Sailfish on Fly off Durban

[Fishing Adventures]

I have always wanted to say this, so let me say it again – Sailfish on Fly off Durban.

The adrenalin is still pumping through my veins even though some time has passed. It was such an exciting experience. I do not even know how to convey the experience and excitement we had on the boat with everyone cheering, encouraging, yells and screams, the teamwork especially when we had a problem when the fly reel started falling apart.

We launched early this morning to miss the heavy NE wind that was predicted and so were on our way out the harbour by 04h00 and made the bumpy ride out to the deep, it was a long 1.5hr trip of about 40Nm before we got to the area we wanted to target.

This trip was purely a fly fishing trip and so we got about our business, the casting was very tough because the wind was already blowing far and so distance was a problem.

1st up was a double hook up of Dorado, one was lost, the other landed.
It is important not to panic when you get a fish on and start tightening the drag, let him run and play him and you will land him, put too much pressure, especially in the beginning when the fish is still strong and you will loose your fish.
We then had a 3rd Dorado hook up.

Then the moment came when we saw a Sailfish hit the one fly and immediately it was doing a tail walk which is incredible to watch. At the same time as the other fly was brought in we had a second Sailfish strike just a meter from the boat, and again the fish was lost by panicking and too much pressure.
The first Sail was still on and taking line with over 200m out we were well into the backing and a long fight took place with several runs and many jumps.

Eventually just after an hour went by since hook up; we got the Sailfish to the boat and it did a spectacular jump when I had the leader in my hand. The fish was very tired after such a long fight and he was unhooked and immediately released without any further stress. I estimate this Sailfish at around 40Kg, and this is an awesome accomplishment on a 12wt fly rod.
My client told me afterwards that he did a 40Km mountain bike race recently, and this fight with the Saily on a Fly rod was far more exhausting.

After that we managed a double hook up with 2 Oceanic Bonito which gave an excellent account for themselves on the Fly Rods.

The fly’s we used are my own design which I have developed over some time now combined with my fly fishing and big game trolling knowledge, and they really performed well leaving an awesome smoke trail and most of all they attracted fish. I have been studying, researching and planning to get a Sailfish off Durban for some time, with many misses and today we hit the jackpot. I can tell you that this is no easy feat off-shore Durban and so a real accomplishment for the angler.

[Fishing Adventures]

More pics ..........................

[Michael]

Why go after a sailfish with a 12wt? Seems a bit unfair on the fish, to have the fight drag out so long. No wonder he was tired...
I reckon 14wt minimum for sailfish, and 15wt or 16wt even better. And must have very strong power in the butt.

or am I missing something here?

[Fishing Adventures]

Why go after a sailfish with a 12wt? Seems a bit unfair on the fish, to have the fight drag out so long. No wonder he was tired...
I reckon 14wt minimum for sailfish, and 15wt or 16wt even better. And must have very strong power in the butt.

or am I missing something here?

12wt is plenty strong enough for the job, so I think you are missing something here. Even whe we fish conventional 30lb tackle it is a long fight with such a big Saily. As a rule the Saily's are also smaller in the 20-30kg weight.
Besides have you ever gone out and done it?????

[Michael]

12wt is plenty strong enough for the job, so I think you are missing something here. Even whe we fish conventional 30lb tackle it is a long fight with such a big Saily. As a rule the Saily's are also smaller in the 20-30kg weight.
Besides have you ever gone out and done it?????

I've caught sailies, marlin and big wahoo at Hemingways in Kenya. It was on conventional tackle though, not fly. All our sailies were in the 40kg range and on a 12wt rod we would have bled (no to mention the fish).

Guys who HAVE done it regularly are Flycastaways.
They recommend a 15 wt rod as well.
http://www.flycastaway.com/index.php...d=10&Itemid=11

Are they missing something too?

All I'm saying is, surely you want to land the fish in the FASTEST possible time, to minimise stress and the latic acid build-up in the fish's muscles. So surely going 15wt is much better than 12wt (even with smaller sailies like 20 - 30 kg)

[Fishing Adventures]

Point being that Durban Summer Saily's are usualy small, we were not expecting a 40Kg.
Instead of ragging our awesome catch, why not applaud it if you have to say something because this is an incredible catch for Durban.
This is alwys the problem with internet forums is that there is always some bright spark that has something negative to say.

[Jono Shales]

Awesome stuff!! Any saily on fly no matter where, is an achievement.

12wt or whatever ... it's only a tool to get the job done. Rod angles, skipper's driving skills, leader setup and size of fish will determine the fight time.

Are sailies common off Durban?

Those 'flies' that you were using look like mini game lures. Are you casting them at the fish?

Perhaps you'd like to share some of your techniques and fly patterns with the rest of the forum?

Well done once again to you for putting the angler onto fish.

[Fishing Adventures]

Awesome stuff!! Any saily on fly no matter where, is an achievement.

12wt or whatever ... it's only a tool to get the job done. Rod angles, skipper's driving skills, leader setup and size of fish will determine the fight time.

Are sailies common off Durban?

Those 'flies' that you were using look like mini game lures. Are you casting them at the fish?

Perhaps you'd like to share some of your techniques and fly patterns with the rest of the forum?

Well done once again to you for putting the angler onto fish.

Yes the fly is similar to an off shore lure, I developed it based on my experience with game fishing and fly fishing, here is my post when I made the original. Yes we cast it and it weighs 2grams
http://www.flytalk.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=8353

We get Saily's every year off Durban, but this is not Gautemala or Kenya which makes this catch even more exciting.

On this trip we were drifting and casting over old fad marks for Dorado as the wind was howling making it a very difficluts day

We are going out again in the week on a low wind day and will pull teasers this time.

[firephish]

fantastic, must have been a rush - thanks for sharing!

[Michael]

Point being that Durban Summer Saily's are usualy small, we were not expecting a 40Kg.
Instead of ragging our awesome catch, why not applaud it if you have to say something because this is an incredible catch for Durban.
This is alwys the problem with internet forums is that there is always some bright spark that has something negative to say.

If you're hunting with a small rifle for impala, and suddenly a kudu walks into view, are you going to take a shot at it with the smaller rifle?

I do applaude sailfish catches off Durban's coastline, and yes...well done for that. I think you are just missing my point here, that I think (in my opinion and probably a lot of other people's) a 12wt for a fish of that size is a little under-gunned. No matter if they are "normally smaller"...you should be prepared for the unexpected in fishing, right?

I'm not slagging you, but by your own admission you stated it was a very long fight and the fish was very tired...so by that statement alone, don't you agree a 12wt was a bit light for that fish? Forums being what they are, people who don't know better then automatically think that a 12wt is the norm for this type of fishing and these size fish...and that's what I mean.

Trust me I'm no bright spark...I didn't intend this to become a verbal abuse. Forums are there for people to view their opinions...not just go "oooh aaaah brilliant catch". Yeah sure, it IS a brilliant catch! But as I said, in my humble opinion, the 12wt was a bit light for that size fish.