Ski-Boat — May-June 2017

By Daryl Bartho

I

T was back in 1997 while fishing
with my buddy Shaun Steyn off La
Mercy that he asked me if I had
ever hooked a dolphin. I gave it
some thought and replied with a defi-
nite no. The reason for his question
was that a pod of dolphins was racing
up from behind us. We were trolling on
my first ski-boat, an old 14’6” Olufsen
Ski-Vee that my late grandfather had
helped me buy.
No sooner had I told Shaun that I
had never heard of anybody hooking a
dolphin, than the port side reel started
screaming! I distinctly remember think-
ing, “How could there be one dolphin
in that pod so determined to prove me
wrong?”
The line continued to peel off the
reel at pace, and just before I ran out of
line it went slack. My heart sank as I
tried furiously to retrieve the slack, hop-
ing that this fish had just turned and
was swimming towards us.
Shaun naturally assumed we had
just hooked one of the dolphins, but I
wasn’t convinced even though the
speed and power of the fish on the end
of the line had me second-guessing.
A few months later we were
spearfishing off Aliwal Shoal. It was mid
February and the Umkomaas was spew-

ing out chocolate brown water. The

launch was cheeky, but after negotiating

a few waves we raced out to the north-

ern pinnacle in search of the warm blue

water and summer ’cuda.

As our GPS signalled 500m to go, I

realised that it was not going to be the

perfect blue water from top to bottom

as reported the day before; there was

now a half-metre of brown water that

was hiding the perfect blue water just a

few feet below. Sometimes you will see

the clean and brown water getting

churned up in your propwash during

the summer rainfall months.

We decided to jump into the water

anyhow and see if we could get a few

fish. It can be a bit unnerving breathing

up on the surface in zero visibility, but

the lure of the shoals of ’cuda and clean

water below somehow made it worth-

while.

On my first dive, as soon as I had

made my way through the dirty water,

everything opened up and the water

was blue and gin clear. It took a few

seconds for my eyes to adjust. From my

left a huge pod of dolphins

approached. Mesmerised I lay there

admiring how effortlessly they swam ...

and then the distinct black barrel

shapes with yellow streaks appeared!

Yellowfin, and big ones at that!

Following the pod of dolphins was this

huge shoal of big yellowfin tuna. I took

aim and slowly squeezed the trigger, but

nothing happened — my safety was on!

I quickly turned off the safety and

locked my sight on one of the other

tuna.

I aimed at the head, but by the time

my spear made contact it was 20cm

away from its tail. After a long battle

the tuna managed to work its way free

and I was left cursing and gasping for

air in the dirty surface layer.

SOLID ASSOCIATION

Over time we gradually began associat-

ing pods of dolphins with tuna, but it

wasn’t until we were regularly using

braided casting lines and surface pop-

pers that we started seeing the full

scope of targeting tuna along our east

coast. Now that we have been fishing

specifically for these bigger tuna we are

definitely starting to see patterns

emerging and have a better idea of

what tackle is needed to tame these

brutes.

Unlike anglers who fish the waters

of the Cape, we are targeting our tuna

in depths from 8m to 50m and the fight

can vary depending on the depth. We

also have to contend with the ever-pre-

sent Tax Man which adds another

dimension when you’re trying to suc-

cessfully land these fish.

SKI-BOAT May/June 2017 • 25

A good haul after a day out

on Gone Fishin’.