SIMPLY SUBLIME

2021 Two Oceans Marlin Tournament a record breaker

By Helen Fenwick

ANUMBER of years ago Meirion Williams, Traill Witthuhn, Gawie Bruwer, Hannes Schreuder, Gerard de Kock, Johan Jooste and Johan van der Walt thought it would be a good idea to investigate the numbers and sizes of the marlin swimming in the Agulhas area, and so the first TOMT was held in 2006.

Now, 15 years later, it still draws many anglers to test their skills at catching the elusive monster of the sea. The 2021 event, held in early February, was an exceptional one by any standards. To start with the weather was near perfect, and anglers were able to fish for a full six days which some of them found quite gruelling. Then there were the high numbers of marlin — over 50 marlin strikes were recorded by the 23 participating boats — the most marlin seen around this area in many years.

As always the fun and camaraderie is also noticeable, with much sharing of information among the competitors.

The opening function was held on Friday 5 February, and although Day One was actually only on the Sunday, the Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, so an informal competition was held amongst the boats that decided to go out. Kevin Swart from Kinda Magic was thrilled when he successfully released a black marlin and was declared angler of the day.

DAY ONE

The sea was a tad lumpy on the first official day of the tournament, and some of the smaller boats had a less than comfortable ride, but otherwise conditions were good. At 8.30am Mojo called in the first strike, but it was off within minutes. Then, just eight minutes later, Marco Polo’s Anton de Beer was vas and a long battle to land a huge black began. At 12.54pm the fish came alongside the boat, went under, broke loose and swam to freedom.

At 11.14am John Graeme reported a hook-up that ended more successfully. According to skipper Chris Goatley, this is how it went down:

“We put a livebait out near the 12mile bank, and it wasn’t more than two minutes before we had what we thought was a shark on the end of the line. Then the black marlin came up, tail walking, and headed straight for the boat! We shouted in excitement when we saw her. It was unbelievably strong and we battled her through the ore carrier lanes — three passed within shouting distance!

“John Leppan was the leaderman and had some nervous moments before he grabbed the bill and got the circle hook out before reviving and releasing her. It was my son Hylton’s first marlin and measured and looked to be just under 200kg,and the fight lasted just over three hours!

DAY TWO

On the second day of the tournament the wind was blowing under 10 knots from the south, and the sky was overcast when 22 boats ventured out at 5am.

Safety at sea is a priority and good radio communication is essential for this. Mention must be made of Andrew Perrins, the safety officer, and Earl Fenwick, who spent months working on getting a high site for a new aerial which they — along with some strong helpers — erected to ensure it was fully operational in time for this year’s competition. Thank you for your dedication, gentlemen.

Hookups were reported by Multi, Mojo, Met Eish, Catch Cook, Reel Deal and Kinda Magic, but all of them ended up in lost fish. By the end of the day nobody had managed to successfully land and release a marlin.

DAY THREE

The Tuesday turned out to be an exciting one for the crew aboard Lyfie, and Lucas Landman tells all:

“Today was the most epic and exciting fishing day I have ever experienced! The swell was running at a height of two metres, there was a light south wind blowing and the water at the 12mile bank, to the west of Struisbaai, was beautifully clean at a very promising 23°C.In short, ideal conditions, but I did not believe that marlin even existed in Cape waters!

This negative thought was suddenly crushed when a big black marlin appeared among our spread of lures. It took the left long lure and ran the line on the reel into its backing, until the reel went silent and we dropped the fish. Within half an hour we had another on/off. After losing our third, we decided to change our game and switched to livebait trolling with skipjack bonito.

“Soon we hooked a nice size fish which Robin Vermaak expertly rigged with a 12/0 circle hook and with a bridle between the eyes. The youngest member of our crew, ten-year-old Mickyle Vermaak, volunteered to hold the trace with the live bonito rigged on it. We were still clearing the deck and getting ourselves ready when Mickyle’s excited and high pitched voice broke the silence: ‘Big marlin! Big marlin!’ The bait had only been swimming for two minutes.

“Robin free spooled the reel and only placed his fingers lightly on the spool to prevent any over wind. After a while Robin pushed up the drag of the Shimano 80lb reel and, to our great joy, the rod started bending and the line peeled off at an exhilarating speed. ‘Ons is vas, manne!’came the collective shout.

“A magnificent black marlin breached the calm waters less than 50m behind the boat and started grey hounding towards the horizon. I was skippering the boat and Robin was in the fighting chair. We applied pressure from various angles, and with Robin pulling as hard as he could, the fish was next to the boat within 20 minutes.

“Pierre Vermaak took the leader and with some anxious verbal instructions from his father, he did extremely well in leadering the fish and holding it next to the boat. This gave the crew the opportunity to safely remove the hook, measure the fish with a marlin tape and take photos and videos. It was estimated to be between 120- and 130kg.

“What happened next was surreal; I had never experience it before. We were tight on both Shimano 80lb rods and realised it must be the same fish, as both lines went off in the same direction. Incredibly, the same fish took and swallowed both our baitfish!

This time I got into the fighting chair. I took the rod with the baitfish which we’d swum out of the short right rigger and Robin took the other rod, which was still in the gimbal on he starboard gunwale. We were fighting the same fish with two different rods!

“Soon Robin declared that his fish was off and his bonito popped up to the surface of the water. He reeled in the bait and excitedly reported that it was squashed and had the clear lacerations of a bill on the skin — tell-tale signs of a marlin strike. Just then a huge black marlin stuck out its bill, head and torso approximately 150m from the boat, shaking its head violently left and right before setting off at a blistering speed.

