Sublime Offshore Tuna Fishing

07/09/2022

When I started African Fishing Adventures a few years ago, I had a few goals in mind. One being, to put clients onto fish throughout the year by giving them access to what we have to offer in a holistic way. For that reason, we decided we cannot only specialise in one facet of saltwater fishing, but we need to cover all facets, onshore, inshore, and offshore. By following the seasons and catching what that season offers, has turned us into well-seasoned fishermen in all facets of saltwater fishing and has enabled us to put clients onto some trophy fish throughout the years. Truth be told, being able to fish onshore, inshore, and offshore truly adds some excitement to our lives and not a month goes by where we do no catch good fish. In fact, we can go as far and say, if trophy fish is your thing and you want to target different species, then we are the guys you go fishing with.

In this article, we will be sharing some our latest offshore adventures and boy oh boy, what an offshore season it has been for us. If there is one place you want to catch big Tuna in numbers, Cape Town is the place to be. We and our clients have really had a fantastic season and the good news, the end is not yet in sight for another few weeks. With some solid Yellow Fins and Long Fins landed the positive news is that generally the later in the season, the better chance of hooking into that Bluefin or Big Eye everyone so badly wants to catch.

Tuna fishing remains one of my favourite fish to target. The mere size and strength is something you have to experience for yourself and will leave you wanting more for sure. The long days and miles that you must endure flies out the window the moment you and that fish on the other end of the line battle it out. The different types of Tuna each have their unique way of fighting, but do not be fooled, no matter whether you have a Yellow, a Blue or a Big Eye on, the fight is epic either way. Some dive deeper than others and be assured during the battle, you ask yourself more than once why did you do this, but the reward after is indescribable.

A typical Tuna session starts off early morning and ends late. It is not uncommon running out and returning in the dark. You will generally get on a bigger boat with some solid outboards to cover some serious distance. Let me tell you what though, once you find the fish, the battle starts off with a bang. From the moment that Tuna takes off and the reel starts screaming, you will notice this is a different ball game all together. That reel screams in decibels you do not hear often and the fact that you have to use a harness and get strapped in to catch these fish, must tell you something.

Like with many of our sessions, we arrive on the Tuna grounds and start trawling a variety of back lines. This consists of a type of top water lure in the form of a spreader bar, a Bird and Squid combo or Deep Diving Rapalas and a few other lures. We play around with different colours and depths to try find the fish and try pick up on a pattern.

Some days you get lucky, and the strikes are instant, other days, you trawl for miles before you get a strike and the fish prefer eating on bait. This season, we have been lucky to get most strikes on the back lines early mornings and as the day progresses we catch them on bait.

On two occasions this season, we had the pleasure of having father and son duo, Gert, and Quintin on board. Both reside in Cape Town and they were referred to us by recurring clients we frequently fish with. The pressure is normally on when you get referrals because the expectation is already created you are the best. Luckily for us, we run a tight ship and only take clients when we know we stand the best possible chance to put them onto fish. Now that does not mean we are only “good weather fishermen”, we simply apply what we have learnt over the years and having a high success rate is critical for us. We have a reputation to uphold, and we do not compromise.

I started talking to Gert towards the end of 2021 to go Tuna fishing, but with weather patterns being very volatile, the season being later than usual and a few other factors, we could not get a suitable date until a few weeks back.

After keeping a close eye on conditions, our window finally opened. Everything fell perfectly into place, and I immediately informed Gert, we are ready to go that weekend. With months of excitement building for this session, we all looked forward to the day. We met each other at 6:00am in the morning at Miller Point Slip way.

We got on the boat and started our journey to the deep enjoying a beautiful sunrise on the water. We reached the tuna grounds and put out our backlines. Within 10 minutes we had our first run on the spreader bar and the battle was on. This fish dived down deep and after strapping Quintin in, we gave him the run down and guided him through the fight. He quickly caught on and he started fighting that fish like an absolute champion. The best words you can hear during a fight is, the word “colour”. This is an indication that the fish can now be seen and not that deep anymore, but that does not mean the fight is over. In fact, this is where you need to be extremely patient and careful that you do not get over excited. After about 50 minutes, when we saw the colour, we could see that it was a good size Yellow Fin.

