. After starting to work on the yellowfin he showed me the number of tiny scales that are dislodged before the skin of the portion on which he was working is deposited on the worktable. Once that’s done he wipes the fillets and work surface to ensure the tiny scales don’t end up on someone’s sushi plate.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 25

5 26 â&#x20AC;¢ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

9 For the demonstration he used a head-off and guts-out tuna that had been resting in crushed ice since its capture, thus ensuring it was cold and the flesh firm; a pleasure to work with. Using what he refers to as a bikini cut — removing the head high up almost at the point above the eye socket, then removing the gill plates and making a small incision around the vent — the gut is removed in one pull through the cavity. The first cut in the filleting process is to remove the short neck section then following behind the pectoral fin to remove this and finally slice the belly section to the vent aperture. One is then left with the whole fish on its side ready for the filleting process. With tuna it is traditional to fillet the fish into four sections; the first is generally the top sirloin fillet. Daryl pointed out a place in the exposed surface

where the neck had been severed, a small “V” that shows where the blood meat and fillet start (pic 1). This is an indication of exactly where to start your cut. A shallow cut is then made along the entire flank of the tuna, across the tail section and back along the top of the carcass (pic 2). Then, using a sharp, sturdy bladed knife, in one fluid motion Daryl sliced down to the backbone (pic 3). The skin is relatively thick, and is removed by peeling it off with the knife, working from the top. Do not try to pull it off as so many of us want to do. After the skin has been tossed and a good clean up done to remove any offending scales, the primary fillet is carefully removed in one section (pic 4 and 6). As was shown in the article on filleting ’cuda, the carcass was then scraped

with a spoon to provide a good deal of beautifully clean tuna flesh ideal for fish cakes (pic 5). The accompanying photographs show how the top sirloin fillet is placed on a cutting board (pic 7) and — very carefully — the blood meat is removed (pic 8) to leave a magnificent yellowfin tuna fillet. In true Japanese sushi tradition the prime section, basically the centre third section of the fillet, is then separated as shown (pic 9). This piece is referred to as the iceberg (pic 10) because of the shape of the cross section of this fillet. It provides the major cuts for the sushi market. The top of the iceberg is carefully sliced off in one even stroke using the amazing filleting knife. This clean cut ensures there are no signs of sawing as can be seen if one uses the wrong knife the wrong way. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 27

13 Thereafter, using the flat face of the iceberg (pic 12) as a guide, slices are cut cross grain. These cross-grained sections of succulent, tender tuna are the perfect size and texture to be used as the traditional topping on the sushi rice base (pic 11). It is important that the size, shape and thickness of each piece is uniform (pic 13). The thickness is particularly important as it ensures that those savouring a mouthful taste the full flavour and texture of the tuna fish. 28 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

If very thin slices are used, as so often happens, the taste of the fish is obliterated almost totally by soy sauce, ginger and wasabi. Prepared properly by Master Daryl, this was by far the best sushi I have ever tasted. After witnessing this almost surgical dissection, I will never again hack my way through tuna or any other fish after a day’s fishing. With effort and expertise gained from practise one can be assured that

the end product will be as good if not better than you will get at any sushi restaurant. If you prefer your fish cooked, try taking some tuna slices as seen in pic 9 and seasoning them with ground salt and pepper, then liberally coating them with sesame seeds. Sear them on an extremely hot skillet until the sesame seeds are golden on both sides — just a few seconds on each side — then slice them across the grain. It’s a meal to die for.

BOAT REVIEW

Tested by Erwin Bursik

NNOVATION is paramount in any business, but especially if you want to retain your status and keep ahead in the very demanding big boat market here in South Africa.

After an impressive ten years of marketing the Magnum 28 which I reviewed in the January/February 2008 issue of SKIBOAT, Mark Delany felt it was time to completely redesign the 28 foot offshore sportfishing outboard powered craft. The last ten years have seen some major developments at Two Oceans Marine’s facilities and in the very big sport- and leisure-boating market as a whole. Within this period Two Oceans proudly produced a 48ft sportfisher Big Bob, without doubt the most impressive sportfisher in this class ever to have been completely manufactured in South Africa. SKIBOAT reported the progress of the build right up to its full review which appeared in the January/February 2013 issue of the magazine. Two Oceans has also perfected its technique of manufacturing both sailing and motorised pleasure craft in the 60- to 80ft class. These boats are marketed worldwide and are beau30 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

tifully finished and customised to meet the very high standards demanded by the fastidious owners of this class of cruising live aboard craft. When Mark decided to design and build the new Magnum 2750 he stopped building the Magnum 28s because he did not want to disappoint an interim buyer of a 28 while the new 2750 was, as they say, in the mould. Additionally, Mark felt that much of what Two Oceans had learnt in the making of their super yachts over the last eight years could be incorporated in the new Magnum 2750’s design, construction and finishes, to bring this craft into the new era. The review was to take place out of Hout Bay’s walk-on marina, and on the day in question I arrived a tad early which allowed me to view a number of Two Oceans Marine’s craft that were moored close to the entrance of the walk way onto the marina itself. I recognised many of the older models of the Magunm range, but one craft with a blue hull caught my attention. Viewing it bow-on I immediately noticed its very different bow entry design, its racy chine and its innovative

tunnel upper section. Despite those differences there was still the overall hallmark of a Two Oceans Magnum. When Mark and I walked towards Monish I was not surprised to be told that she was the craft I was about to take to sea and play with in the waters off Hout Bay. All of us in the SADSAA family know Nishaan Ibrahim from Cape Town and have witnessed his performance in competitive angling circles over many years, culminating in him attaining his Protea Colours during an international competition in Portugal in 2017. I was therefore honoured that I was going to board his recently acquired magnificent craft and experience her ride out at sea in his home waters. Nishaan, thanks for the privilege, mate. I know Monish will fulfil all your dreams out there in the deep. Being a nigh perfect morning, I set a course out of the bay and out of calm waters into an area of reasonable swell topped by a moderate cross swell wind chop. It wasn’t ideal as I would have preferred a lot more wind during the review, but speed and the craft’s own wake provided me with sufficient feel of the boat’s performance to appreciate not only

her ride, but also how different it is to that of the previous models. At the outset with the twin 200hp 4-stroke Yamahas swinging 16 pitch Solas props and revving at 3 800 rpm, we literally glided over the rippled bay water at my preferred SOG of 20 knots. Under these conditions, as can be seen in the accompanying photographs, she has a racing stance over the water, with her bow area cleaving the water. On the plane she achievies her natural forward projection with the water spray being dissipated low and very far aft. I played with the motors trims using various up and down settings in search of differing speeds at fixed throttle settings to determine where she delivered the smoothest ride. In the end I found a marginal up trim from her lowest settings was best. Using her natural design while on the plane is how she rides best, extracting the maximum thrust from the motors to obtain forward momentum instead of using motor torque to lift this big craft’s bow out of the water to obtain ride comfort. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 31

When we eventually got into rougher water I repeated these exacting trials and was very pleased to note that the above parameters provided us with as comfortable a ride as we had experienced inshore. Of course no craft performs equally in the diverse and ever-changing conditions that both sea and wind can provide, so in some instances we have to make educated guesses — based on extensive experience — of how a craft will behave under certain circumstances. The Magnum 2750 ticked all the boxes I use when reviewing a craft. At sea — in flat water and fairly rough, head seas or following seas, in tight turns and more importantly pulling out of such turns — this craft has it all. I need to elaborate a tad on the latter statement regarding the use of this craft in point-break surf launch sites such a Sodwana Bay. In such conditions, for a craft this size, the critical aspect is ensuring you have the necessary torque to provide the thrust to get the craft up and onto a plane in as short a distance as possible. Then there’s the attack on a starboard beam cresting wave where one needs to slow down when cresting its shoulder, then get back up to full plane speed. I put Monish through this exercise numerous times and she did everything I expected of her. As she’s a sportfishing craft, I ran tests from slow trolling 32 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

on one motor to marlin troll speed of 8 knots, and I found Monish to be very stable laterally, and her redesigned bow holds a steady and controlled troll path very comfortably. Her low-speed wake pattern is very tight, only starting to spread out over 7 knots SOW. Even at 9 knots there are a lot of clean water “holes” in the proverbial third wake in which to run a marlin lure off the short riggers. Monish, destined to fish the tuna-rich waters off Cape Point, has a fish deck layout that’s perfectly suited for this style of operation. Essentially it’s a top deck laid out around a huge fish box! Let’s begin with the basic design of a walkaround-style deck with a spacious wheelhouse/cabin, high gunnels and sufficient space to follow a big tuna while coupled onto a Black Magic harness. Anglers will be happy to know the Magnum 2750 will provide 360 degrees of fishability as well as comfort for crew to move up forward for peace and quiet. When it comes to the main cockpit area, the niceties of the design and layout have been styled after many years of experience catering for the demands of the hardest working anglers in South Africa — the tuna catchers off Cape Point. The so-called coffin hatch centrally placed on the fish deck is vital when you’re fishing in the Cape as it serves both as a work station and a massive fish box. This above-deck

hatch comes in two designs — the normal fish hatch (as seen in the accompanying photographs) and another upgraded version that will be covered in the next issue of SKI-BOAT when I review the restyled Magnum 32 launched out of Plettenberg Bay. For those who might want to use the Magnum 2750 for marlin fishing or gamefishing, a substantial fighting chair can be installed in place of the coffin hatch or you could simply have a large, unhindered fishdeck for gamefishing or entertaining. As a skipper who spends an inordinate amount of time at the helm, I place a great deal of importance on the overall design, layout and appointment of the helm station. Nishaan is obviously of the same ilk and the design of Monish’s helm station is superb. Even though cabin width has been sacrificed to accommodate the walk-around area, the cabin is still very spacious. Using the new concept of a centrally positioned steering wheel and throttle controls not only provides the skipper with plenty of elbow room, but also allows space for two other crew to move up forward for total protection and forward view. Further aft, yet still well protected from the sun, sea and wind, is comfortable seating for those long runs to and from the deep.

