Revelations Tuna Hunt Part I
Reply With QuoteNext up to the fighting deck was captain Wiets and after a spirited fight another boni was boated. The picture taking was a delicate affair with Captain Wiets’s sparkling white top (emblazoned with Revelations) and a vibrating bleeding boni an unlikely pair. Mad Matt delivered the coup de grace and suddenly it looked like we were pros. Yachtmaster Brent was next and showed us that you don’t need fancy rods, reels and rapalas to catch fish. With his 500lb handline he simply pulled in the next boni as if he was pulling up a sail – Mad Matt did the honours and another boni joined it’s friends.
First mate Rols was feeling a bit left out and the next fish was his for the taking. With the reel screaming and the first mate offering the rod to everyone else on the boat we finally convinced him it was his. Closer to the boat the numberplate turned into a flying fish and first mate Rols realised it just wasn’t his day as far as fish were concerned. Mad Matt saw lots of flytying potential with the first mates flying “fish” but after some careful surgery we released him and he managed to fly off to tell his mates that diving for these flashy things ripping through the water was an unhealthy pastime.
With the fishing slowing down, the discussion turned to the best way of tying Bimini Twists. Our Ashley Read spoons must have overheard the conversation and in the blink of an eye they were going for a world record bimini twist. A hundred meters of twisted line is quite a sight and after a brief discussion, Mad Matt handlined the whole lot in, snipped off the spoons and sent them back out to untangle themselves. Ten minutes later, they were still deciding whether to undo themselves or better their previous record so we brought them back in and undid them by hand. With our fishing reduced to Snoekie Line Brent (who during the day had been attempting a couple of bimini world records himself) we got quite desperate and sent the lines back out without allowing them to unravel properly first. You guessed it, five minutes later we were trying to decide if it would be better to just cut the whole lot off or simply tie 9/0 hooks to all the “droppers”, bait them with frozen sardines and send them back out. We finally had them unravelled and sent them out again. Suddenly Brent/Matt/Rols/Darryl had a bite – we pulled in a tangle of lines, cut off lures, had a sword fight and decided that one of us must have hooked the fish as it was lying on the deck with Mad Matt about to conk it with a winch handle.
With all the excitement of the day, we decided to turn around and start heading back. The captain and his good lady retired for a snooze (I suspect they had their drinks spiked by the first mate) and first mate Rols staged a one-man mutiny, banished yachmaster Brent to his handline in the corner and grabbed the wheel of the ship. Captain Rols whipped us into shape and had a constant supply of grog brought out to him at regular intervals with threats of keelhauling if we didn’t obey his orders. He spent a lot of time with his hand on the foghorn, swearing at tanker captains and accusing them of cutting into his lane. It was one of the finest cases of Wave Rage I have ever seen.
Small pods of porpoises teased me by disappearing the moment I picked up my camera. Seals appeared and disappeared and we passed flottilas of penguin’s foragging for food. Captain Wiets and Sue woke just before the harbour mouth and with their combined strength we managed to wrestle the wheel back from First Mate (once removed) Rols. Instead of throwing him in the Brig, Yachmaster Brent had him scaling masts, working winches and generally working off the grog. Once the sail was down, Captain Wiets took us for a guided tour around the harbour. Yachtmaster Brent took over for the final docking and it felt good but sad to be back on Mother Earth.
We washed the boat down from bow to stern and passed Captain’s inspection first time. Mad Matt kindly offered to clean and fillet the fish – I think he was just happy to have a knife in his hands again. We also checked his bags as he left the ship and managed to get the winch handle back without too much of a fight. It was one of the most enjoyable and memorable days I have had in a long time.
On a slightly more serious note, I would just like to thank everyone for the amazing day out!
To Wiets and Sue: Thank you so much for your generosity in inviting us, feeding us, giving us T-shirts and caps and generally making us feel at home on your beautiful yacht. Sorry we bloodied your boat but hopefully we can do it again sometime.
To Brent: Thanks for a great day out and for bringing us back safely. Apologies that us Landlubbers (Rols excluded) couldn’t have been more help.
To Mad Matt: Sorry for sitting on your fly rod – bummer. Thanks for risking life and limb boating fish, washing decks, fetching and carrying rods, undoing knots, dispatching fish (I know you enjoyed that part), cleaning and filleting them for us.
To Denton & Karl: Thanks for unselfishly sharing your time and knowledge and flies.
Last but not least to Rols: Thanks for the excellent breyani, organising, first mate duties and your great sense of humour – the trip wouldn’t have been the same without you.
Regards,
Darryl
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