Quintin did exactly what we told him and allowed the fish to do its thing by doing the spiral and before we knew it, the fish was on the water ready to be gaffed. This was not a small fish either and we managed to successfully gaff the fish, bleed it, and pull it on board. Once on board, we where elated and a mandatory high five all around took place. The fish was in stunning condition and weighed in at 75kg. Not a bad fish as your first Yellow Fin Tuna. Quintin sat down for a well-deserved rest.

Now it was Dads turn, and we made got Gert ready for his turn. We trawled a while longer, bit the fish seemed to have other plans. We managed to land a Long Fin in between, but not what we were looking for. We eventually joined the “bundle” and started fishing with bait. It was a slow start and we worked through a few boxes of bait, and just like that we had that reel take off and sing a tune we have hoped for the whole day.

We could hear this was a good run and we strapped Gert in for his fight. After some guidance Gert got the hang of it and started working that fish like he has been doing it for years. After 1 hour of hard fighting, we finally saw colour. It was another Yellow Fin, but a bit bigger than the fish already on board. Another 10 minutes and we had our gaffs in and ready to pull the fish onboard. This was a butter ball of note and weighed in at 83kg.

We could see the guys where tired from the day and decided to call it a day. We headed back just in time before sunset and snapped a few pictures for the memory book. A tougher day, but still a success and many memories made.

A few weeks passed, and we got a few other clients onto some fish. Forming close relationships with our client is critical and Gert and I stayed in communication, and I gave him frequent updates. I think “FOMO” took over and he could not miss out any further and they decided to book their second offshore session to the deep with us.

We obviously welcomed Gert and Quintin back with open arms. With returning clients, we know we cannot slack, and we must bring our A-Game as usual. Expectations are high and we must uphold it. A storm has just passed, and it was the first gap we had in the weather. From what we have heard, the fish have moved a few miles West and we decided we will be running out of Hout Bay. We met each other 6:00am and made our way to the deep. This time around, it was a much further run out to the deep. We reached about 40 nautical miles offshore and started doing what we do best. We put out our back lines and started trawling. We trawled and trawled with no luck. We managed to find different patches of water and temperatures, but no luck. We will trawl a good few miles and pack up to try the next spot. This is when you realise just how big the ocean really is and the fish can be anywhere. We where also out of range so could not hear the other boats and what they where doing. We were on our own, but we have confidence in our abilities and experience, and we will not be put off by other factors. We knew we had to work hard and find our own fish, so we continued the search.

Experience really helps in situations like this, and we saw a sign in the distance, luckily towards the shore. We headed that way and every mile we got closer; the signs were looking more promising. Time was not on our side either and it was now 14:00 in the afternoon with no fish onboard yet. We let out our backlines out and almost instantly, we had out first run. We came across a school of Long Fin Tunas, and we managed to get a few out of them. For the client it was fish on board, and they were happy and having fun. In all honesty, we were a bit disappointed, and it is not what we came for, but it is what it is. At 16:00 we decided to bring our lines in and make our way home as we had some serious distance to cover.

As murphy will have it, we looked down at the fish finder and it was full of marks. We know these marks all to well and I recall turning around saying the Gert and Quintin, you are going to be late tonight. They did not hesitate, and we stripped 2 bait lines down. I broke the chum with my hands as we have packed away most equipment already. Within 2 minutes both reels took off and we had to jump to get Gert and Quintin buckled and strapped in.

We could not ask for anything better, A father and son double up on number 99. What a time to be alive and we were all ecstatic. After a while, the lines have managed to cross a few times and Gert lost his fish. I quickly got another rod out and stripped it down. With 18 seconds it took off again and Gert was on again.

I must applaud both Gert and Quintin for fighting these fish the way they did. Both fish was onboard with 40 minutes, and they were good sizes too. Quintin’s fish weighed in at 78kg and Gert’s fish weighed in at 67kg. We ended the day with 8 fish on board and happy as can be. We had about 36 miles to cover back to shore and made our way back to Hout Bay, only to arrive in the harbour after dark.

Once again, it just comes to show, when it comes to fishing, it is never the same. Your success is dependant on your effort and never ever give up. We said our goodbyes and went our ways. We really enjoyed our sessions with Gert and Quintin, and we trust they did too.

If you want to take advantage of what’s left of the Tuna season in Cape Town, get in touch with us and let us help you make your dreams come true. We promise to put the same effort in for each client!

Until next time and tight lines!