While attempting to overview the luxuries of the internal helm station/cabin of Monish I noted the easily accessible yet private port side toilet extending forward of the main helm station partition. This craft has a complete array of electronics including Furuno radar, sonar, auto pilot and navigation accessories that are ideally placed for practical use by the helmsman. Together with the already mentioned well-organised helm and controls, this makes skippering Monish an absolute pleasure. To finally finish off the craft, Two Oceans Marine have designed a set of fibre-composite cabin closure panels that not only make the craft’s interior secure whilst on moorings, but also look stylish when they’re in place. They are very simple to fit and remove when access to the cabin is required, and the fold up system takes up little space when left on the mooring while you’re out at sea. As can be seen from the main photograph of Monish speeding across the water of Hout Bay, she is stylish and beautiful. Her new overall design with a hint of the Two Oceans Marine pedigree, combined with finishes that have become the hallmark of the company’s success over the last 25 years all combine to make the Magum 2750 a perfect offshore sportfishing craft.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 33

TROUBLESHOOTING The Magnum 32 positioned and held firmly on her dolly prior to launching.

TRAILER TALK Innovative solution to launching problems

By Erwin Bursik

HE expression “Necessity is the mother of invention” is as true today as when it was first coined. During a recent boat review I undertook in Plettenberg Bay I saw a modification to the launching dolly I had never seen nor heard about before. I watched carefully to see how it worked as we launched a 32 Magnum off the beach in front of the Plettenberg Bay Ski-Boat Club. This launch can be relatively steep at times and on other occasions a relatively long, flattish launch that requires either a long tractor push through shallow water or a shorter but faster launch that ejects the craft into deeper water, • Email your troubleshooting solutions to <sheena@mags.co.za> with “Troubleshooting” in the subject line. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 35

Variations on the same theme — these photos of different trailers show the positioning of the leaf springs. thus avoiding the shore break and allowing the skipper to trim down his motors and utilise their power to get out to sea. It’s virtually the same system most of the bigger craft launching at Sodwana Bay use, but with one significant difference. With this innovative system the craft is firmly held on the trailer until such time as the tractor brakes suddenly, causing the craft’s momentum to release it from the dolly trailer. The launch site is used by a number

of tourism operations including whale watchers, divers and joyriders, using craft up to 36ft in length, as well as recreational ski-boaters, and they all use this “release mechanism” as a norm. If you study the accompanying photographs you’ll note that the craft stays attached to the dolly trailer because of its own weight and the friction between the craft’s keels and the leaf spring that’s exerting the friction to prevent the craft moving on its bed of rollers. It’s only when this friction is overridden by the sudden inertia creat-

ed when the tractor brakes that the craft starts rolling and is ejected into the water. Using this leaf spring assembly system, the power of the friction can be increased or decreased by replacing the two spring leaves with leaves that have either more or less tensile strength. Note that the leaf springs need to work in a forwards and backwards direction so that the boat can be launched off either side of the dolly. It’s a reasonably simple design, but it works remarkably efficiently.

Diagram showing position of the leaf spring. The top dotted line represents the keel line of the trailer rollers. The leaf spring needs to be slightly higher than this line and must be tensioned to ensure it provides the correct restraining ability. 36 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

38 â&#x20AC;¢ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

PLACES Ryan Hansen and Mark de la Hey show off Ryan’s first GT — a beautiful 20kg specimen caught on drop shot.

GRADUATION

GIFT Learning tactics in a fisherman’s paradise

By Mark de la Hey

HEN you hear the slogan “Boats, Beers and Babes” there’s just one guy that always springs to mind — the infamous Ryan Hansen. A few months back he and I planned a short trip up into Moçambique with a few mates. In years gone by February and

March have been some of our best fishing and weather months, but in more recent years this hasn’t been the case at all; the weather has been poor and the fishing poorer. This is what led to our planned adventure, and let’s face it, who doesn’t like going on a trip up into Moz? As it turned out ever yone else dropped out the day before we were

set to leave, but Ryan and I decided to go anyway. This was quite a bold move considering Ryan and I had spent no more than one day on a boat together and only just made it through that! The chosen destination was Canda Island, a really small, secluded spot just north of Xai-Xai; far enough to be away from reality but close enough to make the drive from Durban in a day. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 39

Beautiful view from the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s casa at Canda Island.

Up bright and early to launch at sunrise.

After seeing this unbelievable showing on the sounder Brod Whittaker just had to take a selfie with the shoal. 40 â&#x20AC;˘ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

At 2am Ryan arrived outside my gate with his trusty Cruiser towing the Seacat 565. Brod Whittaker — cameraman and underwater specialist — and I jumped in and off we went. We decided to take the new road past the Ponto border and it was a pleasure not having to go through all the border posts in and out of Swaziland. Slowly but surely we made our way further into Moçambique, collecting a couple of speeding fines along the way. I think this was due to Ryan’s eagerness to get out on some new water. Almost 15 hours later, as the sun was setting, we crossed the rickety bridge over the lake and arrived at Canda Island as it is known. We couldn’t wait to get on the water to see what lay in wait. At 5am the following morning, before the sun was even up, the boat was packed, food made, bean bag was in position and tea made. We dropped the boat on the beach, pushed her in with the pole and headed for the deep. On the way out we bumped into a baitball of note; sharks, tuna and prodigal son were feasting. We had a few throws before Ryan and Brod jumped in, and Brod later said it was a truly spectacular experience even for such a seasoned free diver. We’d been given a few marks from a good friend so we decided to start there. To begin with we put out a few deep diving nomads and started searching for that needle in the haystack. As we traversed the drop off, regularly consulting the Lowrance HDS 9 Carbon, we saw some great structure, but absolutely no showing. About two hours later the Accurate Bossfury suddenly burst into song and Ryan made his way to the rod. It turned out we’d hooked a good sized king mackerel. We took a couple of quick pics before sending it back into the depths. Just before we put the lures out again to begin the search I turned around and looked at the sounder. Surely there had to be something wrong with it … the showing was top to bottom in 48m of water and we were 65km offshore. Was that even possible? We decided to put out a few fresh mackerel and try a few dropshots and small jigs. What happened over the next few hours was nothing short of unbelievable; it was literally impossible to put down a jig or dropshot without getting a bite! Rainbow runners, ’cuda, five different kingfish species, jobfish, all the tuna species one could hope to catch and a few others — we had stumbled upon Valhalla! There was nothing much more to say except that we had found a rare treasure and we knew at the time that some pretty special memories were being made. Brod took a dive down in the showing and what he came back with was

Moçambique just keeps on giving ... Mark with another magnificent ’cuda.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 41

Mark and Ryan both fighting strong-willed GTs. spectacular. Shoals of 200 to 500 fish at a time, all the different species sticking to their own kind with clouds and clouds of different species all shoaling around one area. It’s hard to explain why certain areas hold more fish than others, but this was on a whole different level from anything we’d ever seen. After catching a few good sized king mackerel Ryan started to find his rhythm, so he went down with a dropshot. His line immediately went tight and judging by the bend on the rod we knew it was something special. Ten minutes later he’d landed his first GT on a dropshot — all 20kg of it. What a great fish! He let it go and went down again, this time catching an even bigger one! And so the day went on…. By the time we decided to have something to eat Ryan had finally graduated from boater to top class angler! When you get a rare opportunity to catch so many different fish in such a

Mark with another decent-sized ’cuda caught from his fishing ski. 42 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

short space of time using so many different methods you find your rhythm and Ryan sure did. I knew I wouldn’t have to worry again when the rod went — Hansen would have it covered. Ryan wasn’t the only one to learn some new tricks; one thing I personally learned was how to use an overhand reel for jigging and dropshotting. I used the Accurate Vallient 600N with a Nobe slow pitch 6f6 jigging rod and .26 braid. I had never been a fan of the overhand set-up but from that day on I’m a believer and I can’t wait to tackle some giants on that tackle. Ryan on the other hand was using the Accurate SR-12 spinning reel with the 7ft Seeker Hercules light rod. He caught some great fish on it and showed that that tackle could land just about anything. Around 3pm we fired up the Yamahas up and set the SeaCat on a course for Canda Island. Seventy-odd

kilometres is a fair way to travel on the ocean, but when you’ve just discovered something as unique and special as “Valhalla” it goes by like a breeze! Brod, Ryan and I had just experienced something unique and truly unforgettable, which would explain the big grins as we headed back to shore! We hit the beach, loaded up and made our back up the dune to our stunning beach house overlooking the sea to the east and the lakes to the west. Out on the deck we cracked open a few cold ones and looked out at the horizon. There was a stunned silence as we each thought back on the day’s events. Finally I turned to Ryan and said,“Well, that’s day one; don’t forget it, it’s the day you became a fisherman.” All three of us were asleep early, finished from a great day out on the ocean, dreaming about what “Valhalla” had in store for us in the days to come ...

