The boys from Piranha Group were at it again recently, this time off the West Coast for the Yzerfontein Tuna Competition. Wickus Nel narrates the tale and will have you hankering after a good old fishing jaunt to the Weskus. The weekend of 1 – 3 May 2015 was another for the books.
Destination: Yzerfontein.
Time of arrival: Friday morning, 05H30.
Objective: Catch as many tuna as humanly possible.
Arriving at the harbour, the names on our team were marked off on the competitors list as Wickus Nel, Justin van der Walt (skipper), Wiliam Boltmann, Richard Boltmann and Werner Jendrosch. All present and all duly keyed up, we set off through the port and headed for Dassengat which lies about 45 nm offshore. Halfway there, we spotted activity on the surface and started spinning in the hope of landing a few Yellowtail to break the ice before the big fight got underway.
Unfortunately with the water temp at 12.8 degrees they did not seem interested in what we had to offer. At around the 40-nm mark all the boats started to scatter in search of the winning fish and the pressure was on. A little while later we chanced upon a stern trawler and decided to make our way towards the boat in the hope of picking up some Yellowfin tuna in its wake.
We kept at it for hours on end and tried everything but were only rewarded with a few Blue Sharks and thousands of birds. We refused to give up but by 15H00, when lines-up was called, we were still empty handed and had nothing to take to the scales. We decided to carry on fishing anyway and notified the organisers that we will not be heading back straight away and to expect us a little later.
