ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

Cape Town’s first tuna grandslam

By Ryan Nienaber

FRIDAY 19 May 2023 started off like any other fishing morning for the Greenfish crew — leaving the house at 3am,arriving at the factory at 4am,prepping,fueling and icing the boat,and getting ready to find the freshest and best quality tuna that the Cape waters have to offer.

Greenfish is a family-run seafood company,and we specialise in providing high quality,low impact linefish and tuna to restaurants and homes in and around Cape Town.

We use a combination of rod and reel bait fishing,poling and trolling with lures on a typical day’s tuna fishing off Cape Town.

After a 40-minute tow to Hout Bay we set off to the area where some big longfin in the 18-20kg range had been caught the day before in good numbers. A 35NM run over some windless,big rolling seas with a 3m swell took us to the right zone.

With all the key elements — birds, water colour, baitfish and the temperature jump — lining up just perfectly, we were sure we were going to go on quickly.

One hour turned into two hours, then it was midday and we only had one longfin on board.It’s amazing how Mother Nature has a way of crushing your excitement and giving you a reality check that you will only have what Neptune chooses to grant you for the day.

Eventually by 1pm we had a total of two yellowfin and one longfin on the boat,and we didn’t know which way to turn or what to do next.

Then,out of nowhere,a log drifted past us and we saw a couple of dorado under it.Everyone raced for a spinning rod,and before we even got a cast in one of our bait lines went screaming off,then another and then a third.

From dying of boredom to full on action fighting three fish simultaneously,it was game time.

All the anglers on board are experienced tuna fishermen, but they were moaning and taking longer than normal to get the fish up.Twenty minutes quickly turned into 45 minutes and then we saw colour on the first fish as it circled towards the boat.

I quickly noticed the colour was more silver blue than we’d expect of a yellowfin,and the fish had no sickles. Jaco Louw,the angler,presented the fish to the gaff and we loaded a beautiful big eye tuna of around 85kg.Heaps of excitement ensued as it was the first big eye on our new boat.After a couple of photos the fish was dressed and into the ice she went.

Jaco Louw with a fat 85kg big eye tuna.

Another 15 minutes or so after this madness had begun,a screech of disappointment was let out from the back deck.The fish had run out all the line on a Tiagra 80W right down to the knot on 12kg of drag.In desperation my brother,Andrew,held on and the line broke on the hook.His heart sank as he wound up the slack line.There was no time to waste — a new line was quickly baited and sent down,and it was on straight away again.

Meanwhile Jan Westdyk still continued to fight his fish, taking extra care to bring it in slowly, or perhaps he had slowed down from fatigue.It must have been close on an hour later when he finally presented his fish to the boat.I

sank the first gaff in and held on — this was a big fish! All hands came to assist and we hauled the monster on board — an estimated 120kg big eye tuna.Jaco’s few minutes of fame were quickly overshadowed by this absolute beast that laid the entire length of our fish box.

The day had quickly turned around and we started hooking up more and more good size yellowfin tuna in the 70-90kg size range.

Ryan Nienaber with one of the longfin tuna caught on 19 May 2023

Jan was baiting in the bow when his line went,and he though he had a longfin tuna as the run was very different to the yellowfin that we had just been hooking into.Suddenly the fish woke up and went down and down and down.Perhaps it was another big eye? Everyone carried on working on deck when the call came:“I have deep colour!”As soon as the fish came alongside I saw it was a bluefin tuna of around 80kg.

What a turn around for the day,but it was not over yet! As the light started to fade and the catches died down,Jan hooked a great longfin,completing the first Cape Town tuna slam that I have witnessed by a single angler in one day.

He’d hauled in a big eye of 132kg, a southern bluefin of 75kg, multiple yellowfin of 60-80kg and a longfin of 18kg to top it off.

Jan Westdyk, Jaco Louw, Ryan Nienaber, David Zaymes, Andrew Nienaber and Ryno Robinson with their 132kg big eye tuna.

I have fished off Cape Point for many years and had the privilege of catching all these fish many times over, but to get them all in one day in a slam is something extra special.

But Neptune still had one more treasure to share with us for the day.As the longfin came up,I went to the off side of the boat to drop a spinner, and saw a very long needle-like object coming past me.It took my brain a few moments to realise what I was seeing as I muttered the word “MARLIN”. Quickly everyone jumped over to have a look, and Andrew quickly corrected me: “Ryan, that’s no marlin, that’s a broadbill!”A 200kg-plus fish cruised gently pasted the boat on the surface displaying its beauty.

After that we called it a good day and ran in to be welcomed by the Atlantic Boat Club who kindly weighed the big eye for us ...it tipped the scales at 132kg.

This is why, after countless days of days of tuna fishing off Cape Point over the last 20 years,I’m still too excited to fall asleep the night before.You just never know what the day has in store for you.

Brothers Ryan and Andrew Nienaber show off the first tuna grandslam on their boat.

WHAT IT TAKES TO CATCH TUNA COMMERCIALLY OFF THE CAPE

GREENFISH runs a purpose-built 28ft Cape Craft powered by two 300hp Yamaha engines. The layout is multi-functional to suit tuna, snoek and yellowtail fishing. The deck layout changes according to what they are targeting to optimise fishability and quality control of the fish.

The crew uses a combination of rod and reel bait fishing, poling and trolling with lures. Poling is fishing using a bamboo pole, with a short piece of line and a weighted skirted hook, that you dance on the surface under some water sprayers that mimick baitfish.

The longfin then shoot up to the sprayers to eat the chum that you put in the water and take the dancing lure, and you pull them in. It is highly exciting, fast and a true one-on-one tug of war with your opponent.

Poling is not to be confused with trolling, when you pull a skirted lure behind the boat while you are searching for a school of tuna you choose to bait on. Once you get a strike, you will start baiting in that area with rod and reel.

The piece missing on top of the tuna’s head is due to a Japanese technique of killing fish called Ikejime. This involves the insertion of a spike into the tuna’s hindbrain, followed by a thin wire that runs into the spinal column to prevent any further muscle movement. This stops the lactic acid build up in the meat. It is fast and considered the most humane method of killing the fish, with the greatest respect given to the fish. The result is a higher quality of meat and fresher taste because the flavour and texture is preserved.