BOAT TEST

SEACAT 565 CC By Yamaha

By Heinrich Kleyn HE Seacat 565 CC was tested back in 2007 by my good friend Kevin Smith (see November/December 2007 issue of SKI-BOAT magazine), and now, 11 years later, I got to test an updated model which has had a few modifications made to it. I tested the Seacat 565 FC model in 2009 and was eager to give the centre console a try, so when I got the call from Erwin Bursik telling me to call Ryan Hansen from Durban Yamaha to arrange a test I was over the moon. There are so many boats on the market these days, so how does a manufacturer convince you to buy their product? One way is to make a couple of changes that will make it much more comfortable on the boat and more to your liking. This is exactly what Grant Read did for Yamaha when he did some changes to the Seacat 565 CC.

was not the first time I’d seen the boat. I was, however, very excited to see what changes have been made to make it more appealing to the fisherman, because in my opinion this boat was already one of the best in the marketplace. One surprise on the new boat was that Ryan Hansen from Durban Yamaha fitted two-stroke engines on her stern. At 70hp they weren’t very big engines either considering the size of the boat. A little skeptical about that aspect, I approached her on the Durban Point beach where she lay on the sand ready for the tractor to push us into the water. I was accompanied by Malcolm Fischer from Durban Yamaha while Erwin Bursik, Ryan Hansen and Shaun Lavery from Yamaha would be on the photo boat. I have to add that this was the first time we’ve ever started a boat test before sunrise and that Shaun Lavery was there before 8am!

FIRST IMPRESSIONs There are quite a few Seacat 565s among the local fishing fraternity so it

WEATHER CONDITIONS We were a little concerned that the weather would not play along and that

46 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

it would be raining, but the day before I saw that there was a gap in the weather and we might be lucky to have a little sunshine. Still concerned on the morning, we got pushed into the water with a slight north-easterly wind blowing and some clouds around. By the time the sun came out the clouds had drifted away and we had a stunning sunrise with a slight wind blowing. The swells were a little bumpy, but if I timed it right it would be good conditions to do the test. I generally prefer the test conditions to be a little like a washing machine anyway, to give me a good indication on how the boat will react to all conditions. In short, the conditions were perfect for testing. TRAILERING Like all the other Seacats, the 565 CC comes standard on a galvanised breakneck trailer manufactured by Grant Read at his factory. This means that the trailers are a perfect fit for the boats. Towing is easy and dropping her off on the beach is simple — if you let your tyres down to the required pressure. Loading her back onto the trailer was a

little more challenging because Ryan had left his winch controls outside his front door at home so we had to do it by hand. I have to say it was easier than I thought it would be to hand winch her onto the trailer, but I would still recommend an electric winch to make it easy for yourself. Remember, this is not a small boat so she’s heavy to move by hand. MOTORS, CONTROLS AND PERFORMANCE As I mentioned earlier, Ryan has fitted this Seacat 565 CC with twin 70hp Yamaha two-stroke trim and tilt engines with 704 binnacle controls. At first I thought that the 70hp two-strokes would be a little pap for this size of boat, but I was in for a surprise with their performance. The tractor pushed us into the water, and as soon as I turned the keys the motors were running. These days 90% of the deep sea fishermen have got four-stroke engines and we tend to forget that there is not much difference between a four-stroke and a two-stroke engine. Yes, the four-stroke is a little bit

lighter on fuel and it does not use two stroke oil, but then the two-stroke engine has a bit more power when you pull away on the throttle. I was incredibly impressed with the 70hp Yamaha two-strokes that were used for the test. The fuel consumption was also very good, especially on a boat of this size. Ryan travelled at an average of 30.5km/h for 1 hour 35 minutes and they manage to get 48.5km on two tanks of fuel. This is much faster than normal trolling speed so fuel usage will be lower if you take it at normal 1219km/h for trolling. Considering the cost of living nowadays it’s worth being able to reduce costs by fitting Yamaha two-stroke motors when you buy a boat. These motors certainly produced all the power we needed. Like many other people, I often play down the power produced by twostrokes in comparison to four-strokes, and our first instinct is to fit a fourstroke outboard. But boy, just take this Seacat fitted with 70hp two-stokes for a test and your eyes will water. At one point we were just drifting

and I told Malcolm that he must just hold on while I tried a couple of manoeuvres. When I pushed the smooth throttles right open I got a serious fright at the power of the pull off. I believe she was about two- to three seconds faster than a four-stroke getting out the hole onto the plane. I had to tap back on the controls before I could do my figure-of-eight turns in the water because she was just too fast out the hole. The turning circle between the swells is very small and perfect for surf launching. I expected some cavitation with such a small turning circle, but there was none in either direction, nor when I straightened her up after a 360 degree turn and pushed the controls open. All I felt was pure power. The hull produced a smooth and soft ride through the water and I could not get her to broach. Riding with the swell I trimmed the engines up a little bit and she handled it with ease. Against the swell I found she produced one of the softest rides of any boat I have been. The Seacat 565 CC, with her brilSKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 47

liant steering ability, will handle any conditions that you throw at her. Many years ago I was on a Seacat with a doctor in Moçambique. This doctor’s mantra was that you get on the boat, push the controls wide open, and only tap back when you reach your fishing destination. That was the first time I was scared on a boat. He said he was trying his best to break the boat. Well, today, I can say with all honesty, “Good luck, Doctor! After what I saw on this test you’re going to have to work a lot harder; the boat is going to break you before you break it.” LAYOUT As I mentioned earlier, Grant has made a few changes to the design of the new

565 CC. For a start the centre console is a little wider which creates a lot of space. Extra seating has been provided on the battery boxes which are also

bigger than before, and more seats have been fitted on the transom. By moving the roll bar further back they have created a more comfortable sitting space. The fuel hatches and the fish hatches are still fitted in the deck, but they have changed the hatch lids and made them flush with the deck, and have fitted a gutter system. What this mean is that your hatch lid is flush with the deck but if water gets onto the deck it will not run into your hatches but will rather drain away through the gutter system. The back of the boat has been straightened out to provide more protection for the motors against spray. The splash-well has been made smaller which means that less water will accuSKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 49

mulate in the splash-well and you will have better buoyancy. The bow has been raised, but note that this has only been done on the center console Seacats and not on the forward consoles. Taking a look at the whole layout, starting from the back you get the splash-well which is smaller than before, with two nice seats fitted just in front of the roll bar. This Seacat 565 CC has been fitted with a nice livebait well with a glass window between the two back seats. The centre console has a beautiful stainless steel T-top with rod holders at the top. The new console area has plenty of space for all the electronics that your heart desires. There are two fish hatches, one on each side of the deck, with two fuel hatches — also one on each side — built into the deck with a nice drainage system that will minimise the risk of water flowing into the hatches. There’s a comfortable bum box with hatch and seats behind the centre console. In the front you have two hatches and the anchor hatch. The gunnels are higher than before and space has been created to fit rods into the side of the gunnels. There’s plenty of open space on this boat as well as a lot of storage space. The Seatcat 565 CC’s well thought-out layout means it’s one of the few boats where you really could fish with ease 360 degrees around the boat without any obstruction. I don’t think there are many more changes that Grant could come up with, but I’d better bite my tongue because every time I say that he manage to shut me up. CONCLUSION I have to say that this is one of the softest boat rides I have been on. Furthermore, the great surprise I got with the two 70hp Yamaha two-strokes will make me think twice before I just buy four-strokes in future. Grant has once again done an awesome job with all the changes and, as usual, his work is also of a very high standard. Yamaha are very blessed to have somebody like this in their corner producing such high quality boats for them. This boat is an all-rounder that will suit the serious deep sea angler as well as inland anglers who focus on freshwater fishing. The Seacat 565 CC is easy to tow around and I know that Ryan Hansen uses this boat personally for competitions as well as video footage for TV programmes. If you really are interested and you have a limited budget speak to the guys at Durban Yamaha; they might be able to give you a good deal on a Seacat with two-stroke Yamahas on the back. 50 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

TACTICS

By Jaco Lingenfelder REDGE fishing for pelagic fish started in the ’80s when a few captains in South Florida got the idea of emulating a bait ball by stringing up a bunch off mullet on a homemade dredge bar. The technique was so effective that it’s said that Captain Chip Schaffer would rather cut off his dredge than give away his secret to competing boats. However, as with most fishing secrets, the word got out anyway and soon after boats all up and down the sailfish circuit had made the switch to trolling mullet dredges for sailfish. Today dredge fishing is almost a staple for all fishermen targeting billfish on the sailfish circuit.”

