The bite wasn’t supposed to be great but that has yet to deter me from heading out on the water. For me at least, the bite chart was right , it was definitely a one fish day. Tivie Ann on the other hand showed just how wrong the predictions can be. We had barely crossed the reef when Tivie was onto her first snapper of the day, putting everything she had learnt into practice she nailed it with grace and style. It wasn’t long before she had her second snapper on and after some time fighting her fish, she had a very nice one on board.
A bit of time passed and Tivie hooked up yet again while I looked on without so much as a nibble. It was time for me to go hunting! My form for the day continued as Tivie’s excitement grew – a new kind of fight this time, a particularly feisty one put Tivie to the test in an awesome tug of war. She eventually managed to get her first kahawai on board and get it under control as it tried to make a last bid for freedom. Then with a little guidance, she dispatched, bled and, gutted her catch before placing in her chill pod. Like me, Tivie was using Kaveman Tackle kaburas so, I knew that I wasn’t still fishless due to wrong choice of lures on the day. Time was getting on and still nothing for me despite long drifts all over Cable Bay and beyond. I love being on the water and Tivies successes kept me entertained so I was in no rush to call it a day.
It was getting towards late afternoon when the wind started getting up, pushing Tivie and I in completely different directions, another hook-up for Tivie on another kahawai towed her even further away. It doesn’t take much to tow us around on the kayaks and it always adds to the excitement.
Finally, my rod twitched – then stopped – nothing, just tease enough to get the blood pumping. Then another few twitches, a moment of stillness and BOOM! Line started peeling, and peeling as I turned my kayak to align it with the run. With no head nods for quite some time, I did think I had a shark on. That’s ok, sharks are great fun until you get them to the yak and need to avoid the pointy bits. Eventually it began to tire and I was able to position myself directly above it for the final battle. As I got it up off the bottom, a new wave of excitement as I felt the telltale nod of a snapper on my line. Seeing colour confirmed it was a beauty. Once up it was easy to land, it had given its all.
With more than plenty on board, we decided to head in to relive the highlights all over again!
Yolande Jeffares – That Kayak Fishing Chick