“We had the fish below the boat four times. It swam in between the engines at an approximate depth of 30 metres. Eventually we entered a stalemate position with the fish; he was not winning and neither were we. Time was running out.

“Robin shouted to me: ‘Pull with all of your strength. Don’t let the fish take any line.’ I did as he suggested, with good results. There are few sights in life as pleasing as the sudden appearance of the double line and the wind-on leader out of the water next to the boat, knowing that the marlin is only a few more agonising metres away.

“The fight lasted 55 minutes, with Robin managing to manoeuvre the fish between the engines and avoid the props.

“It was the biggest marlin I have ever seen, and its sheer size next to the boat was intimidating. Thankfully the fish settled, and I got out of the chair and posed for a photo. The marlin tape was taken out again and it indicated a fish between 277- and 312kg.

“What a day!”

DAY FOUR

Having fished hard for three days in a row, some boats decided to take an unofficial rest day. There was a slight breeze blowing, the swell was moderate and the water warm, with just the toughest of the fleet determined to get a strike.

Skipper Rikus de Beer on Marco Polo was one of those who went out:

“We were two miles southeast of the 12 mile bank when one of our bait rods started screaming. Linette grabbed the rod and started to retrieve some line while I got the livebait trace with the circle hook ready. Anton de Beer lifted a nice 4kg oceanic bonito out of the water and brought it to the bait station. In less than a minute the bonito was back in the ocean rigged with the circle hook and swimming 10m behind the boat.

“Anton held the elastic band feeling every move of our livebait. After 20 minutes I got the call all of us were waiting for: ‘Strike!’ I stopped the boat and Anton started to feed the line off the reel. He couldn’t keep up with the feeding and I told him to tighten the drag on the reel. As the rod bent over, a marlin jumped out of the water 60m behind the boat. I looked at my watch — 9.34am.

“Christo de Beer got into the fighting chair and Linette helped him to get the harness on while Anton and I put the rod into the gimble on the fighting chair. Line was screaming off the reel and we were ready to start fighting the fish. Linette steered the fighting chair while I turned the boat to help Christo retrieve some line.

“I called the marlin in on the radio and was allocated an orange armband. The marlin gave us a stunning aerial display as it tried to free itself, but 40 minutes after the start of the fight the leader was at the tip of the rod. Anton grabbed the leader and gently pulled the fish to the boat while Christo got out of the fighting chair and grabbed the bill of the fish. It was an approximately 90kg striped marlin.”

DAY FIVE

On the fifth day conditions were perfect for marlin fishing, yet for the first few hours the radios were unusually quiet. Eventually at 10.15am Koos Pretorius on G-Spot reported a strike while fishing on the Alphard Banks, but it soon dropped off. More hook-ups and and lost fish were reported by Catch Cook, John Graeme, Reel Deal, Sea Cat and Bayswater.

The real excitement began at 2.23pm when Sea Cat had a hook-up at position 58/50.It was a huge fish, seen jumping numerous, but unfortunately at 4.07pm the huge black marlin threw the hook. John Graeme had reported another hook-up a bit earlier but that too was lost.

Finally at 3pm Bayswater called in another hook-up with a black marlin. Piet Wessels told us what happened:

“The angler in the chair was Hannes Smuts, age 63,and as this was his first marlin he was very excited. He fought the marlin for an hour and 15 minutes until we had it next to the boat. The fish was estimated to weigh 170- to 180kg.This was a great experience to be able to share with my special team of Michel De Kock, Dwayne Viviers and Chris Moolman.”

DAY SIX

The final day dawned a tad overcast with a spit and a spot of rain, but this cleared as the day wore on. What an exciting day it turned out to be.

Calls started coming in from 8.25am,but Sea Cat’s “marlin” turned out to be a bronzie, and Black Pearl, Bayswater, Sea Cat and Zeeman all dropped catches. The excitement really rose at 12.55pm when Dory called in a double strike. Skipper Dudley Rosslee relates their day’s adventures:

“On the last day of the tournament the crew on Dory decided to work the 59/49 contours with livebait. At 1.30pm the livebait went wild and the 80lb Tiagra took off like a spitfire.

“After an epic fight of about 55 minutes Andrew landed a reasonable black marlin which measured in at 262kg.

“At 3pm,with two freshly caught livebait and an hour until lines up, we decided to have one last try at getting a marlin. Soon the first livey was hit and taken. Seconds later the second livey was hit and taken, but unfortunately soon afterwards everything was gone except for the first hook-up. As the fish took off, we realised that we only had 35 minutes before lines up to land this fish. We proceeded to fight the fish downstream to help the angler, Emile Le Roux, as much as possible.

“After ten minutes of fighting, the fish started to come towards the boat. It was a massive black marlin and with the help of ‘Mr Garmin’ giving us directions (bietjie links,bietjie regs) and taking videos of procedures, we managed to bring her alongside the boat. Chris Gillitt barked out the weights as per the tape measure; this one would have weighed in at around 362kg.

“There was unbelievable joy on the boat when we realised we were joint winners with Lyfie!”

Congratulations to Lyfie and Dory on coming joint first. In another surprise, two boats — John Graeme and Bayswater — also tied for second place, with Marco Polo taking third place. It was indeed an amazing tournament, with so many marlin joining the party.

Thank you to the sponsors and to Marinda de Kock and the staff of Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club for the excellent catering and smooth running of the week’s events. See you there next year!

WINNERS — TOMT 2021

Joint first: Lyfie and Dory

Joint second: John Graeme and Bayswater

Third: Marco Polo