“D

52 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

Pic 1: Dredge weight and cable.

Pic 2: Dredge at the correct depth. That’s the answer I got from Squidnation founder, Bill Pino, when I met him at a tournament in North Carolina and asked how this aspect of our sport got started. I was introduced to dredges for the first time while fishing for white marlin and sailfish off North Carolina and the Dominican Republic. At first I thought”“What are these guys doing? They’re going to scare my fish away!” but I soon realised the fish tended to come up behind the dredges every time. I immediately started investigating this set-up and whether it would work in South African waters. I subsequently got into contact with Bill Pino, the modern day father of artificial squid dredges and the owner of Squidnation. The growing popularity of artificial dredges has made it a regular option for most lure fishermen targeting billfish. The idea is simple — troll a bait ball behind your boat and marlin and sailfish will appear to eat the bait ball. Pull it away from them and they need to eat something else; the fish will switch from the ball that mysteriously disappeared to your trolled baits or lures. Most dredges are single, double or triple tier stainless steel

Pic 4: Dredge boom.

Pic 3: Electric reel setup through outrigger. dredge bars which are slow trolled between 4- and 6.5 knots (7.5-12km/h) about 15 to 21m behind the boat. Various weight options from 1kg to 2.7kg rigged on a cable (see picture 1) in front of the dredge get them far enough below the surface that they don’t pop out of the water but still shallow enough that they can be seen by the anglers (see pictures 2 and 3). If you can’t see the dredge you can’t see the fish behind it and the fish can sit behind the dredge for a long time until it loses interest. There are many reasons for this progression to artificial dredges — bait availability, speed of trolling, cost, preparation time and ultimately effectiveness. We just don’t have enough suitable bait in South Africa so the artificial dredges are the only option for us. Good halfbeaks can be scarce and anglers prefer to use them for hooked baits. The use of artificial dredges also allows you to troll faster. Squid dredges can be pulled as fast as 9 knots (16km/h) when hunting for bait balls and billfish. Squid dredges, mudflap dredges and shad dredges give the angler plenty of choices on shape, colour and sizing. With the advancements of dredge cams most of the SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 53

Illustration 1: Electric reel setup through outrigger.

Illustration 2: 80 lb reel through outriggers.

Illustration 3: 80 lb reel through dredge boom.

54 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

assumptions we’ve been making can now be proved. Numerous videos show billfish rising up to an artificial dredge, slapping at it once and then going straight to a bait. So dredges raise billfish, but do they work in South Africa. Yes, definitely, as can be seen in the results from the past few tournaments where the top boats were all pulling dredges. In the last OET the top two boats were both pulling dredges — Hotline pulling a Pulsator dredge and Jean Mari pulling a Squidnation dredge — and they raised most of the billfish behind the dredges. I asked Jean Mari’s skipper Japie Kleinhans and crew member Nick Nel whether the dredges worked and Japie replied, “For sure! We raised billfish every day except the f*?#! day my crew left the dredge on the side!” With all that said and done, figuring out how you pull a dredge from a skiboat was the next challenge. “We don’t have that type of boat,” is usually the first answer you get when suggesting that skippers try dredges. Wrong. You can easily rig a complete electric dredge reel from a ski-boat (see picture4 and illustration 1). If you don’t want to invest in an electric reel use an old 80 lb setup that would work just as well (see illustration 2). In both the electric reel and 80 lb reel setups the dredge is run from the outrigger with a snatch pulley system. The reason for this is the speed at which you can retrieve the dredge and the reduced strain that is put on the reel when you retrieve the dredge. If you feel your riggers are not strong enough for this setup you can use a dredge boom (see picture 5 and illustration 3). This is an independent boom that can be placed in your standard 30 degree rod holder in the gunnel of the boat. This will take the dredge out to the desired position without straining your riggers. The setup uses the same snatch pulley system as shown before. Set up from the pulley to the dredge is the same for all the above mentioned systems. Spool the reel with 300- to 500 lb mono as the dredges create a large drag through the water. Place a screw swivel or snap-on swivel of at least 500 lb between the mono and the dredge weight. Then make up a cable around 500mm long, from 800 lb stainless cable, with at least a 500 lb swivel on either end to link between the dredge and the dredge weight (see picture 1). Always inspect the swivel and the cable before you put the dredge in the water as 90% of dredges are lost between the weight and the dredge due to swivel failure. You should now have a successful dredge fishing setup.

Subscribe to

between 1st May 2018 and 1st August 2018 and win

YOUR NEXT YEAR’S SUBSCRIPTION ABSOLUTELY FREE! Three lucky subscribers will each win a full year’s subscription to SKI-BOAT magazine, valued at the newsstand price of R210. This means, should you subscribe and win, you will receive your next year’s subscription ABSOLUTELY FREE!

DON’T DELAY, SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 1 YEAR — 6 ISSUES

R210 Now R180,00

E V SA 5% 1

All about action!

Yes! Enter my subscription to SKI-BOAT Magazine I save 14% on the newsstand price! 1 Year (6 issues) only R180.00. Save R30.00! New subscriber Existing subscriber

ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN E-ZINE. Get your FREE digital subscription at www.issuu.com

Name .......................................................................................................................................... Address ....................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................Code:............... Telephone .................................................(Home) .................................................. (Work)

All about fishing!

Cell............................................. Foreign subscriptions:

Email Address.................................................................

Airmail • Overseas and African countries add R320 Airmail • Namibia and Swaziland add R250

Subscription to commence with...................................................................................issue Payment options: Credit card, direct deposits or EFT Credit card details: No.

VISA CARD

MASTERCARD Expiry date: ............................... ...........................(signature)

MAIL TO: Angler Publications, PO Box 20545, Durban North 4016 For instant credit card orders, phone (031) 572-2289 or fax (031) 572-7891 or subscribe directly via the web on <www.africanangler.com> BANKING DETAILS FOR DIRECT DEPOSITS OR INTERNET PAYMENTS (eft) A/C Name: Angler Publications • Bank: First National Bank • Branch: Durban North • Branch Code: 220426 • A/C Number: 50790026585

Please fax proof of payment and address details to (031) 572-7891 OR email to <jane@mags.co.za>

FREE DIGITAL E-ZINE ON WWW.ISSUU.COM SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 57

Kingfisher Award Application Form I hereby apply for the Kingfisher Award in the category:

Meritorious Fish

Outsanding Catch

Tick the appropriate box and supply us with the following information. Please remember to print clearly.

Applicant’s Details: Name: ................................................... Address: ............................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... Code: .................................................... Tel No: ................................................... E-mail: ............................................................... Club (if member): .................................. ............................................................... I, the undersigned, agree to abide by the rules of this award. Signature: .............................................. Meritorious Fish Species: ................................................ Weight: .................................................. Date of Capture: .................................... Where Caught: ...................................... Skipper's Name: .................................... Outstanding catch Category applied for (tick appropriate box): 3:1

5:1

7:1

10:1

Species: ................................................ Weight: .................................................. Line class: ............................................. Date of Capture: .................................... Where Caught: ...................................... Skipper's Name: .................................... Digital emailed photographs should be high-resolution.

