Dorado wins it for Drive team
A 6kg dorado proved the difference between the two teams on a sunny Saturday in Durban.
The Drive team, fishing courtesy of Natal Power Boats, was made up of Andre Bloem, Alain Tardin, Diana Bloem and Fishing Freak Dick Lange.
Diana Bloem (wife of Andre Bloem) stepped in as a late replacement for the ill Jason McCall and spent the first two hours of her trip trying not to vomit.
The Drive team opted to catch live bait first, while the Breakfast Stack, guided by Nikao Fishing Adventures and GoFish Magazine, chose to head straight out and rely on lures.
The Drive boys quickly caught some livies and then also headed to Umhlanga in a quest for tuna and dorado.
Alain Tardin was given first strike and promptly lost a lovely dorado.
The fish, estimated at around 12kg, got airborne and managed to somehow shake the hook.
The rest of the team took pity on Tardin and again stood back to allow him a second bite at the cherry.
This time the former commercial tuna fisherman made no mistake and landed what proved to be the winning fish. This despite the first gaff breaking and allowing the dorado an unexpected second chance at escape.
The Breakfast Stack team of Darren Maule, Wes Cruickshanks, Mak Dlamini and George Thorne drew a blank.
However, a fight involving Dlamini had all on the Drive boat rather worried.
Dlamini was hooked into what looked like something big. It would later emerge that he was fighting a large plastic bag. It had been attached to his hook as a prank by the Nikao Fishing Adventures skipper.
Darren Maule later took over from a tired Dlamini and also spent several minutes battling the plastic bag - still believing that there was a trophy fish on the line.
Andre Bloem was later tricked by his own team, but his story will be revealed in a video later this week.
Bloem later was given the dorado to take home and was thankful for the help of Durban Ski Boat Club staff who cleaned and filleted the fish.
The Kingfisher report last week spoke of dorado action off Durban and the Drive team was very happy to prove it accurate.
Breakfast Stack host, Darren Maule, is already talking about a rematch.
(Dick, Alain and Andre with the winning dorado)
- ECR Sportswave
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @AlainTardin @ECRSportswave @MakDlamini