Family fishing

We were contacted by Ruella, the mom of this beautifull family. They were going to be in our neck of the woods on holiday and wanted to give their 3 & 5 year old kids fishing experience. Challenge accepted!! we set a date for the charter and moved it around a bit until we found conditions that would be safe and comfortable for the kids. the morning of the charter was cloudy with scattered rain. that afternoon the family joined us on Blu Ray, a cloudy and somewhat nippy afternoon, we set out. the plan was to stop just outside the port entrance in the shelter of the bay at Vetches reef, this area is abundant with bait balls of Mackerel, the light tackle and the constant bites had the kids highly entertained with loads of laughs and smiles. with time and daylight running out we ran out slightly offshore to one of the many reefs off the Durban coastline and went down for some light tackle bottom/reef fishing. The family enjoyed some great catches and had fish to take home for the pan. Our crew filleted all their catch, all mom had to do was to slap it on the pan. on the way back into port, we took the family for a tour of the Durban port and explored all the sights and sounds of the Southern Hemispheres busiest port. The crew had just as much fun as the family, it was great to have a more relaxed trip that was more about fun than catching fish!! Awesome Family....Awesome day at sea

MARLIN IN OUR SPREAD Yesterday we took the boys from Effingham out for a reunion. The day started off with decent conditions but the swell intervals left us with a slightly bumpy ride. our spread was out and looking fantastic, loads of splishing and splashing in the water, but despite our best efforts, we were struggling to get the fish to bite (and we could see Dorados chasing our lures). After about 2 hours of trolling we headed into deeper waters and found clean blue water. BANG!!! first Dorado in the spread and boated, action started to heat up. then our short rigger went crazy, on/off - i turned from the fly bridge and saw a Marlin in the spread, he took the short rigger, then got onto the teaser so hard he practically tore off my outriggers, then onto the Long rigger. Eric was on the deck, now Eric has landed approx 80 Marlins and knows his onions, sadly despite our best efforts we could not get the Marlin hooked. We tried raising her again to no avail. The ACTION WAS WORTH IT!! Shortly after that another Marlin, but this time it swam straight across our beam and under the boat, with the south wester pumping, we did not chase her. The South Wester came in and came in hard, we started making our way back to port and unfortunately we were back on the docks by about 11. Great day out, if it wasnt for that nasty South Wester, i am certain we would have increased our catch. lots of laughs and trips down memory lane, these guys even put a whole chicken on the braai!! Thanks guys, it was great to see all of you again.

SHAD ON BLU RAY A few months ago, we ran a competition for the picture of the biggest fish posted. Rajesh Rajman was our winner. We finally managed to get Rajesh and his family on board Blu Ray today for some light tackle fun. They boarded the boat at 1pm for a 3 hour trip, we gave the the option of fishing in the bay, Trolling for Dorado or Backline for Shad, Rajesh's sons faces lit up like Xmas trees when they heard SHAD!!! So a Shad trip it was. Rajesh is an experienced Rock & Surf angler and was looking forward to showing his kids a good time. we got out to perfect conditions and enjoyed some fun in the sun. Unfortunately most of the Shad were undersized and released, but they managed to come home with some decent fish for the pans. An Awesome family, especially his youngest son, who caught most of the fish, this boy got excited every single time he hooked a fish. I have no doubt that this young man will grow to become a famous angler. Well done, now all you have to do is get comfortable holding the fish. (check out the video, tooo cute) Thank you Rajesh for the opportunity to entertain your family.

On the 1st December, Steve from Limpopo, a very keen Jetski fisherman joined us on board Blu Ray with his 17 and 18 year old daughters and a mate. Mission!! lets give his daughters their first Dorado experience - NO PRESSURE!! :-) An awesome family, we had loads of laughs and enjoyed endless stories of fishing tales, the warmth and love on Blu Ray was contagious. We launched at 04h30 , by 05h00 we saw a black marlin jump in front of the boat about 7 miles out of the harbour!!, unfortunately we could not raise the fish, despite the cold and green water, our hopes were up for a great day. By 05h30 the first reel was screaming with a stunning Dorado, game on!! fish safely boated and pics taken, very soon after that...bang!! the second Dorado!! we had 2 very happy girls that had just fought their first Dorado, i might add that these young lasses fought those fish better than some grown men i have seen, well done Sene and Ladine. Off course dad, Steve Geldenhuys was clearly delighted and so proud of his girls. We continued for the rest of the morning trolling the ships whilst the girls lay cuddled together in the bedroom and got some well deserved sleep, we returned with new friends and lots of smiles. An epic day, its clients like these that keep us happy, thank Geldenhuys family, it was a pleasure having you on board.

Durban has seen some blown out days with strong winds and choppy seas, on Saturday, we had perfect conditions and entertained a group of out of towners. The Dorado have been prolific this season, it was a well received change when we hooked into a 23kg Wahoo, a quick fight in the hands of an experienced angler and the fish was boated. To celebrate we got the barbeque going on the boat while trolling, and before we could take our first bite of the delicious hot dogs, the Tiagra reel screamed!!! Nazir, a first time angler, caught his very first fish ever......what a way to start his fishing career with a strong and fiesty 10kg Yellow Fin Tuna. Great day with fantastic clients.