42 • SKI-BOAT May/June 2018

YOUR favourite offshore angling magazine, SKI-BOAT, in conjunction with The Kingfisher and the South African Deep Sea Angling Association, is proud to offer all South African ski-boaters the unique opportunity to win awards for excellence in angling. All deep sea anglers who achieve laid down standards of excellence will be entitled to apply for the KINGFISHER AWARD. Upon ratification by a panel of adjudicators, the angler will receive a handsome digital certificate, suitably inscribed. The Kingfisher Award will be made for fish caught in two sections: 1) The Kingfisher Award - Meritorious Fish To satisfy the requirements for this award, anglers are required to catch a fish included in the list detailed hereunder, equal to or better than the nominated weight. Tackle used is of no consideration here, the RULES: 1) There is no restriction on the number of awards which can be applied for. 2) Award applicants must submit a photograph of the relevant fish with the application form, preferably a photograph of the angler holding the fish. 3) SKI-BOAT reserves the right to use the photograph as it sees fit. 4) Entries must be on the official form which is included in all issues of the magazine. 5) Entires must be received within 45 days of capture. 6) Certificates awarded will be as follows: Meritorious Fish - Gold Outstanding Catch 3:1 - Bronze; 5:1 and 7:1 - Silver; 10:1 - Gold 7) No witnesses of the catch are required. The award is made in the true spirit of sportsmanship and relies on the integrity of the angler to make a just claim. 8) A selection of award winners’ names will be announced in future issues of SKIBOAT, along with relevant photographs. 9) Award applicants should allow 30-45 days for processing of applications. 10) There is no charge for Kingfisher Awards.

fish's weight being the main criterion. The different eligible fish and their corresponding minimum nominated weights are as per the list below. A gold digital certificate will be awarded for this achievement. Complementing this section is the second award category: 2) Kingfisher Award - Outstanding Catch To satisfy the requirements for this award, anglers can catch any recognised fish and the weight of that fish must equal or exceed certain laid down fish weight:line class ratios. Awards will be made in the following ratio categories: 3:1 – Bronze Award 5:1 – Silver Award 7:1 – Silver Award 10:1 – Gold Award. Applies to IGFA line class 1kg , 2kg, 4kg, 6kg, 10kg, 15kg, 24kg, 37kg and 60kg.

SPECIES: Barracuda Dorado Kingfish (Ignobilis) Garrick (Leervis) King Mackerel (’Cuda) Black Marlin Blue Marlin Striped Marlin Prodigal Son Sailfish (Pacific) Spearfish (Longbill) Spearfish (Shortbill) Tuna (Big Eye) Tuna (Longfin) Tuna (Yellowfin) Wahoo Yellowtail

NOMINATED WEIGHT: 15kg 12kg 20kg 12kg 15kg 100kg 100kg 60kg 15kg 25kg 20kg 20kg 30kg 25kg 50kg 15kg 15kg

RELEASED BILLFISH AND GT (Ignobilis) KINGFISH With the strong trend towards releasing these and other fish, we have decided to amend the Kingfisher Award rules to provide for acknowledgement of all released fish. All we need is a photo of the fish being released or prior to release (e.g. GT held on boat) and the approximate weight of the fish which should fall in line with the stipulated weights set out above. In line with this trend we will not be carrying photographs on the Kingfisher Award Page of any of the billfish species nor GTs other than those that are released.

Submit application to: Kingfisher Awards, PO Box 20545, Durban North 4016 or email angler@mags.co.za

TOP CATCHES

Achieving an IGFA Billfish Royal Slam in African waters By Jonathan Booysen

HE IGFA’s Billfish Royal Slam Club is one of the most prestigious and revered angling clubs in all of sportfishing, recognising individual anglers who catch — or catch and release — the required nine species of billfish during his or her lifetime. The proviso is, of course, that the catches must be made in line with IGFA rules. Currently only two South Africans hold this prestigious title, namely Trevor Hansen and myself. The specified species for the Billfish Royal Slam are Atlantic and Indo-Pacific sailfish, Atlantic and Indo-Pacific blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, white marlin, swordfish, and spearfish. Catching all these species requires many dedicated hours on the water, several international trips to various locations and obviously a great deal of luck.

INDO-PACIFIC SAILFISH The Indo-Pacific sailfish is any light tackle angler’s ultimate fish. This fish is exciting to catch because it comes into one’s trolled spread of small lures with its flanks striped in purple bands and its head and lance-shaped bill half out of the water as it strikes. Then all hell breaks loose as it rushes into the air showing off its large dorsal sail. It’s a White marlin caught off Morocco.

60 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

sight the angler connected to the other end of the line will never forget. I caught my first sailfish in January 1995 while looking for marlin livebait off Cape Vidal. At the time I was planning to catch a marlin in an effort to kickstart my ambition to target the many billfish species we have in our

waters. The sailie was thus not specifically targeted, and it took a small Sailure I had out for a dorado. Indo-Pacific sailfish are prolific in hot tropical waters such as those which stretch from the KwaZulu-Natal coast all the way up Africa’s eastern seaboard to Somalia and into the Persian Gulf.

The north Kenya coast, specifically off Malindi, has proved to have the most productive sailfishery of this continent’s eastern coast. In fact, it’s not uncommon to have double digit catches of sails during the sailfish season which stretches from October to late January. BLACK MARLIN Black marlin used to be the bread and butter of South Africa’s pioneer marlin anglers like Tom Woodhouse, Piet Joubert, Piet van Dyk, Erwin Bursik, Casper Walker and the Maree brothers. Almost all fishing was done with livebait and in relatively shallow water from 40m to 200m. Tournaments such as the OET and Billfish 15 000 were dominated by black marlin catches with the odd stripey in between. Livebaiting became an art form involving catching the often super skittish tuna, keeping it alive and avoiding the sharks and wahoo. I was privileged to witness the latter part of this fishery from 1995 when I hitched rides with the old salts of the marlin game and managed to catch a few myself with my first being in March 1996. As the billfish bug bit more and more anglers, the number of boats targeting marlin increased dramatically. Livebaiting took a back seat as lure fishing became the more popular and, dare I say, easier fishing method. The art of catching and keeping bait alive was lost while the lure fishery blossomed. This, coupled with the introduction of 4-stroke motors, made lure trolling more affordable. As a result, more surface area was being covered and deeper waters were being explored. This opened the door to South Africa’s blue marlin fishery. INDO-PACIFIC BLUE MARLIN The effectiveness of lure trolling cannot be questioned. In fact, the number of strikes from marlin have increased so dramatically with the advent of lures

Striped marlin caught off Richards Bay, tagged and ready for release. that even the most hardened livebait anglers hang up their catalinas and leave their bait rods at home in favour of “pulling plastic” around for the day. Trolling lures effectively did, however, require an adjustment in tackle. Longer and stiffer outriggers were required as well as an arsenal of heavy tackle rods and reels, not to mention the bags and bags of different lures. Probably the biggest change that came about was the shift to larger boats which gave lures a better action and improved results. One of the first “big boat” marlin tournaments hosted in South Africa was the Black Watch Billfish Tournament fished out of Richards Bay. I managed my first Indo-Pacific blue marlin at the inaugural Black Watch Tournament held in January 2005, and was lucky enough to catch one at the 2006 event too. This tournament put Richards Bay and its considerable blue marlin fishery on the map and attracted many billfish anglers who had been honing their lure trolling skills. The results are obvious as no less than three grander blue marlin have been weighed in KZN, all caught on lures.

Atlantic sailfish caught off Angola.

STRIPED MARLIN In 2009, the year that I caught my first stripey, there was an influx of striped marlin all the way from northern KZN down to Struisbaai. It was a sight for sore eyes as they had been virtually absent from our waters for nearly a decade. All the billfish tournaments held that year recorded record numbers of strikes. Unfortunately, due to the feeding habits of these finicky fish which “sword fight” the lure with the tip of their bills, most strikes only last a few seconds before the hooks slide off the bill. To increase the chances of hooking these stripeys most anglers scaled down their tackle, reducing line class, lure size and hook size. Others focussed their efforts on pulling teasers and using pitch baits with some success. South Africa’s fishery is a bit of a double-edged sword in that we have so many varied species available to target, but they are all found in the same areas so you never know what is going to show up in your scaled down stripey spread. It could be a small spearfish or a grander blue. SPEARFISH For the Billfish Royal Slam the spearfish is considered the most difficult of the nine species to catch. There are, however, four species which fall under the spearfish family. The most common one is the shortbill spearfish. It is relatively common off the northern KZN coastline, but most anglers head to Hawaii to tick this species off their list. Other spearfish which count for the slam are longbill, Mediterranean and roundscale spearfish. For the spearfish category of my Royal Slam application I submitted details of a longbill spearfish catch made in May 2016. It was quite a special fish because, according to the geneticists at Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), it was the first

Indo-Pacific sailfish caught off Cape Vidal.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 61

documented occurrence of a longbill spearfish outside of the Atlantic Ocean. (See the July/August 2016 issue of SKIBOAT.) That’s why I say it sometimes takes luck to be successful. Looking at the Richards Bay statistics of shortbill catches from the previous few years, there seems to be a pattern showing that they prefer warmer water of 26- to 28°C during the months of January and February. When it comes to lures, these fish have got attitude and are not afraid of tackling a big lure. Unfortunately this normally results in a bad hookup rate, so the smaller the lure the better. The average size of the fish is between 10kg and 20kg, so it won’t provide much sport on the average heavy marlin gear. ATLANTIC BLUE MARLIN AND ATLANTIC SAILFISH For many years Angola was an unknown billfish destination; skip forward a decade or so and it is now arguably one of the best places in the world to catch record size and numbers of Atlantic sailfish. The 11 current world records, including the All Tackle record of 64.6kg, are a testament to this. Not to be outdone,Angola’s blue marlin fishery is also right up there with the top-rated destinations in the world. Several granders have been caught in Angolan waters and 500 lb to 800 lb fish are common. I have fished in Angola on two occasions, both times out of the port of Lobito. The first trip was in March 2008 when I fished with my friend Marco Couto on his boat White Marlin. At that stage sailfish mania had not yet taken a grip and crews were mainly using heavy marlin gear, trolling with lures and bait-lure combinations, targeting the abundant blues. On one of the practice days I was lucky enough to be on the rod with a blue of around 400 lb which ticked the box of my first Atlantic species. In March 2015 I again fished out of Lobito in the 24th FIPS-M World Trolling Championship. It was a real eye-opener because in the few years since my previous visit the fishery had radically changed from being predominantly marlin-focused to being a light tackle sailfish mecca. During the practice days with Carlos Moran on Espirito do Raimundo and during the tournament days my team and I released 32 sailfish. The style of fishing is typical when it comes to targeting sailfish in that teasers and ballyhoo (halfbeaks) are the order of the day. The teasers included two weighted Squid Nation dredge teasers pulled off the stern cleats and two squid chains pulled through the outriggers. The tackle was 30 lb spinning gear which we used to troll Costa Rican X-rigged halfbeaks and lure-halfbeak combos. The 8/0 and 9/0 circle

A great day’s fishing off Richards Bay resulted in three marlin for Lihann’s crew, including one for Jonathan Booysen.

Atlantic blue marlin bait. White marlin bait.

hooks on 80 lb leaders worked perfectly on the 25kg to 50kg sails that we caught. (See the article “Angolan Bills” in the July 2015 issue of SKI-BOAT.) WHITE MARLIN For many years I thought of white marlin as an exotic species and believed one had no option but to travel to the USA or some remote Atlantic island for a chance of catching one. A few had,

however, been caught in Angola and, on the rare occasion, in the waters off the Cape, but neither was a consistently reliable option. I then contacted Trevor Hansen who had spent a season in Morocco. He spoke of an incredible white marlin fishery with double digit days up to 19 releases a day. It seemed to be a no brainer — Morocco it would be! In August 2017 a small group of fishSKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 63

SKI-BOAT magazine, in conjunction with Mercury, is proud to offer all junior deep sea anglers the opportunity to win awards for excellence in angling. If you are 16 years old or younger and you submit a photo of yourself and the fish you caught, you will receive a handsome certificate suitably inscribed confirming the catch.

This broadbill swordfish caught off Kenya rounded off Jonathan Booysen’s IGFA Billfish Royal Slam — all caught in Africa. ing friends and I arrived in Mohammedia, Morocco. We had booked a four-day trip on one of the local charter boats, but due to a luggage delay our gear only arrived after the second day. As a result we struggled a bit in the beginning, but still managed to release a couple of marlin, and by the end of the trip we had all ticked the white marlin box. It was mainly a “bait and switch” fishery where boats pull daisy chain teaser and hookless lures until a marlin — sometimes two or three — is raised. Depending on how the fish is behaving, live or dead mackerel are then pitched to the fish. From our experience, a dead bait/chugger on a 9/0 circle hook with a 100 lb leader worked the best. We were using 30 lb spinning and conventional gear which was perfect considering the fish were in the 25kg to 50kg range. On a normal day the routine would be to catch mackerel at a marker buoy just outside the harbour. After the livewell was full of decent size bait, we would run about 30km straight off Mohammedia in a depth of 110m to 160m where there were several rips and current lines that held the fish. There seemed to be a distinct morning bite and an afternoon bite, so it was important to get to the grounds as early as possible. BROADBILL SWORDFISH The final species on the list to complete the Royal Slam was a broadbill swordfish. Swordfish numbers have declined in South African waters to such an extent that it is almost not viable to fish for them. With this in mind, four of us 64 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

made our way to Watamu, Kenya, where there was a realistic chance of catching a swordfish. As luck would have it, I managed to tick the box on the first night — 22 March 2018. The fishing method used was to troll at night with a three-rod spread. The lures of choice are softheads with a strip of squid inside them, rigged with two 8/0 hooks set at 180 degrees to one another. A lightstick was attached to the 250 lb leader about 5m up from the bait. Two rods were fished off the outriggers and one off the downrigger. The downrigger was set at 30m while the two outrigger lines were set at 25m and 45m respectively. Most of the strikes were on the downrigger, but if the fish missed the hooks, they often came back for another shot on the long rigger lure. The trolling speed was about 3-4 knots. The area we fished was dotted with seamounts between 400m and 650m. When one of the boats had a strike, the other boats immediatey moved into the area as broadbill tend to hold in a small area. Most of the broadbill were on the small side — 10- to 30kg, but we found out that there are a few big fish lurking about in between when Herman Olivier fought a fish for three and a half hours only to have the hook pull a few metres from the boat. In total it took me 23 years to complete my Billfish Royal Slam and I am proud to be the first person to have caught all the species from the African continent. Sincere thanks to my father and all my fishing friends who have spent countless hours with me on the water; without them it would not have been possible, nor would it have been any fun.

And there’s more ... Once a year the names of all junior anglers whos photographs appeared on the Mercury Junior Angler page will be included in a lucky draw and the winner will receive, courtesy of Mercury, a fantastic prize of a 2.5hp outboard motor. All you need to do is send us a photograph of yourself and your catch, together with the following details: • Your name address, telephone number and date of birth • Species and weight of the fish you caught • Line class used • Date and place fish was caught • Boat and skipper’s name All entries should be sent to : Mercury Junior Angler SKI-BOAT magazine PO Box 20545, Durban North 4016 or email your entry to <angler@mags.co.za>. There is no restriction on the number of awards that can be applied for, and SKI-BOAT magazine reserves the right to use the photographs as it sees fit. A selection of five award winners will appear in each issue of SKI-BOAT magazine. Junior anglers, Mercury and SKI-BOAT magazine acknowledge that you hold the future of our sport in your hands. Here’s your chance to show us what you can do!

COMPETITIONS

By Kirsten Veenstra Photos by Sean Todd

HE Atlantic Boat Club in Hout Bay, Cape Town, hosted the inaugural Tuna Masters Invitational Offshore Championship during the week of 16 to 21 April 2018. Located in picturesque Hout Bay,

Seriola’s crew receiving their prize for being top boat.

66 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

the Club has often been referred to as the “home of offshore tuna fishing”. Hout Bay Harbour is conveniently centrally located to get to the fishing waters, whether the fish be in the north, the west or down at the canyon in the south. Typically in the April to June offshore fishing period, the big yellowfin tuna are often more prevalent in the west

and this year was no exception. With regular catches of yellowfin tuna weighing more than 80kg, the Tuna Masters boated some world-class. The event is a great addition to the Cape sport fishing calendar, along with the Two Oceans Tuna Derby which has been held annually during early November for the past 20 years.

The Tuna Masters has a unique format where an Elite Division fishing on 10- and 15kg line was held alongside the local sports anglers fishing 37kg lines. This year’s inaugural event saw 17 boats competing and three days of great fishing. The scoring changed from one fishing day to the next, making for nailbiting excitement. Sponsors Raymarine Electronics, Constantiaberg Landrover, Magsons Marine and Seaport Supply Cape Town came on board to contribute to a really great event. Despite the two beautiful yellowfin of 91kg caught by the anglers aboard Tuna Cat-Cha, it was the consistent daily aggregate achieved by the team aboard Seriola which made them top boat. Tuna Cat-Cha came in second overall with Kazkazi in third place. Simon Walker and Andrew Fraser fishing on Tuna Cat-Cha each caught a 91kg yellowfin and won the prize for the heaviest fish on a 37kg line. Among the Elite anglers, top honours went to the team aboard Kraken, with the Atlantic Boat Club old boys of Gerard van Bonde, Kevin Hodgson, Dale Nicholay and Andre de Jager just beating the current SADSAA Tuna Nationals team of Chris Pike, Marius Coetzee and

Delano Goldberg who were fishing with Nish Ebrahim on his new Magnum 2750, Monish. Frank Scholtz — fishing on Bluwater with Rian Raubenheimer, Patrick Christodolou and Dawie van Zyl — caught the heaviest tuna in the Elite Division, a magnificent 68.8kg fish.

This highly successful event will be a permanent feature on the Western Cape sport fishing calendar. To find out more, email <info@atlanticboatclub.co.za> or visit the Atlantic Boat Club website on <www.atlanticboatclub.co.za>.

Andrew Fraser poses with his prizewinning 91kg tuna. Photo by Melinda Els.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 67

PLACES

By Stuart Lacon-Allin Photos by Roy Skea OUCHDOWN in Auckland at midnight on Wednesday night was followed by two nights spent in Auckland city getting our bearings right and acclimatising after 24 hours of travelling. I say acclimatising, however the New Zealand conditions are extremely similar to Durban conditions in summer. Seven of us were on the trip of a lifetime to fish Three Kings Islands off New Zealand, but before we got fishing there was a lot of travelling to be done. From Auckland our group embarked on a five-hour

68 â&#x20AC;˘ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

minibus trip up through the KZN Midlands-like North Island of New Zealand, passing through the small towns of Whangarei, Kawakawa, Kerikeri. We finally reached our destination of Mangonui which is a small historic fishing village found in the far north of North Island. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s well-known for its water-based activities, 150 year old buildings and the Mangonui harbour which is the main centre of Doubtless Bay. Our trip really began that night when we took board on Enchanter, our fishing boat. We were going to spend the night on the boat and depart the Mangonui Harbour in the early hours of the next morning. Onboard we met our captain, Lance, senior deckhand, Nayte, and junior deckhand, Phil. They ran us through the proceedings, and for the rest of that

day and well into the night we were catching livebait and enjoying a few drinks with our crew. We’d been told that it was vitally important that we filled our livebait wells with kahawai, so we each picked up a small, light rod with a Sabiki and were given strict instructions that bed time was only once the wells were full. Towards the late afternoon this seemed near impossible as all we had caught was a stingray and about three kahawai, but the crew assured us that as soon as the sun went down we would be surprised at how quickly we would fill up our wells. So we stuck it out and as soon as the sun dropped behind the mountains it was a feeding frenzy like I’ve never seen before. Before we had flipped the bale back over we each had no less than three kahawai on our traces and then it was a race to get them to the boat before the small sharks got them. A little competition started between us South Africans and the Aussies on the boat next to us, and in no time our livebait wells were full. We were up bright and early and departed the harbour at first light. Our destination — the Three Kings Islands — was approximately 280 nautical miles out to sea and would take

us around 12 hours to get there. The waters off the North Island are rich with blue-, black- and striped marlin, so the whole way to The Kings we trolled for marlin with konas, using smaller konas to target skipjack tuna. These “skippies” were wild and would serve as good bait later on in the trip. We were unsuccessful with the marlin but managed to boat about eight skippies. While we were watching the sunrise out at sea we noticed the ocean was as flat as a dam; there was not a breath of wind the whole day which was very surprising to us as Cyclone Gita had hit there just a few days before we arrived. We finally reached The Three Kings Islands at about 6pm and anchored in a sheltered bay. Before it got dark we set up a few popping rods and thought we would have a few casts because gamefish often enter this bay for shelter; unfortunately we had no luck. That night when it got pitch black we fished for squid which is also extremely important bait for the yellowtail. We had to ensure that we covered all our bases in terms of bait and fishing techniques as the yellowtail can get shy of certain baits and jigs if they are frequently used.

Barry Miller (left) and Ruben Moggee show off their trophy yellowtail.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 69

Three Kings Islands produced numerous species including hapuka, striped marlin and yellowtail. This time we were each given a light rod with a squid jig and then it became a waiting game. The lights on the back of our boat were angled down into the water to attract the squid and we let our jigs out between the edge of the light and the darkness. The aggressive squid would attack the jigs on the surface and get themselves hooked. This was a first for the majority of us on the boat as fighting a squid is not a common thing. Phil, our junior deckhand was put on squid removing duty by Captain Lance and we soon realised why this was known as a dirty job. When you lift the squid out the water the first thing they do is squirt as much ink as they can and in as many directions as they can. The squid fishing was a little harder than the kahawai fishing, but we still managed to boat about a hundred squid. That was it, we had all of our bait and now we had to set up the rods as we would depart from the bay at first light the next morning and head to our first fishing spot. Our main target on the trip was yellowtail, known by the Kiwis as kingfish. Our main priority was to catch these yellowtail on jigs, but if the fish were jig-shy we would change to 70 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

the bait we had caught to try and get them on the bite. We were fishing with Jigging Master reels ranging from PE 7 to PE 8 matched with Jigstar Battle Royal medium/heavy rods, with 100-130 lb braid, 170-200 lb leader, and jigs ranging from 400-800 grams. A handy innovation was having our braid colour coded in ten metre sections so that we knew what depths we were fishing at. When we were nearing the mark Captain Lance would tell us how deep we should let our jigs down and how many colours we should jig up, then once we reached the mark he would give us the go ahead. It was vital that everyone taking part in the down let their jigs out at the same time to avoid any tangles. The actual jigging has a lot to do with technique which involves putting the butt of the rod under your arm and — whilst reeling in — whipping the rod in an up and down motion. The harder and quicker you jig the more movement you get on your actual jig and the more chance you have of attracting a fish. We fished in depths ranging from 80- to 160 metres for the yellowtail, and this really took its toll on the fishermen.

Beautiful strong trophy yellowtail for Stuart Lacon-Allin, Gregg Lacon-Allin and Dave Thomas and a really good hapuka for Gregg. The most important part of catching a yellowtail is the first 20 seconds after it’s hooked, as you have to pump your rod as hard as you can and reel in to ensure that the fish doesn’t get back into the rocks on the bottom and cut you off. It wasn’t long before each of us had boated a yellowtail, and although we were happy with our success, we were all searching for a trophy yellowtail over 25kg. The fishing was extremely tough because once you had caught one yellowtail your arms were burning, your back was stiff, and all you wanted was to lie down, but Captain Lance was adamant that we had to go straight back to the mark for another down. His tactics worked, and by the third day each person in our group had caught a trophy yellowtail, with the biggest being 37kg. On one of the days we decided that we would try to catch some different species, so we targeted hapuka and bluenose, which we found in depths of up to 350 metres. During two of the nights spent on the boat we also fished for broadbill billfish — pound for pound the strongest fighting fish in the ocean. That was when we put our skippies to

good use as nice big baits. We let our baits down with glow sticks attached to try and attract these fish, and we took shifts waiting up during the night to keep watch on these rods. On the second night we had some huge excitement when one of the rods went off; fortunately it was my turn on the rod. We were sure that it was a broadbill as this fish was really giving me the gears. Soon everyone on the boat was awake and the excitement was building as none of us had seen or caught a broadbill before. This turned out to be a two-and-a-half hour fight, but unfortunately it turned that a 250kg bronze whaler shark had taken the bait. Nevertheless it was a great fight and good fish to land. One of the other anglers caught a striped marlin which was also the cause of much excitement. Our trip was very successful and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Special mention must go to our crew and captain as they made it the experience of a lifetime. Many thanks also to Jigstar Africa for organising the trip and our fellow team mates who each got a trophy fish and made this an unforgettable trip. SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 71

BOATING

OLD MADE NEW A total rebuild of a 16ft Dorado

By Erwin Bursik

E often hear complaints that acquiring a ski-boat is hugely expensive and out of the financial reach of most aspirant offshore anglers. There’s no doubt that’s true, which is how Mark and Brad Justhom’s project began. With a lot of homework and a great deal of personal effort, they now have a craft that more than fulfils their fishing needs and is as good if not better looking than when she was first taken to sea nearly 20 years ago. I came to know this craft when I used it as a photo boat during the recent review of Natal Caravans’ Explorer 510 CC. During the run out to sea I experienced a ride that brought memories flooding back. “Mark, what hull is this?” I asked. “Not sure,” he replied. “I’m sure it’s a Dorado. I won’t ever forget this ride,” I commented before continuing my work of photographing the Explorer 510 CC. On the way home I inspected the craft more closely and paid more attention to its ride. To cut a long story short, Mark, who has his Natal Colours for light tackle gamefishing as well as bottomfishing, had given up his Tongaat beach launching days and wanted a bigger boat that would allow him and his brother to fish out of Durban harbour, yet still travel long distances to productive fishing grounds. So started a story of the magnificent and practical offshore fishing craft on which I was riding, and how it came to fruition ...

The rebuilt 16ft Dorado, Wet Dream, completed and ready to go fishing. By Mark Justham

Y brother Brad and I decided a while back that we wanted another boat, but after looking at many new and new used craft we realised that short of “hocking” our souls and homes to the bank, a craft such as those we were looking at was out of our reach.

While window shopping at Natal Caravans I stumbled on a weather-beaten old craft on an even more decrepit trailer. I took a closer look at the hull itself and, seeing that it was still solid and showed no sign of osmosis, I found myself mentally redesigning the deck and forward console area to suit our style of operation. Then I called Brad; “I think we can

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 73

The Dorado stripped down and ready to be rebuilt. Hatches ready to be positioned according to the brothers’ requirements.

The refurbished Dorado ready to be taken home for the final finishing. 74 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

make this work and the price is right, in fact it’s almost for nothing. Come and take a look.” The deal was done and we then started work and planning in earnest to realise our dream. We figured out the hull was a Dorado, so we took it to Tri-Boating who we knew had some of the moulds for this craft that might work. We asked him to strip off the entire top deck and open up the main deck. Another five months’ worth of work saw a new top deck moulding designed entirely by us to suit our style of fishing. The revamped deck and fuel-, fishand livebait hatches were all positioned where we wanted them and, following the fitting of carpets and a respray of the outer hull, we took delivery of the boat. Then we took it home where Brad, Nigel Gregson and I worked for months finishing off the stainless steel and hardware as well as the the electronics and fitting the motors we’d acquired. Finally the “Cinderella” of a boat we had dreamed about and on which we expended a huge amount of effort, came into her own. The trailer we stripped, re-galvanised, cut, welded and modified until it too was not only good looking, but also worked like a dream. We decided we were not going to go the “el cheapo” route when it came to electronics, steering and motors, so when we’d raked up sufficient money we would acquire an item then lovingly spend hours fitting it exactly where we wanted it to be. In hindsight this was fun, and every time we hit the deep reefs and all our conceptualising proved 100% perfect in practical operation, we knew that all the hard work was worthwhile. When it came to the motors we started with a pair of 50hp 4-stroke Suzukis that proved adequate, but after a while we experienced a lack of “grunt” and when a pair of 70hp 4stroke Yamahas became available we bit the bullet and traded in the Suzukis. We are delighted with our new power source. Brad and I don’t generally play around locally and, more often than not, run as far as Prince’s Grant on the North Coast and as far south as Umkomaas; our 16ft Dorado has proved to be the answer to the proverbial maiden’s prayer. In final summation, our boat cost us — in monetary terms — less than 50% of the price of any new or used craft of comparable size. We would never have found the money to fund the extra 50%, so if we hadn’t done it this way it would not have happened. In addition, we now have what is, to us, a dream boat and we can fish anywhere that the bigger boats can get to with a lot less fuel spend, allowing us to compete with the best out there.

MY BEST FISHING DAY SO FAR by Ross Webber (7)

FIRST went for a ride out on the sea with my sister on my grandpa’s boat in the Christmas holidays when I was four. My grandpa has a house at Tshani on the Wild Coast. After those holidays we moved to Cape Town and I did not get to go fishing for two years. My dad promised me I could go deep sea fishing in the Christmas holidays when we went to Tshani again. On 22nd December my dad and Uncle Kirk said the next day would be good for fishing and asked if I wanted to go with. Of course I said yes! We got up at 4.15am but luckily it was already daytime; I was so excited. We launched at Mdumbi and the sea was very flat with no waves. Uncle Kirk said we needed livebait so we caught some mackerel. It was lots of fun as there were sometimes nine on my line all at once. We started fishng for bottomfish in very deep water. Uncle Darren caught a red steenbras and I caught a dageraad and a soldier but they were small so I let them go. It was hard work as the water was 70m deep and the sinkers were heavy. I got sea sick a few times and did not want to eat anything, but I still did not want to go home. We then trolled and saw birds diving into the sea so we went towards them. Two of the reels started buzzing. It was my turn and as I took the rod the fish came off so Uncle Kirk said I could have his rod. It was heavy, but I lifted the rod and reeled down like I’d been taught. After a long time I saw the big tunny near the boat. Uncle Darren gaffed it and guessed it weighed 9kg. My dad and Uncle Darren also each caught a tuna, but I did not want another turn as I felt sick. There were so many birds diving and lots of dolphins, a turtle and a whale which was exciting to watch. One of the gold reels went again and a dorado was jumping behind the boat. I was given the rod and I reeled as fast as I could but it was very hard. My dad held the bottom of the rod so it didn’t fall into the sea. The dorado finally came next to the boat; the green, blue and gold colours were beautiful. It weighed 4.5kg. When we got back everyone was very happy to see I’d caught such big fish. We ate the tunny for supper and it was delicious. I hope I don’t have to wait two years for another chance to go deep sea fishing!

By James Taylor

OOD news for South Africa anglers is that Kilwa is once again offering great fishing — at a good price. Mwangaza Hideaway opened in 2011 to service my fishing clients and we had a couple of successful years and plenty of happy anglers, but the toll from illegal fishing methods by locals soon started to take effect. From the sights in the early 2000s of 60kg-plus yellowfin tuna breaking the surface and 40kg GTs smashing anything thrown at them, fishing in Kilwa started dipping a bit around 2012. Although the GTs weren’t targeted, the reefs and bait were being hammered. The fish simply weren’t there in

the numbers that they used to be and the result was that catch returns went down and our enthusiasm diminished. At the end of 2013 I signed a sale agreement for Mwangaza and the company boats, and soon we were changing fishing vessels into oil and gas supply boats for the inshore exploration along the south coast of Tanzania. In late 2015 I took my 36ft Tomcat up to Tanzania and kept my hand in with the odd charter through 2016. We had some decent days, but still nothing like it was. Late in the year the new government started to take an interest in conserving the resource and major policing began. Heavy fines were issued and boats were being confiscated for dubious fishing methods. Things were looking up again.

SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 77

February and March 2017 saw a good increase in the general fishing with more fish around of all species. I decided to fish October and November to see how it went and was reasonably well surprised . Over Christmas the investors in Mwangaza Hideaway asked me to return to the business and oversee running the boating side of the company with fishing being the main activity. Based on what I saw over the previous few months and what I know the potential is, I started with a few charters through February and March. Results were good with some fair GTs around the 20kg mark and a few bigger ones, plus more dogtooth tuna than I’ve experienced in a long time. Wahoo and the odd sailfish were also around and most afternoons small to medium yellowfin tuna were taken on spinning gear which is always fun.There was a definite improvement from the previous year . From May to August 2018 I will be renovating three boats for Mwangaza, then from 1st September we will be offering fishing off the Kilwa area. The good news is that we going to make it reasonably priced so anglers from South Africa can experience the area. Our operation at Kilwa has very good local captains who know the area well and have been fishing these waters for many years. Once they’re ready the boats will all have a decent GPS/chart plotter/sounder and one of our local captains will be onboard to assist clients with anything from skippering the boat to simply showing them the best areas. Boats can be driven by the client’s nominated person, and if they choose to have one of our experienced expat captains guide the trip, that will simply come with an extra cost to the group. Note to skippers and charter opera-

78 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2018

tors: This is an opportunity for you to get your crew or your favourite clients together and to come and captain the boat yourself; the captain’s fee then goes to you. Kilwa is the doorway to an awesome fishing region with many species of gamefish around. The numerous reefs and atolls facilitate casting poppers and vertical jigging which can be ver y rewarding. September is the best time for shoals of wahoo and plenty of GTs, while October and November offer the best sea conditions with most species around. Sailfish are best targeted during November up to mid-December. I don’t like to accept fishing bookings when the North Monsoon starts in midDecember as it can be a disappointing time wind-wise, but from the beginning of February to mid-April we again have very good months. Dogtooth tuna are around in their numbers throughout our season and time spent targeting these brutes can be rewarded with a fish of a life-time and definitely some stories about those that got away. Kilwa is easily accessed nowadays with a tar road the entire way. SAA flies into Dar es Salaam and we have vehicles that will collect clients at the airport and drive them the five hours down to Kilwa. Flights are also available to Kilwa although they’re a bit costly. All options can be discussed and a trip tailored to the client’s needs. Basically we’ve tried to make it affordable to visit our lodge and fish the rich waters that were previously only open to those who could afford the expensive trip. Accommodation starts at US$75 full board and fishing US$550 per day for the boat. For further details contact James on Whatsapp +255 784 637 026 or email <james@fishing-tanzania.com>.

DEADLINE FOR THE SEPTEMBER 2018 ISSUE OF

SMALLS BOAT FOR SALE

AD INDEX Adventure Tropical Charters . . . . . . 34 Anglers Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Bazaruto Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Cape Town Boat Show. . . . . . . . . . . 44

IS 20 JULY 2018 BOOK YOUR SPACE NOW BY PHONING JOAN ON 031-5722289 OR EMAIL adverts@mags.co.za

Club Marine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Durban SB Club Festival . . . . . . . . . 17 SEACAT in excellent condition, ready to launch, with 2 x 50hp 4-stroke Yamahas with trim & tilt beach kits. Includes UHF and VHF radios, new Garmin GPS/fishfinder loaded with all the marks, CD player, livebait well, all safety equipment plus fishing rods, reels, tackle and thousands of rands worth of lures. Price: R200 000 not negotiable Contact: Mike on 082 456 3897

Durban Yamaha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Garmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Lowrance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Mangwaza Hideaway . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 McCrystal Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 MDM — Raymarine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Mr Winch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Natal Caravans & Marine . . . . . . . . . . 2 Natal Power Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Natal Power Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Nauti-Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 OET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Rutherford Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Seaport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 SGDSAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Sodwana Tigerfish Bonanza . . . . . . . 72 Squidnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Supercat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Suzuki Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Kingfisher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 TOPS @ Spar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Turboformance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Two Oceans Marine. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Read....................... FREE ON WWW.ISSUU.COM

Vanguard Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Yamaha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Yamaha Seacat 565 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 SKI-BOAT July/August 2018 • 79

BUSINESS CLASSIFIEDS

80 â&#x20AC;¢ SKI-BOAT July/August 2018